Ricoh Theta

One of the perks of being an industrial designer is you get to play with cool new technology, this way you keep up with whats trending, and to call the gimmicky ones. My initial impression of the Ricoh Theta 360 camera was meh... but, this is before I spent a week with it.

The camera fits nicely in the hand, its about as thin and tall as the Iphone 5. I love the chirp noise it makes when you snap a photo. It comes in White, Yellow, Cyan & Magenta. I wished I got the white one, but who's to complain with free. You can shoot both photos and videos with it. Videos record up to three 3 minutes so plan your shots accordingly. It has 4gig of internal memory, and there is no external expansion slot. Luckily you can download the footage via the THETA app. Photos only not video. For videos you'll have to connect to a PC. When you run out of space on the Theta just download footage onto your phone. Unless your phone is full too. 

Im really excited that this camera does a great job at portraying how epic and vast a place really is. We've all taken photos of places so amazing & grand, but our photos doesn't do it justice. How many times have you said "Its way more impressive in real life?" Well I think Ricoh Theta is onto something. Enjoy the photos I've taken with it. 

I'm hoping to get some awesome photos of the Golden Gate Bridge this weekend. But check out these test photos for now. Click and hold to pan around on the photo. 

#yungbent #hoang test - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Huarache 2015 NM LAVA

I couldn't help but to pull the trigger on these Nike Huarache 2015 NM lava. Had to pay a bit more since they're only sold in Europe, but it's well worth the bills. Its funny lately 've been buying exclusively red shoes, thinking about only rocking red shoes moving forward. I think it'll be an interesting branding element, no? 

Before the photos, here is a little fun fact for you. In the book "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall he writes about the Mexican tribe Tarahumara. The Tarahumara Indians are some of the best long distance marathoners in the world. Beyond being some of the best runners, the coolest discovery is that the thin leather slippers they run in are called Huaraches. I wonder if Nike was inspired by this? Probably not...

PHOTO CREDIT : MATTHEW KARSTEN OF EXPERT VAGABOND

And here are the now, less-cooler Hauraches.

Took the WIDE out

I've been meaning to do a more detailed analysis of the Moment lens kit but haven't had the time to. I took the wide lens out camping with my brother and friends last weekend. But due to too much fun I gave up photographing anything. The weather was just too nice and hot to sit around and get into the science of comparing iphone w/ lens vs non lens output. I promise ill get around to it soon. 

For now here are a few shots my buddy Sean & I manage to take using the wide lens. Notice the vignetting around the corners. Ive made the image black and white so you can see it easier, its subtle but still there. In full color it's less distracting.

The best camera is the one with you

A few of you folks have asked about the images in the photo section, and why are they soooo amaaaazzinnggg. I mean If you've got a keen eye like ya' boy, give me any camera and the results will be just as dope. 

I usually don't reveal these type industry secrets, but I'm gonna put you on my camera game. Because I want to travel light, I'd like to keep my camera quiver pretty lean, this way I can stay nimble and not stress out about lugging around too many things. 

They say the best camera is the one you have with you. So by default the Iphone is my first shooter. The Fujifilm X100S fixed 23mm f2 is second in line. Last up the GoPro Hero 4. I'm not gonna review these camera cause there are plenty of in depth reviews out there. Just thought I'd share what I'm shooting with.