In conjunction with the installation of the 16th DYMM SPB Yang DiPertuan Agong on 30.07.2019, which was declared as a public holiday, I took the opportunity to do some bird photography at KL Bird Park together with some friends from ASFON WP photography group.  We arrived at the park by 8:45am and we were among the first few visitors into the park that morning.  We brought our sons to for the outing.

My main setup (and the only setup) is the SONY a7RIII with the SONY FE 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS (SEL100400GM) lens and SONY FE 2.0x Teleconverter (SEL20TC).  All the shots were handheld because I didn't want to haul my tripod at the park. The weather was nice with clear blue skies after the morning light rain.

Here are some of the shots taken during the outing.

This morning the sunrise sky was clear and I tested out the SONY FE 2.0x Teleconverter (SEL20TC) with the SONY FE 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS (SEL100400GM).  This was shot handheld at 1,200mm (APSC cropped mode), f/11, 1/1600 sec, ISO 3200. Post processed in Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 with Topaz Labs DeNoise AI and Luminar 3 plugins.  Click on the image below for link to my Flickr page for full resolution. Thank you.

SONY a7III + SEL100400GM + SEL20TC, 800mm, 1/500 sec, f/11, ISO 400, handheld.  Post processed in Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 with Topaz Labs DeNoise AI and Luminar 3 plugins. ​​

#nurismailphotography #sony #sonymalaysia #alpha#a7III #SEL100400GM #teleconverter  #gmaster #SEL20TC  #leofoto #leephotosdnbhd #luminar  #skylum #studiozaloon

​I had the pleasure of being invited to attend the "Exclusive Experience new SONY G Master Lens" event in Fraser's Hill on 13.07.2019 and 14.07.2019, hosted by SONY Malaysia & Studio Zaloon and facilitated by En. Shaiful Baker of SONY Malaysia and Mr. Chin Yok Fee of Studio Zaloon Alpha Pro Shop. All participants were housed at Shahzan Inn Hotel, complimentary of the organizers.  The participants of the event were largely from a group called Birding, Nature and Cameras, or in short BNC, a group of bird lovers who preserve, promote nature awareness and capture best images of the birds in the wild. ​

It was a rather gloomy day today, but that didn't dampen the spirits of about 18 participants of ASFON WP outing this morning at Tasik Shah Alam.  As usual, I had two setups: my SONY a7RIII + SEL1635GM as my main setup and SONY a7SII + SEL1224G for my timelapse.  

​My sincere thanks to those who made it this morning.  Special thanks to En. Shamsul Kamal Zakaria and ASFON WP for inviting me to this outing and look forward to the next outing.  Many thanks to brother Radzi and Salim for capturing these BTS images.

We adjourned for breakfast at Restoran Ceria in Section 3 area.

#nisi #nisimalaysia #nisiglobal #sony #gmaster #asfon #asfonwp #leofoto #nurismailphotography

Hello everybody!

Received an invitation by ASFON WP to join their sunrise outing at Masjid Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah in Shah Alam this weekend.  I'll be representing NiSi Malaysia at the event and will be giving some tips, experiences and demonstration on using NiSi optical filters.

​Stay tuned for any updates!

Alhamdulillah. Thank you Allah for blessing me with the sustenance to be able to contribute back to the needy.  I was approached by a friend from a Malaysian NGO who arranges for construction of tube wells in the Cambodia inland.  The cost is significantly lower than those available commercially and I would recommend those who have the sustenance to contribute for this wakaf project.  Please email me if you need further details about how to contribute to this good cause.

I had the opportunity to travel to Hong Kong together with my family from 29.03.2019 until 02.04.2019.  It was supposed to be a backpacker-style holiday with one of the travel agents from Malaysia.  We stayed at Sai Ying Pun area on the 1st day, then moved to Tsim Sha Tsui area on the 2nd day onwards.  Travelling around Hong Kong was easy with the MTR, a comprehensive and efficient public transportation system for Hong Kong.

Throughout the trip, the weather was not too kind to us. It rained most of the nights and cloudy. Thank God that only on the last morning before we fly back to Malaysia did we have slightly good weather, worth for me and my friend to travel up to The Peak and to the Lugard Road lookout point to capture the beautiful skyline of Hong Kong and the moving boats and ferries in Victoria Harbour.

I'm in the midst of planning a small group of photographers to Hong Kong in November 2019. Stay tuned!

NOTE: This trip is opened to Malaysians only. Thank you.

​Specifications:

• The world's widest rectilinear full-frame zoom lens
• Manual focus lens with aperture & zoom ring
• The manual aperture ring can be mechanically 'de-clicked' for smooth, silent rotation throughout the aperture range for video applications.
• Frog Eye Dust & Water-Repellent Coating
• Focal length range: 10-18mm
• Aperture range: (f/4.5-f/5.6)-f/22
• Maximum magnification: 0.25x
• Minimum focus distance: 5.91"
• 14 elements in 10 groups
• Two Aspherical Elements, 5 diaphragm blades & One Extra-Low Dispersion Element
• Dimensions: 3.6" by 2.76"
• Weight: 1.1 lbs (496 g)
• 37mm rear filter

What I love about the lens is its size, weight and sharpness.  The lens feels well balanced with the SONY a7RIII. The're some flaring issues but no noticeable chromatic aberrations on this night shots.  The starburst from the light source are just great with well defined stars. Distortion is also well controlled, depending on the angle of the lens, with minimal perspective correction on Photoshop.  NiSi produced a filter holder for this lens which uses normal 100mm square filters.  This is a plus point since you don't need to invest on the larger (and more expensive)  150mm system.  By the way, we didn't have the opportunity to use the 37mm rear filter. This lens is also compatible with the optional Laowa Magnetic 100mm Filter Holder, by NiSi.  Venus Optics says that “It is a welcome relief for landscape, adventure or travel photographers that are traveling over long distances and struggling to find a compact wide-angle zoom to pair up with their cameras.”.  I couldn't agree with them more.

Apart from the flaring, the other downside is the lens cap.  Like most of the Laowa lenses, the lens cap need to be slightly modified to prevent it from coming off easily.  This can be done easily by putting a layer of sellotape on the lens cap for added friction.  Maybe Laowa can look into this matter in the future.  On the overall, it is still a formidable ultra-wide angle lens to satisfy the landscapers' need for UWA lens.

Luminar 3 can be purchased from Skylum. To enjoy some savings, please use promo code SKYLUMAPR19 when checking out with your purchase. Thank you.