It’s the long weekend once again and it’s time for another excursion with the Canon EOS R50. Unlike last time at KL, I’m now paired up with the White/Silver sibling of the Canon EOS R50 instead of the black unit. So with the long weekend, I decided to roam around the City Hall/Clarke Quay area and browse some of our local heritage sites. Also, in the article, you might notice a differing aspect ratio of the end photo vs the screen photo, that’s just due to me changing the aspect ratio from 3:2 to 16:9.
Before we get into the key locations, here’s a quick overview of Canon’s new EOS R50. The recently launched EOS R50 by Canon is an ideal camera for content creators and vloggers who desire to generate top-notch content but lack the technical know-how to operate a camera. Weighing approximately 375g, the camera is lightweight, making it perfect for vloggers who are always on the move. Moreover, the camera includes several intelligent creative features that simplify the utilization of the camera’s imaging features, making it even more user-friendly.
Now onto the journey:
Civil Defence Heritage Gallery
The Civil Defence Heritage Gallery is a free, 2-storey museum located in the Central Fire Station in Singapore. The museum showcases the history of Singapore’s Civil Defence Force and firefighting capabilities through immersive exhibits, miniature models of different fire stations, vintage firefighting equipment, and artefacts.
The first floor features showcases of fire fighting service badges, helmets from the past and miniature fire engine replicas, as well as two vintage fire engines. It’s a pretty interactive museum where you can watch short snippets about the history of SCDF and more.
The second floor houses the SCDF Emergency Preparedness Centre, where visitors can experience what it’s like being in a typhoon, earthquake, tsunami, or fire through interactive displays. Visitors can also learn about the procedures and tools used in rescue operations, including rescue hounds with their sharp sense of smell.
With the Canon EOS R50’s Vari-angle LCD, I was able to capture cute selfie memories even though I was roaming around alone in the museum. Using the intelligent auto mode was really convenient in capturing crisp shots in a few seconds without the need to adjust any settings.
Old Hill Street Police Station
Designed by Frank D. Ward in the Neoclassical style, the Former Hill Street Police Station in Singapore served as a police station and accommodation for officers and their families. During the Japanese Occupation, it was coated in brown camouflage paint to prevent it from being targeted by Allied pilots. After the war, it continued to be used as a police station and barracks, and then later housed various civil service departments. The building underwent a major renovation in 1999 and officially reopened as the new home for the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and the Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth (MCCY), and it is now known as Old Hill Street Police Station.
Now as some of us are familiar, the Old Hill Street Police Station is decorated with 900 colourful double-leafed louvred windows. What better way to capture such a delightful building than to use the EOS R50’s Panorama Scene Feature to capture these windows coloured with the rainbow.
Now on to dinner, whilst walking over to Songfa Bakuteh, as the sky was bright blue and the sun was shining so nicely, I went to take a quick shot of the Elgin Bridge with the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in the background. As it was quite a distance away, thankfully I had the Telescope Lens with me. With the Telescope Lens, I was able to reach further to capture both the bridge and MBS in its full view. Because it was far away from the bridge I was standing on, the compression effect from the lens helped with creating the illusion that the bridge and MBS are closer together than they actually are. Here’s a comparison photo from the same location using the standard RF-S18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM lens:
Song Fa Bak Kut Teh
Started off as a pushcart in Johor Road back in the late 60s, Song Fa Bak Kut Teh is one of the locally renowned herbal pork ribs soups that everyone from locals to tourists enjoys. It serves Teochew style bak kut teh that is herbal and peppery and has now expanded to over 10+ shops. I went to the flagship store located at New Bridge Road where I was greeted by a bustling shop with snaking long queues of both tourists and locals.
I got the iconic Bak Kut Teh (Pork Ribs Soup) with You Tiao (Chinese Fried Dough). The pork ribs were falling off the bone and were simply enjoyable to feast on. On top of that, the fragrant and peppery soup was a comforting end to a long day walking in the sun at City Hall and Clarke Quay. The best part is soup is refillable so once you are done, just gesture to the staff and they will readily refill for you.
Despite using the intelligent auto function, the EOS R50 readily adjusted to indoor lighting quickly and captured my delicious meal with a slight bokeh. As a photography amateur myself, the EOS R50 has been a joy to use. With the differing scenery features as well as intelligent auto, it just took me barely 10 minutes to get familiar with the camera and snap great memories.
The Canon EOS R50 Body is retailing at $979 while the package with both the Kit lens and Telescope lens retailing for $1509 and you can get it at https://shop.sg.canon/.
