Power-hungry

Power is a heady thing. You get a little, then you want more, and more, and more.

A few days ago I got a monocular, which is like half a binocular, or a tiny telescope. It has a 7x zoom, and I use it for bird, people, car, fox, and deer watching from my second-story window while I work during the day. There's a giant empty field across the street, then a major road on the far side of that, so there's plenty to see.

The 7x zoom gets the job done. I can read the "For Sale" poster on the house across the field, and watch the family setting off their model rocket in the middle of the field. But...I want more now. I want to see the eye color of the deer, or the license plate of the car parked on the far side of the field. I want to see the fleas on the birds! More power! More zoom!

* Pant pant * On second thought, maybe I should stick to my 7x...

Normal picture of a sign from my camera (1x):

My camera zoomed in to 3x.


Taking a picture through my 7x monocular. It doesn't quite do the monocular justice, since I can see a little more clearly than the picture--perhaps the camera can't focus quite as well. Anyway, I can actually read the big words and logo on the sign, even if you can't in the picture.


Taking a picture through the camera at full zoom (3x) and the monocular (7x):