The Gen XY Lifestyle

A Glimpse Of Ipoh Through Canon’s Powershot

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Have a peek at Ipoh’s heritage and culture through the lens of the Powershot SX710 HS compact camera.

Tourism Malaysia recently invited The Active Age to visit Ipoh, Perak under its Mega Familiarisation programme as part of the Malaysia Year of Festivals (MyFest) 2015 in a bid to promote Malaysia as a top-of-mind tourist destination. One of the major highlights of MyFest 2015 was the National Chinese New Year Open House held at the Leaning Tower Square in Teluk Intan. At the event, the locals from various racial and ethnic backgrounds were gathered to usher in the Lunar New Year, as various cultural performances alongside the magnificent lights displayed at the Leaning Tower hyped up the festive mood.

When visiting Ipoh, do embark on the Heritage Tour to uncover the town’s rich history behind each point of interest which dates back to the late 1800s, some of them being the Railway Station, Town Hall and Old Post Office, Birch Memorial, High Court Building, and the Royal Ipoh Club.

Another city attraction that you shouldn’t miss is the interesting wall murals drawn by Lithuanian artist, Ernest Zacharevic at Ipoh, Old Town. Given that Ipoh, Old Town is the birthplace of white coffee; OLDTOWN White Coffee has collaborated with Ernest Zacharevic to create the ‘Art of OLDTOWN’ to celebrate their shared heritage and history. There’s also the Ipoh Mural Art Trail that you can embark on to catch the eight unique murals painted on the walls of Ipoh, Old Town. Some of these murals include An Old Uncle Drinking Coffee, A Hummingbird, A ‘Kopi’ Break, and Girl on a Wall in Bandar Timah.

More importantly, how can one visit a place without trying some of its local delicacies? Look out for one of Ipoh’s famous local dishes – Tauge Ayam or Bean Sprout Chicken that’s available at popular roadside restaurants such as Restoran Lou Wong Tauge Ayam Kuetiau or Restoran Onn Kee Tauge Ayam. As the name of the dish suggests, you’ll be served a plate of crunchy, thick tauge (bean sprouts) and a separate plate of smooth, poached chicken paired with a delicious savoury sauce.

With Ipoh in mind, if you’re travelling and would like to capture sights and scenery with a camera that’s compact and user-friendly, Canon’s latest Powershot SX710 HS would be an option to consider, given its functions that I will describe below.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA  In terms of construction, the Powershot SX710 HS has an all-metal slim body that appears to be reasonably sturdy, making it suitable for everyday use. On top of that, it also comes with a rubberised ridge that provides a sturdy grip that is very helpful especially when you’re scrambling to capture something fast. Weighing at 269 grams (including its battery) and measuring 113 x 66 x 34.8 millimetres, the SX710 is small and light enough to carry around on a long day out. While its battery life spans at 230 shots a charge, there’s thankfully an ‘ECO’ mode you can activate to extend the lifespan to 315 shots per charge.

The user interface is also very intuitive and wouldn’t require a detailed perusal of the manual before use. You’ll find it easy to navigate around with the controller for standard functions like playback, delete function, self-timer, movie-recording and more. Another great highlight about the Powershot SX710 HS is its powerful 30x optical zoom lens with an equivalent range of 25 to 750 millimetres, making it great for capturing wildlife or scenery in the distance.

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Furthermore, given that smartphones are a much preferred option these days to just snap and instantly share photos with friends and family, Canon has accommodated for such a need by including the Near Field Communication (NFC) feature and built-in Wi-fi function in the camera. Simply download the Camera Connect application and you can start transferring images seamlessly from the camera to your smartphone or tablet.

Another great thing about the Powershot SX710 HS is its ease of use for amateur users. There’s a range of shooting modes to choose from, including Auto, Creative Shot, Standard Movie, Handheld Night Scene, Sports, Fisheye Effect and even Manual if you want to adjust settings on your own. To simplify things, you can just put the camera in ‘Auto’ mode.

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There’s also the ‘Macro’ function on the control dial that allows the user to shoot close-up images in “Auto” mode. Upon selection, all you have to do is hold the shutter button slightly for the camera to fine-tune the focal position.

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What I really like about this camera however, is the ability to get really creative. With the ‘Creative Shot’ function, I can experiment with effects to create a totally different mood using the available options of Auto, Natural, Monochrome and Special. One issue with this is that upon release of the shutter button, the resulting images come in random effects that may focus on different points of your actual target. This gives you little control over the resulting images and if you’re not confident, you might want to give these creative effects a miss, but of course practice makes perfect.

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Alternatively, the ‘Fisheye Effect’ mode makes for some interesting images, but quite frankly you wouldn’t find yourself using these effects much if you really just want basic, unfiltered images when you travel.

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As for the capturing of objects, animals or people in motion, the Powershot SX710 HS manages to accomplish this feat relatively well with its ‘Sports’ mode and continuous shooting features. The number of continuous images you capture depends on how long you hold the shutter button down. One issue with this though, is that the continuous images are saved in groups and can only be viewed via a ‘Group Playback’ option which you have to first select. This makes it slightly a hassle when you just want to view the images quickly or select which ones you want to erase.

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(The ‘Handheld Night Scene’ mode manages to capture night scenery rather impressively.)

Overall, the Powershot SX710 HS is a simple and user-friendly compact camera to take along when you travel. With its more-than-adequate shooting modes, impressive zoom abilities and built-in Wi-fi function, there’s nothing more you really need from a dedicated camera.

 

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