Inside a Lift-room

OK, this is the first time I have ever been inside a Lift-room before. I am not even sure what the "Official" name but here, everyone just call it the Lift-room. The building here has three lifts and up to date, all three lifts are working properly. When climbed up to the tallest floor in the building, and before the door was opened, I was half expecting to see heavy machinery and those lift sounds (liek the ones you hear in those SimTower games). Boy, what a disappointment.

Ok, here is the lift-room. The front (left) are the main controls
And on the right, there are three lift motors. If you go to the
motors and stand there, you're actually on the top of the lift
shafts. I wonder why they sealed it with concrete.........

A closer look at the controls, but this is just one of the sides

This is one of the lift motors and it pulls five steel cables

This is the other lift motor. Note the yellow protective
cover is in place. these motors are no bigger than about
four feet, I think Now, are you scared of going into the
lifts now? Well, don't worry as there are other safety
failsafes in place

Coming back to where we left off when the roof collapsed,
we are now able to step into the incident area. Note the
red circles, which were some of the physical damage we
can see.

A closer look at one of the damaged structures

Even the glass awnings/shades were not spared and
they will have to be torn down, methingks

The late Mr. Minolta and Mrs. Olympus

Finally, I have found my cameras again. The last time I saw them was two years ago and they're already badly done in by the fungus. Apart from presents from my parents, these are the ones I bought with the extra cash I earned for my sketches and working part-time when I was in UK. And not only that, these are the first SLRs that I can actually say, belongs to me. And these are the same damn things that dragged me seriously (well, halfway) into the World of Photography. But unfortunately, it was at the wrong time.

My two wonderful SLR cameras!

The first SLR was a second hand Minolta Dynax 3000 which I got for a bargain. This is a "beginner" camera which does not have much settings to fiddle with. Nevertheless, it was a great camera for me to start out with. Later on, I got a tripod (still using now, albeit a bit cacat) and a 80-300mm lens. It was from there, I learnt some things about portraiture, and using various types of filters. Oh, and it has one of the loudest motor sounds (when the film finishes) and it is quite embarassing especially when you're in a Public Hall.

So, here it is, the Minolta Dynax 3000, with its small
flash and the filter setup. Looking back at the lens, its
52mm and if I have found it again, I would not have to
waste money to get those UV filters here when I got
the Nikon D50 this year.

Time has not been kind to the camera. Here, the rubber
grip has hardened and peeled off, exposing the interior.
OK, so I did not have the money to get those fancy Dry
Cabinets. At that time, it was either the hamster, the
Playstation or the Dry Cabinet.

Even the 80-300mm is totally destroyed. I can't even
extend it anymore as the rubber has glued the insides.

How I got this one, I am not sure but I just remembered
one certain fatty who asked me to keep it. Now, he is
just a wisp in my memory. Because of the box, this
lens was not really affected by the environment and
fungus at all.

As I constantly need to change between the lens, I got very annoyed since (at that time) I had to carry a lot of stuff in my bicycle. And so, after months of delibration (and no one wanted my Minolta) I got myself another SLR, which is the Olympus IS-1000. This camera at that time was quite advanced. It boasts of a very good lens, setting and best of all, very compact. But to me, the most wonderful thing was its bright viewfinder.

But despite the conveniences if a compact all-in-one SLR, it is frustratingly slow. If you want to know how slow it is, just try manual focusing on a Pro-Sumer DSLR now. But the pictures that came out were very sharp indeed.

This is the IS-1000. I loved its design and especially
the pop-up flash. If I had the chance to go for the
IS-3000, it would be even better.

Unfortunately, like the other camera, it is also
badly done in.

Oho! There is a roll of film in there! Maybe when I
have the time, I'll take it out to be developed
before the film system becomes obsolete.