Arita Porcelain Festival (April 29th through May 5th)

Every year, during the grand holidays of Golden Week, a 5 km stretch of road between Arita station and Kami-Arita station is stocked full of ceramics and ceramics-lovers.

SmugMug Gallery

The amount of ceramics is staggering, as is the diversity in the products.

It's probably the best opportunity to see why Arita is so famous for their pottery and ceramics.

Test Pictures from New Lenses

I have way too much time on my hands.

I set up the tripod and took pictures at the various maximum and minimum focal lengths of each of the lenses I have. (It might be best to view the gallery in Journal format to get the appropriate comments.)

The full range is from 18mm of the Canon kit lens to 300mm of the Sigma telephoto zoom.





Pretty cool eh? From wide-angle to ultra zoom.

I do already notice though that the autofocus of the Sigma telephoto zoom isn't that quick. I wonder how this'll affect my real-world shooting.

Long Day / Long Lenses!

Today was the last day of school before Golden Week. Though I didn't have any classes, it was one of the busiest days I've had in a long long time.

I woke up extra early to join about 100 students in their morning long-distance running training. I haven't ran in ages, but it felt good to jog along with them and to do some quick sprints. In fact, it felt so good that I just continued running around the school, then back home to my apartment for a quick shower before starting the day.

Unfortunately, my knee starting acting up a bit, so I had to cool it down. I should remember to avoid running on pavement and stick to the school dirt ground.

The rest of the day was a mix of socializing with my students, socializing with the teachers, and being anti-social as I continued to set up my Teaching English in Japan blog. Round off the day with a couple hours planning out elementary school visits with my teacher and then a couple more hours playing with the basketball team, topped off with the obligatory eikaiwa class.

It wasn't until I returned home after the eikaiwa class did I get to check out the lenses I had received today.

(In Japan, the delivery companies like to contact you through email or text-mail the morning of the delivery, just to give you a heads-up. And also the option to reschedule if something came up. Too bad I couldn't get back home in time to be there for the delivery, so after a quick phone call and a small note posted on my door, the delivery guy came back a few hours later and dropped off the package inside my apartment. I'm definitely going to miss this level of customer service that is so wonderful here in Japan.)

Anyhoo, it was exciting checking out all the various lenses I now have.



Starting from the left is the Canon EF 50mm f1.8 II, the Canon 18-55mm USM II kit lens (I have the USM version from Japan), the Sigma 28-80mm Aspherical Mini Zoom Macro II, and the Sigma 70-300mm Macro Super II.

I guess it isn't that impressive, but it's really really cool having all these lenses. (Oh, but the regular Sigma zoom is already back in the box waiting patiently to be sold off.)

The three other lenses will be my basic kit, at least for now. The kit lens will continue to serve as my walk-around lens, until I order the Canon 28-135mm IS. The Canon nifty fifty will be useful for low-light shooting, as well as for astrophotography. And the Sigma zoom will be a useful telephoto zoom (a whopping 480mm equivalent), until it stops earning its worth.

Not bad eh? With these three lenses I pretty much cover any type of shot I need to make.

The month of May will offer numerous opportunities to test the ins-and-outs of these lenses, as well as allow me to learn the basics of lens management.

Hopefully, I'll have plenty of nice photos to share!

Night Photography

Last night, I made my first attempt at astrophotography.

SmugMug Gallery

(It might be best to view it as a journal.)

It was a beautiful night; brisk cool air and only a few clouds on the horizon.

Being my first shoot, last night was a bit of a challenge.

The first difficulty I encountered was the issue of focusing. The autofocus was essentially useless, so I had to lay down on my back and try to manually focus. However, with my poor eyesight, it was essentially a guessing game. Contacts will be remembered next time.

Then, there was the issue of light pollution. Although I live relatively in the country-side, it isn't anywhere close to pitch dark. Occassional cars would also beam their headlights from the distance.

Lastly, and something I really didn't anticipate, was that even when I thought I had everything in focus, the length of the shutter time (30 seconds, full aperture, ISO 800) showed that, well, the stars were moving. . . and quite quickly at that!




Who would have thought that within a mere 30 seconds, that the stars would move that far?

If anything though, last night was quite fun, if not a bit chilly. I really enjoyed the quiet and solitude that the night offered. I saw many many beautiful stars that I didn't notice before. And, I got to play with my new camera.

I noticed how quickly I tired of star photography and instead was more fascinated with scenic night shots, and also how my town looks during the night.

One thing I really appreciate about photography is how it lets you visualize reality differently. By shooting with extended shutter speeds, details and effects are subtly drawn out.




This picture was a shot of the rising moon. It surprised me how closely it resembled the early dawn. (The moon itself was extremely difficult to shoot because it is so small and too bright for it's surroundings.)

Last night was fun and interesting.

Next week, I'm going to try again from the beautiful seclusion of Shikoku.

The moon has been quite gorgeous these past few days.

I'm going to try my first attempt at astrophotography tonight.


(*Not my picture!*)

It was actually quite encouraging reading the Canon Digital Astrophotography site again because the basic setup is, well, pretty basic.

Camera
Wide-Angle and Standard Lenses
Lens Hood
Cable Release
Tripod
Flashlight


(*Not my picture!*)

That's it.

(Unfortunately, I actually don't have a lens hood or a cable release or even a strong tripod. . . but, I'll manage.)

Let's hope I'll be able to share some sort of picture tomorrow.

西有田町 50th Year Anniversary Celebration

Fifty years ago, the two villages of 曲川 and 大山 joined together to form the town of 西有田.

So, this weekend our town celebrated in full style.

SmugMug Gallery

Just in time too because our spanking new town center was just completed a few months ago.

Some highlights of the festival included somen-nagashi (catching somen from the flowing waters), mochi-nage (mochi pounding where the mochi is thrown into the air), and taiko (traditional Japanese percussion drumming).

Sadly enough, by March 2006, 西有田町 will cease to exist because the towns of 西有田 and 有田 will join together to form 有田町.

Well, for fifty years our town ran strong.

おつかれさまです!

New Lenses Ordered!

Only a week into my purchase, and I've already been sucked into the abyss of SLR lenses.

Liz can attest that my wishlist at bhphoto is expanding almost every day. So much so that I have actually created a second wishlist for "Lenses in My Dreams" to reflect their lust-factor coupled with their "mom will kill me" factor.

True Wishlist "Lenses in My Dreams"

The 18-55mm USM kit lens was only to last me until I purchase my true walk around lens, the Canon 28-135 IS.

Japanese Specs Page

But, in the meantime, I saw these two Sigmas (the 28-80 and the 70-300) for "sale" at Kitamura and thought, "what the hey, I can buy these quite cheap, fiddle around with them and my camera, and either use them as in-tough-days lenses or sell them off at a small loss. I mean, at about $150 total for the pair of them, there isn't much to lose. I'll also be able to "use" the 300mm (or 450mm equivalent) range of these lenses until I get the official telephoto lens for my set.



The way I see it, being that I'm still a clueless beginner, wouldn't it be better to first learn the ropes of lens cleaning and changing and maintenance with "paper-weight" lenses and then move up to the big guns when I'm ready for them?

Another benefit of getting not-so-good lenses: I'll be able to learn what sorts of limitations the lenses have, as well as learn what sorts of limitations I have. Then, when I start splurging more money on some quality lenses, I'll already have some knowledge as to how I could benefit from those lenses.

In other words, I'll be working my way up the ladder rather than plunging in head-first into the deep end and not knowing up from down. (Did that make ANY sense?)

I did buy the nifty-fifty 50mm 1.8 prime lens as well, just because we all need one, right?

So, here's looking forward to some so-so pictures from the so-so photographer using so-so lenses.

Please bear with me.

Hopefully, I'll soon be able to post better pictures (from an improved photographer using so-so lenses) and then ultimately even better pictures (from an even more improved photographer using quality lenses).

All in good time.

*Oh, by the way, being that bhphoto is on vacation, that sort of influenced my decision a little bit too. . . ha ha ha.

Nikon D70s on Preorder in Japan!

Great news! The Nikon D70s is already on Preorder in Japan.



At Kitamura, it will cost ¥129800 yen for the Lens Kit, or just ¥99800 for the body itself. link

And, as a bonus, they are throwing in a 1GB Compact Flash Chip, which for us locals in Japan, usually costs near ¥20000.

The release date will be April 27th; much much sooner than I had expected.

Alas, no news on the D50 though. . .

*Even more exciting is that the prices of D70 bodies and kits are falling quickly!

Buying a Digital Camera in Japan

I have lived in Japan for three years.

And within those three years I have purchased three digital cameras.

I bought the s45 in Akihabara, in August 2003.



Akihabara is a great cultural experience (neon-lights galore and stores upon stores of electronic doo-ditties). But price-wise, it was sort of disappointing. And kind of sleazy too, especially with guys coming up from behind you and whispering "pssstttt. . . duty-free." But, buy I did, though without the benefits of duty-free shopping because I actually live in Japan. The cost of the camera was ¥40000, about $50 cheaper than the states at that time.

In November 2004, I bought the s70.



This time, I noticed how much cheaper digital cameras were in the states, and that in general, the Japanese were still paying near MSRP prices. Even now, the s70 is selling for about ¥55000, tax inclusive.

Luckily, Hung was nice enough to ship over an s70 that I had ordered through Amazon.

But, my luck was not to last. Last month during a trip down to Sakurajima in Kagoshima-ken with my sister Liz, I ran over my precious camera with the rented bicycle.

d'oh!

So, off camera shopping again.

I had plenty of s70 and s45 batteries (one NB-2LH and two NB-2L batteries), so it was a bonus that the new Canon デジタルN used the same batteries. ***actually, I'm not so sure about the NB-2L batteries because Canon support said that the Canon Rebel XT was only tested with the NB-2LH. If anybody has any information about compatibility issues, please please let me know!***

Quick start-up times, a small portable size, an 8 megapixel large CMOS chip coupled with the DigicII processor, and the Canon quality I've enjoyed; such were the main deciding qualities for me.

Oh, and it looked and felt really cool!



So once again, I was busy researching and reviewing and lusting.

And out popped the calculator.

Was it cheaper to buy it from the states and have it sent over, or was it cheaper to buy it here in Japan?

The Canon デジタルN Lens Kit sells for about ¥119800 here in Japan. The Canon Rebel XT Lens Kit goes for about $999 in the states. In addition to the exchange rate, one must also take into account that Japan's price includes the tax. . . and unless you purchase out-of-state, then tax must be added to the Canon Rebel XT's price. So, surprisingly enough, the basic kits were comparable in price. Shockers!

But alas, it was still too expensive for me.

Not to worry. We all know how wonderful internet shopping is in America. Deals and coupons and specials galore! Dell seemed the best place to cash in on some crazy savings, and so I obsessively tracked bensbargains and fatwallet for the best combinations and the best timing.

As for Japan, I did remember that sometimes the electronics superstores around here had some minor sales. BestDenki is generally worthless for good deals, but YamadaDenki sometimes has great point incentives (like 15-20%) or even some big discounts instead. So off to do some local research.

Luck had it that YamadaDenki was selling it's Kit for ¥119800, but with a 11% point incentive. But, what would I buy with that ¥13000 yen? I had plenty of batteries. And compact flash cards were about twice as expensive here than back in the states. Being an electronics superstore, YamadaDenki didn't have lenses or specialized bags or filters or anything. Unless I wanted to buy a rice cooker, I was pretty much stuck with a whole lot of points. I'll pass.

Last on my stop was Kitamura Camera. This store's prices caught my eye a few times now, but the strangest thing is that each and every store has different specials. The first Daito Kitamura I went to had the kit selling for the normal price. But, because YamadaDenki was having a sale, the closer Sasebo Kitamura had a "let's beat YamadaDenki" sale, and had the kit for ¥101400, with tax included! Whoo-hoo!

The take home message is this: Japan isn't that expensive if you shop around a bit and check out the stores in person, and to remember that each individual store has different pricing strategies.

I personally prefer Kitamura Camera and Yamada Denki.

*bonus! Kitamura tossed in a free camera bag. It's huge, but I suppose they expect me to fill it up with lenses. I get the hint and will gladly oblige!

**double bonus! The kit lens in Japan is the EF-S 18-55mm USM version.

Canon Rebel XT (or Kiss デジタルN in Japan)

I finally bought my camera.

After running over my beloved Canon S70 with my bicycle last month, I was both heart-broken and thrilled. I now had a chance to buy a dSLR, something that I've had my sights on for some time.

When the Kiss デジタルN came out in February, it was exciting to see that Canon had addressed many of the issues that kept the original Kiss デジタル (or the Rebel) trailing behind the Nikon D70.

In Japan, this camera is primarily marketed towards first time users of SLR-type cameras, digital or otherwise.



In other words, the primary market is composed of mothers and fathers who might be buying these high-tech gadgets to capture their children's raptuous youth, who just might happen to belong to a different ethnic group, of course.

So, qualities like the weight and the size (and maybe even the "toyish" feel to it) are not really detrimental at all, but in fact, are generally seen as positive.

I, though without youth to raptuously capture, am a newbie too, and the Kiss デジタルN feels really comfortable in my hands.

So, there you have it. It's going to be a lot of fun now with my new acquisition. There is so much to learn about photography now that I have taken the first step.

First Post!

Greetings.

This will be the official start of SirMiggs's Domain: The Blog.

Done.