This is the much anticipated evening where Canon EOS owners in all districts of Brunei Darussalam unite at the Royal Berkshire Hall of the Jerudong Polo Club for an opportunity to meet with President & CEO of Canon Singapore, Kazuto Ogawa, and the highly desirable 21.1-MP EOS 1Ds MkIII professional dSLR in the flesh.
© Jan Shim Photography
Organised by Canon’s exclusive distributor and business partner in Brunei, Interhouse Company, I picked up my invite from their KB branch on the eve of the event and also my renewed CPS Membership. It’s been a month of hectic back to back activity (the words ‘run and gun’ spring to mind) and unusual amount of commuting, photography and post-processing.Last night was a welcomed change, a chance to sit down with other pros consisting of my associates Anthony Er, David Cheok, Jason Ong and other photogs in the ever growing world of photography and blogging.
© Jan Shim Photography
^ Traditional Bruneian Gulingtangan performance ushering invited guests and press journalists before the arrival of Canon Singapore CEO, Kazuto Ogawa, lead by Interhouse Co. General Manager, Wong Ngie Sek.
© Jan Shim Photography
^ Japan Ambassador to Brunei, Hashimoto Itsuo expressing his approval to Interhouse Co. Managing Director, Mr Goh Swee Hin while General Manager Wong N.S. looks on. I had the honour of attending a private luncheon with His Excellency Hashimoto Itsuo at his residence in May and it was one to remember.
© Jan Shim Photography
^ View inside the Royal Berkshire Hall as captured by EOS 5D/EF14mm f/2.8 lens. This is an extremely popular venue that my of my clients have used for their events including NBT Lexus Golf Classic 2007.
© Jan Shim Photography
^ Kazuto Ogawa picks up the 21.1-MP Canon EOS 1Ds MkIII and strikes a pose with models in the auspicious Canon red for the press journalists. Something about the colour red combined with beauty that intoxicates the photogs that evening to the point of oblivion :).
© Jan Shim Photography
^ Model shows off the 1Ds MkIII and EF14mm 2.8 lens teasing the guests with a closer look.
^ Meanwhile back at the ‘photographers table’ Jason Ong gave my 5D/24-70mm a test drive and captured me and David Cheok eagerly checking out the images from his new EOS 40D and a series of much reported ‘improved’ ISO 3200 images. Those who are interested in more information on the 40D, check out my friend, Roland Lim’s 40D Review and its High ISO Noise Reduction feature.
^ Jason, you stop droolling over the 5D! We ALL know you want one! Leaving my camera in the hands of a seasoned portraiture/wedding photographer, I’ve inadvertently discovered this is a good angle that hides my eye-bags and bloodshot eyes from month long punishment of late nights, caffeine and finally succumbed to antibiotics!
^ Here’s my I’m-holding-it-but-cannot-have pose with the 1Ds MkIII captured by Jason Ong.
© Jan Shim Photography
© Jan Shim Photography
^ Seasoned photog Ong (no relation to Jason) checking out the 21.1-MP monster accentuated by the nice soft lighting from the lightbox below.
© Jan Shim Photography
^ A model showing the equally intoxicated crowd Canon’s non-dSLR PowerShot digital compact. I have an IXUS 700 that I occasionally bring to the beach.
© Jan Shim Photography
^ Press Photojournalist Jason Leong (left) sharing an opinion with wedding photographer Jason Ong who up until tonight had been convinced Olympus was the way to go. Dude, a room full of EOS bodies and L lenses cannot be wrong!
^ Photo with Interhouse and Canon top guns by David Cheok
^ All the years of attending the Interhouse Co. product launches, it was an honour to finally meet Kazuto Ogawa in person. When Mr Wong introduced me to Kazuto, he said and I quote, “I’ve visited your website and it’s a pleasure to meet you” just made my night!
Why Canon? Like Toyota, the Canon brand has been a family tradition passed down from my father who used to own and shoot film on the all black AE-1 and FD lenses. Between the time he gave up photography, sold the body and lenses and the time I took it up just four years ago was quite a significant gap yet the brand loyalty kept the name in the family. What my dad did pass on to me were two books by Canon–The ABC of Picture-taking Ease with the Canon AE-1 and/or AV-1 cameras and the first edition of LENS WORK, published in 1981.I have a high regard and fascination for all things Japanese and my trip to Japan with the EOS 20D was inspirational, to say the least.
SHIMWORLD 
Oh Man! it was fun looking at your images and reading your blog. Ya. I gotta admit I’m impressed with your 5D’s image quality and performance.. I will say I never handhold any camera like that. 🙂
Full Frame bravo..
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I do really appreciate your email, Mr. Jan
It’s really nice blog!
I will share your great blog with our president and colleagues.
Really thank you so much for your support.
Joe Matsumoto
Matsumoto Yasuhiko
Canon Singapore Pte Ltd
CII Professional Business Development Dept
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really nice blog and the nice photo that you are taking for this event..
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*drool* Great write-up of the event and superb (as always) photos to go along with it!
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dude.. ur a wordpress hawt post right now ! 🙂 famous my fren eh! more cameras !?! no jan nooo… ur bags heavy enuff !
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The photo of the model holding the powershot looks like she’s been added afterwards nice shot.
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An interesting coverage of the Canon IDS Mark III launch.
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jan..
this is no poisoonn…
Noooooooo…..
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Should have gone.
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Gday Jan
Nigel Honey from Tasmania, from the old WRX yahoogroup. How are you!
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Very nice post =)
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I’ll take the middle one in red please!
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great pix and nice gallery! it was really fun especially with so many beautiful models around 😮 well at least most of us got to hold it once…that was enough! i mean the 1ds mk III hehe…
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Wow, Canon Brunei is faster than Canon Hong Kong! they’ll be launching the new 1Ds Mark III at the Canon Expo (http://www.canon.com.hk/en/Corporate/about/events.aspx?type=c&id=10037) from 23-25/11/2007. I guess I’ll see the new flagship at the expo. It’s rumored that they’ll show the new 200mm f2L at the expo too.
Roland
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i am so green with jealousy 🙂 great post
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I’m a French Citizen, Professional photographer, I come to Singapore on 1st and 2d of December. I Would Like To buy one of these Mark III but I’m Unable to know if at that date EOS 1Ds Mark III will be in Stores and Which Stores…. And Which One Woud Be so Kind To Keep One For Me.
I Know This is Not The Right Place, But I thought it was a good opportunity, for trying.
Would You keep In Touch with Me ?
By The Way Nice Blog And Nice models Too.
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@ Joe Matsumoto
The pleasure is all mine. I look forward to doing some work with Canon some day!
@ Glenn Yong
Resistance is Futile. You’re not going to be happy with the 40D … very soon you’ll be craving a brighter viewfinder, full frame sensor, 12-MP .. oh wait, it’s called the 5D. Just read Jason Ong’s comment! 🙂
@ Nigel
Loooong time no hear. Good thing Andrew got us in touch again. I thought I had lost most of my buddies from the go-faster days of forced induction, bent rods and punctured blocks
@ Roland Lim
The 1DsMkIII is really something. I would love to get my hands on the 1D MkIII instead but you already know how I feel abt using the 1-series bodies. I need a lot of convincing or perhaps a sponsorship to change my mind about owning one again.
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😦 I wish Nikon would have a launching event like this.
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Nah we are all still about
hit me up on msn some time azenis at erexion dot org
or email me my address is on my site nigelhoneyphotos.com
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Got something going on.. otherwise would have meet u guys there…!! coolio mucho!! ;o)
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@ Souljah
It’ll happen when Nikon has official representation in Brunei. The Nikon user base here is huge as far as I can tell and why Nikon continues to allow gray imports here is anyone’s guess.
@ Ahim Rani
It was very ‘coolio mucho’
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it was cool! thanks…a lot of information from your website
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Great to see the launch in our neighbouring country. 🙂
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ohhh man!!! just image 21.1 MP!!! the image will be so crispy man. By the way Jan Shim… can you teach me how to take good photo kah?
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Greetings Hamdillah,
Thanks for visiting.
I’m the least qualified to teach as I’m rather new to the art and have only handled an SLR for four years (my very first SLR was the Canon 300D). It gets better with experience and in my book, there’s only one way to learn–being passionate and daring to make mistakes. I’m very much on the learning curve of the photography business.
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Hey Jan, it must have been a fantastic event. The 1Ds is so out of my league, am happy with the 40D at the moment, but not quite in the L lens league yet. Keep it up Jan, you’ve done a good site here.
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Unless Canon sponsors me a 1D or 1Ds MkIII, there’s little change I’ll move back to a 1-series after the experience I’d had with my 1D MkII. The EOS 5D is performing so well for the work that I do. Also after shooting the 5D for so many months, it’s AF accuracy goes over and beyond that of my 20D. With the two bodies of equal form factor and control, switching between the two is seamless.
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hmm…..the camera seem so nice…but its okie i guess i just go get my 40d to learn and gain experiences first lol…..just need a better camera to shoot some of my work stuff….
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Hi Kelly,
You have an EOS 40D which is two generations newer and better than
the 20D I shoot with. My other camera is the EOS 5D but guess what’s
really important to getting great images? Believe it or not, it’s a
combination of good lenses and an eye for details that make a
discernible difference. The 40D is also a fantastic learning platform
and in the Canon range of DSLRs easily the most user friendly model
too. I wish you all the best !
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“all” (3 thought!) of my equipment are also from Canon because I failed to think of any other brand when I did the research 🙂
400D with standard len 18-55
580EX-II
70-200mm F4 IS (I got it finally!!!!)
I was thinking to get a fisheye before but now I should behave myself. Goodnight!
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