Wing Tang Wong, The Photographer
Wing Tang Wong, The Photographer
It seems necessary to qualify this bio/about page, with the phrase, "The Photographer", because most people know me by my other activities. As this site's primary focus is the subject of photography, I feel that whatever I post here, should be related to photography.
So, this bio page is likewise photography-centric.
Photography Pedigree
While I greatly respect those who learned the craft and trade through creative and highly respected institutions, my own education was mostly self taught. To date, I have only attended one photography class, and it was an online one, which consisted of weekly assignments, critiques, and suggestions for improvement.
My photographic teeth were cut upon low cost photography gear like the cheapo $1-$2 type-110 keychain cameras. This was soon followed with a self-purchased, without the wisdom or benefit of research, of a $35 fully manual, plastic, 35mm compact camera, which literally hurt the thumb to scroll the stiff, plastic, jagged, film advance. The camera jammed or slipped the film more often than it fired a shot. I would eventually abandon this camera for a more expensive, $75 fully automatic compact 35mm Owl camera. This camera, with its automatic film advance, film rewind, and flash was a luxury compared to the two previous cameras.
However, it was at the time I owned this camera, that I attended my first Anime Expo convention, in 1994. This, for those who do not know, is a Japanese animation(anime) and comic book(manga) convention which features a large number of fans, who wear homemade costumers(cosplayers in cosplay). The first year I went, I shot some 12 rolls of film. The cost of developing them, for me, was astronomical. Older friends attending the convention were armed with more sophisticated SLR equipment with continous auto-focus, and long zoom lenses.
Between 1994 convention and the 1995 convention, I spent some $475 on an Olympus D400Z digicam. It was a 1.2MP, ISO 100 digital camera, with a built in flash and a 3x optical zoom. It looked and felt like a curvey brick in the hand. It shot perfectly fine photographs, if the scene was perfectly illuminated. But ISO100 for indoors, especially dimly lit convention hotel hallways, it left me with more artistic renditions of cosplayers walking away from their poses.
Bearing with this camera for a few more years, I eventually spent $1200 on the Olympus C2100UZ. This was an optically stabilized 10X optical zoom digital camear with a 2.1 MP sensor. It's ISO was capable of going up to 400! I believe this was sometime between 1999 and 2000. This camera also had live-view and was a joy to use, as it covered both wide and long in one beautiful silver body. With a 2X teleconverter filter, I could reach 20X, which was awesome.
However, it was under the ownership of this camera, that I noticed the limitations of a compact zoom, which did not have SLR abilities. Namely, the choice of lenses and the quality of images coming off of the sensor. There was, of course, also the issue of SmartMedia's durability and stability, and that of Olympus' camera design choices, that just didn't make any sense.
Before too long, I would trade my Olympus C2100UZ for a Minolta A1, a 5.1MP barrel zoom camera, equipped with one of the first sensor displacement anti-shake mechanisms. It was a great camera to work with, and with the vertical grip, it was a monster!
However, the calling of a full fledged DSLR was calling and before you could say "out of business", I was the proud owner of a Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D DSLR.
Shortly after taking ownership of my DSLR and having sold my A1, along with batteries, vertical grip, a host of filters, and softer to a shutterbug in the midwest, I hear that Konica Minolta had sold their photography business to Sony.
The Konica Minolta Maxxum 7D is the current body I'm using. Along with the camera, I own the following gear:
- 50mm f/1.7 "normal lens"
- 70-210mm f/4 "beercan"
- 17-50mm f/2.8 "walkabout"
- 12mm, 20mm, 36mm extension tubes "poor man's macro"
- Minolta 3600HS(D) flash unit
- Minolta 5600HS(D) flash unit
- BibbleLabsPro+NoiseNinja
- Adobe PS CS3
28-105mm f/3.5-5.6 "kit lens"
Why not Canon or Nikon...
For the last year and change, 2005 - 2007, I've been considering switching over to the Canon or Nikon crowd. I mean... they have a fine collection of glass, they have great camera bodies, and both are well supported both in and out of the United States.
If I would have switched, I would have needed to reinvest in all of the flash and lenses. Konica Minolta gear, unless you owned one of the 70-210mm f/2.8's, you weren't going to get much resale value. Right now, selling all of my existing gear would not buy me anywhere close to what I have right now, in terms of focal range and camera build. I would end up with an entry level DSLR and would have to settle with buying a single e-TTL flash. No matter which camp I entered, I would see huge expenses.
Recently, when Canon announced the 40D, I had hopes that perhaps prices would come down. Nikon announced the D3 and D300, so I had a bit of an urge to switch. Would it be worth it?
Between Canon and Nikon, I like the aesthetics and ergonomics of the Nikon camera bodies more. Their lenses are more pricey, but I'm only interested in at most three lenses. So, what would it have cost me to switch? Would it have been worth it?
I spent a good deal of time considering that jump.
Then, after a good year after releasing the fairly lackluster Sony Alpha A100, Sony revealed that they had, in fact, been keeping the pros and serious consumers in mind. They unveiled the Sony Alpha A700, a strong follow up to the 7D,
The states were not astronomical... definitely not something to convince Nikon users or Canon users to switch... but for someone like myself, who owned Konica Minolta gear? I think it was about time.
Of special interest to me, and I'm sure to some other lowlight photographers, is the double cross-hair center focus point. High speed and highly accurate focusing. The presence of both a dual CFI/II and a SMSP memory card slot was welcomed.
Extra niceties include a pentaprism, 3" high resolution LCD for image review, and finally, an IR remote control.
So, for now, I'm sticking with the Konica Minolta... I mean... Sony camp.
Technorati Tags: 