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.

I was blessed to have been invited by a friend to shoot the fireworks during the launching of PETRONAS Le Tour de Langkawi on that Friday evening from Level 50 of Menara FELDA, Persiaran KLCC. Conditions were prime for a great sunset and we stayed on until about 9:30pm when the first fireworks exploded in the sky.

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