Sorry for the lack of posts. I’ve been quite busy with work, adjusting with night shift and catching up on word count for NaNoWriMo. I’m still seriously lacking behind, and I really don’t want to be disturbed, but this assignment is due (as well an overdue Singapore post! Gah!), so I’m gonna give a quick write in to introduce the other new toy in our house. :D

Friends, meet Chimon. :)

I’ve mentioned it in a previous post, about how I’m thinking of going back to photography because of all the camera and photography talk at work. I pretty much decided to go back, but not this year, as I was saving for the MacBook. My brother and I agreed to split the costs on buying our own dSLR (with him campaigning for a Nikon but me for a Canon :p), but like I said, it’s all for next year, not this year.

On our trip to Singapore, I borrowed my boss’ camera (a Canon 350d) which he graciously lent (thank you!) for us to be clickhappy all around Singapore. My brother, being the more serious photographer/videographer, carried the camera more than I did (and I didn’t mind; my boss’ camera has a vertical grip which made it heavy and large) and he was all happy taking pictures of everything we see. I, on the other hand, lost my “solo picture taking fear” and got myself in all the pictures my brother took. :P

On our second day in Singapore, my family and I headed to Chinatown in the afternoon to scout where my brother’s toy convention would be the next day. The really cool thing about Chinatown is that there are so many things to buy. I’ve never been to Binondo, so I can’t compare it, but the place reminds me of Quiapo, only less crowded and more organized. Like I said, there were so many things to buy in that place — I bet if I looked hard enough, I would find some protective underwear there, but I don’t know if they’d be that protective though. :P Anyway, as we walked through Pagoda street, we changed upon a camera shop, and my brother and I decided to check out the prices.

And whoa! Talk about really cheap prices! My brother and I got excited at the fact that we could actually afford a really good camera in Singapore, and our parents seem to be okay at the buying thing. Since my brother is a way better and more experienced photographer than I am (even if I took the classes back in college, he’s the one who goes out in the field), he wanted to get the best kind: a Nikon D200 or a Canon 40D. I wanted a Canon simply because the people at work are Canon users, and it’s easy to borrow stuff from them when the time comes. My brother’s a Nikon person because he uses them at work. In the end, I told him to go with whatever he wants, as long as we have a camera I’m okay (and besides, what I really wanted then was a MacBook, so whichever camera is okay with me). The cheapest offer we got for a Nikon D200 was S$2350 ((Approximately PHP 70,500)) , which includes the a normal lens (f/2.8 is the smallest opening, I think?), 2GB SD, external flash (I forgot the numbers), bag and tripod. We didn’t get a packaged price for the 40D, but the store owner told us the body of the 40D is S$1350. That’s roughly PHP 40K ((1 SGD = PHP 30)). Wow.

The next day, we got back to the first store and asked for a D200, which turns out to be discontinued because the Nikon D300 is coming out. The salesman then effectively convinced my brother to get a Canon 40D instead, together with a lot of accessories for an entire package. Initially, the price was S$2750, which my mom didn’t want (obviously). They haggled some more, until the salesman decided to give us his lowest price, but we would get it only if we buy it then and there. The moment we step out the store, the price goes back to the higher one.

For a whopping S$2475 ((Approximately Php 74,250)) (tax exclusive), we got:

• A Canon EOS 40D body
• 18-55mm kit lens with image stabilizer
• A macro and wide lens attachment
• 2 GB CF card
• Free bag
• A mini tripod (for the digicam, for my mom ^^; )

Not bad at all, eh? :) The macro and wide lens attachment (the one on the lower right of the photo) is so cool and practical, since you wouldn’t really need to buy a macro lens with this. :) The salesman also suggested that we buy a higher power battery and a polarizer filter (lower left of the photo) so we could take wide angle photos through glass or water. The battery and the filter cost another S$300, so all in all, we spent S$2775 ((Approximately Php 83,250)) on this baby. Not bad, eh? :) Of course, like Aslan, my brother would be paying for this one too, so it’s not an entire freebie from our parents. :p

I haven’t uploaded photos from Singapore yet, but I did take some photos on the plane on the way home, and you may view them on this Multiply album. The camera is more of my brother’s than mine, but I can borrow it anytime I need to, so in the spirit of me being a geek and naming all my gadgets (including my non-gadget credit card), this camera is named Chimon. Chimon is an angel from Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness series. I can’t remember exactly what he did since my books aren’t with me, but he’s paired with another angel named Scion. No special meaning to the name unlike Aslan; I just like how it sounds.

I just realized almost all my gadgets have guy’s names. But that’s for another post. :)

Expect more colorful posts in the next few weeks or so, much thanks to Chimon. :D Oh, and hopefully a new and simpler layout. And hopefully a Singapore post. Right now I have to catch up on my word count. Toodles. :)