Monday, June 22, 2009

Breaking in my new Canon Ixus A480

So finally, my lao yah Nikon went kaput. It probably died from lack of appreciation and/or old age (3 years). Just to spite us, it konked out 2 months from the expiry of the extended warranty and less than a week after the PC Show where there were bargains galore.

No matter - it was the perfect excuse to get a new camera! We checked out reviews on the Internet and finally decided on the Canon Ixus A480 because it appeared to be the best buy among the budget range. We really just wanted one of those "point and shoot" kinds, nothing fancy. More importantly, it had to be able to take good macro shots, partly to appease Lilian who has been complaining that she has to view blur photos of my kids' drawings. The A480 can take macro shots as close as 1cm and at only $219, the value can't be beat.

To celebrate Father's Day, we went for a Japanese ala carte buffet lunch at Momoya Restaurant, which was the perfect occasion to break in my new toy. The food was pretty good although the selection wasn't great - over abundance of rice and noodle items (not so subtle way of trying to fill you up?) Lesley-Anne didn't qualify for the child rate any more but it was still reasonably priced at $26+ (adults), $15+ (child) for lunch.

The Canon Ixus met all expectations and more. The close-up shots are 100 times clearer than my Nikon even with my shaky hand. And so, here's a visual display of some of the items we had.

Sashimi platter (we omitted the octopus). We had three of these platters plus another four portions of just the salmon sashimi. We just love our sashimi!

Ebi tempura and pork belly Tokyo style (tender and oh so delicious! We devoured six pieces of this).









Age dashi tofu and Edamame beans









Fried unagi (doused in a strange spicy sauce) and fried capelin









My food shots have never turned out so good! I'm a happy camper. Happy Father's Day!

17 comments:

Lilian said...

Woo hoo! Congratulations, pictures are muchhhhhhh better. But here's a tip, when taking food pictures, don't shoot from the top, go lower and really near, so the frame can only include part of the food, not the entire plate. Will look more like those pictures in food magazines lah. Hehe, sorry I'm anal that way.

monlim said...

Good tip, thanks!! Esp coming from you - your food pics always make me salivate...

Alcovelet said...

Drool, dinner time now some more, aiyo. This camera looks fabulous! Very sharp! I must take your advice on the shots, Lilian. Last time at my place, your post looked like you went somewhere else!

eunice said...

Drool.. love, love Japanese food. Good and reasonable ones here. Er... if Father's Day how come you are hogging the camera???

monlim said...

Haha, because the toy is miiiiiiinne *evil laughter*

Anonymous said...

Great fotos! I just love looking at food pictures! Didn't know that digital camera is going at such good price. You must be very happy with this new toy. ^_^

Chris

elan said...

Wow, really good shots. The sashimi platter is rightly the star of them all!
You're right about your family being big eaters.
Remind me that if my restaurant ever has a ala carte buffet promotion - NOT to let you know ;-)

monlim said...

Elan: I thought you were a doc, wow and you have your own restaurant too? That's cool! I can never own a restaurant, will probably bankrupt myself feeding my family :D

monlim said...

Chris: Yes, very happy! I wonder if it warrants going on more food binges just so I can take more shots, hehe...

Anonymous said...

Aiyoh... your pics have never been this good! :- ) When I clicked on the food just now, the blown-up sized food looked so appetising my eldest son wanted to 'catch' them, even swinged his arms towards the screen a few times LOL... now where to find Japanese food at this time?

SC

monlim said...

SC: Haha, I've learnt this the hard way - never look at food pics or watch food tv programmes at night! Torture on the digestive system :)

elan said...

Hi Mon,
Yeah I'm both. The restaurant is more a "thought-it-would-be-fun but now its a drain on our resources" kind of thing. I only go there to taste the food or pick up my kids after school (its located in the Sports complex of their school) but I don't contribute much more than that.

monlim said...

Elan: Wow! That's amazing. You'll still need to find someone to run it so I'm sure there's time invested there. You're a real multi-tasker!

bACk in GERMANY said...

Hey Mon! I can tell you're really enjoying your new camera. You made the food so yummy!

monlim said...

Thanks Cindy! I'm still learning though, took a bunch of blur macro shots today :/

Anonymous said...

eh, u got me excited for a moment - $200+ can get a Canon ixus... it's a canon powershot lah. the lower-but-still-very-good range actually.
rgds - kjj

monlim said...

Eh? Really ah? Sorry! See how sua ku I am about techie gadgets!!

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