Canon Rebel T4i/ 650D

Summary: It's a very light weight camera with very fast CMOS sensor, DIGIC5. Its a good camera for beginner introduction to DSLR. A good bridge between the pro line or even as a back up. It also allow you to take HD stereo movie

Pros: light weight, cheap, 9 point AF focus, capacitive vari angle touch screen, HD video recording

Cons: short battery live span, slow video focus and live view, poor high ISO performance.

Before everything, a disclosure. I have been using Canon camera for a long time. I upgraded from my first digital, A80 Powershot to S5 IS. Since then, I also use a Sony TX5 and a Canon 5D Mark II.
I dont call myself a photographer but I love photography and I used the Mark II for my scientific work. However, the Mark II is so heavy and sometimes its near impossible to carry that for my field work. Imagine carrying a 10kg backpack (with all the accessories and lenses) while hiking into remote places.

Here is where I think the Canon Rebel 650D/ T4i comes in. It doesn't have the full frame like the Mark II; its only 3/4 frame sensor but its much faster. So, what you see in your frame, is not what you will capture. I have been using the Mark II for sometimes, and this is something which I have to re-get use to now.

The 650D is snappier too with moving object. I can capture moving object very fast, and this is definitely a plus point for me since I work with human subject in my studies. Children won't sit still for you to work or capture their iris pictures, so you need to work fast and have faster more responsive machine. This is where I think the 650D outperform the Mark II.

Did I mentioned the weight again? Though its only about 500g different (1039g including kit lens and battery for 650D vs 1588g for Mark II), but its so significant different that I can immediately feel on my neck. It's also smaller camera compared to the Mark II and I can hold better using just one hand.

Canon 650D is a great camera with 18 megapixels and 9 cross type AF multi focus. Combine that with capacitative touch screen, it allows you to chose your focus point very fast. I love how I can just touch on my screen and it focused to the place I want it to be.

I don't have a STM lens on my kit but read that the STM allows you to seeks focus continuously more quietly to avoid introducing noise in capture video. However, I tried using video mode on my standard basic kit lens, the video are often times out of focus from the object of shot. It take a while to focus. Does this cause by the lens I use, I doubt that.

The vari angle screen helps when you have to do self portrait on tripod. I don't think you can self capture using the 650D like how you do with the compact camera. It's too heavy and the button is on the wrong side to feel comfortable. However, the vari angle screen helps a lot of you want to shot something on low ground without lying down or from high up if you are blocked, like when you are in a concert! I always love the vari angle lens with live view, that allows me the possibility to shoot at different angels that otherwise will be odd or hard to do.

The Canon T4i/ 650D turn on very quickly too. It start up in about 0.7 second and record or store your image in a SD card. I know a lot of pro photographers still prefer the more stable CF card, but SD card is more readily available and it's great the 650D is using this. This help if you are upgrading from other compact camera and you can use your old SD card too.

I find the camera lithium ion battery is weak. I only manage to capture about 400 shots without flash when I have to recharge again. If I use live view or flash, that will bring me to about 150 shots only. So, if I am out in the field, I have to get ready more battery and that will cost me extra money and weight too.

The ISO performance is weak too. At higher ISO, you will see that the pictures become grainy.

You can go here for a full review from the Canon website. You will also read more about this camera review in the future when I test it more in the field.

Chirps Chirps

One of my new found hobbies here is to bird observing. We have quite a big back yard here. There are always squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks and birds in our yard. But I was so excited when I first spotted a blue color bird. Later, I got to know from the internet that it’s called Blue Jay. From then, I developed my hobby of taking photos of birds and recognizing their different chirping sound. I never have the chance to observe birds back in Malaysia because we stay in apartment and we just don’t have time to do so. With the trees getting bold, bird observing has also become easier.

Most of the birds here are very colorful and ‘fat’ because they have to get ready for winter. Some birds here are migratory birds but we are not encouraged to feed them because they will stop migrating to the South during winter as they have stable food supply.

These are few of my favorite and common birds in Hershey. These are some of the pictures I took at our backyard and around Hershey.

Blue Jay. I think their churps are not as nice as their color =P

Northern Cardinal (male)

Northern Cardinal (Female)

Robin. One interesting thing about Robin is they have blue color eggs!!

Black-capped chickadee. It’s so hard to take nice photo of them because they are tiny and very fast in action.

Canadian goose

Migrating Canadian geese, I can hear them every morning during summer and early fall. I guess it’s too cold for them to be here now.

We are not allowed to feed the birds in the park as the steady source of food will change their migratory pattern.

We bought this bird house in a garage sale and hope to have birds building their nests in it soon.

Penang National Park – Pantai Keracut

Many people did not realise that we also have a national park in Penang. It is one of the smallest national park in Malaysia. So, on the second day of Chinese New Year, we took a hike in the Penang National Park to Pantai Keracut. What will be a better way to spend Chinese New Year after so much of ‘glorious’ food the days before!

This place is at Teluk Pahang and the the track start near the ‘End of the World’ seafood restaurant. It’s a smooth walk of about 500m into the trail leading to Pantai Keracut or to Muka Head.

The hike took about 1 1/2 hour to Pantai Keracut. It’s not a though hike, though the beginning was a bit tedious as there are a lot of steps to begin with.

 

45 minutes into the hike, the trail will level off and you will pass through a place called Bukit Belah. Along the way, there are many pavilions  (7 in total) created for hikers to take a rest.

Once you reached, you will be greeted with the sight of a meromictic lake one of the 19 around the world. Here in this lake, salt water and fresh water are joints. The denser salt water will be at the bottom while the fresh water will be on the top, forming double layer lake.

Sand here are very white and hot during afternoon. It’s also soft and makes it very hard to walk. However, the sunny day is a very nice time for taking picture.

Walk around the place you will find more places to take picture.

The beach is very nice and not too deep for you to wallow in. Along the beach also, you can find a look of starfishes.

As you walk along, you will also come across jellyfishes. There are found to be abundant at Pantai Keracut making it a not suitable place for swimming or water sport activities.

However, unknown to many, Pantai Keracut is also the place to see turtle. This place have been gazetted as a turtle sanctuary. The abundance of jellyfishes as the primary source of food makes it a haven for turtle. Many green turtles are known to lay eggs here.

 

There is a research station and ranger station to take care of the sanctuary and to prevent poaching by various people who collect the eggs to be sold.

Although this is not the season for turtles to lay egg, we manage to find a few cordoned off areas which is actually sites where turtles has lay eggs.

After that, more picture taking at the beach.

Some artistic picture, and some not so but random…but happy picture.

Some scenery from the turtle sanctuary too..

And some cam-whoring time too…

After about an hour plus or so, we decided it’s too hot to remain at the beach and decided to head back. We actually decided to get a boat to go back and paid the boatman RM100 for the 9 of us.

The journey is a very pleasant and it only took about 15 minutes to go back. Along the way the boatman stop at various places to show us the various beaches, flora, fauna and interesting structures!

Eagle’s nest on top of a tree…we saw quite a number of it.

Some rock formation which this suppose to look like a turtle…

and the crocodile or buaya darat….!

Floating chalet which you can rent for RM110 a night for fishing.

Overall, we enjoyed the journey and a good break from the normal routine of Chinese New Year of visiting relatives and eating non-stop. Do visit this place before it’s heritage is lost.

randomness

 

Make a trip to Putrajaya to take some outdoor pictures but only to meet with heavy rain once I arrive there. I ended up at the Putrajaya Boat club and took few pictures there.

We left for field work on Friday and over the weekend. Took some shoot as I walk along the field. Still trying out some of the features that MarkII 5D has to offer. Love the camera but hate the weight. If I am carry that camera all the time, it’s like lifting weight wherever I go.

I love the harvesting machine in the field. It adds some ‘activities’ to the picture.

The fields are ready for harvest now. Some have been harvested and some going to. The field right now are in hues of green and yellowish. Golden.

 

Fierce! I love the red mower in front. It gives the contrast to the yellow mean machine!

The colour on the day is just nice. blue sky and green and yellowish field. Had a great time taking pictures. Must learn more on how to use the Canon Mark II.Though I have been using it for 7 months now, but have never fully utilised it.

Cameron Highlands

I loved cool places. I had always find Malaysian weather is too hot for my liking. So, everytime there is a chance, I will love to go for a break in the mountains, but with the limitation of choices, there are only a few which we can really go to.

I love Cameron Highlands in Pahang. This place is just wonderful to relax, unlike Genting Highlands if you want excitement!

In Cameron Highlands, there are few townships with Ringlet at the lowest and Brinchang among the highest. There are other higher town but Brinchang is the will be the best for tourist as other don't have hotels.

 

Cameron is famous for its tea garden, strawberry farm and also various cactus valley and rose gardens. Other than that, you can also find bee garden and butterfly park.

You can visit their strawberry park and pick your own strawberry. Apart from that, you can find fresh broccoli and other vegetables too.

I always visit their rose gardens. Here they have more than just roses. There are so many types of flowers which are so nice that you can stroll in. This particular Rose Garden at Brinchang will takes you about 2 hours of slow walk and hike if you slowly enjoy the surrounding.

 

 

There are so many nice places for you to visit. Another will the be Agro park. Here you can find fresh vegetables for you to buy.

Apart from the fresh vegetables, this place offers you a variety of cactus and flowers which you can see and buy.

They also have apple trees and grapes. However, these are not for sale and you can only view the apple tree from the fencing they put up.

I will also strongly recommend for you to visit the Tea Garden. Sg Palas tea garden has an amazing view. This is where BOH have their plantation. BOH has 3 tea plantation here. The other two are BOH plantation and also Bkt Cheding.

This place has one of the most amazing scenery in Cameron Highlands. You can also visit their processing factory where they ferment and dry their tea leaves before sending for processing in Shah Alam.

In Cameron Highlands, you can also visit the Orang Asli settlement. The Semai are found here.

So, now you know where to go next for your local destination.

For more info on Cameron Highlands, you can visit their website.

More pictures for you to enjoy.