Lido Beach, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

I have been frequenting Lido Beach a few times now to photograph the birds there. Lido beach is situated in the city of Johor Bahru on the left side of the causeway facing the Strait of Tebrau which lies between the State of Johor, Malaysia and Singapore. Sadly the water now is not what it was like in the 70s. Then the water was clear and green but now it is murky and dark. Blame it on industrialisation and the causeway which exacerbates the condition by impeding the free flow of the water. Given the right quality of water, the strait is perfect for breeding marine life. It is well protected from the harsh environment of the open seas.

The intention of this article is to show the variety of birds that can be seen there as the images that I have are not good enough. I am still figuring out what is lacking, be it on my part or the equipment that I have. The shooting distances are quite far and the Egrets take flight if I come too close. I do not want to be looked like I am camping there as I do not want to attract attention. Already by just being casual with a long lens, I got a few friendly approach by people to chat with me.

You get to see many species of birds at Lido beach if you stay long enough. One just fly pass along the strait to the east and return in the evening flying west. This is what the White-bellied Sea Eagle is observed doing. Some at times stay awhile, a case of the Red-backed Sea Eagle (or Brahminy Kite). Others make Lido beach part of their hunting or play ground.

Here are some pictures of the birds shot at Lido Beach. I have yet to get images of crows, pigeons and if possible swiftlets. Swiftlets fly non-stop after leaving their nests, never perch, and they are small, dark and swift. Just perfect for a blurry image.

White-bellied Sea Eagle flying along the strait

Red-backed Sea Eagles resting

Duck flying alone (found out it was cormorant)

Love to see these cormorants fly, skimming just above the water. Amazing speed

Javan Mynas

Kingfisher with crab

Heron in flight

Egrets in flight

Another kind of long neck, the Milky Stork

Little Tern

Here’s the rest that I yet to know the species;

I don't think its the sparrow (Scaly-breasted Munia)

The rest are quite camouflage (Sandpiper)

Very agile

Looks like a kind of Raven (Glossy Starlings)

I was delighted when I saw a new kampung by the water at Tanjung Kupang, on the southwestern end of Johor, Malaysia. A modern kampung of stilt houses built of bricks. Yeah, sadly with the dwindling forest, woods had became scarce and expensive. Besides, wood is combustible, easily incinerated and thus reduced to ash.

It was a modern kampung because other than brick houses on stilts there was no more hut for organic waste removal to be seen. Classic and yet modern. The folks were relocated here from their old domicile of Kampung Pendas not far away. I waited for the day when the tide is high to go there for photo outing. It was last Wednesday and here are the images.

Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 XR Di II

…….

In the days of film photography, there are two factors in getting a sharp picture. The main one is the nut that holds the camera. The other is the lens (disregard the ISO). Now, in the age of digital photography, there are two more variables to be considered. The camera sensor and the demosaicing algorithm that manipulates the data captured by the sensor into an image. The are a few of these algorithms to choose from, each with its pros and cons. Then again, it all come back to square one. It is still the same main factor, that is the nut that holds the camera and probably the same nut that holds the mouse.

This nut is so much impressed with the reviews by some of the reviewers and users, many say it is sharp, that he decided to throw away some money to get hold of this lens to replace his Canon EF-S 17-85mm F4-5.6 IS USM lens. The downside is shorter range (not much of a problem) and no IS which this nut can lives without. On the upside, the maximum aperture is fixed at f2.8 throughout the zoom range and it can be attached to a Kenko 1.4x extender that this nut had, unlike the Canon EF-S lens where the mount protruded a little extra.

It is not the intention of this nut to do a review of this lens. Generally this nut does not scrutinise all over an image with a magnifying glass looking at the minutest details unless it is an image of the opposite gender in birthday suit. Usually this nut just go with the feeling. If an image is good, it definitely looks good.

With this new lens, this nut went out to capture some images of a modern kampung by the water in Southern Johor. Images of the kampung taken with this lens will soon be posted here and hopefully it will be better than the other lens.

Note: This nut was thinking too much on how to make this world a better place to live that he forgot to bring along the old lens so that he can make a comparison. Will post it later.

/nut mode off

Becak

I shot these pictures a while back in March 2010 during my visit to the city of Jogjakarta, Java, Indonesia. I was on a becak (pronounced bay-chark) on my way back to the hotel from the popular shopping area, locals and tourists alike, of Malioboro and it was raining lightly. As can be seen from the picture above, the view ahead was opened to me. I was taken with and fascinated by the reflection of the colours on the wet road surface. It struck me on how the images might look when exposed at varying shutter speeds. Without much hesitation I took the camera out and began experimenting.

Short exporsure - ¼ second

Long exposure - 1 second

Longer exposure - 4 seconds

Some details of the pictures here are on my flickr site.

This time of the year in Southeast Asia is the time for the Northeast Monsoon season which begins in mid August to mid February. Not that it will rain everyday but expect that it will be more than any other months. If it does rain, depending on your location under the widespread clouds, it could be very very heavy, heavy, drizzling or no rain at all. It is almost impossible to drive if the rain is very very heavy. You can’t even see the vehicle 10 metres ahead of you and not even the road lines. Luckily this seldom happens.

Yesterday evening, I decided to go for a Sunday drive to Pontian, Johor. It was cloudy but I still brought my camera along. On my way there, the heaven started to let loose its holding lightly until I came to a stretch of road where it poured slightly heavier than heavy. I decided to shoot some pictures and look for clearing next to the road shoulder that was safe to park. I found one ahead and pulled over but then on this location the rain was not as heavy as the previous immediate stretch that I had just passed. Lighting was very poor, I had to use high ISO. After a few shots I continued with my journey and not very far ahead, it didn’t rain at all. Again I stopped and worked the shutter a few more times. Then onwards there was no more stopping although there was rain on the roads ahead and stopped just before Pontian on the west coast of Peninsula Malaysia.

Visibility was about 50 metres

No rain

Sunset at Pontian overlooking the Straits of Malacca

Error Message

I was almost done with installing the programs that I needed on the new PC. Everything was running smooth when after installing SSuite Accel, the standalone freeware alternative for Microsoft Excel, I got a message that said, “License information for TF1Book is invalid.” Searching on the net, I found that it was caused by the ActiveX control file VFC132.OCX. I tried to look for remedy on the FAQ section on the author’s site and it was a known issue. Here what’s been written on the site;

“The error you received is from an ActiveX component that did not register on installation. (The Spreadsheet Canvas)

Simply uninstall the office suite and reinstall it, this should fix the problem (you may have to try once or twice). Microsoft made some adjustments to their system paths and registration procedures.

If the above solution does not work, try the following:

1. Open the run dialog box on the main start menu of Windows
2. type the following command script into the edit box – “regsvr32 vcf132.ocx”
3. click the OK button

If you are running Windows Vista or Windows 7, follow these steps:

Register the component from an elevated command prompt. Right click on the icon for Command Prompt on the start menu and select Run as Administrator. You will be prompted by UAC to approve the elevation. Once the command prompt window is open, run your “regsvr32  vcf132.ocx”command from that window and it should succeed.

This should register the component. The applications using the spreadsheet canvas should run normaly now.”

Well, it didn’t work for me, though I did not uninstall it but just chose the repair option when reinstalling. Ultimately I restored the system with the first backup image (the one right after installation, activate and update) followed immediately by installing the SSuite Accel program. It worked. I then copied the file VCF132.OCX which was found in the C:\Windows\SysWOW64 directory to another location for safekeeping. Next I installed all the other programs one at a time, executing the program after installation followed by executing SSuite Accel. All went fine until the last program DoubleCAD XT 3. The CAD program worked fine but then running SSuite Accel gave me the message. Looking at the file in SysWOW64 folder, it was bigger, newer and had a higher version number. I overwritten this file with the saved copy. To my joy both programs executed just fine.

Installed by SSuite Accel

Installed by DoubleCAD XT 3

There should be no problem in running SSuite Accel except for DoubleCAD XT 3. It is depending on the newer version of the file VCF132.OCX, there might or might not be a problem. As of now, that I do not know as I am yet to use the program. Hopefully there’s none.

Update:

I don’t know, maybe its the nut that holds the mouse, this program could not open an xls file and I don’t feel like finding the reason why. I seldom use word processor, let alone spreadsheet. What I need is a small program to open the respective files. Installation program file for Microsoft Excel viewer alone is 75MB. No can do. In the end I ended up with LibreOffice portable, just another fork of OpenOffice.