Presentation

Mwit Science Fair 2010 was held at Mahidol Wittayanusorn School, located within Mahidol University Salaya Campus, on January 28-29, 2010. Many activities about science were on the first day and the science project presentation in poster as well as oral format was on the second day.

I was asked to participate the event on the second day to give student comments on their sceince project and their presentation performance. There were 17 parallel sessions, with 6-7 projects to be presented.

Mahidol Wittayanusorn School students were joined by many students from various school presenting their science projects. Projects presented in each session were mixed disciplines. Students were encourage to give the presentation that can be understand by general audience, in which they did quite well.

I tried my best to give them comments and support. More photographs can be viewed from the provided link: http://www.mahidolwitt.com/msw4_topic.php?TopicID=3302

IN

What is this internal memory?

Here I discuss the usefulness of the internal memory in digital camera, especially the models that I have. Firstly, not all camera models will have this internal memory, at least my most expensive DSLR one didn’t have it.

Forgot to put the SD card inside?

A silly mistake usually found just before I need to take a photograph. There are plenty of excuses to make when ones could forget to insert the memory card inside a camera. In certain camera models, it means the end, because you can’t take any of the pictures. Internal memory came to the rescue here. Forgot memory card, we can still take photographs using the internal camera.

It doesn’t mean that you can continue to use your camera without a memory card. Normally, the capacity of the internal memory is low, something like 25MB in my compact model.

Transfer pictures to internal memory

Another reason the internal memory become handy is when I want to get pictures from another memory card with me. It’s true that other methods are also possible, such as email or write a CD. If I just want some files from another memory card, I could just use internal memory to copy the file and return the card back to its owner.

Firstly, remove the card inside the camera. Insert the card with the photographs that need copying. Use the copy function to copy the images to the internal memory before return the card to the owner. Insert your own card and do the same thing, but in the opposite direction. Transfering images from internal memory to the memory card.

FA 43mm F1.9 Ltd

Today will be the first day of my new Pentax lens FA43mm F1.9 Limited on the field. Having bought it for a while with no time to have a go with it. A few shots here and there in my room was not enough. It is a National Children Day and I think it is the time my new lens get a work out in a beautiful day, hopefully. I will be at the Bio-Geo Path giving out worksheet on Prehistoric Rally 2010 and stamp those who has complete the rally. There will be some prize as well as a big one at the end of the event. There so many of activities in the faculty of science at Mahidol University. Families who came to visit us could expect to spend a few hours with us to get everything.

The department of biology has bought a new digital camera. It was the Fujifilm S200 EXR, to replace the broken Sony some Cybershot. It arrived to the department on the last working day of 2009. It was not until the first working day of 2010 that I have a go with the new camera.

I have been a Fujifilm digital camera user for a very long time. The current one that I have was S1500, a lot cheaper than the one I tested for the department of biology.

The dicisions were divided between getting Canon G11 or S200EXR. The reason the Fujifilm was chosen might be explained by the fact that I am a Fujifilm user and the department personel who use the new camera could ask me if they have questions. Personally, I am delighted for what they did, eventhough I might also want to try Pentax X70 DSLR-like camera.

I’ve posted some images and comment on the S200 EXR on the biology website, link provided below.

Link: http://www.sc.mahidol.ac.th/scbi/MUBIO_Webboard.php?TopicID=1732

Flickr

I’ve signed up for a Flickr account and started uploading some of my photographs and paintings.

At the moment, I only have 2 sets available on Flickr. The first one was my niece photographs that I took with my new Pentax Kx, but with old lens. The second set was my paintings, especially those that are flora species. Most of them are wild flowers from Kanchanaburi provice of Thailand.

More photographs and painting will be added to my account later.

Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aj_joe/

Pentax Kx

Considering all options and alternatives, it would be wise to get myself a DSLR. I’ve been holding my decision to get one for quite some time, a very long time, as a matter of fact.

I still have my gears from the day of film photography, with my Pentax Z-1. DSLR from Pentax didn’t convince me until the arrival of the current DSLR line-up.

I might have bought Km according to its price tag. However, the image quality from Kx led me to believe that it would be a better choice.

I took it to a volleyball and football match, and I gave it a try on a low light condition on its first day; using only the provided kit lens, DAL 18-55. Some photo in the links were cropped, with adjusted contrast and white balance.

Link to volleyball match and football match.

Ratree Sritrung 5

Ratree Sritrung 5 is the home-coming event held at Mahidolwittayanusorn School located inside Mahidol Salaya, Nakorn Pathom.

I was the first generation of students who graduate Mattayom 6 from this school, when it was at Wat Rai King, a famous temple in Nakorn Pathom.

It took them 5 years before the school was built at Salaya. The 5th generation students who organized this year event gave a theme to the night as New Land, for their transition from Wat Rai King to Salaya location.

I took Fujifilm S1500 with me and I was surprised to see how well the camera was able to handle the on-stage events. It didn’t do well for the normal flash photography though.

Link: Ratree Sritrung 5 from Mahidolwitt.com website.

Snorkelling

Scholars Science Camp 2009 was organized by the Faculty of Science, Mahidol University at Sattahip, Chonburi province, Thailand between 20-22 November 2009.

Participants of the camp came from various scholarship-supported students at the Faculty of Science. It was the second Scholars Science Camp in my memory at Mahidol University. The previous one was held in 2006 at Parchaubkirikan Province.

More than hundred students were taken to the beautiful sea around Samasarn Island. We spent the morning session on the Khoa Ma Joh mountain, where we have the science rally that includes plant diversity study, pH indicator from flower extract, measuring and calculating area and slope.

The students were also asked to help solving various world crisis, such as global warming, biodiversity, food, water, energy, waste, and pollution. Their presentations were very entertaining with some good idea at the end.

Panelist

Department of Biology and Plant Sciences hosted the third Junior Science Club of this academic year. To celebrate the 200 years of Charles Darwin and his big idea on the Origin of Species by means of natural selection, we asked the editor of the most anticipated Thai-translated version of Darwin’s famous book to join us.

The Junior Science Club is the event that we take turn to organize a special seminar on various topics. The photograph of our latest meeting can be found on the Biology homepage, provided below.

Link: Junior Science Club — Past, Present, and the Future of the Origin of Species

S1500

My previous attempt to replace the old S5100 was ended  within 2 months, as I sold the S5800.

A year has passed, and finally my S5100 was broken. The plastic lock at the battery chamber gave way, snapped in pieces while I was using the camera to take some pictures in October.

The unsatifactory of using S5800 kept me from buying a new camera. I thought I might have to buy a DSLR this time. However, I don’t think the DSLR would be my logical choice, given my purpose with the camera, and where I use my photographs.

The new S1500 price and specification allow me to buy it, with just a brief consideration.

I have used it for a night, during the Loy Kra Tong festival in Thailand here. At a glance, it is smaller than S5100 and have slower responsive. The picture quality is fine with me, so I might finally get my new camera this time.

Funny thing is that S1500 and S5100, both share the number 1 and 5, but just at different places.