Frogeye Underwater Camera

I have received several emails about the underwater shot of Sun-Ling snorkeling in Bali.

Jay wrote:
Anyway, I remember your Canon underwater camera (or was that
S----'s?), and I thought you'd probably have an underwater digital camera or an underwater housing (I've seen a few of those). But a Lomo Frogeye? I've seen Lomo cameras the past few years and thought they were pretty neat, but for me they came a bit too late--since getting a digital camera I don't think I've been able to finish a roll of film in another camera. My three Canon SLRs (well, my prized Canon T90 died a month or two before I got my Nikon Coolpix), two Olympus XAs, Minolta Panoramic, and Yashica T5 all sit gathering dust. :-/

Your photos looked neat. Did you just get a photo CD back with the processed photos or....?

Do you have any other Lomo cameras? People seem to collect them.

Sun-Ling's cousin here in Shanghai is quite the amateur photographer. He shoots slide film, has it developed and then scanned. He never has slides mounted, just keeps the positives - 4 to a strip.

The cousin does not speak much English, so I'm not exactly sure what happened when he offered to get my Bali slide film developed and scanned... because...it took like 2 months to get the positives and digital images back. Some images were scanned backwards, maybe all of them, hard to tell. Some were 2MB scans. Some were 600K. So I just don't know. I thought he took his stuff to a regular retail place but maybe he has friends with connections.....I did not get a CD. He transferred them from his hard disk to our memory stick.

Anyway the shots came out OK even though I hate the fact that the Frogeye flash cannot be "turned off" as far as I can tell.

I have just the one Lomo. Maybe I'll shoot some more slide film with the Frogeye over the New Year holiday and get it developed and scanned myself.

After borrowing S----'s Canon underwater camera, we bought our own, a different model, the Canon Sure Shot A1 Underwater. It worked will for about 4 years until it developed a leak. It was a neat camera. Panorama. Flash control. Decent Auto settings. Good for over and under water.

Click here for more info on the Lomo Frogeye.

Here it is.... among the skyscrapers of Shanghai....My Frogeye!!!

Bali 2006 - Part 6 - Amed, Lepah Beach, Snorkel and Sail

I have posted the final part of the Bail trip report over on meckleyearth.

Here's a preivew:

Sun-Ling posing for our Lomo Frogeye underwater camera.


Sailing at sunrise in the Lombok Strait. Also taken with Lomo Frogeye.

Shopping for Xmas Eve Dinner Party

Sun-Ling and I are having a few friends over for dinner on Christmas Eve, so last night we went out to one of our nearby supermarkets to buy stuff. The Christmas carols were blaring so I discretely set my camera on the shopping cart and took some video.

This supermarket is in the basement of a shopping mall and was not particularly crowded last night.

The folks in blue uniforms are supermarket staff.

Enjoy!

Bali 2006 - Part 5

May 18th, our 15th wedding anniversary, was a fantastic day as we transitioned from interior Ubud to coastal Amed Beach, stopping at old Tenganan Village and Tirtagangga Water Palace on the way. The whole report for May 18 is posted over at meckleyearth.

If you only want to see the photos, click here.

The local sailing canoes, jukungs, on Lepah Beach.

Bali 2006 - Part 4

I have stopped using Live Journal for posting our long trip reports. From now on I will post them on our sister blog: www.meckleyearth.blogspot.com. As time permits, I will move all the Live Journal reports to meckleyearth.

For part 4 of our May 2006 trip to Bali where we visited Monkey Forrest Preserve, relaxed at a Spa, and took in a Bamboo Gamelan performance, click here. See preview photos below.

Dancers



John tries out the bamboo gamelan

Some photos of our new apartment

We have been living in our new 151.5 square meter apartment in the Xujiahui District for almost 2 months. Sun-Ling's landlord-financed upgrades are coming along. Here are some photos I took several weeks ago. Since then, the living room sofa cushions have been upgraded and the study has increased it's state of disarray. Enjoy!

To see all the apartment photos click here.

Our living room.



View from our apartment to Sun-Ling's office in GangHui Tower. It's the tallest tower in the middle of the photo.

Bali 2006 - Part 3

Ubud Bali - May 16, 2006

Today's plan: Do the Rough Guide "A rice-paddy walk through Ubud Kaja", parallel and east of yesterday's walk.

Up at 7:45, breakfast at the hotel, but got a late start on the walk. The temperature was 82F and the skies clear, so we had excellent views of the Gunung Agung volcano and rice terraces.

Stopped around 11AM to chat with a local man, Renta Wayan. He climbed a nearby coconut tree, brought down a coconut, and chopped it open for us. We chatted a bit and gave him 5K RP for his troubles which he gladly accepted. Although not pushy, he became evident that he hangs out by the track to chat up tourists. He could say hello in several different languages, including Chinese.

The rice paddies and terraces were very cool. This time of year - after the harvest - ducks are allowed to forage in the paddies. We saw many ducks. Also, it is the time of year to repair irrigation channels and we saw much evidence of this.

The walk north out of town was not as pleasant as yesterday as today we ran into a small business of some kind every 500 meters or so, each trying to extract money from tourist by selling art, knickknacks, food and drink, etc.

It seems that we missed the turn around specified in Rough Guide and crossed the river by walking in/on an aqueduct instead of a normal bridge. (See photos). So actually the first hour of the walk back was not on any established track, but just a cross country ramble on the rice terraces, generally headed south. It was quite fun. Finally we hit the main track and came back into town on the famous "Graffiti Road".

Ate lunch at the Lotus Cafe: Storm Pale Ale (A local microbrew - yes!), mango juice, nasi goreng served in a pine apple, and tofu curry. Total of 111K Rupiah. The Lotus Cafe has a great view of the town palace with its temple and water garden of lotus flowers. A very relaxing lunch with a fine pale ale.

Next stop was the local Market for some souvenir shopping. We spent about 200k RP on boxes, hand bags, and various pieces of cotton clothing. And finally, a dip in the pool.

Dinner at the Terrace View restaurant near Monkey Forrest. Excellent! Ankor Beer, Sprite, Gado-Gado, Sayur with tofu soup. The night was clear and we had an awesome view of the Southern night sky including the Milky Way. And we were able to "see the Southern Cross for the first time."

Walking back to the hotel, the long way, we checked out some of the local massage places for a possible "couples" massage the next day.

SLHOTD: Dinner and rice paddy walk.


JHOTD: Cold beer hello!


Ducks in a paddy


Sun-Ling drinking fresh coconut water.


Renta Wayan: Linguist, rice farmer, and coconut climber


Great view of the volcano


Local women threshing rice.


A scarecrow to keep the birds out of the rice fields


Ready to harvest


This local is much more graceful crossing the aqueduct than we were. But both Sun-Ling and I made it across with dry feet.