Allen Huang Photography Journal

Well, I was quite skeptical about this lens at first, especially after reading the MTF graphs.
They stated that this lens was softer at all apertures (that were comparable) than my beloved Tank Beast Tokina 28-70/2.8

When I received it, I was in utter frustration as I had thought the seller didn't include the lens hood which he said he would. After looking around the box, I found it rapped in paper! (Lol)

It was a well cared for lens, I would not be surprised if he said it was new! No marks, scratches, signs of use Whatsoever!

When I attached it to my a200 with vertical grip, it looked very strange (very small). I wasn't used to small zooms anymore, and anything that wasn't bigger than 72mm (filter diameter) looked strange. But I got over it after I started using it. (I don't think I'll use my Tokina again, other than for portraits).

So I heard this lens performs really well on FF, lets see on APS-C.

These tests were performed on a tripod, SSS-off, Autometer, Apeture Priority and 0EV compensation
Sony DSLR-a200

Minolta 3.5


Tokina 3.5







Minolta 5


Tokina 5







Minolta 6.3


Tokina 6.3







Minolta 8


Tokina 8







Minolta 16


Tokina 16



What is evident is that the Minolta outperforms Tokina from f3.5 to about f5.6, the image for f5 seems to be a bit blurred, will check up on that.

The Tokina then takes over from f6.3 onwards.
Minolta shows steady maintaining of quality up to f8.

This is evident that Minolta is a better lens wide-open, while Tokina owns afterwards.
If only it were vice-versa, I'd resell the Minolta.

(these were both set at 28mm, it may be a weak spot for Tokina)

The brokeh from the Minolta is MUCH better than the Tokina, something that I've always liked about Minolta lenses.


Hope this has helped you decide, if you EVER come across these 2 (quite unlikely nowadays).
Enjoy.
A.

Check this shizz out

http://devzone.mxit.com/

R100 000 (about $10000) for the best design, building the client from scratch!

I watched a movie on my parents' Taiwanese (please, not Chinese) channel - MacTV, sponsored by the government for fellow compatriots!

Anyway, It depicted children in junior school who all come from different backgrounds.
The main actor's parents were lunch/take away owners and were quite lean. including himself.
They were friendly and didn't really care about the kid's schoolwork - therefore he didn't excel and came last for every test. They called him "Small Fat"

Then there was the kid who came 1st in the grade, he comes from quite a wealthy family with his father doing business in Mainland China. He stays with his mom and she is addicted to Mahjong. She doesn't care much about him and only gives him money.

Then the last boy I'll mention, who is quite an entrepreneur, is wacky and loves adventure comes from a family where his mother has passed away. His father is still in a state of great depression and cannot find a job since the company liquidated. He is middle aged and companies do not like hiring people like him.

In the end, a tragic story but not so tragic ending, he resorts to stealing.
He steals his son's classmates' parents' purses, cellphones jewellery etc. It was a shame because throughout the whole movie, his son prayed and cried that his father told him: "No matter how poor one is, they should not take others' belongings". He had made his own money to buy health lunch at school.

In the end he confessed and broke down. This was a very emotional climax and he told everyone how he was struggling and wishing it would just end - attempting to suicide.
But one of the parents said that his electronics company is short of someone like him. He was the father of the to be supermodel Jolin Lin

It made me realize that we're living a good life. An excellent life. And we should treasure our DSLRs and other things too, because in life, there's nothing more important that happiness and success. One cannot fathom another's failures so let's pray and wish these guys well.

Hope that they make it through their difficult times.

And so I sent my beloved Sony DSLR a200 in for repairs.

I asked the lady whether she'll call me if I had to pay, and she refused and said that it's under warranty! woohoo! So hopefully in about 2 weeks time, I'll have my camera back all refurbished! I hope they polish out the scratches on the screen caused by the protector.

I also found out today that I had received (quite a while ago) DeviantDollars that I earned from my prints.
I can use these to buy other people's prints or buy my own. Or even DeviantART product. (Ahh...)
R210 = US$23

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM MY deviantART - until further notice!

I've been shooting a lot with my a100 now and I even used the Vacuum cleaner to clean the sensor! xP (I know that it's something Gods of all kinds forbid) but hey.

I'll show you guys some pictures when I have taken some more.

Enjoy your weekends kids.
xx

My Tokina Lens seemed to become loose and whenever I zoomed, because it is an internal focusing lens, it would scratch inside the barrel of the housing. A screw must've gotten loose or something.

So therefore,
I started my mission.

This is a product shot of my Tokina
This lens is very solidly built and I have been using it for just more than a year, I've been quite satisfied with it as the quality and sharpness is exceptional especially after f4.5. This lens is designed for wide-aperture but at f4 and lower, this lens is quite disappointing. It's very soft even at the center. Rendering it nearly unusable.

Despite it's shortcomings, it has been a faithful lens, especially to my Sony a100. Definitely a very good (nearly excellent) replacement with my kit. It suffers on the wide end (on APS-C sensors) and doesn't offer much on the longer end. I recently discovered the the alignment seems to be different from Minolta's alignment standards, as the 28mm is not as wide as my Minolta 28-105/3.5-4.5's 28mm. So thus I shall say that it does have a slight advantage on the longer end.
The sharpness is weakest at around about 60mm, But it's not noticeable. There is hardly any barrel distortion on the APS-C sensor since this is a FF lens.


Recently, due to the problem, I was quite annoyed with the lens. I had bought a plastic petal screw on lens hood for it and I had to physically BREAK my Hoya UV filter as it got stuck to the hood. I found that the UV filter's thickness was nearly 3mm! I tried to smash it with a hammer and it didn't want to smash! So i just pryed the metal apart, and stuck the glass into the front of the hood's cavity (it had a small ridge just big enough for the glass!).

Here we go with the disassemble.
I took the photos AFTER I had disassembled it, so These pictures are actually Assembly photos.

The mount and rear optic


After I removed the mount and rear optic as well as the mount alignment collar


The Mount and rear optic inside rear lens cap


The mount alignment collar with all the screws so far


After the mount standoff is removed


Standoff 'Washers'


Removing the Screw AF gear


View of everything


I had found the screw and replaced it into the right place.
Now the lens works as if I had just got it!

:]

I hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed disassembling and reassembling my lens!

Love,
A

So I've been away for a while from blogs or all sorts, I haven't even updated my DeviantART journal in ages.

I don't really find the time or feel unmotivated to blog, I think it's a GREAT concept, but my laziness seems like a better one.

Anyway, loads of things have changed since I previously blogged. Good things and Bad. Very bad things. haha.

Well on the bright side,
I got a new DSLR and a flash unit
and then another flash unit, a light stand, an umbrella, a few new lenses, vertical grip blah blah blah
Cool stuff to be seen here making use of fun stuff here



We went on our school trip to Sun City it was real fun! a GREAT experience! Check photos here


I was lucky to photograph and sit in a few Aston Martins
We also had a fashion show (photos won't be up until further notice)

but the worst news ever!
We went on sports tour to Pretoria and my beloved a200 broke. It refuses to switch on now... (will not go into the details of what happened) and this happened on the first day that we arrived, so I did not get ANY photos of sports =.=

*sigh*
I'm stuck using my a100 again, it's not a bad camera, Just slow. Slowww.

Anyway,
Check out my flickr or deviantart for any new stuff
if you don't have me on FB yet, Now's the time to add!



Later kids,
A.

Some new Stuff!
(click on the thumbnails for FULLVIEW)


Architecture

Edifice.
Taken at Gateway, Theatre of Shopping (a shopping mall)


Landscapes

And I Found You.
Taken at the beach, originally i wanted to go to the beach at take photos of the sea, because on my way home I saw (the beach) and the ocean near the shore was brown and then blue! it formed like an 'S' spiral, so I set off from home, and walked about 3km (about 1.8miles) and when I got to the beach, I realised how for that area was... it was about another 5km of beach walking! so I got over it... luckily there was this washed up bark...For an excellent composition!
so I snapped away and went back home.


Portraits
I uploaded some more photos I took from

the Converse photoshoot
Here they are:


Identity


Losing Signal




Enjoy.