The Rookie Blogger

October 9, 2010

Sony A330's ISO Test

I always see blog posts about ISO tests of certain cameras and I always observe that they always capture images in a well-lighted room. Testing the ISO capability of your camera in a perfectly-lighted room is useless. Most often, the owners of these cameras are boasting that their systems produce little or no noise. Obviously, if there is perfect lighting for the subject, then there will be few or no noise in the digital image. I have heard that some expensive DSLRs can’t produce noise even at ISO 6400, way beyond the limit of my camera which is only 3200.

Increasing the ISO sensitivity of a camera will help brighten the image when the subject is not well lighted. Increasing the ISO level of the camera is also way better than using the built-in flash of a camera because these built-in flashes produce strong shadows when used in dark places.

So I decided to test my Sony A330’s ISO capability in a low-lighted room. Well, the results are quite promising for ordinary sizes like 3R and 4R but for 100% crop, some photos are unusable.


ISO 100


ISO 200


ISO 400


ISO 800


ISO 1600


ISO 3200

All of these images are unedited except for the comparisons between the full size and the 100% crop. Overall, Sony A330’s ISO sensitivity is excellent since the noise produced even at its maximum ISO level is still good for 4R or 3R prints. Adobe has also developed a software called Adobe Lightroom that has a feature that can remove noise without destroying much of the detail of a photo.

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August 12, 2010

Me Rivaling Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, and Michio Kaku

I just want to make my own view of the universe. You may be wondering why I am writing this but don’t worry, I’m not crazy. Some may find this post boring but I think someone out there likes this topic.


Credits: SpaceArt.co.uk

Most of us or maybe you are fascinated about the universe. When someone asks me how the universe was created, I would immediately answer the most famous theory of creation, the Big Bang. I can still remember when I was still in Grade six that there were theories like the Steady State Theory and the Bubble Universe existed but those two were sort of trashed when someone proved recently that the our universe is expanding. If you are going to ask me how big is the universe, well, it depends on when will you reach the question mark of that questions because the universe is still expanding up to this moment. Approximately, the universe as of this moment is 13 billion light years across; meaning, light will travel from one end to the other end of the universe for 13 billion years. That is also the approximate age of our universe.

Now, if you can conclude that our universe is way too big, you may be wondering about the “others”. You may be asking right now, “Where are they?” or speculate about the existence of aliens. There are a lot of reasons why we haven’t seen any aliens yet. One obvious reason is that the vast distance from one star to the other. We are sending radio signals to other stars hoping that any alien out there has a satellite dish and receives our signal. That’s rubbish! We are sending radio signals using our own electrical power but we have to consider that stars also emit radio signals and we all know how powerful stars are. It’s not just stars which produce massive amount of radio signals but also supernovas which is a hundred times more powerful than a normal star. The radio signals from the stars and supernovas will be mixed with our sent signal and thus destroying its form. The signal that will arrive to the alien’s receivers will be garbage not to mention we have obviously different languages. The other reason why we haven’t seen any aliens yet or aliens haven’t found us yet is that we humans and the species of the earth are not interesting. Similar to the analogy of man and ants, when we pass on an anthill, we don’t care who’s living there because for us, ants are not interesting. In this analogy, the humans are the aliens and the ants are us stealing food from the humans. Ants is somewhat interested in humans similar to us, we are interested about aliens.

Let’s talk about civilization. We have Mesopotamia, Persian, and a lot of civilizations we learned in our history class but at this point, we will be talking about the civilization in a universal scale. According to Michio Kaku, author of the book “Physics of the Impossible”, there are three types of civilization. Type 1 civilization is an empire who can control earthquakes, weather, climate, and anything planetary. Type 2 civilization is stellar; an empire who has exhausted the power of their planet and get their energy from their parent star. Type 3 civilization is galactic; they travel from one star to another star to acquire energy from it. If you are going to ask where we belong in these types of civilizations, well, according to Michio Kaku, we are type zero. We can’t control anything planetary and we get our energy mainly from fossil fuels not from the sun. Dr. Kaku has only three types of civilization but in my wildest opinion, there could be a type 4 civilization. Type 4 could be the creator civilization, our God. This civilization creates and watches the universes created by them. Sounds crazy but that’s the only way religion can get into physics and science - to be treated as the most powerful of all.

Now let’s go back to the universe. People nowadays are talking about when the world will end. I strongly believe that 2012 is a hoax. The movie is telling us that the earth, sun, and the center of the Milky Way will be aligned on December 21, 2012. Astronomers said that the alignment of the sun, earth, and the center of our galaxy happens every December and it’s not even a one day event, not only December 21 of each year. The end of humanity may not be exclusive as the end of the earth. But if ever the world will end on its own, one of the causes maybe is that our sun will undergo supernova and earth can’t withstand the blast. Another cause could be gamma burst from other stars that will directly hit and fry the earth. If we are going to imagine the end of humanity in a galactic scale and use the concept of the big bang and the expanding universe, there will be a time where everything will be ripped apart (a theory called the big rip). Just like a balloon being inflated, there will be a time that the balloon will explode. But the universe’s end will not be slightly different, instead there will be pieces or remnants like a blown up balloon, everything will be ripped from the atomic level and no one will ever survive, not even the type 3 civilization.

That’s all I can say as of this moment. I will write additional posts if I realize something.

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July 18, 2010

LightBox for Blogger

I actually planned to create a WordPress blog with a webhost because of the lightbox plug-in for WordPress but when I try to search for this plug-in for blogspot blogs, I was astonished that there’s a way to install the lightbox plug-in. I carefully followed the simple steps and after 5 minutes, one of the photos of my blog can be viewed using this plug-in. You can view the tutorial in the BloggerPlugins.org website.


Click to view image using lightbox plug-in.

The next day after installing the lightbox plug-in, I was so excited to take photos around so that I can make use of the plug-in. But before I can use this plug-in, there are some HTML codes to be changed.










Feel free to post comments on the photos. I am just starting in the field of photography that's why most of the photos taken looks crappy.

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March 11, 2010

My Design for the CSG Shirt 2010

Last February, all CS students of the University of the Philippines Cebu were informed that there will be a t-shirt design competition sponsored by the Computer Science Guild. The prize is a free t-shirt with the winning design of course. During the first few days of the competition, I was lazy and pay little attention to submitted designs posted in the CSG wall and facebook photo albums. Then one Sunday, I was encouraged by my classmate to join the competition. I created a design and then emailed it to the CSG president.

I was informed by the president that I submitted my design late and there is already a winner. Even though my design was in vain, I still uploaded my t-shirt design in my facebook album and tagged some CS students in it. There were a lot of people (take note the word phrase ‘a lot’) who likes my design and wants it to be the official shirt of CS students for 2010. I explained to them that I was late to submit and I was disqualified in the t-shirt competition.

One day, the CSG president messaged me asking for the PSD format of my design. I was so happy because I thought he will reconsider mine. I was shocked when they released the final design of the t-shirt for CS students - a highly modified version of my creation. This is the first time that I did not order an annual CS t-shirt.

People might think that I am angry to certain people but I am not. To people who might be offended with this post, I am sorry. I still have to blame myself for submitting late because I did not pay attention to the poster of the contest. I just learned a lesson.

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February 14, 2010

We Are the World Music Video - Haiti Tribute

The song ‘We are the World’ was originally written to raise awareness for famine victims of Africa. Composed 25 years ago by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, this song topped the music charts across the world. The last recording date of the song was held on February 28, 1985 and on March 7, 1985, the song was released worldwide.

This year, ‘We are the World’ was revived to initiate a fundraising activity for Haiti earthquake victims. This time, the song was sung by over 70 stars and singers which include Celine Dion, Barbara Streisand, and Justin Bieber. Justin sang the opening of the song with a very cute voice quality. There were also parts of the music video wherein Michael Jackson’s original rendition was incorporated.

Some famous stars I know who were in the music video are Josh Groban, Carlos Santana, The Jonas Brothers, Nicole Scherzinger, Mary J. Blidge, Miley Cyrus, Enrique Iglesias, Jamie Foxx, Pink, and Jennifer Hudson. For me, the revival of the song was a great masterpiece by the producers and the artists who took part in making the music video.

To know more and help Haiti earthquake victims, just visit ‘We are the World Foundation’ website. To donate $ 10, text ‘WORLD’ to 50555 or buy this song at the iTunes store.

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February 7, 2010

Gliese 581 c, d, and e - Possible Habitable Planets

Just 20.3 light years away from earth lay a red dwarf star as old as our own sun named Gliese 581. This star has planets of its own and is the 87th closest star system next to our sun. The Gliese 581 star system is believed to have four planets; Gliese 581 b, c, d, and e.


Artists' impression of the Gliese 581 star system.

Most extra solar planets found by astronomers are closely the size of Jupiter or a lot bigger but Gliese 581c is just one third of the earth's size which means that the planets' gravitational force is just similar to that of our own. Gliese 581c lies in a belt called the habitable zone, an area around a certain star which enables water to be in its liquid form.

Gliese 581c is believed to have a runaway greenhouse effect and is more similar to Venus rather than earth. Just within the border of the habitable zone is the Gliese 581d which is roughly 7 to 14 times the size of the earth. Because it is in the habitable zone, water in this planet could be in liquid form and therefore, life could possibly exist.

In April 2009, astronomers found out that a planet which they named Gliese 581e in the same star system exists and has the size roughly close to earth. So far, this planet has the size closest to that of the earth than any of the extrasolar planets discovered.

More at: Space.com
Philippines Best of Blogs

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January 23, 2010

Café World Delays My Thesis

I can honestly say to myself that I am so addict with Facebook applications like Farm Town, Farm Ville, and Mafia Wars. These past few months, I’ve spent so many hours playing Café World. Even though I am so busy working with my thesis, The Rookie Slide Presenter and Editor, I still allocate a time everyday just to play this cooking-inspired flash game by Zynga.

Presently, I am level 44 (Pots and Pans Chieftain with 148,307 experience points) in Café World. I can already cook lots of food at this level. Please feel free to add me as a neighbor in this humble sophisticated flash game (if we are friends in Facebook).

I really enjoyed playing this game because the fun never ends as long as the cook (yourself) is still cooking. My only message to the players and future players of this game is that don’t be addict like me…

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January 16, 2010

2nd Annual Sinulog Fireworks Competition Videos (PyroFest 2010)

Today, I just witnessed the annual Sinulog Fireworks Competition. I’ve seen a lot of fireworks display in events like fiestas and thanks giving parties but this one is a lot different – it’s a competition meaning not only one exhibit but a lot. There were eight competitors and one special presentation for this year’s competition.


Finale fireworks display.

The pyro works event was held at SM City Cebu Northwing parking lot. The place was all wet and muddy but it was worth it standing for almost an hour.

For more videos about PyroFest 2010, check out my Vimeo Account. All eight contestants and the special guest fireworks presenter were filmed.

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About The Rookie Blogger

This is a personal blog of James Arnold. This blog contains posts about travel, technology, dining, and many more. James is also a freelance photographer that caters events such as weddings, debuts, birthdays, and even personal photoshoots. You can contact him through +63 916 659 7001 if you have any questions or plans to advertise on this blog.


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