Petrol Bunk - Be Careful

Yesterday I went to a Petrol Pump to quench my bike's thirst. I asked the guy to put Rs. 100/- worth petrol. While he was filling the petrol, I was continuously monitoring the meter. When he finished, I gave Rs. 500/- to the cashier. He took out some Rs. 100/- notes and counted 4 notes in front of me. Again he quickly counted 4 notes and gave to me. When I counted the money, there were only 3 notes. As soon as I complained, he promptly gave another Rs. 100/- note to me and moved away. I'd have lost money if I hadn't counted myself.

So here are few things to keep in mind when visiting Petrol Bunk.

1. Never open your vehicle’s ‘petrol tank cap’ before you see 'zero' reading in their meter. If the Petrol Bunk guy insists on continuing from the previous reading, ask him to make the meter reading 'zero'.

2. While one guy is filling petrol, the other guy may try to divert your attention by asking unnecessary questions (like “Card or Cash?” or “We have a new scheme…”). Do not look away from the meter. No need to reply to their questions.

3. If you asked for say Rs 200/- petrol and the guy stops filling in between, lets say when only Rs 100/- petrol is filled, do not ask him to fill further. Even though they heard you, they’ll pretend as if you told the m to fill only this much. And then they start filling the rest Rs 100/- worth petrol again. Many people told me that there is some catch in this (although I never understood what exactly is the catch), Even I faced this many times and so now whenever such an event happens, I simply pay the guy whatever amount he filled in one go.

4. Always remember to count the change that they return you. Many a times they try to fool you.

After some enquiries, I came to know that the oil companies (Hindustan Petroleum, Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum) are doing their best to prevent these incidents. But the Petrol Bunk owners and their employees keep trying to cheat the public.

I got fooled 4-5 times earlier by above tricks, but now I am careful enough to avoid getting cheated.

Beginning Photography – ISO (Sensitivity)

ISO is simply the level of sensitivity to light.

In conventional film cameras, the film rolls had different ISO ratings. The rolls for general use had ISO 100 rating, those for use in low-light conditions had ISO 400 rating and so on. This means that ISO 400 films were more sensitive towards light and so, could give better results in low light shooting as compared to ISO 100 films.

Now replace the films used in conventional film cameras with the sensor used in digital cameras. As you increase the ISO, sensor becomes more sensitive to light and vice versa. Many P&S (Point & Shoot) cameras and all DSLRs allow the user to change ISO setting when taking a photograph. The ISO range is typically ISO 100 to ISO 1600 but expensive high-end DSLR may provide setting as low as ISO 50 and as high as ISO 3200.



So what happens when you increase the ISO? When you increase the ISO, output of the sensor is amplified and so less light is needed. But unfortunately that also amplifies the unwanted noise. This results in more grainy pics. This is similar to listening to music. Sometimes with music you hear some hissing sound from the speakers. Increase the volume and music becomes louder and so does the hissing sound (noise).

As mentioned earlier, ISO 100 is the normal setting for most digital cameras.