Upgraded

I'm quite satisfied with my dSLR and the cost that came along with it, but I decided to make use of Circuit City's 110% price match offer and did little browsing to see if I can find a better deal (also because I don't have anything to do after work now that my semester's over).

So I went to Circuit City's website today and clicked on the camera I got. The price hasn't change but turns out there's a package where just for $50 more I can get 75-500mm zoom lense, which is couple of hundred less than its regular price. Plus, I could add a photo printer and few more things without any extra charge. After talking to sales representative I was able to get everything included in my package for only $50 more.

The new lense makes a huge difference. The standard 18-70 mm lense is improvement from regular point-and-shoot digital camera, but 75-500 mm takes pictures like professional. I can't wait for the weekend to go out for some photography.

My First dSLR

I got my first SLR camera! It's Sony alpha A300K with 18-70 mm lense. I bought it from Circuit City. First I went to Best Buy but wasn't convinced with what the salesperson told me. So I went to Circuit City. They said Sony and Canon are the best in line and Nikon is catching up. I decided to go with Sony. It doesn't have a lot of options when it comes to lenses but I'm hoping Sony will come up with more in near future.

Picture quality of SLR is way better than regular point-and-shoot. Since it's my first SLR I'm not too picky about funcationality though easy of use and price were important factors in my decision. I know Sony's products are one of the best, if not THE best, so I didn't hesitate when the salesperson recommended A300K. It was on sale for about $540, which isn't bad for SLRs.



Specifications:

General
Imaging Device : 10.2 (effective) APS CCD Sensor; 23.6 x 15.8 mm; RGB primary color filter

Megapixel : 10.2MP

Convenience Features
AF Illuminator Light : Yes, On/Off Select

Clear RAW NR : N/A

Histogram Display : Yes - RGB, playback only

Live View : Yes

Movie Mode(s) : N/A

Multi-Pattern Measuring : 40 Segment, Center Weighted, Spot

Scene Mode(s) : Portrait, Landscape, Sunset, Night View/Night Portrait

Processor
BIONZ™ Engine : Yes (LSI with Dynamic Range Optimizer (DRO/DRO+))

Optics/Lens
EV Compensation : ±2.0 EV, 1/3 EV Steps

Exposure : Manual Exposure: Yes, w/EV indicator, Manual Exposure: Yes; Aperture/Shutter Priority, Manual, Program Shift: Yes, Command Dial

Focus : Auto Focus: TTL Phase Detection, Multi-point: 9 Area, 8 Line, 1 Cross Sensor, Auto Focus Mode: Yes, Adjustable Spot AF: Selectable Sensor, Visual Focus Confirm: Direct via Spherical Acute Matte Screen

ISO : Auto/100/200/400/800/1600/3200

Lens Type : Interchangeable A-mount

Shutter Speed : 1/4000 to 30 sec., Bulb

Software
Operating System Compatibility : Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Professional, ME, XP Home and Professional; Macintosh® OS X (v 10.3 or later). OS must be installed at the factory.

Supplied Software : Image Data Converter SR ver.2.0, Image Data Lightbox SR ver.1.0, (all Windows & Macintosh), Picture Motion Browser Ver.2.1.02 (Windows only)

Operating Conditions
Flash Effective Range : GN12 at ISO 100 (39 feet/ 12 meters)

Flash Mode(s) : Built-in Auto Pop-up: Auto, Fill-flash, Rear flash sync, Slow Sync, High Speed Sync, Wireless off camera flash (with Flash HVL-F56AM, F42AM)

Inputs and Outputs
Output(s) : Video: Yes, NTSC/PAL Selectable

USB Port(s) : Yes, Supports USB 2.0 Hi-speed

Service and Warranty Information
Limited Warranty Term : 1 Year Parts & Labor

Online Scams

I recently got into photography so decided to upgrade from my cell camera to some high resolution digital camera. You can find good digital cameras from $20 to $2000+ so the first question in my mind was what's good for a person with my expertise and wallet size. My first stop was www.cnet.com. It's the best site I know to check out average consumer's, as well as professional's, reviews. You can also get good estimate of price offered for the item for most products featured on the website. If you can't find anything suitable for you on CNET or if you are confused between multiple products with equal ratings then you can go to an electronics store like Best Buy or Circuit City and ask for assistance. I've heard they are not always helpful but if you bother them enough I'm sure they'll dish out some useful information, especially if you can impress them by using some technical jargon you just learned on CNET.

So back to my hunt for the perfect camera. From editor and consumer reviews, I decided to go with Nikon D90 SLR. It's pretty impressive with 12 some mega pixels, live view and all those things. Average price for the camera is about $1000, which is way out of my budget so I decided to search online. Like 99.9% webbies out there looking for information, I went on google.com. The first link it turned up was ShopDigitalDirect.com where camera was $589. It came with USA Warranty and had the certification of secure site. Without wasting another brain cell I gave up my credit card information and ordered the camera.

The next day I got an email saying they are out of stock. I tried two more websites, www.ontimedigital.com and one more site. They responded in similar way so I called up the last website I tried. This drunk guy answered the phone and mumbled he's got a $1290 camera package or something. I was like 'what's on your website then?' He replies, 'that's nothing'. Before I could ask anything else he hung up. This is when red lights went off in my mind and again I turned to google.com. This time in search area I typed the website name and the word 'scam'. My fears turned into reality when it brought back 200,000+ hits with people giving warning that these websites are actually frauds! I contacted my bank and explained what had happened.

So lesson of the day is, do your research if you don't want to take risk with online shopping. When you find a deal too good to be true, then usually it is. Search for the reviews on the website from multiple sources. Many electronics sold online are not intended to be sold in USA because of defects. Many websites take away the standard accessories and will sell them to you for extra charges. If you'll try to return the item you bought for refund, they will deduct "re-stocking fees", which is usually 15% of the price.

In the end I'd say it's better to pay few dollars more than to compromise your personal information to these scams.

Eid Al-Adha

Yesterday was Eid Al-Adha. Muslims celebrate this Eid to comemorate the sacrifice of Prophet Abrahim.

The way Eid Al-Adha is celebrated is we go for Eid prayers. Then we slaughter an animal like cow, sheep or even camel. The meat is then divided and shared between family and friends, and poor and needy.

According to Wikipedia.org:

"Eid al-Adha (Arabic: عيد الأضحى ‘Īd ul-’Aḍḥā) or the Festival of Sacrifice (Turkish: Kurban Bayramı) is a religious festival celebrated by Muslims (including Druze) worldwide in commemoration of the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ishmael as an act of obedience to God. The devil tempted Ibrahim by saying he should disobey God and spare his son. As Ibrahim was about to sacrifice his son, God intervened and instead provided a lamb as the sacrifice. This is why today all over the world Muslims who have the means to, sacrifice an animal (usually a goat or a sheep), as a reminder of Ibrahim's obedience to God. The meat is then shared out with family, friends (Muslims or non-Muslims), as well as the poor members of the community."

I went to the D.C. Convention Center in Washington D.C., for Eid prayers:



It was nice. Many Muslim businesses had setup stalls. But one thing it didn't have was halal FOOD! That's the main attraction at any Muslim event over here. At least for me. I mean, you can get clothes from anywhere. But you can't find good halal food so easily. So that was one major disappointment. Otherwise it was nice to see so many Muslims gathered to celebrate and pray.

One Devoted News Reporter

My friend emailed me this video. If you know Urdu you can understand it better but you'll figure out what's going on even if you're not familiar with Urdu. Enjoy!

First time online seller

I made my first sale on Half.com. Yayy! I sold couple of text books for about $50. It's not much but better than I had expected. Now I need to get the books packed and shipped.

I also got inventory for my online store, Lines of Style. I need to finish the website fast and get it up and running but problem is I'm still not sure about it's links and exactly what it offers. I mean it is a store so offers a bunch of things but I initially wanted it to do a little more and be e-magazine for Muslimahs. But running an e-zine is beyound the capabilities of single person so I guess I'll have to skip the idea. At least for now.

My aquarium is in better shape now. It had developed micro-algae that multiplied rapidly so water turned green and murky. At one point you couldn't see through the 20 gallon aquarim because water was so cloudy. I went to pet stores. Every time I'd go to a store they would hand me a bunch of chemicals to add to water. Nothing helped. Then I searched online and got the diagnoses straight. Solution is to change water every other day for about a month or till it gets completely clean. If any amount of algea is left behind it would multiply again. So now I'm close to getting clean water. Here's a pic: