新年快樂 万事如意

Happy Chinese New Year to all Chinese friends and readers of this blog.

The 4 characters in the Chinese couplet above reads - nian nian you yu, meaning abundance year by year.

Melbourne Zoo

Johanna's friend Leanne invited us to her birthday celebration in Melbourne Zoo - picnic style. It was partly because of this that I rushed to purchase the EF18-200mm as a zoom lens is good for taking photos of animals which are usually to far away for normal cameras and lens.

Johanna with birthday girl Leanne


Leanne and boyfriend Cody


Leanne's friend Loan and her cute baby girl


Beautiful day, but very hot!


Lion - unfortunately had to take through the fence


Johanna with her new Canon SX110IS - her Christmas gift from me


Bear searching for something in the water


A smaller bear


My favourite subject - the peacock


The head of a giant tortoise - he's huge


Meerkat is very good in posing for photos


A cute little boy on a merry go round


Nice flower - I realise that my lens is no sharp enough for good macros. Johanna's SX110IS (has 0cm macro) can take better macros even though it's a consumer camera.


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A group of hungry little penguins waiting to be fed


Little penguins running towards their food


The brown bird does not belong to the zoo. It's a smart bird that will pick up any fish that is dropped on the ground. Little penguins do not pick up their food once they drop it.


Ah... finally managed to get one fish


Happy little penguin after being fed - shaking his bum while walking


They may look small, but they are also worried about the state of Australia's economy. Just in case no more fish.


This very charming bird broke one of its wings 6 years ago, causing it to lose the ability to fly. Poor thing.


Once again, I'm not happy enough with the quality of macro shots produced by EFS18-200mm


Photographer photographed


New addition to the zoo


Very colourful mandrill. It has an equally colourful butt. Check this out.


Elvis or John Travolta?


Pelican spreading its wings


Giraffes munching


Never know flowers can grown in multi level fashion


Nice butt


Zebra grazing

More photos at my Flickr.

I've learnt something important from shooting the animals. First, don't be stingy with ISO. Animals can move really fast. Coupled with zoom, it is going to be difficult to freeze their action. I thought hundredth of a second is good enough. Many photos turned out not sharp enough in the end.

Many animals are either behind fence, cage or glass in Melbourne Zoo. We also missed out on the snow leopard and tiger, the former sleeping, the latter nowhere to be seen. I hope to visit Werribee Zoo next. It's more of safari style. But wonder if my zoom lens is good enough. Itching to get EFS100-400mm.

Yet Another New Toy

I'm very happy to purchase my 2nd new toy within a month. This time around it's the Canon EFS20-180mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens. After going from shop to shop, I've finally managed to track down one which is still sold at the old price (before Aussie Dollar crashed against the US Dollar).

So excited that I immediately went out to test it out at Port Melbourne. Johanna also came along to test out her Christmas pressie - Canon Powershot SX110 IS.


Port Melbourne Tram Stop

The benefit of this lens is I'll most likely need to carry only this lens along for travels. The downside is of course the lower quality output to compromise such large range in focal length. Also the maximum aperture is only f3.5 and f5.6 respectively at f3.5 and f5.6, doubt that I could take good photos indoors and under low light condition. However, having a 11x zoom is something that I've been missing since the demise of my Canon Powershot S2 which has a 12x zoom.

Here are some of the shots I've taken at Port Melbourne with particular focus on the 11x zoom.


Taken at 18mm


200mm version of the photo above. Still very sharp.


Taken at 18mm


200mm version of the photo above. Try spotting for the Campari logo in the 18mm version.


Taken at 18mm


35mm version of the photo above. Wish the partially cut out bird is not there (right most).


Taken at 18mm


200mm version of the photo above. Try spotting the birds in the 18mm version.


200mm f/5.6. I like the bokeh effect produced.


Nice apartments at Port Melbourne. Reminds us of Glenelg in Adelaide




I was shocked to see the lines on the ground at first. Thought the barrel distortion is so bad. Luckily the lines are really like that.


Tram to Port Melbourne - 109



I've already had my next toy in mind - EFS 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM. Maybe in a few months time.

Dining @ Nobu

Moses, Charis, Johanna and I dined at Nobu, located in Crown Plaza, on 27th December. Nobu is a Japanese restaurant serving Japanese food with a modern touch. It has branches in a number of major cities in the World.

Overall, the food there is not bad. The food is more of fusion than traditional Japanese. However, the serving is a bit small for the hefty price.

Crispy Oyster with Wasabi and Caviar


Beef Fillet Tataki


Black Cod with Miso


Soft Shell Crab Kara


Abalone in Light Garlic Sauce


Beef Toban Yaki