ROBIN WONG : Food, Friends and Conversations

I always allocated some time in the weekends to catch up with my wonderful friends. Me being a freelance photographer, my timetable is quite unpredictable, I can get shoots at any day of the week. Most of my recent jobs have been concentrated on weekdays, which was a good thing, as most of my friends work the normal 9-5 jobs, and the only time they have is in the weekends to hang out. My friends Jojo and Van wanted to explore a few new cafes and join the on-going Fujifilm Malaysia photo contest that requires them to shoot on these specific locations. I merely tagged along for the delicious food, and of course, I brought my camera long for some clicking action. Van actually vlogged this particular session, you can check out his video of us having too much fun with food, coffee and conversations here (click).

Jojo attacking a cup of coffee

The first cafe we visited was Piccadilly Cafe in Jalan Tun Perak, basically about 3 minutes' walk from Masjid Jamek LRT station, which is quite central in the city area. We had quite a feast for such an early morning, and we had to go early to avoid the crowd, so we can have the whole place for ourselves, without the stares and glares of others looking at us shooting our food like there is no tomorrow. Since it was a photo contest which both Van and Jojo wanted to take part in, they went the extra mile and tried their best in every single angle and idea they have to get the best images. As for me, I just shot those images for fun. I don't know, the photo contest somehow did not thrill me, and I find no reason to join. Or maybe the prize was just not attractive enough. There, I was being honest. Not worth my time and trouble.

I brought along the Nikon Z5 and a new lens I recently purchased, a Meike 50mm F1.8 for Z system. The lens was cheap, I got it for under USD150 new. It was probably the cheapest AF native lens I can find for Nikon Z. Since the Z5 was a beginner, entry level camera, why would I want to spend top money for glass, especially for a camera that I am just using for fun, and not earning anything from? The Meike 50mm makes perfect sense - it isn't expensive, it has autofocus and based on existing reviews, optically the lens isn't too bad either.

I don't feel the itch to review the lens. It is after all a budget lens, there is only so much you can test and talk about a conventional 50mm lens. The lens works fine, images come out looking as good as they could be, perhaps better than what was to be expected from a cheap lens. But here is the thing - the lens is HUGE, like as big as a 85mm F1.8 les, which does not make sense at all. I am also less enthusiastic about the minimum focusing distance of about 0.63m, that means I cannot go near and fill my frame with the bowl or plate of food. Not a very good trait for an all-round, general purpose prime lens. Other than that, there is nothing much to complain about really. The lens is cheap, it gets the job done.

After Piccadilly Cafe, it was still early, and we decided to go to another Cafe, not too far away. That will be for another blog entry.