Yoni's First Photographs

New photographs uploaded!



See the full slideshow here...

My new Canon SD940 IS

I was looking for a portable camera for a while. I had few digital cameras from Olympus in the past, I'm still using my Sony camcorder that has also 3 MP stills camera and our cell phones, Nokia 6680 that my wife is still using and mine N95 are capable to capture some photographs too.

My previous cameras:
The old cameras I don't want to discuss, they were really early models of digital photography and were right for the time. I loved them and when I see pictures from then, I'm glad that I had at least something to save those moments in my life.

We bought Sony camcorder primarily for the video footage. Right before delivery of or first child we thought that we must have something to document everything. Sony DCR-PC350E was and is still very good in both video and stills imaging. Very small dimensions of it are still too big to carry the camera to every place we go. Yes, we took it almost each time, but I thought about its size each time I took it. Another problem with it was the slow response time of the auto focus and the slow repetitive shooting which makes it even harder with the kids when you trying to capture the exact moment.

The next attempt was with our cell phones. Nokia 6680 it's already very old model and today mostly the kids are shooting each other with it. Its 1.3 MP camera is very simple. I don't have any great picture from it; maybe just a few short videos of my wife and 3 month old daughter Tali wish me a good reserve service time. N95 with 5MP was much better. It was very expensive in Israel back then but I want it to replace just everything: stills camera, video camera, GPS and be also a pocket sized phone. Pictures were very nice, video was good too. I played a lot with geo tagging on the photos and I love sequencing shooting modes that it has (video1, video2, video3). I’m still using the phone (still smart) but less its camera which is a shame. The problems are probably with the hardware. The images are mostly not in focus. I mean: at all! They checked it in the service center several times but the problem was not resolved and I don’t feel like fighting with dumb reps in Orange. Other problems with N95 camera: no image stabilizer – you have to be very steady when you take picture. Overall, N95 was a winner due to its portability and availability – it’s a cell phone! It is always with me and I hope the focus problem will be resolved somehow.

New arrival: Canon SD 940/Digital IXUS 120 IS
The year 2010 we started with the birth of our third child, Yonatan. For me, it was good opportunity to combine the need for the camera with the wish for the new gadget and the present my wife and I give each other with each child birth (she loves Jewelry). I checked recommendations, consulted with some friends which opinion I trust and started looking for it. I selected Canon and I very pleased after few weeks with this little thing. Really, I was very surprised when I hold it in store for the first time – so small but still convenient. I took recommendation and bought black colored body which feels right in a hand. The pictures are so great, each one! We all love its video HD capabilities although MOV format needs some conversion. I solved this problem with Super that does it in seconds (stream copy of video and reformat of audio packaged to MKV). The camera has good potential. I’m looking forward to use the custom shooting modes and learn more about its features, meanwhile, I’m using it in auto mode. Simple as it is – point and shoot.

Related online reviews:
http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp?newsID=4125&p=1
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/SD940IS/SD940ISA.HTM 
http://dpinterface.com/camera-reviews/canon-powershot-sd940-digital-elph-review
http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/canon-powershot-sd940-is/4505-6501_7-33765913.html

SUPER MACRO MODE for video on N95

It's hard to believe but it actually works!
To turn on the super macro video mode on N95 just hit gently the back of your phone while recording.
The source with the video how it works is below.
http://www.paktelecom.net/information-technology/mobile-tips/n95-8gb-macro-video-mode-trick

P.S. no violence, please :)

Happy New Year

למתקשים ברוסית :-) , תירגום קצת עקום אך נאמן:

"שהשנה החדשה
תיתן אושר - עגלה.
בריאות טובה,
מימוש כל המישאלות,
שלום, ידידות, אושר, חיבה,
שהחיים יהיו כמו באגדה!"

Displaying XML code in HTML

In my previous post about playlist for WD TV I wanted to show some XML examples. From endless reading of developer blogs and sites I know that the best practice is to show the block of code in its own section, easy for copying, preferably indented and, as a bonus, with the syntax highlight. After compromising on the last one, the quickest solution I find for the problem is to use the <pre> tag with some extra style definitions.
First of all, the XML has to be converted to replace the bracket and other characters with HTML entities, their decimal or hexadecimal codes. There are several tools for this task, including text editors with Text2HTML converters or online tools such as http://htmlentities.net. If the indentation is important - make sure you’re source XML is indented before the conversion.
The next step is to define the HTML section that will contain your XML:

<pre style="background-color: #F5F5F5; border-left: 2px solid silver; padding: 5px; overflow:auto;">CONVERTED XML GOES HERE...</pre>

If you have several XML code sections, you can reuse the same technique or define the style for all <pre> tags by the stylesheet file that could be used for several pages or in the <head> section for this page only. I guess, it should be possible to add this to my Blogger definitions and use it automatically for all my posts – maybe I’ll check this in the future. Meanwhile, here is the second technique: style override at the <head> section that will be applied each time you’ll use <pre> tag.

<head>
<style type="text/css">
pre{ background-color: #F5F5F5; border-left: 2px solid silver; padding: 5px; overflow:auto; }
</style>
</head>