Canon 450D Review

Hi Guys/Ladies,

It's been a while. Guess the work/laziness got to me. Well, I have had ample time to review the 450D, and while I was impressed, I was also let down. But then, nothing in this world is perfect.

The 450D is an impressive camera in it's own right. Taking picture of nature's flora and fauna, still images of portrait, situational, and etc. Having 1 of the fastest continous shooting speed (6fps) however, it lack the capability to capture great moving pictures. It could be my lack of knowledge of photography, but I don't think I am that bad. Besides, this review is for use in sports, by a typical lay man looking for suitable equipment to use without the fuss of meddling with too many things.

I was lucky enough to get this camera before the Malaysian Open for fencing. Many countries turned up including a bunch of my old international rivals cum friends. Not easy meeting these people, so it was fun to see them in action, and sad to not participate. Enough remenising, back to the review.

The pictures taken of moving participants, were rather blur, and had a wavey look to it. However, after adjusting the shutter speed, and ISO setting, I was able to get things to look a bit better. Using the default lens EFS 18-55mm, pictures were a bit on the dark side, but ok to look at.. Yeah, not what I expected.

After playing with the setting, my itchy fingers decided to change it to sports mode. To make matter worst, I used an EF 80-200mm lens with tripod. Pictures were blur, and unrecognisable. It was a total let down even when I changed it to the default lens again. The pictures were now recognisable, but still blur and not as clear as I hoped it would be.

For the whole tournament, I was able to shoot multiple photos, with different settings, but unfortunately, being the amateur that I am, I didn't record the settings I was using for each photo (shame on my research skills knowledge). i will post up the photos when I have a good internet line (office line sucks, home line good..)

After an intense amount of shooting, I found the 450D to be good for slow moving sports, especially when comparing the men's pictures with the women's pictures. Having the knowledge of photography (shutter speed, ISO, etc) should help users take better photos as more time is spent with the 450D. Don't expect to use this at a 100m race, but it does the job adequtely. You might surprise yourself with some of the pictures. But if you want the perfect shot, I suggest going for the higher range cameras (Canon 40D, Nikon D90, etc).

To those that are about to trash talk me on my abilities with the camera, please bare in mind to what this review is all about. It's about giving the tools to use with an ordinary lay man to take pictures in a sports environment. I do not deny the quality of photos this camera can take, or it's excellent abilities and functions. I had a lot of fun taking portraits and scenary pictures with this camera with amazing results. However, in a sports environment, with constant moving object, and minimalistic knowledge in photography, there should be a better option for the lay man (not professional) who wants great photos, with minimalistics difficulties.

Wii Fit Preview

Hi All. Finally got my hands on the Nintendo Wii Fit!!! After weeks of searching, I finally found 1 at a reasonable price.. Will take pictures of the unboxing if I can later... Was also able to get 2 other sample to review and keep a record... Will post their excellent photos later!!!! hahahaha... Keeep watching this page!!

Sony Vaio VGN58GN Mini Review

There are many reviews out there about this particular Sony Vaio. How it’s not a UMPC, about how gorgeous or how fast/slow it is, and specs galore. This mini review is not about all those. It will focus on my experience with the Sony Vaio in the sporting environment be it training sessions, competition environment, technique correction or notational assessment of a match as a single unit that does it all from capturing to analyzing.

First opinion, it is a nice piece of hardware to lug around. Its small size allows for easy storage in any gym bag, sports bag, or even a handbag. Surprisingly so, the speed of the system is not that bad, even when running on Windows Vista. It does the job well considering the fact its running on an Intel Core Solo. The small screen is gorgeous and easy to see in sunlight while the zoom functions works really nicely to help find the things you need. It is nice and comfortable to hold for long periods of time. The adapter to connect to a projector thru the port replicator connector is a nice touch that allows you to connect and still have the freedom to roam around the training area, provided you have a long cable.

I was able to use the Vaio in a training environment for fencing and wushu with Siliconcoach Pro. I found its camera a tad on the blur side but the overall anatomy of the athlete were very noticeable and this should create for a pretty accurate reading of angle of joints. However, I was unable to use it to calculate speed as even though this thing was light, my hand were shaking, hence, I was not able to produce a decent capture for valid calculations since this does not have image stabilization. I could barely see where the blade of the fencers was during the lessons. So this rules out the possibility of using the camera on this device for technique analysis. I highly recommend using a DV Camera with fire wire on a tripod to get the best result. However, since the 1394 connection is not built in to the body of the Vaio, it creates another problem. You will have to lug around the port replicator, which would be okay since the replicator is light and small enough, but for some reason, cannot run on the batteries of the Vaio UX. This will require you to have a power source nearby. Use of the DV Camera and additional power source defeats the purpose of portability in my opinion though.

If there was one thing I like, it was the touch screen capability. It’s a bit on sensitive side, but you can adjust it to your liking in the properties menu. I love using this Vaio for notational analysis. For those not in the know, notational analysis is basically match analysis. You get data for how many passes, shot on or off goal, attacking movements, defensive movements, and etc. The back camera was able to display great video (not as clear as a DV, but clear enough) to actual do on the spot tagging using Utilius VS. It was easily tagged using the touch screen and I found it to be a lot easier especially when using the customized mapping icons. In general, it was a breeze as I found I was able to tag faster than I would with a normal laptop. Be careful though as the hands get tired, the video capture quality is reduced.

Issues with the Vaio UX, if you have read the reviews, are of course with the battery life. If you are planning to get this baby for sports, be prepared with multiple spare batteries. One session of notational analysis will go on average for 90 minutes, or in fencing, the whole day. The battery while using Utilius VS or siliconcoach Pro and TimeWARP was a mere 1 hour 15 minutes. And that is if it is fully charged at 100%.

All in all, the Sony Vaio UX58GN is a nice machine to use albeit the cost of purchasing one. I find it useful in notational, but rather lack lusted in technique analysis and corrections. It is suitable for combat sports and football/soccer, but not for small and fast moving object like hockey ball. So if you're looking for a nice, expensive look to your equipment, you found it. But if you're looking for something that will optimize your athlete's performance, it does the job, but not too well.

Pro: Touch Screen, Small size, Portable, Very light, Port Replicator.

Recommended for: Notational Analysis

Con: Battery life, No fire wire on body, Camera Quality, Can't run port replicator without additional power.

Not recommended for: Techniques Analysis

SES Resources and Solutions Website

The website for the notorious company, SES Resources and Solutions, will be up soon.... Just a preview of the re branding of the ever reliable company that tries its best to deliver sports sciences at a reasonable rate. Prepare to be amazed!!!!!!!! (hopefully...)

Comments on the new logo would be nice... Cheers.

Play Attention Preview

Just a snit bit on the Play Attention review that I will be doing soon. Hope to writing a in depth review about it, so those of you who are interested, stay tuned.. No plans on the date of publication yet.

Play Attention is a system that allows you to see your attention in real time. I have been using it for a while now, and it seem to be quite effective.. but it would be nice if I could get a unbias sample to do the testing.

Any volunteers??? (no money will change hands for helping... what do you expect??? Free blog!!)

Canon EOS 450D

One camera to rule them all... At least in my opinion.

The battle of the camera selection is finally over, and the winner.... The Canon EOS 450D..

Reasoning as to why I chose this particular camera is the price of accessories is cheaper compared to it's rivals like Nikon, Sony and Olympus camera. It was a choice between the Nikon D60 and Canon EOS 450D. Both had solid built and almost similar specification. But since I will be using this to capture sporting environments, I decided to go for the Canon because of the slightly faster 3.5 continuous shooting.

Stay tuned for the full review later this month. In the mean time, I will be posting my findings and review of the Sony Vaio VGN-UX58GN in a sports environment this Friday on the 27th June 2008.

First Blood... Well, not really..

To all that were fooled into coming to this blog, most likely by me... hehe ;), this is my first posting to this blog. Just an intro, with this blog, I hope to review mainly sports technologies, recreational technologies, health technologies... You basically get the idea... Anything to do with technology that helps to improve daily life (mostly)....

My first order of business will hopefully happen this Tuesday, where I will HOPEFULLY pull off a miracle by getting an entry level Digital SLR camera (still choosing between Canon EOS450D, Olympus E510/520, or the ever branded Sony Alpha A350). Tough choice to make ahead.. Who knows, I probably won't even buy the darn thing.. Stay tuned to this blog if you want to know the not so thrilling conclusion of my predicament!!!

Will also try to review in the coming weeks, on past happening, namely the Malaysian Games in Terrengganu recently, and probably some software and hardware that seem fun and engaging, but can also be beneficial to ones health..

Please bear in mind that this is only a blog to post what I think of a certain product. This blog is not meant to destroy or glamorise certain software or hardware that are in the market. It's just an opinion with what I think is the Pro's and Con's of everything i review.

Enough babbling... I have a camera to chose... sigh.....