Happy Birthday and All That Jazz… (a.k.a. Dammit I feel olde…)

Thank You all, all 5,000 of you who are in my “Friend” list in Facebook for the “Many Happy Returns”, “Happy Birthday” (one of you even typed, “Happy BuffDay”. “Buff Day”? whoah hahahahahahah) “Selamat Hari Jadi/Ulang Tahun/Puja Umur” greetings yesterday. The Wall (The Pink Flyod number comes to mind la plak!) of my Facebook (do you noticed some FB status updates are very the “Emo” macham kat MySpace. What to do, I have no choice but to un-”Friend” the poor bugger lah, bikin semak Wall aku ajer. Ni kes kes keluh kesah duka lara merana nestapa pasti-nya sebab jiwa kacau tak cukup sembahyang. Cuba hang sembahyang, insya-Allah, jiwa tenang aman sangka baik sentiasa dan status update FB anda ceria positif yang membacha-nya turut serta gumbira bertambah-tambah kasih sayang terjalin di antara semua bangsa sekalian manusia sejagat sekian adanya….)

Now where was I?

Oh, The Wall. I had to disable my Facebook Wall due to the numerous posts there lah, it was a trickle of best wishes posting around 11 30pm the 25th April, and by midnight 26th April there started to come like water from a burst dam by 2pm I kennot tahan ady (Are any of you readers are olde enough to remember the story of a little Dutch boy who put his finger in a hole to stop a leak from a dyke? Did any of you really BELIEVE in that story ? Now, after Katrina, I dontch lah. Oh I forgot, we as Malaysian dontch read  anything unless the Gomen told us so so that we can pass exams and such. Now what lah the correlation between the dam and the dyke? I oso dontch know, this morning when I woke up I suddenly feels like blogging again and nah amik nko, here comes the “flood of thots burst forth from the broken dam of  Ted Adnan minda” lah *winks*) I disable my Wall lah.

Now you send me Greetings via Inbox and tagged post me from your Wall oso. You: Clever, Me: *LOL*

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Last Saturday, I attended a ngopi-ngopi and later makan lunch session organised by DSC World Sdn Bhd. They’re the Excellent Fella who sell them Pentax camera to you lah, if you dontch knoe ady. Now what lah “Ted Adnan”, the ex-Sony user (I had the A100, A700 and the A900 with a few KM mount lenses and a Carl Zeiss of two oso got in the mix), who teaches lighting workshop using portable flash (Location Portraiture Lighting Technique Workshop, Nikon CLS Lighting Workshop, I Light It My Way Lighting Workshop. Wah Lau, what a shameless self promo!) utilising Nikon and Canon flashes (I dig the Canon 580 EX II features, finally got something similar like the Nikon SB-800 functionality, if case  you’re wondering about your equipment “not good enuff”, trust me, what you have is already good, no need to “upgrade” one. That being said, if you have a Nikon SB-900 flash and regretted the choice due to it’s so call “over heating” problem, sell to me cheap-cheap or trade with my Nikon SB-800. Inbox me in Facebook for details…) and uses mainly Nikon gear for work has got to do with Pentax lah?

Well, I used to own a Pentax AF 645N film in the days just before the deegeetal revolution hits our shore. Compared to the Pentax 6×7 medium format camera that was cleverly designed to look and “handle” like a 35mm small format camera (have you seen how big and heavy the 55mm glass was? It’s so big it looks obscene, like a phallic symbol or something. But I digress.) it feels light like I am holding a feather, the 645, (with Auto Focus what a novelty for me it was, that AF thing on a medium format camera, ahh, those were the days…) that is.

The Pentax 645D, with a 120mm Macro lens at the back...

Feel free to download a higher res file here for you to use as a screen saver, click here oso can, same thing oso.

Why a medium format camera?

Here’s why…

A print from the Pentax 645D .DNG file...

Now you know lah,HUGE prints! Straight from the camera tu! No need interpolation in Photoshop or Genuine Fractals and such lah! (That means less post workflow more sleep at night). Bear in mind the Pentax 645D is not a “full frame” camera (if you dontch know already, let me explain lah. The olde Pentax AF 645N camera uses the 120mm film format and it produces roughly 6cm x 4.5cm image on the film, hence the “645″ moniker lah. The 6×7 number in the Pentax 6×7, which later becomes the Pentax 67, and much later turned into the 67 ii produces an image area of roughly 6cm x 7cm. The Pentax 645D has a “crop factor” of roughly x1.3 (or thereabouts. I’m an Artist not a Mathematician, so there.) but at 40MP it sure beats the biggest resolution the current DLSR have right now lah.

Now you must be wondering, what lah the hoo-ha about the the Pentax lah. Hassle Blood™ oso got 40MP, heck, it’s even bigger sensor size oso. Well, if you’re a Hassle Blood™ WD 40  connoisuer, you will probably turn your nose up at the Pentax (none of them Japanese marque is ever gonna trump the HB “quality”, you connoisuer fella gonna say), for a 35mm users who appreciates weather resistant and dust proof (with 70 seals, as per the Press Kit,  I didnt actually count them lah) and NEED a bigger file size (landscape artist, take note), for 35mm users who got feed up “living” with 35mm lenses inherent design flaw, for portrait artist (*ahem*, which I, am one, if you dontch knoe ady) who desire the superior image clarity from a medium format lenses, Artist, who kennot justify the purchase price of a Hassle Blood™, (which btw, was Made in Japan™ Under License®, so that’s why the price is ridiculous) this camera, is for you.

Well, if you can afford the RM40k “entry fee” that is (on that note, highest spec 35mm DSLR pricing is about there oso kan? So it’s actually affordable, IMHO that is). Nice number, that RM40K (I just round it up lah, the list price says RM34,888.oo* (* limited period offer – w/55mm lens, extra battery, Sandisk Extreme™ Pro 32G SD card and an unspecified Orkio bag, according to the Press Kit), the 40MP CCD sensor size, plus I turned 40 (last year, heh heh heh) all tells me it’s the tool that I shall need for my next upgrade.

Now, if only all 5,000 of my “Friend” in Facebook who posted and sent Birthday greeting in my Facebook Wall and Inbox sent RM10.00 each, I can afford the Pentax 645D right away , when the stock arrives in Malaysia that is *winks*