• Stone
• Unstoppable
• 127 Hours
• True Grit
• The Adjustment Bureau
• Due Date
• This Movie is Broken
• Lao Ma Ti Hua (老媽蹄花) [at Urban Nomad Film Fest]
• Voices in the Clouds (眾族同聲) [at Urban Nomad Film Fest]
• Winnebago Man [at Urban Nomad Film Fest - Taichung]
• Source Code
• No Strings Attached
• Tree of Life
• Wu Xia
• Hanna
• Real Estate 4 Ransom

Unfortunately my rate of cinema going declined rapidly after I moved from Taiwan to Australia in the middle of the year.

I purchased a Canon 400D in April 2008. It served me well, but after three years I was beginning to feel its limitations and decided it was time to upgrade. I bought the Canon 60D a bit over a week ago. After using it for a short time I have already found it to be an excellent camera and I’m very happy with the decision to buy it.

One of the main reasons I chose the 60D over the 600D or 550D was the larger body and better ergonomics. All these cameras have the same sensor so at the basic level are going to produce very similar images. The 60D’s larger body gives more camera to hold onto, although I still find it slightly small in my hands. The LCD on top of the camera is also a feature not found on the Canon Rebels. This is one of a number of features that makes it easier and faster to change key settings such as ISO and exposure compensation.

The high ISO performance is notably better than the Canon 400D. The above shot was taken at ISO 3200. I haven’t even tried ISO 6400 yet.

This photo was taken at ISO 1600. The skin colors here are very nice.

I also purchased a Canon 28mm f/1.8 lens to go with the 60D. I have developed a preference for prime lenses because of their good image quality and larger apertures. The 50mm and 85mm lenses have been great, but I felt frustrated by their relatively narrow field of view and wanted something wider for general use. I chose the Canon 28mm f/1.8 for its reasonably price. My impressions of it so far are very good. The best thing is that it approximates the normal field of view of a 50mm lens on a 35mm film (or full frame) camera. This approximates what we normally focus on with our eyes, so when you see a scene and then lift the viewfinder to your eye you get a similar view.

This photo was also taken at ISO 3200. It is a good example of the field of view and depth of field (DOF) of the Canon 28m f/1.8 lens.

This shot provides a good example of the DOF of the Canon 28mm f/1.8 lens at f/1.8. The circular bokeh in top left hand corner is very nice too.

I also bought a Domke F3 bag to go with the new camera. This bag is awesome. It is beautifully made from canvas and it looks and feels great. It just seems to swallow a lot of gear without ever being too big and bulky. The only downsides of the bag are lack of padding and it not being waterproof. I might try to find some sort of rain cover for it.

Johan Rockstrom’s TED Talk on nine planetary boundaries is based on the paper “A safe operating space for humanity” published in Nature in 2009. The nine boundaries are (1) climate change, (2) biodiversity loss, (3a) biogeochemical nitrogen cycle, (3b) biogeochemical phosphorus cycle, (4) ocean acidification, (5) freshwater consumption, (6) land use, (7) ozone layer, (8) chemicals pollution and (9) atmospheric aerosols. According to Rockstrom we have already exceeded the boundaries in the first three systems. 

Jared Diamond, in a video taken from a post on Cimate Progress, says there are 12 problems and we have to solve all of them. The first problems he mentions are renewable resources that could be managed sustainably. These are (1) forests, (2) fisheries, (3) topsoil and (4) biodiversity. There are non-renewable resources on which we are approaching the limit. These are (5) energy, (6) fresh water and (7) photosynthetic capacity. Then there are damaging things humans move around: (8) toxic chemicals, (9) greenhouse gases and (10) invasive species. Finally there is (11) population and (12) consumption rates.

In 300 Years of FOSSIL FUELS in 300 Seconds Richard Heinberg narrates the story of how industrialisation,driven by fossil fuel consumption, has pushed the Earth’s ecosystems to and beyond their limits. At the end of the video Heinberg states four things that need to be done: (1) learn to live without fossil fuels, (2) adapt to the end of economic growth, (3) support seven billion humans and stabilise the population at a sustainable level and (4) deal with our legacy of environmental destruction.

“In short we have to live within nature’s budget of renewable resources at rates of natural replenishment,” Heinberg says. “None of our global problems can be tackled in isolation and many cannot be fully solved. We have to prepare for ‘business as unusual’. Our best goal is resilience: the ability to absorb shocks and keep going.”

The graphic above comes from an article titled Charting the Human Cost of Different Types of Energy on ProPublica. It shows the number of people killed in accidents related to different forms of power generation compared with the number that could potentially be killed in a catastrophic accident. It shows that fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) have caused far more deaths than nuclear and hydro. While the risk of a catastrophic accident is much greater from nuclear and hydro. (Please note: the data is from developed countries and doesn’t include the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.)

The graphic doesn’t include renewable energies such as wind or solar photovoltaic (PV). However, in terms of both actual deaths and potential deaths these forms of power generation would have low numbers. It is difficult to imagine a situation where a wind farm could kill hundreds or thousands of people.

The graphic above comes from an article titled Energy Policy After Fukushima on GreenStudy.tw. The first thing it shows is that wind is already much cheaper than nuclear power. While solar PV, solar thermal and offshore wind all have costs similar to nuclear. Once the plant is complete the fuel required for solar and wind is free whereas nuclear requires the ongoing input of fissile material.

A graphic from the Earth Policy Insitute in an article titled Wind Power Soared Past 150,000 Megawatts in 2009 shows the enormous growth of wind power around the world that has mostly occurred in the past decade. To put the numbers into context the article says that this installed wind power capacity is enough to meet “the residential electricity needs of 250 million people.”

The new 1100D is an upgrade of the 1000D which was released in June 2008. The camera has a 12 megapixel sensor which is likely to be the same or similar to the sensor in the 450D. The 1100D adds video recording capability, although it is limited to 720p compared with 1080p recording found in the more expensive Canon DSLR models. It weighs a mere 495 grams (without lens) which is pretty light for a DSLR. See dpreview.com for a hands-on preview of the Canon 1100D.

The new 600D is an upgrade of the 550D which was released just one year ago. It has an 18 megapixel sensor just like its predecessor and the 60D and 7D. The most obvious change is the addition of a swivelling LCD display on the rear of the camera just like the Canon 60D. The 600D also gets a built-in remote control flash release like the 60D. Another interesting feature is a digital zoom in video mode. See dpreview.com for a hands-on preview of the Canon 600D.

Although the 60D and 600D may appear to have similar specifications on paper they are still substantially different cameras. The 60D is a larger body with a pentaprism viewfinder and top LCD display. It also has better weather proofing, a faster continuous shooting rate and full cross-sensor 9-point auto-focus. That said the 600D is feature rich and not just a camera for beginners.

The cameras have been released with two new kit lenses. There is the image stabilised EF-S 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 IS II and the EF-S 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 III for the 1100D which has the same optical design but no image stabilisation. The latter lens is obviously designed to keep the price of the 1100D as low as possible. The “kit lens” is often maligned but it offers a cheap starting point for anyone buying a new camera. I suggest anyone who is new to SLR cameras should spend some time using the kit lens before spending money on better and more expensive lenses.

Canon has also released several new lenses and two new flashes, the Speedlite 320EX and Speedlite 270EX II. These two flashes are likely to be of interest to anyone who purchases the 1100D or 600D as they are likely to be affordably priced coming in below the more professional 430EX II and 580EX II Speedlite models. Both flashes can function as a “slave” for use off camera. The 320EX also features an LED light that can be used while capturing video. Canon Rumors has more details about the two new flashes.

All in all the release of the two new cameras gives a range of choices for anyone buying a Canon APS-C sensor DSLR. The 1100D, 600D, 60D and 7D really cover the entire spectrum from beginner to professional. Someone starting out with a DSLR or on a tight budget should look at the 1100D or 600D whereas someone looking for more features and a larger body should look at the 60D and 7D.

I just bought myself a new camera: the Panasonic LX5. For quite a while I have been pondering over buying a smaller camera to complement my Canon 400D DSLR and finally I plonked down the cash for the Panasonic.

Last year I bought a Sanyo Xacti CG10 hoping that it would serve the role of a pocket-sized second camera. However, I found that while it takes nice video, it doesn’t work well as a still camera. I didn’t feel I had lost much with that as it was very cheap and I have used it for capturing video. I think the most important lesson it taught me was that you get what you pay for. And also that video cameras don’t do a very good job at still photography (although the reverse is probably less true).

I thought about several options for a second camera. Really it came down to a choice between one of the micro-four thirds interchangable lens cameras made by Panasonic and Olympus or a smaller compact camera. I ultimately decided against buying an interchangable lens camera. They are a bit smaller than a DSLR and have a large sensor which gives almost comparable image quality. However, buying one means buying into a system and probably buying extra lenses to go with the camera. Hence, the advantage of greater simplicity and smaller size compared to a DSLR is not that great.

Hence, I decided to buy a premium compact camera. There were a number of cameras I considered including the Canon s95, Panasonic LX5 (and the similar Leica D-Lux 5), Samsung EX1 and the newly released Olympus XZ-1. All these cameras have very similar specifications: a 10 MP sensor that is larger than the average compact camera (but still much smaller than a DSLR) and a fast f/1.8 or f/2 lens.

The Canon s95 is the smallest of this bunch and this is actually the reason I decided against buying it. While it might easily slip into a pocket, I feel it lacks something substantial to hold on to. The new Olympus ZX-1 looks very nice, especially with its f/1.8 lens. However, it is not in the shops yet. So finally I decided to get the Panasonic LX5. It’s big enough to give your hands something to hold on to while still being small enough to carry around everywhere. It is also the fourth generation in a series of cameras designed by Panasonic and Leica. Hence, it should have been quite well refined in that time.

I haven’t given up on DSLR photography. I will still keenly use my Canon 400D especially for live music photography where prime lens and a large sensor are really essential. I also plan to buy more Canon lenses and upgrade the body to a Canon 60D or 7D at some point in the future. I’ll be getting out and taking some photos with both cameras over the forthcoming Lunar New Year holiday.

• Avatar
• Invictus
• Monga (艋舺)
• Alice in Wonderland
• Green Zone
• Tears (眼淚)
• 9
• Au Revoir Taipei (一頁台北)
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
• Kick-Ass
• The Cove (Taiwan premiere at Urban Nomad)
• Iron Man 2
• Taipei Exchanges (第36個故事)
• The Land Has Eyes (and others at 2010 International Indigenous Film Festival)
• Samson and Delilah
• Pinoy Sunday (台北星期天)
• Bullshit
• Favela on Blast
• Inception
• SALT
• Formosa Betrayed
• The Ghost Writer
• The Fourth Portrait (第四張畫)
• The Social Network
• Fair Game
• Seven Days in Heaven (父後七日)
• The Experiment
• Love and Other Drugs

*Also see my review of Taiwanese cinema in 2010.

I have been using delicious for several years but have never actually explored the social side of it. For social sharing of links I use Twitter and Facebook. The links I save on delicious tend to be interesting articles or websites that I would like to refer to again in the future. Whereas the links I share on Twitter and Facebook tend to be more about current news and events.

delicious is also a wonderful storehouse of carefully selected and tagged webpages. Searching the site can be a great way of finding some very relevant sources of information. I hope delicious finds a good home outside Yahoo. With a developer dedicated to improving the site it should live on. It also has the potential to develop new features (I have suggested some at the end of this post).

Another good thing about delicious is that it is easy to export all your bookmarks in an HTML file. This led me to explore a few delicious alternatives. I’ll make some notes about them below.

pinboard – This one was the first that I tried out. This site is not free. There is a one off sign up fee which was $7.70 at the time I joined. pinboard explains that this fee eliminates spam and also contributes to development costs.

The site was suffering from heavy traffic yesterday making it slow to import my bookmarks. The interface is extremely simple and uncluttered, but it is about function rather than form.

The site has a number of other features that I think are very useful. One is archiving tweets from Twitter. The other is mirroring links from delicious. Since I signed up neither of these functions have worked, but I expect that is due to overload on the servers which will be addressed or reduced over the next few days.

trunk.ly – This site was launched yesterday to capitalise on the news about delicious. It monitors links and imports links from Twitter and Facebook. I am still waiting for it to import my links from delicious and Twitter, although I expect this is because of the recent launch and heavy server loads. Hopefully it will be working smoothly in a few days.

Xmarks – This service lets you synch bookmarks across browsers and also access and edit your bookmarks online. I haven’t tried it out yet. (thanks @AltonThompson)

Favbot – This site is still in its testing phase but you can sign up for an invite. (thanks @BrookeA56)

I think sites like pinboard and trunk.ly have useful functions that could be implemented on delicious once it escapes from Yahoo’s control. This also made me realise that Twitter (combined with bit.ly) is the service I rely on most for sharing and saving links. Hence, I am glad that pinboard and trunkly offer a way of backing up all those Twitter links.

The new owners of delicious could also look at pinboard’s model of an initial sign up fee and optional annual fee for archiving as a way of monetizing the bookmarking service. A small fee for backing up links from Twitter and Facebook could also be an option.

Another option for delicious to grow is more real time sharing. This could either be done by creating real time link streams within delicious or closer integration with Twitter. It is already possible to tweet links directly from delicious.

Yahoo’s failure to handle this issue has also made me think about finally giving up on Yahoo Mail and moving to Gmail. It also makes me worry about the future of flickr.

• One woman’s nightmare, and a crime against humanity
• Honour killings: Crimewave that shames the world
• Relatives with blood on their hands
• Lie behind mass ‘suicides’ of Egypt’s young women
• The truth about ‘honour’ killings
• A place of refuge from fear and guilt

When the Canon 550D was released earlier this year I wrote a post comparing the Canon 550D and Canon 7D. Now Canon has just released a new DSLR, the Canon 60D, which sits right between the Canon 550D and 7D in its specifications and price.

Digital Photography Review has a hands-on preview of the 60D which gives a good look at what the camera has to offer. The most interesting new feature that hasn’t been seen on a Canon DSLR before is the fold out LCD screen. It won’t necessarily appeal to everyone, but it would be very useful for shooting video or taking a shot above your head in a crowd. I would be a little concerned about the potential for it to break, but I guess 95% of the time the screen would be folded away out of danger.

The 18 megapixel sensor is the same as the one in the 7D and 550D. Image quality is likely to be very similar between these cameras. The real difference is in a range of other specifications.

The buzz on various photography forums seems to be that the 60D is a dissapointment. I think this largely comes from owners of the 40D or 50D who had been waiting for the 60D as an upgrade. In some specifications the 60D is not as good as the 50D. For example, the 60D has no auto-focus micro-adjust, a plastic body compared with a magnesium body on the 50D and a slightly slower frames per second (5.3 fps vs 6.3 fps). The 60D takes SD memory cards compared with CF cards on the 60D. It seems that CF cards are now only for professional models with all lower priced cameras having SD cards.

On the other hand the 60D has some features that are not found in the 50D. For example, the 60D has a wireless flash control and can capture 1080p video. The plastic body also makes 60D a bit lighter than the 50D and it is also slightly smaller. Overall the basic design of the 60D is much like the 50D with an LCD on the top and scroll wheel on the back.

One interesting feature is the in-camera RAW conversion. While I wouldn’t necessarily use this a lot it would be useful in situations where you didn’t have access to a computer with the necessary software for RAW conversion and post-processing. There are also JPEG “creative filters” which in my opinion are a bit of a gimmick. It is also possible to give photos a rating from one to five in camera. This can be used for slide shows in the camera and is retained in the metadata after downloading. This would be great for quickly finding your best shots after you have downloaded the photos.

Overall the 60D looks like a very interesting camera and is well placed between the 7D and the 550D. The professional or user upgrading a 40D or 50D might be better served by the 7D. However, for anyone who owns one of the Canon Rebel series (400D/450D/500D/550D) then the 60D looks like a significant upgrade with much better ergonomics and some great features like the wireless flash control. I will certainly strongly consider buying a Canon 60D when the time comes to replace the 400D I am currently using.

Update: Bob Atkins has compiled a very useful table comparing the Canon 60D with the 50D, 7D and 550D. The Phoblographer compares the 60D, 7D and 550D. A video from DigitalRevCom on YouTube asks which of the Canon 60D, 7D and 550D is better?