Haduh.

Dapet amanah besar lagi diri ini. Setelah tinggal sedikit lagi meninggalkan statusnya sebagai ketua PAKDUMARU 2008, saya sudah dikasih pekerjaan lagi.

Yak,
orang kedua di Humas PMA 2008.

Sebagai orang kedua, berarti:
- harus lebih sering ‘menampakkan diri’ di forum-forum PMA.
- harus aktif lebih dalam kegiatan-kegiatan PMA.
- mengurangi waktu di kegiatan lain, ex: himpunan, unit saya yg lain.
- harus bisa membelah diri lebih hebat lagi.

Membelah diri?
Nggak se-ekstrim itu sih, yang penting bisa membagi pikiran antara beberapa amanah yang saya jalani sekarang.
Saya pernah dapat wejangan yang bagus dari ketua salah satu unit yang saya ikuti.

Kalo kita lagi kuliah, fokus sama kuliah, jangan mikirin yang lain.
Kalo lagi di kegiatan unit, fokus di sana,
jangan sampe mikirin hal-hal yang ga ada hubungannya,
bisa-bisa malah kita ga dapet apa-apa,

Waw.
Dan saya pun mencoba begitu.
Kenyataannya?

Waktu kuliah, diri ini tidur atau ngobrol. Mencatat pun hanya di kuliah yang disukai saja.
Waktu lagi di organisasi, diri ini lebih banyak nyampah, dan mobilitasnya rendah dari satu organisasi di organisasi lain.
Di malam hari pun, diri ini cuma blogging (yang ini jangan ditiru yaa)

Yah,
orang bijak bilang, “Kita harus lebih besar dari rintangan yang kita hadapi.”
dan saya sadar, tanggung jawab yang saya hadapi sekarang, gak akan saya rasakan sekarang manfaatnya, tapi kelak di masa depan, saat saya diberi amanah yang lebih besar dan lebih besar lagi.

Tapi, lama-lama diri ini mulai terbiasa dengan obrolan-obrolan yang berat…

yu ah,,

After four days in Vegas and meetings with lots of people, here are a few things on my mind going into the rest of 2008 (these are not revelations or secrets, just my musings):

• Photokina in late September 2008 could see the intro of new full-frame bodies from Nikon, Sony, and of course, Canon (5D Mk II). Perhaps HP will have some new printers by then, too.
• Pentax has a new 35mm (52.5mm equivalent) macro DA lens. It’s sweet but for $600, not exactly a bargain. Nonetheless, I’d sure like one to go with a new K20D.
• Wasn’t able to get hands-on with a new K20D as they’re not in full production yet. I asked if I could put a card in the demo unit and the PR rep wasn’t too keen on that. Oh well. Someone else I know tested the K20D for a couple days alongside another manufacturer’s camera. He kinda liked the other camera. While I can see why he said what he did, I’ll reserve judgement for myself until I can see the image quality of the K20D or Samsung GX-20 firsthand.
• Everyone has about the same offering at entry-level, and that’s great for people who want choices. It basically makes it easier to say “buy a system, not just a camera.” And to that end, it’s easier than ever to choose an alternative system over the big two.
• Just above entry level, things are still interesting and as someone who has been kicking around seditious brand-switching thoughts, PMA hasn’t made things any easier. Well, no matter as there are some good choices out there.
• Point-and-shoots continue to get smarter now with smile recognition tied to white balance and exposure.
• Point-and-shoot prices are lower than ever before and loaded with more features than ever before. You can get a respectable pocket camera for $200, if not $160 or so…
• I like the Sony DSLR-A700’s ergonomics. To me, the combination of a shutter-finger dial mounted above the shutter and rear thumb wheel set to the upper right of the thumb is the easiest configuration for rapid setting changes.
• I still like the Olympus E-3’s overall handing and feel. I still don’t like Four-Thirds’ aspect ratio.
• The new Casio EX-F1’s 60 FPS is amazing, but at $1,000, a bit overpriced for my taste despite its innovation. Also, I hate to say it looks kind of plasticky-cheap with its chrome-plated controls and trim. However, that has nothing to do with its image quality (which I have not seen).
• Nikon’s D300 is quite a machine. The image quality has much improved tonal gradations and high ISO performance is fabulous. But, its shutter release sound is loud and clanky (read: noisy and distracting where quiet subtlety is desirable). Sports shooters won’t care as it will suit them.
• Sigma’s DP1 is of interest, but the sample pics online have awful color and not-so-attractive lens flare characteristics. On the other hand, highlights look realistic and somewhat balanced. Then again, the midtones are kind of muddy. But these are just from one site’s sample pics; don’t know yet how the final production images will fare.
• Prints on display from the DP1 had over-sharpened edges and a quality that reminded me of point-and-shoots past. Hey, I want to like this camera…I want it to be killer. But, “show me.” Somebody please build us a “DSLR-killer!”
• Moab by Legion Paper makes some great looking inkjet printer papers. The new Moenkopi Kozo and Unryu are Japanese papers with style, made from fibers extracted from mulberry plants. Hahnemulle also has an interesting product with their new bamboo paper. I’m excited to give these a shot. And, if HP comes out with a decently priced 17″ carriage printer, I may splurge on one. I suppose Epson could too but I fear Epson’s ink consumption and risk of head failure (urban photographic myth perhaps, but so it goes).

After all that, the best part of the show was the student photography exhibit. Some great reminders about what this really is all about.

You can see more coverage and some of my (lousy) video at PhotographyReview.com’s PMA 2008 blog and gallery.

Image from CNET

Hot on the heals of the exciting news of the Canon XSi is the announcement of the Nikon D60. Being the NERD that I am, I couldn’t wait to find out more about the replacement for the D40x. I’ve checked out the feature list and was quite disappointed with it’s lack luster enhancements. Where as the XSi added new features along with the tweaks, the D60 only seems to be a slight revision of the D40x.

The only thing that’s worth noting is the ability to do stop motion video. This new feature will let you do your own version “Wallace and Grommet.”

Canon and Nikon have battle it out very heavily in the entry level digital SLR market. In the last generation (XTi vs D40x) Canon was losing ground to Nikon but now it looks like Canon will be regaining it’s lead. We can only hope that Nikon will come out with a D60x.

[Cnet Article]

image from CNET

As some of you know, I want to get more into photography. And browsing through some of the pictures on Flickr has been truly inspiring. Thanks to Lina and her mother’s Christmas Gift of a digital camera, I’ve been doubly hooked. Maybe I get obsessively compulsive about things like this. I’ve been drooling over both the Canon Rebel XTi and Nikon 40Dx. Oh, the choices…What should I do? Should I get the Body only and get better lenses? Or, should I get it with the lens (or 2 lens kit for the XTi) and start snapping.

Well, now, thanks to the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) 2008 show, Canon introduced the XSi: the successor to XTi. There are some impressive new features that will make it more appealing to me (and probably many others). Notable features include: Live View, which allows you to frame the shot through the LCD instead of the view finder; Upping of the Megapixel count; DigicIII processor; and a move from CF cards to SD cards.

I guess I will have to keep dreaming about them, because cameras like these are still overkill for my level of photography.

[Cnet Article]