Hanging out with the Animals @ the Singapore Zoo!

Hey everyone!

This week we revisit a favourite tourist location in Singapore, but one which we locals love to enjoy too: the Singapore Zoo! In our younger days, visiting the Zoo was a highlight, as we learnt more about the different animals that existed! This time, we were back as adults, but ready to be youthful learners of the Animal Kingdom!

This has also been a trip that we have been looking forward to, because we had earlier unique Impossible Project Animal Skin SX-70 film! We knew that the Singapore Zoo would have been the perfect opportunity to use this special Polaroid film (made under the Impossible Project brand), but we were also cautious because the film was almost 4 years old. It turns out our caution was warranted:

The animal prints were really interesting, but we were slightly disappointed with the “overexposed” layer on the film, which could be due to a multitude of factors. We still have one more pack, so we are definitely keen to try it out next time! To be safe, we also brought alone a Polaroid Original SX-70 film, which we used to good effect:

Image (175)c — Damian was holding our Fujifilm X-Pro 2 with the Jupiter-3 lens (which we discuss more below).

Image (175)b — Pelicans basking in the sun (but wetting their wings often too)!

Image (174)e — A giant tortoise hiding from the sun, in contrast.

We also took this opportunity to test an old set of Russian lens that we recently came across: the Jupiter-3 50mm f/1.5 lens, made in 1960 (this writer has a full review on it, which helped us understand the lens characteristics)! Check out the various creatures of the Singapore Zoo that we captured with the Jupiter-3 lens!

DSCF9713 — The “Thinker” Chimpanzee! It turned its back on us later on (literally!)

DSCF9718 — One of the smallest horses in the world, the Falabella grazes in its stable.

DSCF9723 — A herd of goats craving for food from the visitors!

DSCF9782 — One of many elephants in the Singapore Zoo, we were enthralled by its steady but impressive gait and actions: here, this female elephant was working hard to get her food!

DSCF9795 — Later on, visitors could feed the elephants close up!

DSCF9833 — One of the highlights in the Zoo, the white tiger sat quite languidly in the water.

DSCF9836 — The Malayan Tapir, found mainly in Southeast Asia.

DSCF9863 — A beautiful stork preening its feathers!

We were impressed with the sharpness of the Jupiter-3 lens when focused on the subject, although the corners are not sharp and definitely appears blur. Increasing the f-stop will resolve that, although we simply could not resist using the large f/1.5 aperture, and maximising the bokeh effect!

The Zoo is always a boisterous and entertaining venue for kids and adults, with creatures from all over the world hosted in one location! We had our fair share of fun capturing the various animals and birds with our cameras, and we certainly cannot wait to go back there again, as we did not manage to complete the tour of the Zoo.

Till next time,

Damianwithsandra