Snap Happy

Since I returned to SA, I've really let one of my hobbies really slip. I've been busy of late and have not had a chance to get out and really start photographing SA in all its glory.

Over the past few weeks the gear hog in me has begun to rear its head. I've started looking at acquiring a new camera. Mind you, I currently have a Pentax DSLR which is getting up there in age, but it has served me well over the years, and I have a wonderful set of prime and zoom lenses that I have acquired for it. I also have a Canon G9 which I picked up before I arrived in SA, and it has been my primary camera for the last 10 months. But here's the issue, I need something that is small as the G9 but allows me to slap on lenses as I please.

Enter the Panasonic GF-1. Now, I'm not going to provide a technical overview of this camera. These links do a great job of that; http://www.stevehuffphotos.com/Steve_Huff_Photos/THE_PANASONIC_GF1_REVIEW.html
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/gf1.shtml

I'm looking to explore why this camera is what I need, for now :) It comes down to 2 things. Nostalgia and the Germans.

Hmmm, firstly nostalgia. My first memories of a camera was the little rangefinder that my dad had in 1970's. I cannot remember the brand, but I do remember the nifty brown leather case that it was housed in, and the fact that it was kept out of reach of us kids in the top cupboard of the wardrobe. The GF-1 reminds me of that little camera. And I'm sure that is why manufactures are now starting to rekindle the rangefinder look on the new "pocket-able" cameras. To coax people like me, who remember the old rangefinders, to buy their product.

Secondly, the Germans. Now it goes with out saying that the Germans have made some amazing cameras & lenses over the years. Leica, Voigtlander and Zeiss are the names that immediately come to mind. The primary reason why I want this camera is because it rivals the $7000 Leica M9, in image quality. In fact, Panasonic has been working with Leica for the last couple years developing cameras, and the GF 1 is the height of that collaboration. The fact that you can, with an adapter, use Leica lenses on this camera is amazing, oh and did I mention that it's image quality rivals the Leica M9.

So there, that's why I need this camera. Or maybe, I should heed the advice of a wise man who once said to me that," its not the camera, but the eye on the person operating the camera that really counts ".

I'm back

So, it's been a while. I've been away from blogging some time. I've started using Rapid Weaver as a new tool to blog, directly from my laptop. So here goes.

Power ON

I was driving home the other night and noticed that all our street lights were out. At first I thought the power must be out, but then noticed that the houses on the street had electricity. So the next morning I talked to our guard and inquired how long the street lights were out. According to him, they were out for as long as he could remember. Now, I'm assuming that this is a electricity conservation method used by the local city council, which, if it is quite foolish. Dark streets provide a wonderful opportunity for crime, anywhere in the world.

So I got to thinking. SA has a electricity issue, in that there is not enough to go around. Hence the rolling black/brown outs, aka load shedding. The 40,000 megawatts currently being generated by the coal and nuclear plants is just not cutting it for this fast developing country. I've read that Eskom is building another power plant, at the cost of R30 billion in Limpopo. However, this is a coal powered plant. Since coal is not a renewable resource, in a couple years we're going to be back were we started- not enough power to go around. So what are the alternatives?

Lets start with the issue that got this thought process going. The street lights being out can be solved by solar powered street lights. A Canadian company called Hybridyne Power Systems has developed a technology where the lights can be powered by the sun (via a solar panel on top) or by the wind (via a vertical wind turbine). Furthermore, the lights can be placed anywhere, as there is no need to dig up the street to lay cable to power them.

Also,instead of spending billions on fossil fuel based plants, how about wind power or wave powered plants? SA has some amazing waves, just ask the surfers in Durban. I've heard of wave powered plants popping up in Europe, (see Ocean Power Delivery in Scotland) and a while back I read that there was a test project proposed for Mossel Bay, which is a step in the right direction.

South Africa is an amazing country and it would be wonderful to see this nation at the forefront of alternative power technologies.

Full Throttle, uh NO!!!

There are many aspects of life in SA that I love, but there is one aspect that has been getting under my skin since I got here. That's the crippling hold that Telkom has on the communications infrastructure in South Africa, specifically the access to the internet.

Now, I understand that there are a number of countries in the world that have bandwidth caps. Hey, even Comcast in the US has started to cap users bandwidth. But bandwidth capping in South Africa has reached a new low. The ISP's here not only cap the bandwidth, but they also cap the pipe that you have access to; either 384 kbps, 512 kbps or 1MB+. Oh, and the pipe has to be setup through Telkom and then you can go ahead and choose the ISP of your choice. And if that is not absurd enough, how about the local vs international surfing. WTF, this is not an phone call, its the Internet. What happens if a 'local' site has video or audio content that resides on an 'international' server?

Then there's the price of access. A 384 kbps line will set you back R150 and a 3GB cap will cost you around R300, thats R450 p/m. If you want a faster line and more bandwidth the price begins to baloon, up to an insane R1249 p/m for an uncapped (12GB) account and 4MBps line. Thats $150 per month, and just as a reference point, an uncapped account in Canada is $30 per month.

What does a 384 line and 3GB per month allow you to do on the Net? Basically check your email and surf the web. However, the surfing experience is crippled, a content rich site, that utilizes AJAX, Flash or Silverlight will easily eat up 10-20MB of bandwidth. Yeah, and don't even think about downloading (legally of course) music, TV shows or videos.

Being a Digital Media professional, what I find really troubling about this restriction to the net is that there is a convergence of television and the internet that is occurring around the world. For example look at the Microsoft Media center, Apple TV or even the gaming consoles that can be set up to access the internet. This technology however, will not be utilized to its full capacity in SA, due to the current bandwidth restrictions. And even more disturbing is that access to information and communication is restricted by the Telkom monopoly and the size of your wallet.

In the mean time, I'll keep waiting for that second undersea cable to be placed down the east coast of Africa and the rise of NeoTel.

Food and the fattening of SA

So I though I'd start my blogging existence by covering my favorite subject; food. South Africa has such an amazing array of food; from, boerewors to pies to milk tarts. I find that food here is much more flavorful than the fare that is available in North America, and mind you, I've had some amazing meals in North America.

I was at the supermarket the other day and what did I come across, ostrich burgers. Now anyone that knows me knows that I love exotic meats, especially wild game. So I had to pick up the ostrich burgers. With all this access that I had to great food, I was left pondering whether South Africans were healthy eaters. They are not.

Almost half of South Africans over the age of 15 are overweight or obese, to the point that it is on its way to becoming an epidemic in this country. The rise of heart disease and other weight related ailments, including diabetes "sugar" is astounding. And if one thinks that this is primarily related to the affluent white population they are wrong. For women, the obesity rate was the highest in Africans (32%), followed by coloureds (26%), whites (23%) and then Indians (21%). For men, the obesity rate was the highest in whites (18%), followed by Indians and coloureds (8%) and then by Africans (6%). So whats happening in SA? Looks like the prevalence of fast food, fatty foods and change in peoples lifestyles has led to the fattening of South Africans. For example, I have never been in a country where people love their mayonnaise as they do in SA. Potato salads slathered in the stuff, chicken sandwiches gooey from the gloop, and get this, salads drenched in "salad cream", which is basically watered down mayo. And the meat consumption here is off the charts. Breakfast, eggs with some sort of meat, lunch more meat, dinner, hey would you like some meat to go with your meat.

Then there is the braai, or barbeque. When I arrived at the party, some weeks ago, I noticed a lamb on a spit, and thought, 'great braaied lamb' for dinner. Oh, no the lamb was served some time after the wonderful dinner was served and the dishes were cleared, sort of like a pre-dessert appertizer. Mind you I'm not complaining about the lamb or the food in general. Its just that South Africans love their meat, and unfortunatley if the consumption of these foods does not slow down, then the country will have another issue to deal with.

Intro

I recently relocated to Johnnesburg, South Africa after years of living in the "Great White North". This blog will contain some of my ramblings about life in the Rainbow Nation, and other topics that are of interest to me.