Our 7yo has recently got into a habit of having a having a little cup of tea at night, nearly every night!
She boils the water herself, fills up her little teapot with a teabag, fills up the little container of milk and sugar, brings it over to the couch, and makes herself a cuppa. My wifey and I can’t help but smile.
Adorable 
Cup of tea
So once I’ve decided what type of lens I want to get, one of the next steps is to do some research. I normally group review sites into 2 types – the ones where an individual does a detailed review, sometimes quite scientific; and the community sites where people can contribute their own personal reviews, often a mixed bag with some praises but often reporting faults and problems.
One thing to remember is that there can often be a range in quality of lenses that come out from the manufacturer. Sometimes I come across quite opposing reviews, related to lens quality. Like any community review site, it’s hard to know whether it’s the expectations or expertise of the person reviewing it, or whether they just got a bad sample.
But as a general rule of thumb, more “reputable” brands, like Nikon and Canon, probably have better quality control than some of the “cheaper” brands. So if you do buy a lens made by Tokina, Tamron, Sigma, etc. it’s worth trying the lens out yourself in a shop before buying it. If that’s not possible, ensure that they have a returns policy that you can use if you think the lens is not up to scratch.
Review Sites
Detailed tests on lenses at Photozone.de
Photozone.de – http://www.photozone.de/all-tests - The reviews at Photozone are good if you’re into scientific analysis of the lenses themselves. They publish results of tests on distortion, vignetting, MTF (resolution) and CA (chromatic aberration) that other sites don’t get into. Many people look for “bargains” in Sigma, Tamron and Tokina lenses by comparing the numbers from this site. If you’re a professional who wants quality down to the numeric level, then this site is for you.
Solid personal reviews of lenses at KenRockwell.com
KenRockwell.com – Ken is a Nikon enthusiast and US photographer who runs his own personal website with lots of photography information and reviews. His reviews are very personal, candid and he tells it as it is. His experience with a wide range of lenses means he gives good comparisons and alternative suggestions. http://www.kenrockwell.com/index.htm
Lots of detailed articles and reviews at ByThom.com
ByThom – http://www.bythom.com/index.htm - Thomas Hogan is a nature photographer who has published many books, including many photography ones. He has written an amazing number of articles on his website including many reviews on lenses too. His reviews on Nikno lenses have a personal feel with good practical comments, drawbacks and positives on each lens, and again Thomas is able to draw on experience with other lenses in the Nikon range to compare them.
Fancy scientific results of lenses at DPReview.com
DPReview.com – http://www.dpreview.com/ - I find DPReview a good site to use to keep in touch with the latest photography news. They have good functional reviews on camera bodies, but their lens review section is fairly small. Of the reviews that they do have, they cover the functional and physical elements of each lens, as well as tests on Sharpness, Chromatic Aberation, Distortion and Falloff.
Community Review Sites
Lists of lenses with community reviews at FredMiranda.com
FredMiranda – http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/index.php - Fred has built up a great site with many good community reviews. This is one of the ones I usually go to when I start researching lenses.
Lens reviews at PhotographyReview.com
PhotographyReview – http://www.photographyreview.com/reviewscrx.aspx - This site doesn’t just have lens review sections. It covers nearly everything photography related! They have a good number of consumer reviews on lenses.
A major part of upgrading your SLR equipment is buying new lenses. When I bought my first SLR and digital SLRs, I opted for “kits” – basically, the digital SLR body, and a “kit” lens. The kit lens is usually a general purpose lens. By this I mean, a medium zoom lens with variable minimum aperture – this is probably what the majority of amateur consumers need. Something with maybe 3-5x zoom.
But after a while, you may get the urge of “How can I take better photos?”. Of course there’s things that one can learn and improve on like technique, composition, style, etc, but there’s also the equipment. Different lenses gives the photographer different options for capturing the moment. When I started out, I was first overwhelmed by the number of lenses! How do I know which one to get? They all seemed so similar! Some seemed so expensive!
The first thing I did was to start doing a lots of reading up on apertures and lenses. Understanding aperture and how it can affect your photos, its relationship with shutter speed and depth of field, is important so that you can determine what lens will suit your particular shooting needs. There are many photography sites on the net with more info on this. Here’s one site to get started – http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/category/basic-photography/what-the-heck/
Then I sat down and tried to determine what type of photos I took the most and how I wanted to improve these. By looking through my photos and thinking of the times when I usually take out the camera, I discovered lots were of the kids, photos of them doing things but also semi-posed portraits. I basically wanted to take better shots of the kids at home and at parties and family outings. From looking at other people’s photos and portrait photos, I know I wanted to blur out the background and capture their face sharply. I knew I could get close to the kids and they’d be mostly stationary – so a fixed short focal length lens would do. To blur the background, a large aperture is required (which means a low aperture number, eg. 1.4, 1.8 or 2.8). So, out of this analysis, I bought the 50mm 1.8 lens. The great thing about this lens is that it’s pretty cheap too! And the photos of friends and kids that this lens can take are amazing – definitely a step up from the kit lens.
When looking at the type of shots I found also found a lot of other types of shots that I take, for example:
Unfortunately, there really isn’t a single lens that specialises in all these different scenes. For example,
In the end, I wrote up a lens buying plan – which ones I wanted, in which order of priority. Mine went something like:
Of course, this is a plan that has to be refined later based on lens model and cost.
For family and friends that ask me about how to start upgrading up from their kit lenses, I usually recommend that they think about what type of shots they want to improve on. And ask questions like, “Will they subject move a lot?”, “Will it be quite dark?”, etc. Once the general lens focal length and aperture requirements are determined, the fun begins! It’s time to choose the lens model and lens manufacturer within your budget!
I enjoy reading other people’s blog posts on their typical day. It’s fascinating to see how different people’s days go, what order they do things in. It’s made me think back of what my typical day might have been 1, 5 or even 10 years ago… or even without kids!! I’ve been thinking of doing one of these every few years, but had trouble choosing a day to do – our lives are currently so busy that each day is very different. Anyway, on Wednesday this week, I recorded what happened (to the approximate 5 minutes):
7.20 The alarm goes off, but as usual I lean over and smack the “Sleep” button, knowing that it gives me an extra 9 minutes. Why 9?
7.30 I get out of bed after Wifey, go to the kids room and open up their blinds/shutters to let light in to wake them up.
7.35 I trudge to the kitchen to make breakfast for the kids whilst they get up dressed for school.
7.40 A mandatory pit stop – check Facebook for any new notifications.
7.45 Kids aren’t in the kitchen yet. I call out “Your breakfast is ready!” which usually makes them come. They sit and have their cereal while I stand and have my muesli.
7.50 Pack the kids lunches and notes folders into their school bags.
7.55 After breakfast, the kids make their way to the bathroom to wash up and do their hair. I iron my shirt and clean up too. Wifey leaves for work – bye!!
8.05 Check on the kids cleaning up progress - they still haven’t brushed their teeth! The 9yo was looking through a photo album and the 7yo was drawing at her desk! Aaarghhh..
8.20 Get the kids to double check their bags are packed, put on their shoes, get into the car to go to school.
8.25 Drive to school! We left a bit earlier than normal today.
8.35 After finding a carpark, I walk them down, give them a goodbye hug and kiss.
8.40 Back in the car to face the morning traffic and drive to work. I turn on the radio to 720 to listen to the morning banter on current events.
8.55 Arrived at work!
4.45 Had to leave work early today to take over the kids – means I have to make time up later in the week. Received 44 emails, sent 6 emails, attended 2 meetings – a bit less busy than normal today.
5.05 Finally home, wifey goes to work again for an after school music event. I raid the pantry for some food and drink and chat to the kids about their day at school.
5.15 Get the kids into the shower and I clean up too.
5.40 I look at the practice chart we made up but then realise our 7yo has a violin lesson today. I do some violin practice with her.
5.55 As motivation to complete violin practice, we play some Buzz Junior afterwards to chill out.
6.10 “Have you done your homework yet?” “No, not yet!” Argghhh.. I sit with both kids one at a time to monitor and assist with their homework.
6.40 We hop back in the car to drive to the violin lesson. It’s a bit later than normal today.
7.35 Violin lesson finishes. I look at the time, “Kids – it’s a bit late for me to cook? What would you like for dinner? McDonald’s, Hungry Jacks or KFC?”. We decide KFC and buy takeaway. This is not usual!
7.50 Home with KFC dinner. We gnaw through the flavoured chicken while enjyoing Iron Chef. Feed the dog.
8.35 Whoa, look at the time. Round up the kids to brush their teeth and change to PJs
8.40 I lay next to our 7yo to listen to her do her nightly reading of a Little Miss book
8.50 I lay next to our 9yo to listen to her do her nightly reading. Tonight it’s more of Charlotte’s Web.
9.00 Leave the kids to go to sleep. I trudge back to the kitchen to clean up dinner and unload the dishwasher, check the kids school lunches for the next day.
9.10 The pile of dirty clothes in the laundry is starting to overflow the dirty clothes basket. So I unload the dryer, transfer the clean clothes from the washer to the dryer and load the washer with more dirty clothes.
9.25 My wifey gets home (argh! before I had a chance to play my PS3!), we catch up with the day’s events.
9.40 We have a cup of tea and watch some TV (tonight it’s Summer Heights High, but lately we’ve been watching Heroes Season 3 or West Wing Season 4), then do some Facebooking. I manage to get maybe 10 minutes of Wipeout HD in on the PS3.
10.45 We clean up, head to bed, I do more nightly reading in bed. Tonight it’s more of Brisingr, the third in the series of Eragon.
11.30 Lights out, get rest ready for another marathon tomorrow.
And so the cycle continues…
Just spent a solid 30 minutes doing maths homework with our 9yo daughter.
And I ask the same questions that I did at school – why are we learning these things? Will we use them?
I mean, isosceles and equilateral triangles – I’ve never used these outside of school! I don’t walk down the street thinking “Whoa! That’s a nice isosceles triangle!”
And long division? She understands the concepts of division, but why do they need to learn manual long division? No-one does that manually – we have the power of the calculator and computers. And the irony is that I have to be patient and enthusiastic and encourage her to learn it!
It seems the only reason why I learnt these things at school is to teach my own kids.
*sigh*
She wasn’t in a good mood. But an episode of So You Think You Can Dance cheered all of us up afterwards.
Airports are such centers of human emotion. And such contrasts depending on whether you’re at the arrival or departure gates.
I love the airport arrival ritual… the waiting, anticipation. Seeing others come through the doors from customs, eyes searching for a familiar face, some people running up to greet them with huge bear hugs, others with a “G’day” and a handshake.. emotions of waiting, then instant joy. Yes, we are human.. and airports definitely show that!
We were there to pick up my parents. The kids were excited, waiting with balloons and flowers and a little sign they made. To while away the time, we played some games like, “Guess how many more people until they come out?”, or “Which door will they come out of?” or “Which airlines are those air stewardesses from?” or “They were in Phuket (because they are wearing a Diesel T-shirt!)” And the kids played tricks on me like “Here they are! Hahhaa made you look!”.
And then they arrived and it was hugs, kisses and smiles all around while we started to share stories of what’s been happening…
iPhone Plan Investigation
So I ran into a friend on the weekend with an iPhone. And it was so cool. He gave us a quick tour of what it can do, how you can use it as an iTunes remote control, surf the web via your existing wifi connection, touch screen, etc. Droooll…
I think my current mobile’s contract plan is nearly up, so I started investigating iPhone plans on Vodafone and Optus. I started up Excel and entered in various usage rates, included caps, and made pretty graphs. However, after all this geekness, I have come back to the fundamental conclusion – choosing the cheapest plan all depends on how much you use your phone.
I wish I had all my mobile phone call history in a database so that I can query against and estimate expected costs against various plans. But I don’t. So I have to scan recent bills and guesstimate how many calls I make. I think I make at most 1 call a day, and usually short ones like “Where are you?”, or “I’m here now”. No, not a heavy user.
Anyway, the Optus $49 cap plans look the cheapest and best for me given my mobile phone usage. With 250MB included data and $300 included talk, it should cover me for an average of 1 call per day of up to 2 minutes and 1 SMS every 2 days with much more cap left over. Of course, there’s always the other “deals” companies throw in, and also their support and network coverage, which makes it hard to make a decision based on typical monthly cost alone.
*Sigh*
I guess the cheapest plan is really to stick with my current phone!
More details here:
Vodafone iPhone 3G Offers: http://store.vodafone.com.au/iphone/
Optus iPhone 3G Offers: http://www.optus.com.au/iphone
I knew this day would come eventually.
Our family were all seated around our little dining table last night for the Sunday meal. Our 7yo was in her usual happy talkative mood.
We’re eating away. I’ve got a spoonful of food in my mouth.
Our 7yo asks, “What’s a penis?”
My wife’s and my eyes meet and I try to finish chewing and swallowing my food without gagging with laughter.
“Errr.. where did you hear that word?”
“It’s on The Simpsons movie! They say, “Thank you Lord for the… penis”". (Or something like that).
My wife shoots a scornful look at me. She doesn’t really like the kids watching the Simpsons, but on Friday night, I thought I’d borrow the Simpsons movie to watch with the kids whilst Wifey was out at a dinner.
Oh dear.
“Errr.. it’s a willy.”
“OHHHH!!!”
Luckily we’ve already had an introductory talk with our 7yo on willies. So we didn’t have to dive into that over our dinner
So we pulled the kids all over Sydney and Melbourne during the holidays. We didn’t really plan much kid oriented activities – just shopping and some sight seeing. And did they get bored. I think there’s only so many Melbourne arcades a kid can look at. And it’s hard to motivate kids to walk somewhere when there isn’t an enjoyable end goal. Nup, no museum, zoo, It’s a Small World ride… I guess we could’ve done the Taronga and Melbourne Zoos or Luna Park, but us parents wanted to explore the shops and cafes that are unique to Sydney and Melbourne!
What brought the most joy on our trip? The hotel pool. An hour or so of splashing around in the hotel’s heated pool brought instant laughter, smiles and energy that definitely was missing when walking up and down Chapel or Smith Street.
I think our next holiday will have to be back to a South East Asian resort. They definitely love those the best
One of our goals for our recent trip to Sydney was to watch My Fair Lady. An Opera Australia production, it starred one of our good friends, Taryn Fiebig, as Eliza Doolittle. Unfortunatley we weren’t there for the opening week, so we had to see the very first of the public preview shows, a fundraising event.
And so we rushed, half sick, in a cab from our hotel to the Theatre Royal with only 5 minutes to spare. It was a beautiful auditorium but frustratingly it had no center aisle so we had to squeeze past many patrons to our centrally located seats (sorry all!). And they did supply booster cushions for the kids!
Luckily we did get there in time, because it was an amazing production, so professional in all ways. You can tell that a production is good when even the chorus sing so well and so perfectly in tune (maybe too perfectly for the low English class!). The revolving set worked remarkably well as it meant scene changes were very fast, and I especially liked how there was some action in between the front and back stages, like being able to view into the side of the pub and dancing in between the stages – what a clever idea to continue the action and mood between scene changes.
But it was the leads that stole the show. I’ve seen the movie many times and played in the pit orchestra in Perth many years ago so I’ve heard all the dialogue before, but I couldn’t help laughing out many times during this show, even to tears. Taryn shone as Eliza, it’s almost like the role was made for her. Her delivery and timing was great, her singing just right, the costumes amazing (that hat at the races!), and her English cockney accent, well.. not quite as authentic as I would’ve liked, but good enough.
Richard E Grant seemed extremely natural playing Professor Higgins, his acting background definitely showing how at ease and professional he is at portraying the mannerisms of a character. And John Wood as Eliza’s father was hilarious. The cast were all good, the set was extravagant, the lighting was atmospheric, the costumes authentic, the orchestra in fine form.
And my pet peeve – sound? No problems at all – the sound was great in the Theatre Royal! It didn’t sound processed, it sounded so natural I wondered whether there was any amplification at all – the sign of sound engineering.
My only complaint? Really one about the musical itself – I reckon the first act is too long and climatic compared to the second act – leaving the second act not as engaging. Maybe the ball should open up the second act? Hmmm…
In any case, our kids loved the show. We still can’t get over the comic delivery of “How do you do?” and our 7yo’s favourite line is “Move your bloomin’ arse!”.
More info and tickets available here: http://www.myfairlady.org.au/
