Technology: How I chose my camera lens?

Since when has DigitalRev become one of my favourite YouTube channel? Can't remember, I think it was since Kai joined the company, was it because he has a similar accent as I do? Some of you will say, "No! Yours isn't as strong as his. You sound more American!" Well, to be honest, I'm finding it harder and harder to tell who has what kind of accent, everybody is just different and unless you are very different, I can't really tell the difference. Do you get what I mean?

Anyway, last entry I talked about some basic photography knowledge and one must learn the key terms like aperture and focal length before you can start choosing lenses. Last week, I posted 2 videos, one was about my Olympus PEN EPL-1 Micro 4/3 camera, and the other one about Bokeh!

Well, after all those compact camera years, I have already got fed up with the image quality of the Panasonic and Canon compact cameras, now I need something better -- sharper and more bokehlicious. Compact cameras just can't give me that, but because I was on a budget (and I'm still on a budget now), I have to choose my lens carefully, balancing the cost and the image quality. And of course, I went onto DigitalRev to get some major input (using Johnny 5's catchphrase)!

After watching it, which lens do you think I have chosen?


Words you should hear:
robbing the bank,   jail sentence,   Santa's a perv(ert),   "cheapoy",   trying on the girl,   aperture blades,
kitchen floorings,  blue LEDs,   pink snowflakes,   acid trip,   Disco Inferno,   colour fringing,
not-so-toyish,    bangs for your buck,   decent level of sharpness,      weather-sealed sexy chunk of glass with a red ring on it,    justified it in your head


Vocabulary:
bokehlicious -- see last entry 
on a budget -- having limited cash
catchphrase -- (n)[C] a phrase which is often repeated by and therefore becomes connected with a particular organization or person, especially someone famous such as a television entertainer
perv -- (n)[C] UK informal for pervert a person whose sexual behaviour is considered strange and unpleasant by most people
try (sth) on sb -- 

phrasal verb 

[M] 

to put on a piece of clothing to discover if it fits you or if you like it, here it means "experimenting on the girl".
aperture blade -- (n)[C] usually plural the blades of a lens

9 aperture blades
Image from dyxum.com

Disco Inferno -- a song by the Trammps, in the soundtracks Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track, meaning the disco of fire.
colour fringing / purple fringing -- a type of distortion in which there is a failure of a lens to focus all colors to the same convergence point. See Chromatic aberration

Purple fringing seen around the edges
Image from Wikipedia

bangs for your buck -- value returned for investment or effort.
decent -- (adj) socially acceptable or good
weather-sealed -- (adj) weather-proof, not affected by the weather
justify -- (vb) [T] to give or to be a good reason for

Resources:
Technology: Basic Photography & How to shoot Leica on a Micro 4/3 camera @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2011/04/technology-basic-photography-how-to.html

Website: DigitalRev Camera Reviews & Videos @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/06/website-digitalrev-camera-reviews.html

Movie: Short Circuit @  Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2011/03/movie-short-circuit.html

Chromatic aberration @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatic_aberration

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/catchphrase
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/perv
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/pervert_2
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/try-sth-on#try-sth-on__2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Fever:_The_Original_Movie_Sound_Track
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trammps
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Bang+for+the+Buck
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/decent
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/justify