Metropark Hotel Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

[N_Architect]

Stayed there for five nights, late September '07. Room type was Executive suite. My room was on the 27/fl. so the view was quite nice. The hotel overlooks Victoria Park, as it is located on the HK Island side.

Sadly very few pictures were saved, as upon my return from HK I accidentally deleted almost all photos I took in HK. Therefore no shots of lobby, executive floor, etc. I'm afraid.

Overlooking HK Island from the 27/fl. of the hotel:






Victoria Park shown here again:


The bathroom:




The room:






And one shot from the HK Metro (not directly relevant to the thread, but...):


The service at the hotel was good. The breakfast up in the Executive floor could have been better (in my honest opinion it was slightly inferior to Sheraton / Westin level) however I was happy overall. Did not visit the gym/pool so no opinion for that facility.

[phaleesy]

Sadly very few pictures were saved, as upon my return from HK I accidentally deleted almost all photos I took in HK.

I know the sinking feeling when you realised you've pressed the button 'yes' to delete all images by mistake.

Out of curiosity, what's the focal length of your wide-angle lens?

[N_Architect]

Perspective

Phaleesy,

I use various lenses on different camera bodies.

The first and second pictures of my post have been taken with a Sigma EX 15mm f/2.8 DG fisheye lens on a Canon EOS 1D Mark II N camera body. Hence the heavily distorted straight lines anywhere in the frame (i.e. due to the fisheye effect, which can of course be corrected in Photoshop but no time for that, really). Any fisheye lens is rather specialized, and cannot be used often. However, in the right circumstances it can do miracles. As this camera body is not full frame, but has a field of view 'crop factor' of 1.3, the actual focal length is 15mm x 1.3 = 19.5mm, that naturally leaves the fisheye effect unaltered.

The third and fourth photos, together with the photos of the hotel room, were taken with the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 wide angle zoom lens, mounted on the Canon 40D dSLR. They were (all, I think) taken at the 10mm focal end. The 40D has a x1.6 fov crop factor, hence essentially the actual focal length here is 10mm x 1.6 = 16mm.

Finally, the final picture (in the HK MTR station underground) is taken with a Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 prime lens mounted on the 40D. Here we have a field of view that resembles the human eye 'standard' perspective, at approximately 45-50mm focal length.

I love taking pictures. However, when I travel, I am so tired that I just cannot be bothered to carry even some of this equipment with me. When I do, though, the results are worth the burden.

Nevertheless, I plan to take more pics in my future travels (especially at airports and inside aircrafts), and post them here.

Hope all the above answers your query.

Regards,

[jhm]

N_Architect, thanks for your detailed reply! phaleesy will no doubt reply when she reads this later this evening but I think:

The third and fourth photos, together with the photos of the hotel room, were taken with the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 wide angle zoom lens, mounted on the Canon 40D dSLR.

is the same lens which she recently bought in Tokyo (from Yodabashi camera) attached to her Canon 400D. She also used my EF 28-105 (I can't remember the exact model number - I bought it years ago along with my Canon 5QD). We're dithering about buying a second camera body when we're next in Japan but unsure about whether to get another Canon 400D (as it's small and lightweight) or a bigger full frame camera body (but then again would we want to take big heavy full frame lenses when travelling ?).

[N_Architect]

N_Architect, thanks for your detailed reply! ... We're dithering about buying a second camera body when we're next in Japan but unsure about whether to get another Canon 400D (as it's small and lightweight) or a bigger full frame camera body (but then again would we want to take big heavy full frame lenses when travelling ?).

Hi jhm,

I'll try to be brief.

The 400D is quite small and lenses like the 10-22 zoom (which is actually not very big and heavy) feel more in balance with bodies like the 40D. Full frame is the best way to go for quality, but it costs more and it's a heavier body (5D). The essence, however, is in the 'glass' that you put on the camera. Its quality affects the final picture considerably.

Therefore one should pair the intended camera body with at least a couple of good lenses, preferably 'L' type in the case of a Canon user (L lenses are the ones that have a red circle on the circumference of the front element and they are fairly heavy and expensive but offer quality, weatherproofness and durability).

Regards,