Taronga Zoo Lion

Taronga Zoo

While Taronga Zoo might not have the most amazing collection of animals or the most stunning of enclosures, it has a view that is unmatched. Appropriately named, Taronga is an Aboriginal word meaning beautiful view. Located across the harbour from the Sydney CBD, it’s a must do for locals and visitors alike. It’s just across the harbour from the Sydney CBD, easily accessed by ferry from just about anywhere on the harbour. Passengers disembarking at the ferry wharf, located on Bradleys Head Road, can enter the zoo via a gondola lift or connect with local State Transit bus services. Sydney Ferries offer a combined “ZooLink” ticket, covering ferry fares, park entry and gondola ride. Good value, for a good day out, especially if you’re visiting from overseas and want to take in a bit of Aussie wildlife without straying too far from the CBD.

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Bob Turner, BBall4All Director

Biz Academy

Once a year, Salesforce.com puts on a program that works with youth from under-resourced and low-income communities who want to learn about entrepreneurship. By joining the corporate world for a week at regional Salesforce.com offices and learning from employees and mentors, Biz Academy provides hands-on experience and real-world business experience. Hundreds of Salesforce employees donate their time, their experience, and even their hard earned money to help these deserving young individuals achieve the goals that they’ve set out for themselves.

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Canon 5D Mk II firmware update

The Canon 5DmkII is a good camera. Actually, it’s pretty great. As my workhorse camera body, I’m always on the look out for firmware upgrades that add additional functionality. Last week, Canon released the latest edition of the firmware for the 5D and…nothing.

Ok, that’s not entirely true, but when all the dust settles, the ‘new functionality’ isn’t all that exciting. It fixes a few bugs and increases writing speeds to Compact Flash cards. Exciting right?

The firmware update (Version 2.0.9) incorporates the following improvements and fixes.

  1. Improves the writing/reading speeds when using UDMA 7-compatible CF cards.
  2. Fixes a phenomenon that occurs when custom function C.Fn III-2 is set to [5: IS start] to assign IS start to the AF stop button on the lens: When used with lenses that do not have an AF stop button, the IS function will not work.
  3. Corrects some mistakes in the menu screens displayed in Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai.

With the 7D on the market supporting 60fps video (and for a fraction of the cost), you’d think this is a feature that they’d push out to 5DmkII users everywhere – at least to tie us over until Canon tries to convince us to upgrade to the 5DmkIII, whenever that might be. Sure, the 7D doesn’t hold a light to the 5D in terms of still photography, the 60fps video is definitely a ‘nice to have’.

At the end of the day, it’s still an improvement on the previous firmware version. You can find instructions and the firmware upgrade here.

The Return of the Lion!

With the return of the Sydney Kings to the NBL this past season, it was only fitting to have the infamous mascot return in all his glory!

To give the Lion a fitting return to the league after a two year absense, the Sydney Kings wanted to put together an intro ceremony that was fit for a King. The decision was made to create a video that showcased what the Lion was up to over the last two years, when the Sydney Kings were absent from the league. To create this, the Kings organisation asked me to develop a storyline which brings The Lion back to his former glory. The video above is the result of shooting at various locations throughout Sydney, and filmed entirely with a Canon 5D MkII.

In case you’re wondering what it looked like on game night, watch this to see how it all played out.

Willoughby Hotel

Willoughby Hotel

Since 1899, the Willoughby Hotel has held its place as an iconic North Shore watering hole for countless Sydneysiders. In 2010, the hotel underwent a rebranding, which called for some photos to be taken of the new ‘look’ of the hotel. So, I packed up my gear, and headed to this cool part of Sydney to help the Willoughby shine once again. It’s a pretty cool joint – a few levels with different style of function rooms scattered throughout. Oh, and the food is pretty good too. I’ve gotten my nom on here a few times since. It’s worth coming back for!

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