Thursday, December 31, 2009

On the Future of the Photographic Business

1789 was a year of revolution. It was a year when men and women seeking for freedom finally unleashed their roar. 1868 was a year of revolution. It was a year when Japan, the first geographical Asian country, opened its doors to the western world, therefore dramatically changed the modern history of Mankind. 1987 was also a year of revolution. It was a year when Canon ultimately abandoned her original FD system to embark on an unexplored journey for the quest of faster, quieter and more accurate focusing system – the Electro-Focus.

It was scorned by veterans: slow, noisy and out of focused. But that atmosphere did not prevent a group of photographers from moving to the greener pasture. They are the sports photographers. Their opinions, bias and likings would dramatically change the photographic world in years to come, and indeed, they had. In the belief that the new system will allow all her users to grab that victory kick from Pelé, sports photographers swayed. They swirled to the Canon camp, and Nikon never had the chance to invite them back.

The reason is simple. The change from Canon was revolutionary. When photographers changed to Canon, the news agencies followed suit. When one camera is bought, a system will be built up. After 1987, even though Nikon has also produced AF with comparable power, the change is non-reversible. When a system is at stake, everyone will think thrice. Change is no longer an easy matter.

In 2006, Konica Minolta announced its withdrawal from the throat-cutting photographic sector, selling all its assets to electronic giant, Sony. Under the eyes of Canon, Nikon, and various other dominating companies, Konica Minolta performed a magic. It was so amazing that it was a perfect recipe to another revolutionary idea. The strategy was to stick an image stabilizer to the camera sensor, and probably patented it.

This is no small move. With this, Sony made her first bang into the market, terrifying all her competitors. This is because not only is Sony rich, which means she can transfer large amount of funds from all her other business sectors, her strategy is A-bomb equivalent. An amateur photographer may probably be fully aware of the various gimmicks introduced by the photographic companies: High ISO, dust-cleaner, anti-reflective coating… Among one of these gimmicks, which has real functions, is the “Image Stabilization” function.

Canon has the “IS” lenses, Nikon has the “VR” lenses, and Sigma has the “OS” equivalent. In simplicity, this function negates the effect of handshake from photographers, thus reducing the chance of creating a blurred image. The method to do this is by incorporating the complex mechanism into each and every lens, thereby producing an “anti-shake” lens. This is great. Photographers no longer need to follow strictly to the “1 over focal-length” rule to decide shutter speed. A picture can now be taken at 100mm with a speed of 1/6 second. This is previously unthinkable and now it is achieved.

Of course, everything has its price. An added function like this can often double the cost of lens. For example, a Canon EF 70-200mm F/4L can cost $550 while her IS capable twin costs $1100. This is the market value of the anti-shake function. So the consumers are now given a tough choice to make.

Then along the way came Sony, whispering to the market about her new idea. It stirred a whirlpool. With Sony, you can now enjoy the benefits of anti-vibration on all lenses without exception because the very mechanism is fitted snugly in the body. With half the money, Sony users get to use the function. We are talking about thousands of dollars of difference here and Sony instantly sweeps the “new-entry” market.

If this blow alone is not enough to threaten Canon and Nikon’s supremacy, Sony has yet another strategy. It has been a few years since DSLRs become more affordable to average users. More people are now buying a digital SLR to take a picture of a city at night with the built-in flash popped up, hoping to brighten up the scene. Veterans again scoff at them, but Sony cherishes their support. In this time and age, buyers are less concerned with the iota difference in image contrast and sharpness. They are direct. They just want to know if their set-up will ensure a “good and clear” picture. If not, what can be bought to solve the problem? The easy answer is to equip the camera with an anti-shake mechanism. Now the buyer asks which one works and which is cheaper. Sony stands out and says it does the job with only half the money. Deal.

Sony may not share the same reputation as Canon or Nikon, but it definitely has the support of one group of photography dudes, the new comers. They want to look professional, but they want it reasonably cheap too. Sony’s camera system fits this goal. The photographic market is no longer comprised solely by true professionals, greenhorns and serious amateurs are expanding their representations with considerable speed. With this trend in head, it is not hard to see why Sony will unlikely fail, if not flourish.

Further more, Sony is not poor. As one of the biggest multi-national corporation in the world, intra-departmental transfer of humongous funding is expected. Meanwhile, Sony has also inherited the full knowledge and essence of Konica Minolta. This intangible asset helped Sony to automatically assume the market of the “Minolta Population”.

Ultimately, the photographic business realm has already gone through another revolution. Disregarding the aristocratic Leica and other premature companies, the market will very soon be facing a tri-polar competition, with Sony raging a new commercial warfare. For sure, consumers will now be offered more choices and an informed decision is needed more than any other time, for when a camera is bought, camp-hopping is just not an option.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Time for a break!


Afternoons! (:

Back from MRT Station and caught these little creatures nearby. Tailed them to their resting area and snapped away -_-.

I've no idea which is better - the first one has a dragonfly whose wings are in a boring position. The second one has a dragonfly with wings in a more appealing, more exciting position, in return for a grainy picture -_-! Help me decide! ):

rgds
Ziren!



Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Noodles!


I shot this with an exposure of 1/10sec, while zooming in at the subject during exposure time. Adds an energetic punch to the picture! (:

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Uncertainty CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE!



Evenings everyone (:

I live in Chiltern Park, it's been around for, what, 15years. Beside my condo, there's this newer, better condo called Springbloom. (the only down point is that they don't hold celebrations for events anymore since a fellow resident complained that she couldn't sleep) We're just a wall apart. I decided to climb over this wall like I'm escaping from prison, trying to avoid CCTVs all around. It was probably successful since I made it back unscathed!

Anyway, here are some random shots in this condo. enjoy! (:

On a sidenote, guys please start uploading pics here too!

-Ziren!

p.s. my favourite's the bird (: so cuute!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Focus.


Afternoons Everyone!

I know it's been awhile since the Holympics passed, but hey, I kinda like this one! :D It's my classmate slicing the ball in the inter-house tabletennis games.

Ziren 16/10/09.



Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Panning attempt!

Couple of weeks back, I decided to embark on a treacherous 17km hike with two of my friends, both from RI. One of them's Sec 1, the other's Sec 4. Bkt Timah looked good, but hey, Mcritchie looked better. There was something in Mcritchie other than forests.
Anyway, we started from Mcritchie Reservior Park and ended at a place called Venus Link. (it's still ringing in my mind - I've been considering this place as 'holy'. ) There really wasn't much along the way, most of the time we had completely random conversations usually ending in "what the hell =="..."
We were lucky enough to avoid the downpour that arrived in the evening. The sky seemed overcast and we were thinking along our journey "Lol gg, we're gonna be trapped in this place drenched and lost."
Fortunately, it started raining ten minutes after we walked to the bus stop outside Ai Tong School. (Venus link was somewhere there). Relieved, hmph.
After dinner at KFC, and out of boredom, I tried panning the cars that zoomed past and I got :
The rest were generally more failed panning attempts.

Wang Ziren.

P.S. Uploaded all the photos took far too long with the pathetic Blogger Uploader. Drop by at my Facebook page for the whole album of fun! :D Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018364&id=1333745314&l=32c2767ea9

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

"Huang Long" Pool, Lushan, JiuJiang. (JiangXi, China)

This one isnt Huang Long Tan (Weep), this is just another random pool of water! xD Dumb camera cant alter shutter speed.
Hi All... This holidays I went to many places in China! One of the most memorable was the huang Long Tan on Lushan (1000m altitude or so). BLogger was blocked from Chinese IP due to political reasons, so unfortunately I had to upload when I return. Love the water!

Thursday, May 14, 2009


Taken on way back from MOELC.
-ShiShan


Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Monday, May 11, 2009

Sunday, May 10, 2009

"Monkey Montage"!



I was in Macritchie Reservoir the other day, trekking along this route by the reservoir. Then I saw these group of monkeys... And they posed. Cute and Cuddleeeey. 


Saturday, May 9, 2009

This was taken in the late afternoon. There was this huge cloud covering the sky. The setting sun then printed its light on it, and thus giving me the wonderful silhouette.
-yybmage

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

-RIPC '09! :)

-Michael!

Monday, April 27, 2009


My friends said that the picture is pretty good so I decided to post it up.

Er...Just delete it if it isnt good enough...
It looks like a little photoshopped though.....
Taken With a random Handphone 5.0 mega pixels
-Harold

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Muriwai Beach, West of Auckland

Muriwai Beach!

Looking out of Maori Bay (West of Auckland)


Got this in Maori Bay (somewhere in North Island, New Zealand) last year December Holidays. A storm was brewing! NZ Rocks! >.<
-Ziren

Saturday, April 11, 2009

First post of the year ?!

         It has been ages since anyone has posted anything on this blog! So, to rekindle the fervency of this blog, I would post some pictures that I have taken recently (they can be found in my Flickr page). The pictures were taken under an "assignment" setting for my friends undertaking an art project. I was suppose to take some pictures relavent to the themes "children" and "rebellious teenagers". Below are some samples: 









         Hope to see more posts soon!


Zeyang

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Sunrise @ Pasir Ris

Power of the tamron 17-50mm XD

Shot during my pri sch class chalet.

Av F2.8 (handheld)

-zhaoyang

Monday, January 5, 2009

Holga Scans

Just got my 2nd roll of Holga shots back.


Composition's kinda screwed. I blame parallax. =|


Honestly I can't decide which to choose. The one on the bottom is the uneditted scan. The one above it was photoshopped. Photoshop makes it look better, but should I really be photoshopping film shots? It feels wrong.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Orange


Since Zeyang's got some lovely cat pics up, I'm going to show off my pet stray here.. :) 

His name is Orange.

Taken with the Canon 40D (the latest, biggest in RIPC's fleet) at ISO 3200 at night.

-ms koh