Distant Sunset

Limiting myself to only using an ultra wide lens, I wasn't able to replicate last Saturday's sunset shots.

Oh well. Better luck next time, I guess.

New Old Stuff

I uploaded some of my old (and fairly new) G5 and 400D shots. Enjoy!

Sunset At Mall Of Asia

There's something about Mall of Asia that makes me want to take photos all the time. Last time, it was all about long exposures. Yesterday, it was the setting sun.

Many of my shots yesterday were taken haphazardly, since the sun was quickly setting. We might return there tomorrow, since we still want to do some last minute shopping. I'm just not sure if I'll have the opportunity again to take pictures.

Anyway, you can view the rest of the gallery here.

Disintegrated!

This is really weird. So weird, I just have to post it ASAP. Heck, I even used my phone's camera just to do so.

I usually carry my Canon Powershot G5 wherever I go. I'm not sure if it's old age (my camera is turning five in a few months), the summer heat, the cold bottle of C2 inside my bag, or a combination of these that caused my camera's grip to disintegrate. I plucked my camera out of my bag, and to my surprise, all that's left in it's handle is these gooey glue-like stuff. The rubber piece that this gooey stuff used to hold is scattered in small pieces inside my bag.

Does the camera still work? Yes, it does. But I don't want to hold something slimy while taking pictures. I guess I better find a way to remove all this sticky stuff, or at least find a suitable material to replace the grip. I don't want to retire my camera this early.

Nokia E51

I consider myself as Nokia's prodigal son. I started out with Nokia nine years ago. My first phone was a Nokia 3210, a gift from my mom, which was unfortunately stolen while I was on a bus. It was followed by a 6150, a 6210, and a 6230.

When I started my postpaid subscription to Globe, I decided to try Sony Ericsson, in particular, the K750i. I fell in love with SE phones, and vowed to stick to SE and ditch Nokia.

I guess I was wrong. I still love SE, but their current lineup pales in comparison to Nokia's offerings. Since my K750i is already struggling, I needed a new phone fast, and I had to jump ship once again.

It basically was a choice between the E51 and the N82, another stellar Nokia phone. But I couldn't justify the extra price for a slightly better camera and GPS, plus the ergonomics of the N82 is just, well, not for me. Hence, the E51. I funded this phone using the proceeds of the 5310 I had for sale (thanks to Tina for purchasing the unit).

I'm not so good at doing reviews, so click here, here, and here for more extensive reports on the E51. Anyway, here are my observations about the phone:

* one of my biggest pet peeves about this phone is that updating your contacts doesn't update the sender information in your SMS inbox. I think this is common to most Nokia Series 60/90 phones, since Roxanne's 7650, one of Nokia's earlier Symbian phones, share the same traits.

* inputting birthdays in your contacts via the phone or thru the PC Suite does not update your calendar. You have to use Outlook or something similar to do so. Other than that, the phonebook is fantastic, it can hold so may information.

* text messaging can either be a pro or a con. You can type part of the sender's name and the phone will give you a list of matches, or send it automatically if there's only one match. Inputting the sender's number via the phonebook may require extra clicks, especially if the contact has more that one number.

* smileys are only available by enabling the T9 dictionary. I miss the smileys from my K750i.

* for a Symbian phone, it's quite fast.

* in my 1 week of use, it only froze on me once. Well, not exactly froze, the Home button just stopped functioning. A quick reboot of the phone solved this.

* pictures and videos from the camera occasionally has a greenish tint.

* i love the fact that you can set recurring alarms, and have the option to set it only during workdays. Perfect for waking me up.

* the radio is much better than my K750i's.

* I can't understand why sometimes my phone uses 3G to surf the web even though I'm connected to a WiFi hotspot.

* speaking of WiFi, for me that was the phone's main selling point. It does the job well, but some sites are not supported. I cannot open my Lycos account because the text boxes are missing.

* regarding the battery, WiFi and Bluetooth can really drain it. Extensive use of the said protocols only gave me roughly two days of use. On a positive note, the phone charges really quick (more or less an hour) and the included charger is smaller than what I'm used to.

* telephony is average for me, but good enough.

All in all, I love this phone. I think for the price, it's a best buy.

Lens And Laptop

Last Monday, one of my lenses and my laptop turned a year old. I know it's nonsense to celebrate birthadays of inanimate objects, but this post inspired me to do something similar.

The Canon EF-S 17-55 f2.8 IS USM is my first lens investment, an upgrade from the kit lens and the Nifty Fifty. I got it cheaper than usual since it was a gray market version. This is my most abused lens, it's very ideal for landscapes, portraits, and sports. For samples, you can check my Flickr gallery.

My laptop, an Asus A8Jn, is only a few hours younger than the lens. It's not only my first laptop, it's also the first item that I availed on installment. Lately this device stays at home since the bank issued me my own laptop.

Unionbank's Branding Event

Unionbank celebrated the launch of its new brand last March 28, 2008 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC). The event unveiled the bank's new corporate colors and vision statement.

It was hosted by Patricia Bermudez-Hizon and Rovilson Fernandez, and Side A performed to the delight of the attendees. Via Mare was in charge of catering, and prizes were given away, including trips to Beijing and Athens.

More photos here.