My Useless Guide to Compact Digital Camera

Digital cameras are getting cheaper by the day. Nowadays, for just RM500, you can get an 8 omigod million eye-ball popping pixel snapper, really. But before you run off and get yourself one, check out my must-haves based on my compact digi cammy eXperience (the capital ‘x’ is used just because it looks cool), because in the end, there’s no substitute for quality.

Image Stabilization
You need this, trust me - unless you’re a micro-surgeon. Hand-shake is inevitable. Especially when you’re holding something light and small.

Wide-angle Lens
My current cammy doesn’t have this. And how I WISH that I have it. 28mm lens make a LOT of difference. 35mm, now that wide-angle is available, is downright cruel and should never have started life.

Fast Start-up
This is the BIG prominent gulf between cheap and expensive camera. A good camera should take ~1.2 to 1.5 second to boot-up. Cheap 8MP camera will take 2 years to do so. And next thing you know, by the time you’re ready to shoot, the subject has grown beard.

Fast Operating Time & Shooting Speed
Another big difference. This is where some cammy makers applaud themselves with their 3rd-Gen Venus engine or Digic ver 2.4 processor in their multi-million ads – when nobody actually cares or understands. But, truth is, cameras must be fast – be it moving on from function to function or snapping hysterically. Try deleting a picture. If it takes 2sec to do so – it’s a crappy camera.

External Controls
The more buttons it has on the outside, the better. 3 most important buttons that you need externally is Delete, Flash and Movie to Still. Ya, the less buttons it has, the better looking it is. But, some practical standpoint, I’d rather have all photographic functions to have dedicated external buttons.

Battery Life
Check the reviews in the Internet (you cheap-skate!) and pay a special attention to this. Buy only if the battery could snap-up ~150 to 200 pictures on a single charge, and that the battery only requires ~30mins to be fully charged.

Well. I’m no pro in this. But hope this helps. It's 2am, and to hell with typos and grammar mistakes. Ka-chow!

Potty-trained

Potty-train is a BIG deal. Marsha started her training when she was 1.5yrs old. And at 2+, she’s graduated. Well, she still needs to take up night classes. But, as parents, we are very happy. Coz now, with ~70bucks of saving a month, we can resume our habit of buying useless stuff like auto mags and hair-clips (ask the missus). Anyway, this would never have happened without the initiative, patience, persistence and perseverance of… Marsha’s nanny, our maid, Kak Hindun. So, if you wanna ask us about potty-training, just call the house and talk to Kak Hindun straight ;-)

We’ll be upstairs; reading mags and testing out hairclips.

Terima kasih, Kak Hindun.

Sceneries of a 20-min-drive

Things that you can see in Boleh-land in a 20-minute drive.

1)Unswimmable rivers
2)At least 5 food stalls by the road side
3)Around 3 law-breaking road users
4)An old rotten bus (at least)
5)An infested abandoned dog
6)If you’re lucky... open-burning
7)If you’re really lucky, you can see the guy who does it
8)And of course… *drum roll*… a toll booth!

Cameron Highlands

There's something sweet about Cameron H'lands. Ya, it's dirty; rubbish and flies everywhere (They blame it on the "natural-based" fertilizers. Yea right, I don't see any flies in the farms. It's the waste management system, just work on it!) and there are just too many cars than the road can handle. But, it has its charm, all 18deg Celcius of it. And couple that with raw food; vegetables, tea and flowers (if you're into eating stuff like that), it's definitely a magnet.

I won't recommend Cameron Highlands to tourist though, as the rubbish alone, not to mention the pukey diesel fumes from buses and Land Rovers, would kill them instantaneously. But for Malaysian (and Singaporeans and Siamese) who suffers day-in day-out at 32deg Celcius, Cameron H'lands is THE place to chill out, without needing much pasetas.

Plan for a 2-night stay. Not less. And definitely not more. And rent an apartment with kitchen facility. That way, you can have a full-vegie diet, with tea of course, for 3 days in a row, with friends of your choice. Eat as many strawberries and sweet corns as you can. And buy bucket loads of flowers. Those stuff are dirt cheap over there. Read a book and just let the hours pass you by. And once you've done the 2-nights, you will never want to go there again, for at least another year or two.