Skyline of Eastwood City Libis

A night shot of Megaworld's Eastwood City. Best times to take photos are, dawn or dusk or the so called twilight zone. I'll be in search of places to photograph to be good in this hobby. Frustrated but I'm hanging in there. Eastwood Twilight Shot

Nikon LC-52

I've searched around Hidalgo Quiapo for an original Nikon LC-52 but they don't have that snap-on lens cap. The stores only have generic snap-ons, costing about php160. My father bought one at Columbia Cubao for php750. It's expensive but effective.

Nikon ML-L3 Wireless Remote

Another trip to Hidalgo Quiapo this time supposedly for a cleaning kit. I forgot I needed to buy one, it only came to me when I just bought the Nikon remote. I chose between the outrageously huge Phottix remote for Nikon(php550) and the cute original Nikon remote(php990). I decided to choose the Nikon. Size and quality beats the Phottix. My mom told me never to settle for cheap accesories for my camera as much as possible. I don't know it depends on the product.

It comes with no manual. I tested it at the store, change my shutter setting to quick response remote and shoot. One needs to point it directly at the sensor, not at the back of your camera or sideways, just at the sensor. It's a little inconvenient but it works wonders for those long exposures and if you want to be in the picture, you just have to point at the sensor.

Oh, I bought mine at Henry's.

Yongnuo Speedlite YN465

I got myself a YN465 for Nikon yesterday by impulse, cost about php3800 at Avenue Hidalgo Quiapo. Reason why I went there is to return the 16gb sdhc card my father bought there the other day. 16gb is too much and scary for me, I don't want to lose precious pictures all at once because the card has died or images got corrupted. I got 1 4gb sdhc and bought the flash and offsetted the card cost, the 16gb costs php1500, do the math.

The flash swivel sideways to bounce at walls and swivel up to bounce on ceilings. Indicators are simple LED bulbs, no fancy LCD displays. It has two modes, TTL and manual. I heard that flashes recycles slower with rechargeable than alkalines. Well in my case costing is an issue so I'll opt for rechargeables. The hybrios and eneloops are rumored to be made the same way. Hmm I'm thinking of buying CDR-King for warranty. I have an old Uniross X-press 300, I guess no need for a new charger.

I've seen a Nikon SB-M flash in a little camera shop in Hidalgo too, php1800.

Film Photography

I am slowly venturing in film photography. This profession or a hobby for me is still as expensive as ever. Ever since the boom of d40 in 2006, my interest in photography blossomed because it makes photography cheaper. I want to develop my own films. Once I tried the Caffenol recipe but failed because either my boiled baking soda didn't turn into soda ash, or I accidentally damaged the film thinking the bathroom was light-tight enough.

Til now I haven't had the luxury of developing my last 35mm film, because I lack a perfect darkroom, a changing bag and a developing tank. I guess I have to save more.

I recently bought an Atlas acid fixer and an Atlas universal film developer from Columbia Photo Cubao. Both are php138 each. I asked what's the exact chemical names but the store people do not know about the chemicals used. Talk about MSDS :D. The store has developing tanks but only for the 120 format, and so are the reels.

I asked shops around Hidalgo Quiapo by phone if they sell developing tanks for 35mm, and Fortress is the only shop I knew that has stocks, priced at a whopping php2400.

For now I bought a nikon d40x body, priced at php8500. I got it from a surfer, hence the screw rust, which I speculate, curse the seawater. At 46k+ actuations, forums say I should be worried, but that will ruin the learning process. I shouldn't be, I'll love it and shoot.