introduction

since i have been using SLR Magic‘s HyperPrime 12mm F1.6 for Micro Four Thirds (from now on, i will refer to the lens as just the 12mm) almost daily in the last couple of weeks, this post will be in a format of a daily photo/video journal sharing my personal usage of the 12mm. so in a way, this post is not completed until i have populated it with all the photos/videos i have taken with the 12mm up to today.

for a proper product review of the 12mm, i recommend the following excellent reviews:

steve huff

eoshd

the phoblographer

a deeper perspective

i basically have made my decision to purchase the 12mm based on the above reviews. so, there is really no point for me to repeat what have been said. even if i did try, i wouldn’t have come up with a review as good as they have done. but you should know that my lens is different from theirs because mine is an actual production unit. i was told issues identified by the above reviewers have been addressed in the final production units. whether those issues have been completely addressed, i can’t tell because i personally do no have one of those lenses to compare to. besides internal tweaking, you’ll also find my lens has a makeover in branding and an all-black finish. the Noktor branding was used in the above reviewing units while SLR Magic is used in mine and all units that will go on for sale soon.

i am writing about the 12mm because in return of having the privilege to buy the lens in advance of it hitting retail, i have agreed to share video and photo footage i create using it. all photos and videos published here were shot using Panasonic’s GH2 with firmware 1.1.

quick specs on the 12mm:

- it is made for the micro four thirds system

- it is a full manual lens, i.e. it doesn’t autofocus and the aperture has to be manually set on the lens itself

- it has a 35-mm equivalent focal length of 24mm

- aperture values are not recorded by the camera

- it has an all-metal construction

unboxing

i ordered the lens in november after learning about SLR Magic’s testers volunteering program from 43rumors. the lens was supposed to be available end of november. unfortunately, their factory in china had experienced power supply problems resulting in delay of shipment. so i was very excited after getting an unexpected call from SLR Magic on 12th december notifying me my lens was ready to be delivered to me. since i live in hong kong, i suggested going to pickup from their office instead – SLR Magic is a hong kong company, so that i could get hold of it asap. i didn’t get to visit their office. instead, Andrew Chan, product manager of SLR Magic, met me at a mall near their office to deliver the lens to me in person. while we chatted about the lens, he suddenly pulled a nex-5 from his pocket with the just announced HyperPrime 23mm F1.7 for E-mount mounted on it! i was pretty mad at myself for not brining my nex-5n with me. i had the a77 and gh2 with me but not the nex-5n!

getting back to the 12mm. i unboxed the lens at a restaurant nearby immediately after i got it from andrew. below are the unboxing photos:

“I wish to share with readers my experiences with unsold yet clean food which could be made available to people in need.

Pret A Manger is known for its donation of unsold sandwiches to charities.

I learned from its website that it is seeking charities to collect food from those shops that currently do not have anyone going to pick it up. Based on my own experience, I assume there is a geographical mismatching problem.

As small as Hong Kong is, those who are in need do not happen to be near the areas of excess. When I volunteered my time at Crossroads for 10 months in 2007, I would drive to Ma On Shan every Tuesday morning from my home in Causeway Bay to pick up unsold pastries and breads from La Rose Noire bakery and deliver them to the Crossroads Foundation in Tuen Mun as part of a lunch for volunteers like me. There were two bread-runs a week then and the other one was performed by a full-time volunteer every Thursday.

You see Starbucks and Pacific Coffee outlets all over Hong Kong. They serve drinks and food and much of the food is pre-packed just like at Pret A Manger.

Nowadays, companies are expected to be environmentally-friendly and socially responsible. I was, therefore, interested to hear a Pacific Coffee barista complaining to a customer about the extra work involved in ensuring that all unsold foods was disposed of at the end of each day. So I e-mailed Starbucks and Pacific Coffee to inquire about their unsold food policy.

While Starbucks replied within a day, Pacific Coffee did not get back to me. Starbucks said it had to get rid of the food after it had passed its shelf life for “hygiene and safety reasons”, which I think is fair enough. I am assuming it has exhausted all other responsible solutions.

Thousands of people in Hong Kong are, on a daily basis, either deprived of basic food supplies or need supplementary food in order to get a full meal. It seems to me Hong Kong does not lack willing givers but lacks centralised efforts to co-ordinate the flow from the point of excess to where it is needed. “

Barry Schwartz, an American psychologist, gave a talk on virtue and practical wisdom at the annual TED Conference in the US last month. He explained how excessive incentives had demoralized work and how excessive rules are impairing American health care and education. He gave several compelling examples. Though given entirely in the context of the US, I find two relevant to Hong Kong.

Practical wisdom, Schwartz quotes Aristotle, “is the combination of moral will and moral skill.” Schwartz notes the job description of a typical hospital janitor involves only odd jobs and lacks anything to deal with human beings. But by employing moral skills to improvise and make exceptions to their job descriptions, a few janitors have displayed moral wills of care and empathy towards the people that have come into their ways while they perform their odd jobs. It reminds me of the unfortunate Caritas Medical Centre incident. If only a few involving had possessed adequate moral skills, a tragedy might have been avoided. According to Schwartz, any work involving interaction with human beings is moral work. And moral work depends on practical wisdom, not job descriptions.

Schwartz argues excessive regulations diminish moral skill and smarter incentives still demoralize moral will. As such, they are not ideal solutions to the current financial crisis. He suggests remoralize work by celebrating moral exemplars and acknowledging moral heroes. He mentioned Aaron Feuerstein of Malden Mills as a moral hero. Malden Mills received US$300 million from insurance in the 90s because its factory had burned down. Instead of retiring or re-locating to a low-cost manufacturing country, Feuerstein decided to rebuild the factory in order to keep his 3,000 employees. He even kept paying them in full during construction just because it was the right thing to do. I first came across this story from 60 Minutes on ATV World. Ironically, the show has been cancelled by ATV recently. Who knows? Maybe a re-run of the story might have had inspired a few executives (including those from ATV) to think twice about their downsizing decisions.

Schwartz says if teachers and organizations strive to encourage and nurture moral skill and moral will, individuals will strive to become ordinary heroes by doing what is right. He believes practical wisdom is the most important virtue because it allows other virtues “to be displayed at the right time and in the right way”.

A few days later I visited for the first time a newly opened salad place in Central. While at checkout, the cashier explained to me how they encourage customers to purchase and re-use their own bowls by offering 2 free toppings to returning customers with their own bowls. They all sounded “green” enough to me, especially when my bowl was actually given to me for free under their opening promotion, until my order for a soup was handed to me in a disposable plastic container. Then, as if the container wasn’t counterintutive enough, she offered me disposable utensils and a plastic bag to carry my food upstairs as I had chosen to dine in. I kindly declined both because I happened to have brought my own of both. This shop touts its root from New York. Since its Hong Kong website has only contact information, I visited the chain’s New York website and found the concept of “re-usable” bowls is indeed a very big deal to them because it is about “making environmentally conscious decisions”. Whilst I have never visited any of their New York establishments, my own experience at their Central shop is more like helping them to save costs in cleaning bowls than helping the environment.

Eating with my own utensils

But we don’t have to look far to see socially responsible companies making “true” environmentally conscious decisions. The same company in Hong Kong that operates the sushi restaurant above also operates a chain of coffee shop, also imported from the US, in Hong Kong. A shop near my office has been storing a tumbler I bought from them for almost 2 years. Every time I fill up my tumbler, they take HK$3 off my bill. Did I mention they also wash my tumbler for free?

My tumbler

To quote Nobel laureate Al Gore, “The climate crisis presents us with an inconvenient truth. It means we are going to have to change the way we live our lives.” I don’t mind the inconvenience of carrying my own bag and eating utensils but I do mind carrying a bowl for a company that does not truly practise “making environmentally conscious decisions”.

An edited version of the above appeared as “Environmentally conscious’ claims sometimes miss the mark” in the “Letters to the Editor” section of South China Morning Post today.

The salad bar in Central is Just Salad.

The coffee chain is Starbucks.

The kaiten sushi chain is sen-ryo 千両.

Both Starbucks and sen-ryo in Hong Kong are operated by Maxim’s.