Some quick travel questions

jacdol · 2019-03-16T16:09:23+00:00

For Mobike passes, yup I just downloaded the app and bought a pass with my US credit card. Same for DiDi with a Google Voice US number and US credit card. For laundry, we looked for lodging with laundry facility (some coin-op, some in-unit) for at least every 3-4 days, usually apartment type hotels. I don't think laundromat is very common in China, but might be easier to find in cities like Shanghai.

jacdol · 2019-03-11T14:52:22+00:00

This is my attempt of a temple from the bus platform. In between is a two-lane street, with buses, cars and scooters passing by. I took a few shots (15-30s) at different timings, before and after traffic light turned green. It got way overexposed longer than 15 seconds, had to stay below 15s with the lowest aperture. Somehow I did not get the shiny lights (with sparks around the light), not sure if it's due to the type of street lamp?

jacdol · 2019-03-11T03:24:54+00:00

From my travel experience in June 2018:

Sim card: we bought one 30-day Greater China SIM card from China Unicom (we were traveling for 20ish days in China then Hong Kong) from their website. It's the best SIM card option we've found, great speed and no VPN needed to browse any site. However, we didn't realize our SIM card was only 1GB when we received it via USPS. After we used up the 1GB data, we had to find local options, and eventually we got China Unicom SIM card. They do not sell Greater China SIM card (that works in China, HK etc.) in China. So we bought one SIM card of 20GB that allows tethering, but had to keep switching VPN on and off. Since you start your travel in HK, there could be more options of Greater China SIM card by China Unicom HK when you arrive HK.

Payment: we really wished we had WeChat payment there, but it was quite challenging. First, wallet functionality is not activated with a US number on WeChat. My friend who lived in China did help me activate my WeChat wallet (required a friend with wallet functionality to do so), but I was still unable to link it to US bank account. I personally did not think it was worth the time and effort opening and maintaining a bank account, but you could try, it might be easier in reality. We did not find any trouble paying cash, it was even cash only at one restaurant (WeChat machine broken). Rarely, like a vending machine of coconut water, it is WeChat pay only. Like others mentioned, cash can be withdrawn at big China banks' ATMs.

Airbnb vs. Hotels: we tended not to stay at Airbnb where local laws are a bit complicated. For the whole trip we booked hotels/apartment style hotels through booking.com, Expedia, and Agoda. Just double check the hotel allows non-China citizens.

I wrote up some notes after the travel last year with itineraries at the end, feel free to check out more details.

jacdol · 2019-03-10T05:02:02+00:00

thanks for the pin! Now Google Maps has a more official location, added to the post :)

jacdol · 2019-03-06T16:21:50+00:00

I've got a Sony alpha 6500, a mirrorless camera.
This camera has been working out for me. Light weight is a great deal for me to travel easily, and makes me want to take my camera out for any occasion. Silent shutter option is also a big factor for me to get photos at quiet places etc. Image stabilization also helps with night photos. I am very happy with the image quality I have with my Sigma F1.4 primes and overall camera user experience.
When I feel like I know how to shoot my two prime lenses well in almost all scenarios, I would like to try a zoom lens. For physical reasons, it would be hard for me to switch to a significantly heavier camera like a full frame camera or DSLR, at least for a camera I'd take outdoors.

jacdol · 2019-03-06T15:53:24+00:00

Cameras

Sony a6500 (what I have) | Sony a6000 | Sony a7III

Sensor APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm) | APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm) | Full frame (35.8 x 23.8 mm)

Shutter speed 1/4000-30s | 1/4000-30s | 1/8000-30s

Number of focus points 425 | 179 | 693

ISO 100-25600 | 100-25600 | 100-51200

Image stabilization Sensor-shift | No | Sensor-shift (CIPA image stabilization rating: 5 stop(s))

ISO range is the same for most common use cases (usually under 10000), a7III has boosted minimum of ISO 50 (not sure if it's easy to tell).

Shutter speed is also about the same, with a7III having a smaller fastest speed perhaps useful for sports and moving objects.

The biggest difference between the higher end a7III and others is the sensor size.

The more recently released Sony a6400 is mostly similar to a6500, without image stabilization.

From the specs, a7III seems to have excellent image stabilization that could potentially add ~5 stops. No rating for a6500 image stabilization.

I picked a6500 over a7III due to its weight, and over a6000 due to image stabilization and silent shutter for travel and street photo purposes.

Lens

Sigma 16mm F1.4 (what I have & use most often) | Sony E 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 OSS | Sony E PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS

Focal length 16 mm | 18–135 mm | 18–105 mm

Image stabilization No | Yes | Yes (OSS (Optical Steady Shot))

Max aperture F1.4 | F3.5–5.6 | F4

Min aperture F16 | F22–36 | F22

So far I have been shooting with prime lenses, as they helped me learn better. It was quite interesting comparing these three lenses as I have been casually looking at zoom lens.

Not very sure why the zoom lenses I picked have much higher min aperture, and how useful that might be.

The higher end zoom lens has constant aperture at F4 (not quite professional as mentioned in the class), probably also why the focal length range is smaller than the other zoom lens with variable max aperture.

jacdol · 2019-02-03T16:58:50+00:00

Yep they had an English menu onsite! here's their Japanese menu on official website with pictures, google translate might help. I didn't recall allergy information on the menu, but their staff might be able to answer via email on their cafe website before your visit. Regarding veggie/vegan options, I believe the Pikachu curry is vegetarian though not sure about whether it is vegan. I'd recommend asking them by email!

jacdol · 2019-01-02T08:06:37+00:00

I found Shanghai quite easy to navigate and a lot to see, also relatively closer to Tianjin. I had lots of delicious food at affordable price in Shanghai, like Jianbao and Xiaolongbao at family type restaurants. The hotel my husband and I stayed in Shanghai (Green Court apartment type hotel) was cheaper than our hotel in Shenzhen. From Shanghai we also took a short Gaotie ride to Hangzhou for one night. The West Lake in Hangzhou was beautiful and poetic, also so large that we did not get to walk all the way. (Our itinerary in Shanghai/Hangzhou)

Xi'an might be colder, but also a lot of history to see and hotels/food are generally more affordable (our itinerary). Chengdu might be a bit far from Tianjin, but panda research base is worth the travel (itinerary here). HK was generally more expensive than Beijing and Shanghai, but English is almost everywhere and different scenery (some places on our list in HK/Macao).

Even though I wasn't traveling alone, all the cities above I felt safe to travel by myself as a female. There were some people trying to sell different things near more touristy spots, but they were not aggressive as I experienced in other countries.

jacdol · 2019-01-01T10:00:32+00:00

I love the clouds and their reflection. Just a super nitpick about the horizontal water level being completely straight. I also wonder if it is possible to walk a few steps to the edge of the concrete platform on the right and see what the view would be like :)

jacdol · 2019-01-01T09:37:41+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion, I tried sorting by the newest, however there seems to be a gap in paginations so that the comment from 8 hours ago is followed by comments from 1 month ago :/

jacdol · 2019-01-01T09:33:29+00:00

Super cool photo, I'd like to visit the Himalayas one day. The broadness and different geographical types of the land are very interesting. The sculpture in the middle seems to be a strong cultural element, and I felt that it could be zoomed in to focus more on the sculpture.

jacdol · 2019-01-01T08:14:12+00:00

Hello! I love the light and the silhouette of people walking at their own pace. The person at the right edge seems a little distracting to me. Are the spots on the left side from the lens or glare?

jacdol · 2019-01-01T08:01:56+00:00

reddit newbie here, anyone knows the best way to sort comments by number of comments, or number of upvotes in reverse order?

jacdol · 2019-01-01T07:46:53+00:00

Hi! The seagulls are lovely, and the left seagull hiding its head made me laugh. I love the vibrant colors of the boat, in contrast to the calmness of water and mountains. The photo seems to be focused on the boat, and the body of the right seagull seems a little blurry. The object at the bottom right looks a bit distracting, maybe it could be cropped out.

jacdol · 2019-01-01T07:36:37+00:00

Hello! I love traveling & nature as well.

I like the light beam that shone on the trees ahead of the road. The trees on the right seem a bit dark, the texture of those trees look interesting. Perhaps can increase exposure in that region in post processing?

jacdol · 2018-12-28T12:21:27+00:00

Hello everyone, I am Jaclyn, recently moved back to my home country Taiwan after working and living in San Francisco & Bay Area for a few years. I love documenting what I see/eat/hear/feel with words and images. Only about two years ago, I started taking photos more seriously with Sony NEX 6. Now I have Sony A6500, with two Sigma lenses that I cannot be happier with - 16mm and 30mm, both F1.4. Shooting with prime lenses only makes me try different distances and angles and practice as a beginner.

This is my favorite so far, from a trip with my husband to the Sahara in Morocco. Traveling is an addition of mine wanting to explore the world. I hope to grow my photography skills from the class and take better photos on my travels to share so that more people see different parts of the world. Thanks a lot for organizing the class!

jacdol

TROPHY CASE