Pic shot by Sandeep at Cubbon Park using my 350D and the new Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 glass.

Why? Because they can release an upgrade to the ever popular Rebel XT with some good values adds like:

• A dust reduction system
• 10.1 mp homegrown sensor (not borrowed from third parties but made by Canon’s own engineers!)
• 2.5″ LCD display

and still price the camera at $799 (body only)!!!

Ladies and genteelmen, presenting The Canon Rebel XTi

However, what interests me more is the introduction of the Canon 70-200mm F/4L IS. Yes, the most affordable and kick-ass L lens with Image Stabilization!

I was to get the non-IS version of this lens in December. Was a bit confused, because F/4 isn’t really fast. But now, with IS all my apprehensions have gone I have to get it.

Thank you Canon

Paid 14k and got myself a Tamron Autofocus 28-75mm f2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF). Yipee!

Also, got back from Mangalore on Thursday, last. Had a nice time and clicked plenty of snaps at the beach (no, not with the new lens). Now all is back to boredom.

Really, I do!

I met a very old friend of mine on Orkut today. Nah, nothing surprising about that because I have found many long lost pals there, but interestingly this chap is working at the same client company as I do. I was quite excited actually, when I found his name in the company directory. I added him on the intranet IM and buzzed him. He was as surprised as I was. We were good friends till about 1997 when I changed schools. Oh yea, the only thing is that he is working in Singapore, and I am in Bangalore. 

I don't personally like Orkut. It's nice for networking and all, but can get really annnoying, especially with the scrap book thingy. Someone once dubbed it a matrimonial site. Lol! I'd second that. But every dark cloud has a silver lining, and Orkut's is it's reach. Yes, half the youth population is there, so chances of finding old friends is pretty high. Like how I did today. Feeling good.

Lotsa things have been happening lately, and I haven't bothered to make a mention of it in my blog (or elsewhere). Not that I HAVE to make a mention, but I guess it's nice to construct a timeline somewhere ahead in time, reading old posts in your own blog. 

I bought a tripod on 6th of July. I already had a cheapo Vivitar one that I purchased couple of years ago, but that wouldn't do as I found out on my trip to Bhutan. So when I found the Slik Pro 700 DX legs for sale on one of the local photography forums, I wasted no time in checking it out and making a purchase. In the process I accuqainted myself with the seller who turned out to be a nice guy and a enthusiastic photographer. In fact he's offered to help me test the Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 that he has, on my camera.

Soon after buying the tripod, I *had* to buy a ball head. The tripod legs is only half the story. You need a 'head' to actually mount the camera. And heads come in two varieties - ball head and tilt/pan head. Ball heads are better because they offer fluid and flexible movement. After careful research, I went in for a Manfrotto 488RC0. It set me back by coupla thousands.

Some time after that that I actually made my website. Yes, after tons of procrasticanation, http://pixelshooter.net is finally up. But I like to think of it as a beta site as there are many ideas yet to be implemented.  And no, it has no Flash. I just can't find the time and energy to build a flash website

And just when I was brimming with things to do, my computer gave up on me. It went completley dead, not even a BIOS screen. Gave it to my computer dealer and it's been there for two weeks now cos his dad popped and he had to go out of town. Maybe I had some karmic debts with his dad. Two weeks without a computer is not actually very bad, but there is so much yet to do 'cos I was just about migrating to x64 bit Windows XP.  

So as of now, I am reading Sherlock Holmes and learning to spend time without a computer at home. Next week a friend and I will be off to Managalore, and I hope to do some serious night photography with my new tripod :) 

This looks really promising. I liked it better than Adobe Lightroom. Yes, LR is intended to be more than what DxO is, but that doesn’t make it better in its current beta stage. Lightroom has turned out to be slow and resource hogging. Since I am only comparing two beta versions, I can’t be conclusive in my judgements. But DxO is sweet!

Of course, DxO has something that can be called truly unique. Its geometric corrections are truly effective. Version 3.5 had a lot of quirks, including a very dull UI. Processing speeds have been a great concern, and I usually start the process of batch conversion and take a break when I am processing a lot of images at once. All that has been adddressed in this new version

Check it out here. Below is a frame I shot last evening, and processed using DxO Optics v4 beta:

Case 1 - Customer is king, but customer is wrong

My company offers its services to many MNCs, one of it being a very well known American company. And I work at the client's place. This particular American company has a history of engineering firsts, and naturally is pretty damn proud of it. From the outside, these achievements are rightfully quite commendable. But the situation from inside, at least in the project I am in, is not very pretty. The way the project is managed…or more particuarly the Manager is <insert fav swear word>. Now that is fine with me, because this breed of egoistical managers are present all over the Indian software industry these days. But the adhoc way in which things are done over here makes life very, very difficult for most of the people who do the actual work. And we have ideas on how to do things better.

So my boss one day decides to straighten out things by having an open discussion on how to improve work allocation. Now in plain simple words, this would be my boss telling the people above the manager at the client location, "shut your manager inside some server room and let my people do their work." But in the corporate world, you gotta be careful whose toes you are stepping on. So they have a long discussion and nothing comes out of it. The customer refuses to budge. And what next? Nothing really. It is a dead end. Because customer is king. Oh well, fine. I was only trying to improve matters, not show them I am smart. But now my job really sucks and half the time I am watching slow turds chase their own tails. And no one is doing anything about it. Why? Coz the customer fuckin' hands out the cheques every month and he has the final word. 

Case 2 - Customer is king, but he's king nothing

I am the customer in this case, and my computer dealer is the vendor. I chose him because he was recommended, and was also an AMD guy. Most computer vendors go the Intel route and when I built my PC, I didn't want an Intel inside. So I caught this guy. He charged me more than the M.R.P for the parts, but that's fine. He put the rig together for me and also promised free after sales service.

But all is fine only till money changes hands. Once I pay him, he's too busy to help me promptly when my computer acts up. He doesn't say that he cannot help me. He still promises to come home and see what's wrong. But he doesn't turn up unless I call him a zillion times. Am I angry with him personally? No, not really. No hard feelings with the guy. He knows his stuff and is a decent chap. But am I happy with his working style. Surely not. So that still makes me an unhappy customer. 

Moral of the story - Customer is king as long as competition is tough. And when's the case, he can get away with murder. 

On the other extreme, customer is king only as long as he wields the power of money. After that, you're on your own baby!

Super-moral of the story - When you look at a transaction from the 'customer-vendor' point of view, you ain't gonna achieve much. Coz end of the day, it has no inherent meaning and does no higher good.

So I thought having a job was only about making and spending money. So I thought that once I have money, I can own the entire Pink Floyd discography. So I thought with all the money I earn, I can be what I want to be, go where I want to go and do what I want to do. 

How ignorant of me.  No one told me that I have to be very worried about saving money. Of having to run from the taxman. Of having to travel on bad roads that never get repaired even though I sweat it out and pay for it. How can you sleep at night knowing that you are being robbed?

But I see a waking nation around me. Maybe the TV channels are doing it to increase their viewership, but I see more of these talk shows happening. People ask tough questions. Politicians are grilled by able interviewers. There is an awareness and it includes the fact that people are pissed. 

But i'm as guilty as you are. The gap between the rich and the poor widens, politicians take advantage of this and in the process the country is plundered. But we continue to live for personal ambitions. And what does that mean for me? It means that I will never have the satisfaction of paying my taxes. And as Infy turns 25, I cannot but wonder how long we are going live off the wealthy Americans and Europeans.

On a more micro level, what worries me is the overall gloom that surrounds me. On one hand, if I celebrate the economic high that we are currently riding, I feel guilty of turning a blind eye to dying tigers, corrupt politicians and rising pollution. On the other, when I start worrying about what I see around me, I fear missing out on my youth and the oppurtunities it brings. Which means, any way I look at it, unless I wear blinders or be terribly optimistic, I cannot escape a feeling of apprehension.

Such thoughts come to me often. But I move on with life. Like many, I silently hope that things would work out by themselves. I am weak in my optimisim, but I pray for a day when I can feel a sense of security and happiness even without my blinders on.