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                        *      PHOTOGRAPHY HAPPENINGS !!     *
                        *        Photography news in Singapore       *
                        **************************************************

 Greetings all photo enthusiasts !!

1) This a private mailing list for photographers in Singapore, so that we
can all be kept informed of the latest happenings in the photographic
circle, eg. any courses, outings, interesting websites, and new products in
photography.

2) If you wish not to receive any mails, or if you have any photography
enthusiast friends who wants to be added onto this list, pls e-mail me their
e-mail addresses.  All the recipients on this mailing list will not be
listed, so your address will be kept private and confidential.

3) Depending on the amount of news, you should be receiving one update every
two weeks or so. If you have any news of photographic interest you wish to
share with the rest, pls mail it to me !! Remember, this mailing list is
only as good as the info I receive !

4) I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information posted, but I'll try my best to verify the information before putting it up.

                                                                                                                    Best regards,
                                                                                                                    Nelson Tan
 

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Issue #3                                                   Dated: 13 Sept 1998

                                *** CONTENTS ***
 

Okay, and in this issue of "Photography Happenings !", we have:
 

        1) Announcements
           - Added members from Nikon list
           - Double mailing

        2) New Products
           - Contax Medium Format 645 AF
           - Rumours of 2 new Nikon lenses
           - Minolta's new flagship camera <Minolta Dynax 9>

        3) Website Reviews
           - Photography In Malaysia
           - Moose Peterson's Wildlife Photography
           - Philip Greenspun's Photo.Net

        4) Events in Singpore
           - Nikon Photo Contest International 1998

        5) Sales and bargains
           - Photokina 98
 

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                             * ANNOUNCEMENTS *
 

Added members from Nikon list
-----------------------------

If you've been subscribing to Nikon Digest, I've manually added you to this e-mail list. If you do not wish to receive additional issues, pls e-mail me. Or if you receive mails twice (which means you're originally on this list already), pls inform me so that I can delete away the duplicated address. The mailing list is updated manually, so some stuff always escape my attention. I'd really appreciate it if you could inform me of any errors. Thanks in advance.
 

Double Mailing
--------------
If you receive double copies of the same issue, pls inform me so that I can take corrective action to the mailing list. It may be that the same account appeared under different names, leading to you receiving the same issue twice. Or it could be that you have two different accounts, and the mail appeared in both.

Membership of this mailing list now stands at 250 exactly.
 

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                            *  NEW PRODUCTS  *
 
Contax 645 AF
-------------

Contax has ventured into medium format in a big way. It revealed the Contax 645 AF during Photokina, a 6 X 4.5 format camera with autofocusing. The autofocus mechanism uses built-in ultrasonic motors (like Canon's USM) in the lenses themselves, instead of the film plane focusing of the Contax AX. The USM motors make possible seamless change from AF to MF.
 

The CONTAX 645 lens system is composed of six outstanding Carl Zeiss T* Auto Focus lenses:

        1) Distagon T* 35mm f3.5        2) Distagon T* 45mm f2.8
        3) Planar T* 80mm f2               4) Apo-Makro Planar T* 120mm f4
        5) Sonnar T* 140mm f2.8         6) Sonnar T* 210mm f4.

This brand new camera will fight the recently launched Pentax 645 AF, since both have very similar specifications, being 645 format autofocus SLRs with interchangeable lenses.

There is a 2.5 frames per second drive built-in, and the camera also provides
interchangeable backs for 120 film and 220 film. Like the Contax RTS, there is a Real Time Vacuum system that pulls the film down to the pressure plate before every exposure, to ensure absolute film flatness for optimal sharpness. The AE prism is detachable, and the camera has Aperture Priority (AV), Shutter priority (TV) and Manual modes. Metering modes include spot metering, center-weighted average metering and TTL Pre-Flash Metering system. Automatic Bracketing Control (A.B.C) is also available.

But don't hold your breadth. The camera won't be available for sale until
January 1999, and the price is still a secret. Pray hard for the economic crisis to pass us until then....
 

Rumours
~~~~~~~

Nikon is said to have up their sleeves.... a Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 AF-S and a 28-70 f/2.8 AF-S. Might be introduced during Photokina. Prices are rumoured to be twice of that of non AF-S versions.

Now... where did I put my Big Sweep ticket ???
 

Minolta's new flagship SLR
-------------------------

Minolta has just launched it's new flagship camera, the Minolta Dynax 9. It is an update from the older Dynax 9xi, with many similar functions, but it has a completely new design. It feels very robust; a bit like Nikon F5. It is stuffed with advanced features, some never seen in an SLR before. The price level is
set slightly below Nikon F5 and Canon EOS 1n,around the same price as new Canon EOS 3.

Some of the features:

- Advanced viewfinder system that shows 100%
- Newly developed acute matte screens
- 5.5 fps motor wind.
- High-speed shutter down to 1/12000 sec and flash sync speed of 1/300 sec.
- Rugged design with stainless steal, zinc and aluminium details
- 21 custom functions for personal adjustment of the camera.
- Mid reload of film to a certain frame number.
- Built-in flash (gn 12).
- Delayed shutter mirror lock-up for tripod use.
- Accessories available include a vertical grip and a Data memory back capable    of storing 18 items of information about every frame exposed in 400 36 frames   rolls of film. The data is stored on 2 MB removable SmartMedia card.

                                        (Minolta article by Lars Kjellberg)
 

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                           * WEBSITE REVIEWS *

 
This issue's recommended websites are:
 

a) Photography In Malaysia

                http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/photography.htm

Despite the current unhappiness with our nearest neighbour, this is still a very good site !! It is pretty well-done and quite cool-looking, but suffers from cramming too many things into one-page. They have some pretty good articles on trival knowledge of cameras. E.g. have you seen the old logo of Canon ? Or do you know that Canon has Buddhist origins ? Check them out at this site !!
 

b) Moose Peterson's Wildlife Photography

                 http://www.av.qnet.com/~moose395/

Moose is a die-hard Nikon user, as many Nikon fanatics will know. And he is also well-known for his nature photography. Do check out his book "Nikon Guide to Wildlife Photography". Check out this informative site for information about wildlife photography and Nikon equipment !!
 

c) Philip Greenspun's Photo.Net

                http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/photo/index.html

It's almost redundant to list this website actually. It is easily one of the hottest photography website around. It has plenty of good (but opinionated) articles about bags, tripods, cameras etc. Check out the Classified Ads section. I believe that it is difficult to find a classified ad hosting that has more photography equipment listed than this. More useful though is the Q&A section, where you can ask photography questions and someone knowledgeable can help to answer it. A bit of advice though... read through the Q&A archives before asking any questions. Some "resident experts" are fond of shooting down questions that gets asked frequently. And don't ask any question about which camera/lens is better, they prefer that you ask about photography techniques. Great site !!
 

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                            * EVENTS IN SINGAPORE *
 

Nikon Photo Contest International 1998 - Nikon Focus 21
-------------------------------------------------------

Nikon's annual photo contest is here again. There are 3 catagories:

  1. Catagory A: 35mm format, free subject.
  2. Catagory B: 35mm format, theme "Hopes and Dreams for the 21st Century"
  3. Catagory C: APS format, free subject.

The prizes are very attractive as usual, with the Grand Prize being US$5000 of Nikon products, and the 1st Prize (one in each category) is US$2,500 of Nikon products. For more details, pick up your contest form from any authorized Nikon dealers.  The closing date is 30 Sept 98.

P.S: Note that the contest is on a International scale.
 
 

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                           * SALES AND BARGAINS *

Photokina 98
------------

Nothing much this time round, except that Photokina is coming around the corner.
For those who don't know, Photokina is the world's biggest photography equipment fair, held in Germany. So what does this mean for us ?

For those who wants the latest technology:
- You will get new cameras and lens releases, such as EOS 5, Nikon's AF-S lenses

For those who have limited budget:
- Hold your purchases !! New products means the older versions that they replace  will fall in prices.

For those who wants to sell their old equipment:
- If you're selling your old equipment because you know the new one will replace it, and you're sure the new version is better, sell now before the price drops!!
 

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That's all, folks !
Happy shooting !!!

                                                                                                     Your friendly list-maintainer,
                                                                                                                            Nelson Tan
 
 

Send any comments(commend or condemn), or information to me at:

                        nelson88@pacific.net.sg