Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Who Needs Santa?!?
"Are we doing Christmas gifts this year"?, asked The JohnnyB when he came home this evening, looking with glee at the UPS packages that piled over the dining table.
"I dunno", answered his lovely wife with a certain anxiety.
See, in the almost-five-years I've been here, I have learned that the true meaning of Christmas and the real profound reality behind the holiday spirit, is pretty much gift-related.
An insanely outrageous amount of gifts is set under and around millions of decorated trees, may they be real or plastic ones, and everybody's running around in frenzy to find one more gift for the mother of the third cousin of the niece's husband's step-aunt's adopted son.
The first Christmas after I moved here, we had two piles in front of the fireplace.
As the days went by, The JohnnyB and I kept counting - with growing concern - the number of packages in the other's pile, trying to go for equality.
It was quite nerve-wrecking, and we decided that no longer.
We are above this craziness.
No more Christmas gifts.
After all, it's not even my holiday, right?
And yet, each year, we sneak a gift or two, anyway.
Now, The JohnnyB never, ever, goes shopping.
Oooooooooooooooh no.
He shops with his fingers, a click here, double-click there, a secretive smile adorning his face, and packages galore arrive at the house, carried by our smiley-yet-weary UPS guy.
And, The JohnnyB always has the most uniquely original ideas, that usually hit right on the spot.
"Because if we are not doing Christmas gifts", said The JohnnyB, disrupting this line of thought with devils in his hazel eyes, "then you get your gift right now!".
"Uhm... well... it's up to you", said his wife, trying her best to sound daintily indifferent.
And so, he handed me a box.
(Not wrapped, of course. As we have all learned, The JohnnyB never makes a fuss about presentation).
And in the box, הס פן תעיר, lived a digital camera.
Now, we've been discussing, for quite a while, my long and longing yearning for a digital camera with a decent zoom.
The digital camera I have now (Olympus Camedia C-50, also given to me by The JohnnyB, 3.5 years ago), is an admirable product.
It's wonderfully compact, with an incredible durability and unprecedented survival skills.
It has served me above and beyond my highest expectations, especially considering what I have put it through. Starting with 11,000 photos (yeah, eleven thousands) during our 2.5 months trip in Australia and the Cook Islands, in extra-dusty conditions (well, the Australian outback is not exactly an airconditined resort...) plus several nasty falls, followed by a couple of thousands more photos, taken on other trips, family visits and daily occasions.
But - recently, it's started to show signs that its days are numbered. I guess it's lived a very full camera-life (more like 13 lifetimes), with its photoholic owner.
Plus, it has a 3X optical zoom.
Not very helpful when you want to snatch a photo of someone with an interesting face in a crowd, without that person noticing that s/he is in fact modeling for you. (and I am, as we all agree by now, very much into portraits).
The catch with a bigger zoom is that the camera also tends to grow bigger, more massive and more impressive, and can no longer be tossed in my purse or my coat pocket, as I go scavenging for new faces and scenes.
And suddenly: look at this wonder!
Not much bigger than my current camera, with a very clean, slick and elegant design, in stunning metallic dark blue. AND it is 10X zoom!!
So small - and 10X!!!
How do they do it?
Ah, triviality..
Just to warm the hearts of the engineers amongst you (it's actually pretty neat!):
"This camera features a refractive prism lens unit, that allows zooming to occur horizontally within the camera. This makes it possible to pack a powerful 10x optical zoom - equivalent to a big 35 to 350 millimeter lens on a 35mm camera - into a compact camera. The Extended Optical Zoom function, which magnifies the image with minimal deterioration by using the center part of the high-resolution CCD, boosts the zoom power of up to 12.5x."
Yeah - self-explanatory!
Plus, it has a Leica lens, which would have warmed my parents hearts, as my father owned an antique Leica, and my mom used to speak very proudly of it.
10X zoom!!
10X zoom!!! (I repeat with teary eyes).
More than 3 times the zoom I had till this moment.
A whole world is awaiting me out there - and all I need is zoom into it.
- - - But wait!!!
Didn't they say something about 12.5X zoom?
The JohnnyB delved into the manual and the Panasonic FAQ website, and discovered that when you set the image to be less than the biggest size (5MB), the CCD actually takes advantage of the unused photo-cells and effectively increases the optical zoom by 25%.
So - if I do not insist on having all my photos as heavy as 5MB, I actually get 12.5X zoom!!!
12.5 ZOOM!!!
That is even better than my wildest dreams.
The JohnnyB has really שיחק אותה בגדול!!!
(as in, really, truly, totally and utterly excelled himself this time)!!!
- - - And now The JohnnyB has 3 broken ribs.
Hugs can be quite damaging, so it seems...
...and in the midst of the excitement, I find myself wondering whether it was fair of me to take a picture of the new camera with the old one, that's about to be abandoned.
Feels almost immoral.
Like the first wife of a Mormon making the bed of the new, second wife, who's just arrived.
oh, Oh, OH - the battery is finally charged.
Time to go out and play!
Disclaimer:
As amazing as this may sound, no furniture was broken, no fire has started, no wall was damaged and the roof is still standing.
Basically, no harm was done to the house neither to its residents during the opening, testing and playing with LumiB.
And, mind you, not even one cup of tea was made by me.
Almost disappointing, Eh?
Labels: Photohgraphy, Wonders of The JohnnyB
# posted by Nava @ 7:56 PM 
Comments:
I love these kind of gifts!
The ones that the giver totally knows the receiver will be elated.
Thoughtful.
# posted by 
: 11/30/2006 7:35 AM
Not only does the JohnnyB have you pegged, but he prolly also knows that you have just sold another dozen or so of these devices with your wonderfully composed testamonial. If not a dozen, certain ONE more . . .I couldn't believe what I was reading. Can't wait to see the pics!!
# posted by : 11/30/2006 8:07 AM
:)
Now - before anyone complains that this wonderful camera has a drawback or two, let me say this:
Is it the worlds best 10x or 12.5x, 5M digital camera? Nope.
Is it a great 10x optical zoom, 12.5x if you're shooting <5M pictures, that you can have with you all the time? Yes.
If you want to be Ansel Adams, you'll want a different camera, but if you want a camera that takes very good pictures, and has a huge zoom, but still fits in your coat pocket or purse, this one is great.
Check out CNET and many other Digital Camera review sites. They all agree it's the best Super-Zoom compact camera out there.
If you want more info, it's at Panasonic's site, here.
john
PS And it only took Nava 2 hours to realize it was a wonderful gift, and not just a nice gift :)
I'm not sure that I want to see any 10x-zoomed 5MB photos of The JohnnyB's butt. In fact, I'm sure I don't.
Hey, The JohnnyB - but why do you go into such a butt-covering defense speech, before anyone even said a word against the camera???
For once, there's one post in your favor, and you defend yourself?
Save it for the next posts :-)
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The ones that the giver totally knows the receiver will be elated.
Thoughtful.
# posted by : 11/30/2006 7:35 AM
: 11/30/2006 7:35 AM # posted by : 11/30/2006 8:07 AM
: 11/30/2006 8:07 AM Now - before anyone complains that this wonderful camera has a drawback or two, let me say this:
Is it the worlds best 10x or 12.5x, 5M digital camera? Nope.
Is it a great 10x optical zoom, 12.5x if you're shooting <5M pictures, that you can have with you all the time? Yes.
If you want to be Ansel Adams, you'll want a different camera, but if you want a camera that takes very good pictures, and has a huge zoom, but still fits in your coat pocket or purse, this one is great.
Check out CNET and many other Digital Camera review sites. They all agree it's the best Super-Zoom compact camera out there.
If you want more info, it's at Panasonic's site, here.
john
PS And it only took Nava 2 hours to realize it was a wonderful gift, and not just a nice gift :)
For once, there's one post in your favor, and you defend yourself?
Save it for the next posts :-)
