The new canon SD 780 IS - my second love

Its black, hardly bigger than a credit card and takes great photos. This is the new canon sd 780 IS. A wonderfully good camera, which trespasses the bounds on size and compactness. I would have wanted a few more features and a better ISO rendering, but with what I paid for it, this seems very good.

The portability is so good, it will fit into the back of any jeans or slide into any pouch. I would not say best picture quality I have seen, but it does have a nice macro. Shooting in auto in low light conditions is a definite no-no, the flash turns on and ruins the effects on any background. The High ISO ranges need a tripod and some real skill to get decent images.The zoom does not range long, and the digital zoom for once is not half bad, though I would never resort to it personally.

This would detract most of the users from this camera, but for a on the go snap shooter this is better than anything in the market.

Looking forward to unleash the amateur photographer in me.

The era of fountain pens and leather bound books

My gift for my 12th birthday was a leather bound diary which started my love for writing. I have lost that diary in the numerous times I have shifted my house, but the memories of writing in that book still lingers on. A leather bound diary is very exotic and harps on the old world, giving you the unique distinction of either being a romantic or an old foolish git. I still maintain a couple of hardbound dairies now to pen down my random thoughts and musings and it still feels exotic today.

Among my recent acquisitions are a couple of exquisite fountain pens. One of them is from a chinese company, which I must admit is very good in spite of the skepticism about their build quality. The other is a waterman, my truly prized possession in the recent century. The waterman I own comes with a black body and a chrome cap, writes a medium and is supposedly made in Paris. The reactions I have received to this ownership has itself been amusing, with some thinking it to be lower than a hero, and some throwing the "awwww...." in my face. I positively beam when people come to recognize my possession, and generally start dawdling about how people today no longer use the fountain pens. (yeah, I know I'm a materialistic freak....and the yada yada that goes with it!!!, but come on if I owned the monalisa wouldn't I beam about it??)

This is the age of I pads and net-books, writing being only an obligatory indulgence to the tech-savvy who would care to maintain a fountain pen. The banias and vegetable vendors are more than happy with the ball-points and would only care less to go searching for ink. The era of fountain pens as I see it is completely dwindling.