Farewells for the Chinese New Year

Recently, among colleagues, Chinese New Year greetings were exchanged. For some of us, it was "Gong Xi Fa Chai" and "Goodbye" too....

Some of you may notice, the steady stream of people moving OUT of the company. I've resorted to pausing for awhile to consolidate the list of friends that have gone (the fact that I can do this shows the alarming reality of the situation!).

Among the notable figures that left is Jeffry Chan. He's a member of the Emergency Response team, and a very sporting guy. You'll definitely see him going up on stage to participate in either a sketch by the production shift, or to play one of the MC-organized games. Here you see him in costume as "County Joe Crab", for last year's annual dinner. Together with Richard Sta Maria (unfortunately no photo) who is famous too as an entertainer for his keyboard skills (and his renditions of Billy Ray Cyrus' Achy Breaky Heart), our annual dinner and other functions will never be the same without them!

Next up is "Auntie" Low Siew Tiew (seen here on the right of Lo Chea Thin, who left earlier last year). Known for her feisty attitude and "Auntie"-ness, those who simply ask her for something without checking correctly will get a scolding that can be heard throughout the entire office (possibly the 2nd most resonating voice ever - the 1st I will not say who.... )

Joining the ranks of the happy retirees is Edgar Fredericks, seen here in an older photo on the right of Lo Chea Thin (she was quite a prominant figure here before she left). Having worked for many years (exact figure unknown to me), I'm sure Edgar, together with Norliah Md Sah and Gan Siok Ching (photos unavailable at the moment) can now kick back and enjoy their well deserved retirement.

Not everyone is ready for retirement. Such is the case of our friend, Zulkifli Ismail, who has opted for a change of pace. Leaving the company to tend to his own family business, I wish him well in his endeavors (hopefully, life there is better off than our industry in its current state).

Now, with so many people moving in this direction, my department too has a "share" of this statistics. Here's who has or are leaving our team, starting with:

Iskandar, my engineer, who just got married late last year. Now he's leaving to become a lecturer somewhere up North. Here he is between his bride and Zulfadhli (my tech who was kind enough to assist as an escort for the wedding entourage).

This is Firdhous. Not to be outmaneuvered, Firdhous left 1 day before Iskandar, I hear he's going to further his studies, same place where Iskandar is going to teach. Hmm, a conspiracy...?

Then there is Hasnol, who just joined the team permanently last year. Shows a lot of potential, but sadly, his future lies with the government service. Sigh....

Well, with so many people leaving and no one coming in yet, the workload is naturally distributed among the remaining staff. Including myself, which is why I hardly have time to update my blog....

In any case, my best wishes to all who have left for a happy retirement or to seek their fortune in another environment. Hope all to see you all again someday...!

My lens and battery grip finally repaired - after 4 months!

They sure don't make camera stuff the way they used to. Worse, it takes ages to get seemingly straightforward repairs done!

Last year in September, my Nikon AF-S DX VR ED 18-200 F3.5-5.6G developed a peculiar problem - I could not focus under around 1 meter at 18mm. Though the minimum focus distance is 0.5 meters, the focus ring just gets stuck somewhere around 1 meter. Even rotating the ring doesn't move it closer to 0.5 meters (thanks to the SWM mechanism, there's no "bite" between the focus ring and the actual focus mechanism). At tele, the lens focuses down to 0.5 meters. Thus, the need to send in for a seemingly straightforward repair.

Next, the white plastic latch that holds the left battery in place in the battery grip of my D200 somehow broke. I know that it's plastic and plastic is far from indestructible, but then, I don't use my camera in an aggressive manner or hostile environment. I'm usually shooting events (annual dinner, weddings), sports (from the safety of the sidelines) or people (lately, my baby girl). Not knowing how it broke, it's still broken nonetheless, so time to send in for repair as well.

Now, I sent my lens and battery grip for repair on 3 September 2008. To cut a long repetitive story of how I called to follow up, Nikon staff say they'll call me back but never do, I call again, and so on, I only managed to get my stuff back last Saturday. That's 5 months (to be honest, it was ready two weeks ago, but I was not free to pick it up). Never did figure out why it took so long.

I was charged ~ RM1000 for the lens repair and ~RM200 for the battery grip (~RM200 to change the plastic tab that holds the battery in place). Exactly why was I charged RM1K for the lens repair? Apparently, they had to:-

1. Replace the VR unit
2. Replace the VR FPC
3. Replace the SWM
4. Replace the 2nd Group Tube

Now, I may not be a camera engineer, but from the looks of the above, I'd say they'd probably be better off throwing away my lens and getting me a new one. Once again, I have no idea what kind of handling can cause practically every functional component of the lens to malfunction at the same time! Don't tell me the longer the name of the lens, the more things there are to break down!

I was quite upset - I was planning to get a D700 for Christmas, but due to this incident, I have put my plan on hold until my faith in Nikon returns. Now, the 18-200 may not be a top-of-the-line pro lens, but at RM2K+, it's not exactly a budget lens either. I just came back from South Korea, where my D200 and Tamron 17-50mm survived temperatures as low as -18C (then again, so did my Panasonic Lumix FX-520). Wonder if the 18-200 would have made it back alive...?

I am not bashing Nikon, merely stating the facts. I have been an avid supporter of the Nikon brand of Digital Cameras and DSLRs, ever since my first digital camera (Coolpix 775). However, the reliability and durability of their gear, and their quality of support leaves me wanting. Not to mention the high costs involved.

Option now:-

1. Ditch Nikon for good, through that will mean starting again from scratch, switch to the "white lens" side?
2. Stick with Nikon, and write off this incident as "expensive bad luck experience", and get myself a D700 soon?

See how it goes....

Eibach Prokit Springs on an FD2

I've always wondered what swapping my stock springs for Eibach Pro-kits would do to my ride in terms of handling and comfort.

In spite of reviews and numerous discussions both in online forums and with friends, there was no substitute for the real deal. So, when I chanced upon a former FD2 owner who was willing to part with his springs for a bargain, I snapped up the offer without hesitation.

Now, the first thing I noticed was that my car was now much lower than before. Previously, it seemed as though the rear was actually lower than the front. Now, with the Eibachs taking the place of the stock springs, I found that my car was leaning slightly forward, as the front was now just a little lower than the rear. Due to a minor mis-communication with the installer, my silicone cushion buffers were removed from my stock springs and installed onto the Eibachs.

So, my car now looks more aggressive than stock, how about the other aspects?

HANDLING (CORNERS): As tested out at Ulu Yam recently, compared to my earlier run on stock springs, body roll was significantly reduced, which was no surprise as the Eibachs were firmer than stock. I found that I did not "drift" as much as the first time, unless I took the corner at a much higher speed than before. This was with my existing 205/55/16 Yokohama DB501's which were fairly worn out by now. The silicone cushion buffers did induce a little over-steer during hard cornering, but nothing that would cause an out-of-control spin. I actually prefer over-steer to under-steer for going around corners faster!

HANDLING (BRAKING AND ACCELERATING): With firmer springs, there was reduced nosediving during braking and squatting at the rear during full throttle acceleration. So, braking was more stable, as before, the weight of the car was thrown forward during hard braking.

COMFORT: Surprisingly, Eibachs were not significantly less comfortable than my stock springs, even on typical Malaysian roads. Going over the yellow speed breakers was the same. As the Eibach springs were progressive, they were able to retain much of the comfort of a stock spring, yet firm up during aggressive driving.

Unfortunately, the Eibachs were low - too low to clear poorly designed speed bumps and ramps to underground carparks. I found that I had to slowdown to less than 20kph to negotiate normal speedbumps, and less than 10kph for certain bumps and totally avoid some of the ones that were too high (no matter how slow, will scrape the bottom). On normal roads, the reduced travel of the springs meant hitting the bump stops quite frequently if travelling too fast (due to a sunken or raised part of the road). Thus, I find myself actually driving slower than before most of the time.

FUEL ECONOMY: Now, the theory is that being lower to the ground presents a smaller frontal cross section with decreased airflow under the car. This is supposed to improve fuel consumption. As this is quite dependant on many other factors, I don't have anything to say yet, until I can collect more data.

Now, I have removed the silicone cushion buffers and found that handling degraded slightly (more understeer). Plan to put them back again, since there was no improvement to comfort without them.

So, after using the Eibach Prokit Springs for some time, what's my opinion? Well, I feel that they definitely improve the handling of my car, without significantly sacrificing comfort. Those who like the lowered look will find that the Eibach Prokit Springs will not disappoint.

There's no doubt that the improvements in performance would make a difference on track, say, during the HPC at the Sepang F1 Circuit. However, in terms of practicality, sad to say that I am living in a country where the roads demand extra ground clearance. If this were my only car, I would say, "forget about it". However, with careful planning and use of alternative vehicles when necessary, one should be able to live with this or any other set of lowered springs.

I think I may revert back to my stock springs after the next HPC event, though only time will tell....