Polaroid Cameras I User's Manual
Contents
1. Film Worldwide 67 Film US 16 8 20 6 We are in the midst of a technological revolution that rivals the inventions of the automobile the telephone the television and the computer Only this revolution is happening much faster Over 23 million digital cameras were sold in the US in 2004 Why now Advances in computer processing coupled with drastic reductions in the cost of computer memory have converged to supply low cost cameras that can produce quality images When you hold a digital camera in your hand you hold a hundred times the processing power and memory of the flight computers on the Space Shuttle The digital camera allows the amateur to take better pictures than with film Why The computer in the camera makes many adjustments prior to the shot It not only adjusts the focus but plans the exposure contrast lighting and the flash and adjusts the color balance for the ambient light A film photographer would change film types or add filters to do the same thing but the camera does it all in less than a second Elements of a digital camera A digital camera is a lot different than a film camera Until the advent of auto focus in the 1980s film cameras had very little in terms of electronics A shutter release activated a spring loaded shutter and the film was briefly exposed to the image through the lens The shutter button and lens are virtually the only parts of the camera that remain in digital cameras The film ha2. e Night shot also called Slo Synchro At night you get both the subject and the background e Portrait mode Made for professional looking portraits e Continuous high speed shooting Just like a motor drive Some cameras have this setting e Panorama stitch assist holds the exposure and lets the LCD assist you in putting together a panorama This is a lot of fun In addition to the above some higher end cameras offer these additional features e Custom modes Save settings that you commonly use e Aperture or shutter priority For when you want to control the depth of field or the shutter speed Putting it all together What differentiates one digital camera from another It is more than just megapixels and optical zoom Buying a digital camera is a highly personal process that lets you choose from many options that are right for you One web site that you will find particularly helpful is CNET which you can view at www cnet com There are many reviews of cameras and some customer comments as well The product reviews are very professional and worth reading Take the customer comments with a grain of salt Here are some ads for cameras from the local newspaper Look at the advertised features and consider the features articulated on the checklist What do you think of these cameras 16 Hoes 29 99 instant 20 mir s rain rebates lt bondie mail in rebate 0 2080 7259 Coupon OERO 109 19044
3. 79 save 70 POLAROID PDC 3030 3 2 Megapixel Digital Camera 3 digital zoom 8MB internal memory SmartMedia card compatible zere sow Lexar 256MB Memory Stick Pro 2072007 119 99 35 instant rebate 15 mailin rebate Olympus 256MB xD Picture Card 207 907 5119 99 45 instant rebate 15 mai in rebate 59 99 Kingston 256MB CompactFlash Memory Card a OF 69 99 25 instant rebate 15 mait in rebate 29 99 Toshiba 256MB Secure Digital Card xw 79 99 35 instant rebate 15 main rebate 29 99 Both of these ads appeared in the Sunday paper There are three cameras in them that you should not buy Can you spot them Hint Digital zoom without an optical zoom is not a good option It turns out that the Polaroid camera will take a memory card although one is not included It doesn t matter anyway because it does not have an optical zoom 17 HP ScanJet 2400 OLYMPUS C 60 HP PhotoSmart R707 6 1 Megapixel Digital Camera 5 1 Megapixel Digital Camera Hurry While x Hurry While Supplies Last Supplies Last Save 30 ae Save 30 199 ae 149 SONY DSC P72 CANON PowerShot A310 3 2 Megapixel Digital Camera 3 2 Megapixel Digital Camera DIGITAL CAMERA 3x 2x optical zoo zoom Sy yr E 3 area Muhi Point Auto Focus DSC P72 3599694 Canon 3 2 MEGAPIXEL Lahr ie ea S Optia Image Stabilizer Vari Angle 1 5 to Printing at the digital kiosk
4. If this is still not good enough you can get a 512 megabyte or a 1 Gbyte 1000 mbyte card at a reasonable price to hold more A couple good size memory cards are all you need for a long vacation trip without your computer There are slight differences in pricing per megabyte on cards The best deals seem to be on the older technology cards but since you are going to buy one or two cards and reuse them over and over again the cost of the card should not be a big consideration When you buy a camera make sure you are comfortable with the way the memory card is accessed in the camera You will be taking it out occasionally and the newer cards like SD and xD are very small If you have large hands or tactile issues you might find it easier to use a larger card such as a compact Flash CF Some cameras do not have memory cards They have internal memory only STAY AWAY from these cameras You need a computer to empty the camera the storage is small and cannot be expanded They aren t worth the savings you get when you buy one Compression What is a JPEG The CCD is organized in pixels and each pixel conveys color and luminosity brightness information It takes about 12 bits a bit is a 0 or a 1 or 1 2 bytes a byte is 8 bits Your 4 megapixel camera is storing 6 Megabytes of information internally From our rule of thumb the storage on the card will only be 2 megabytes How does the picture get from 6 megabytes to 2 megabytes
5. You don t need a computer to enjoy the benefits of digital photography With the introduction of digital kiosks in many photo discount and drug stores you can select edit make prints and burn your photos onto a CD without ever getting near a computer The photo at right is a kiosk at a well known department store The machine is linked to the normal photo processing machine so photos pop out as they normally would with film You order the prints using the touch screen monitor It is easy to use and a menu system walks you through each step You start by taking the memory card out of the camera and inserting it into the slot in the front of the machine The machine will also accept CDs and floppy disks Once you place the card in the machine the touch screen will take you through the following steps e Choose the photos you want to print e Choose the size for each 4x6 5x7 or 8x10 e Rotate crop and perform simple color corrections e Print a contact sheet or thumbnail print of all photos on the card e Print your selected enlargements Once you are finished a receipt is printed you pay and a few minutes later your prints are ready The prints are the same quality as normal photo processing with a matte or gloss finish At the kiosk above each 4x6 print costs 0 24 For an additional charge you can have all your photos transferred from the card to a CD ROM This provides a secure archive for all you r prints and al
6. resolution editing and publishing GIF example filename gif The original file compression format promulgated in the early days of computer photos It is still used extensively on the web it has an animation feature Gif images are very popular for graphics as they have a limited range of colors 256 maximum which makes very small file sizes Not commonly used for editing or emailing anymore since JPG images have a wider color range For photos JPGs have surpassed GIFs in common usage RAW example filename raw You might see this proprietary meaning it has slight variations by different manufacturers format if you have a very high end 6 megapixel or greater camera These formats promise better picture quality than jpg files but most except the most discerning will not notice There are several other formats you might encounter They are all just ways of storing the picture on a disk in a way that other software programs can read them To find out more about any particular format use a search engine such as www google com to locate additional information Batteries All that computing power and the LCD mean that your camera needs lots of power Whatever your camera plan on using rechargeable batteries and learning how to use the charger You will need it often There are two types of batteries proprietary ones which 14 tend to be smaller and are definitely more expensive and standard size batteries that you can buy
7. same as reducing resolution The file size is greatly reduced so more photos will fit on the card but at the cost of resolution With memory as inexpensive as it is why compromise your pictures to save space on your memory card When a 64 Mbyte card cost 100 which was as recent as 2002 this may have been important Memory has dropped in price substantially so a large card is affordable and will hold many pictures Always use you camera in the highest resolution and with the best best or superfine compression available Big Small Rugged Fragile Consider how you are going to use the camera Do you want to put in your jacket pocket on a downhill ski trip Do you want to take it traveling on airplanes in your carry on luggage Do you want to carry it in a shirt pocket or a purse Some cameras have metal cases and sliding covers that cover the lens that s tough Some have pop up flashes large lenses that don t retract and that s not tough Large cameras also require a neck strap and will not fit into your pocket When you buy a camera consider also how you will be carrying and using it You will still get great pictures but carrying a small camera may not give you access to all the features a large professional model has Lenses The lens of a digital camera is the most important individual element in getting a good picture It is one of the only differentiable features in the camera but the most often ignored If the lens of
8. take pictures in 2 megapixel or 1 megapixel mode The only advantage to this is the reduction in required storage space more pictures will be stored on the memory card For example a four megapixel camera will take pictures at 2272 x 1704 and also 1600x1200 as a 2 megapixel camera would When would you want to cut down the resolution If you know that you are producing photos for the web or eBay or any purpose where resolution is not needed go ahead and use the lower resolution Otherwise shoot at the highest resolution of your camera pa Remember while you can always decrease resolution using editing software you can never increase it A rough rule of thumb is that the memory required per picture is one half of the megapixel rating of the camera Thus a 4 megapixel camera will require 2 Mbytes of storage per picture Professionals put the resolution required for parity with film at about 250 300 pixels per inch Thus for an 8x10 print a 6 megapixel camera would be required This rule is somewhat subjective Most find that 8x10s are satisfactorily produced with 4 3 or even 2 megapixel cameras although most notice some degradation and tiling at 2 megapixels and below In the following example I have reproduced several images on the page in resolutions that represent the resolution produced by cameras printing an 8x10 print in 6 4 2 and 1 megapixel resolution x t T BS 160 pixels per inch same as a 2 megapixel camera
9. Cameras Basic operation and features Why Digital With digital photography you can do things that you can not do with film Snap anytime there is no cost until you print There is no such thing as a roll of film Snap 2 10 or 100 photos at a time Use the camera s automatic mode a computer helps take a great picture Review the picture immediately after you snap it Delete and re snap if required Print what you want when you want Save money at the photo counter only print what you like Edit your photos on the computer Crop remove red eye improve contrast and more Combine photos for interesting effects Add people or take them out e Make your own greeting cards newsletters brochures business cards all in full color 2004 was a milestone year in digital photography In 2000 digital camera sales worldwide in dollars exceeded film camera sales In 2004 digital still cameras overtook film camera sales in numbers with over 75 million units sold worldwide as opposed to approximately 50 million film cameras sold The number of film cameras sold is declining in double digit percentages Costs of digital camera have dropped to the point where they are competitive with film cameras Camera Sales Digital Worldwide Digital US m Film Worldwide ec Film US 0 Digital Worldwide 5 5 Digital US 2
10. The answer is compression The standard algorithm for compression is the JPEG algorithm An algorithm is a procedure defined by a series of computer operations that solves a problem in this case reducing the size of the required memory JPEG is short for Joint Photographic Experts Group which was the name of the group of scientists and mathematicians that developed it Files stored in this format are given the suffix jpg or jpeg and are the industry standard for compressed photographic files The JPEG algorithm reduces the file size because it removes features that the human eye and brain have difficulty resolving Information is lost when JPEG compression is performed It is also scalable which means you can specify how much compression takes place and how much information is lost There is a compression setting on the camera which allows you to set the compression level Good Better Best or Normal Fine Superfine At the highest quality Best or Superfine the compression removes only the artifacts that the JPEG scientists decided that humans cannot resolve anyway in other words the picture quality is near perfect Setting your camera to the lower quality setting with higher compression will result in the algorithm reducing the detail in the picture reducing the file size and also reducing the detail in the image Highly compressed images can look blocky or blurry especially in areas of high detail The effect is the
11. accept most common cards They plug right into your computer and you read the card just like another disk drive You don t need to add any software from the camera s disk as you do to use most cameras USB port again with the exception of Windows 98 and ME Digital camera software When you buy a digital camera it will come with some software This software is broken into three categories e Drivers so your camera will interface properly with your computer e Simple album and editing software to organize your photos make galleries and slide shows This software usually provides the ability to crop and adjust color It is usually limited to only simple editing tasks e Optional stitching software to make panorama with the stitch assist shooting mode of the camera Once you get the pictures into the computer and begin editing you will quickly outgrow the software that came with the camera There are some great photo editing suites on the market Adobe Photoshop 600 The undisputed industry standard for professionals It has so many features that non professionals may find most options inaccessible It is simply too much for most people W Adobe Photoshop Elements 99 The new light version of Photoshop Extensive built in documentation means you should never need the manual You can do almost anything with this software It has a quick fix function to quickly fix photos and an email function to automatically
12. d t Internalmemory only L Easily removable memory card L Memory card tough to access O Large LCD Size L Small fit in pocket O Medium midsize L Large Neck strap Construction L Rugged with well protected lens recessed flash L Medium good case but some exposed parts pop up flash L Large camera with exposed parts and lens that requires careful handing Flash shoe Batteries L Standard Size AA or similar can use rechargeable L Proprietary special brand charger Optional shooting modes Panorama stitch assist Custom modes Aperture or shutter priority Night shot Automatic Manual Portrait mode cal STs Es WE 0 Eth EI Continuous high speed shooting 10 Features common to most cameras Feature Mode Select O Mechanical selector wheel L Menu system button select LCD display H Ne LED O Small LCD O Medium LCD L Movie Mode with sound Self Timer Macro Focusing Infinity Focusing ie ie go Black and White Mode 2004 Bob Bruns all rights reserved 20 21 Addendum 2 Digital cameras versus the Space Shuttle I make the comment all the time Your digital camera has more computing power than the space shuttle Is that true Let s look at the facts Space Shuttle Camera Computer Computer is a hardened derivative of the IBM 360 mainframe first introduced in 1964 480 000 operations per second Most use a
13. es are coated with a very thin coating meant to inhibit reflection and maximize light transmission If you are too rough during lens cleaning the coating may be scratched or rubbed off The solution to this is to use a non abrasive lens cleaner These have names like lens cleaner cloth or micro fiber cloth You can also get a lens cleaning solution from the camera store Never rub the lens when it is dry It is better to breathe on the lens to fog it than to rub a dry lens You can also blow the dust off with compressed gas cans of which are available in photo and computer stores Do not clean the lens with paper towels or Kleenex These are made from trees and are wood They will destroy the coating on the lens We have all done it wiped the lens with a dry tissue If you don t do it very often the lens and its coating will last a very long time Digital camera flash Like most point and shoot cameras the flash of a digital camera is normally built in Even high end cameras will have a built in flash The flash control is an easy button to find it has a lightning bolt next to it It is one of the most important buttons to learn on the camera With all the processing power in the camera the computer can take better pictures if a flash is available There is no adjusting the flash the camera does it for you A common drawback of all digital cameras is red eye This effect is a result of the flash being close to the le
14. gital zoom works by increasing the subject size digitally A section of the image is magnified to the full resolution of the camera For example a 3x digital zoom takes 1 9 of the image and converts it to full frame Since no more megapixels have been added to the CCD resolution is lost Using a 2 megapixel camera with at 3x digital zoom is the same as using a 0 3 megapixel camera The image quality will be poor You will notice a grainy and blocky picture as illustrated above This is no different than taking a un zoomed picture into a editing programming and cropping and enlarging it three times Low cost cameras often tout their digital zoom without an optical zoom DO NOT BUY A CAMERA WITH ONLY A DIGITAL ZOOM Most cameras now have an optical zoom 3x is very common although some now offer 7 to 10x zooms For most applications 3x is a good compromise and will work great Generally a 3x zoom will be the equivalent of a 35 105 mm lens on a 35mm camera which is slightly wide angle to telephoto It is not a strong enough zoom to get very distant objects If your hobby is bird watching or sports photography consider a 7 to 10x zoom Many cameras offer a digital zoom in addition to the optical zoom That s ok If you never use the digital portion which is activated automatically when the limit of the optical zoom is reached then you never suffer a loss of resolution It is always there if you really need it Do you need greater than 10x A p
15. in any electronics grocery or drug store Proprietary battery packs If you opt for a very small camera you are going to get a special small battery supplied by the manufacturer If you want a second back up battery they are expensive 40 to 50 The advantage to these batteries is that they are small and light The downside if you run out of power at a remote location you d better have a spare or your charger with you Standard rechargeable batteries Larger cameras use size AA or similar batteries You can get Nickel Metal Hydride NiMH batteries at any electronics store and some drug stores A charger will cost about 20 The advantage of a standard size battery is that if you ever find yourself on the road with a low battery you can buy an alkaline replacement almost anywhere 15 Some other common features on many cameras There are a number of other common features on most digital cameras Most cameras have the following modes e Automatic The camera makes the decisions It makes pretty good ones most of the time e Manual Mode Set the flash on to fill or adjust the exposure manually e Movie Mode with sound Take full motion videos for computer viewing and editing e Self Timer Put the camera on a tripod and take a picture of yourself e Macro Focusing Focus up close on flowers or small objects e Infinity Focusing Hold the focus far away for landscape shots e Black and White Mode Take black and white pictures
16. lows you to erase the card to begin anew There are two disadvantages to using the kiosk e The machine will crop odd sized photos This is especially true with panoramas which are long and skinny they will be badly cropped You can over come this by adjusting the print size in a photo editor before you take it to the kiosk e You must go to the store If you want a print instantly you may be better off buying a color printer Note The kiosk can t tell if you have edited your photos You can enhance them with a photo editor and put them back on the card before you get the high quality prints the kiosk provides 18 Addendum Copyright law If you take a picture with your camera you own it You can copyright it print it sell it and freely modify it If you use someone else s copyrighted image from the internet for example you lose some of these rights Unless you obtain permission of the original photographer or the owner of the photograph you may have no rights to use that photo or any part of it in any commercial way Under the principle of Fair Use you are generally allowed to use copyrighted work for personal non commercial or educational purposes You also may be able to use portions of a copyrighted work it your use constitutes a transformative use such as commentary or parody In general as long as you are not selling the resulting product or using it commercially you can freely use the copyrighted works of o
17. n advanced RISC processor 80 MHz with one operation per clock 80 000 000 operations per second Advantage Camera 166x Memory 700 Kbytes core memory Internal 32 Mbytes Card 128 Mbytes Advantage Camera 228x Cost 5 billion development Minimum 113 000 1964 dollars each 150 600 2004 dollars or more 22
18. ns causing a reflection off the subject s retina and a red glow in the eyes Even with very good cameras you will encounter this problem Most cameras have a red eye reduction mode that flashes a second light just before the main flash This reduces the subject s pupil size and makes the subject look off the flash axis It will reduce the effect There are some cameras made by HP that offer to take out the red eye in the camera and you can always remove it easily with photo editing software USB The connection from the camera to the computer In the box with the camera will be a special USB cable One end of the cable will be a USB connector for your computer the other end is special connector that will fit into the camera When you connect the two the camera will appear under My Computer as a 10 new disk drive Newer operating systems such as Windows XP may do this automatically older operating systems particularly Windows 98 and ME will require that you install drivers from the included disk After you plug the cable into the computer leave it there Don t carry it around with you It is difficult and expensive to replace If you need to access the pictures on the road use a card reader These will allow you to read the pictures off the card directly without the special cable and without powering up the camera These are available as a single card reader of the type you need or a multi card reader that will
19. ours with Photoshop Elements to come up with the solution I teach this to all my students in my eight week course 12 The final result The following severely damaged file was restored using Photoshop Elements 13 File types Different file types can be determined by the suffix on the file name for example a JPEG file might be called filename jpeg or filename jpg The most common file types are sufficient for most uses they are JPG example filename jpg or filename jpeg This is the native or internal file format for most cameras It is the best starting and ending point for photo editing It is a compressed format and you will get good results even with small files Rule of thumb Always use this format for emailing NEVER send an email attachment larger than 500k Good photos can be sent less than 250 Kbytes PSD example filename psd This is the Photoshop format It contains all the working information Use this format as you work on a file When you are finished save as a Jpg BMP example filename bmp Uncompressed bitmap file Common from scanners Pull into Photoshop and work on it as a psd then convert to a jpg to compress it to make it smaller TIFF example filename tiff Another compressed format found on some cameras It is good for taking pictures and getting them into the editor Although compressed this format is lossless so some prefer it for high
20. printing an 8x10 printing an 8x10 Can you see the difference You can probably tell that the 1 megapixel camera is not as good for 8x10s It is still adequate for email or eBay work but not acceptable for taking quality pictures that will be enlarged Is 2 megapixels enough That is up to you it may be if a camera has other features you like Certainly by the time you get to 3 4 or 5 megapixels you are going to get quality prints in my opinion If you are a person who will accept nothing but the absolute best quality spring for a 6 megapixel or greater camera You will be pleased with the quality you achieve One more thing to consider when considering what megapixel camera to buy as the megapixels go up so do the features found in the camera Generally the more expensive the camera the higher the megapixels the better the lens and feature set in that camera How will you be using the camera Low resolution applications Posting photos on the internet or viewing them on the computer Sending photographs by email Medium Resolution applications Printing photos on standard paper or making small 4x6 or 5x7 at the photo kiosk High resolution applications Printing enlargements including 8x10s Professional graphics Zoom Optical required Digital only is not acceptable An optical zoom uses the lens system in the camera to zoom in on the subject The subject is larger with no loss of resolution or image quality A di
21. reduce file size and send via internet For the money this is a phenomenal value Corel Photopaint 99 Competitor to Photoshop Very capable Almost as powerful as Photoshop and some people think it is easier to use than Photoshop Not as good built in documentation Jasc Paint Shop Pro 99 A highly rated editor with many similarities to Photopaint Well regarded as a very capable package 11 Microsoft Picture It free with XP Pretty limited but good for simple tasks Make sure that the software and the drivers for the camera are compatible with your own computer If you are running Windows 95 or a Macintosh you are likely to have a more difficult time finding a camera and software that will work with your computer Windows 98 is OK Windows 2000 and XP work well also What can you do with photo editing software Most of the time photo editing is about sharing Fix the red eye the contrast and crop the photo before you email it Another fun thing is to build story pictures or panoramas of places to which you travel Once and a while you can tackle a very interesting graphic problem as with this example I got a call from a friend It seems that she wanted a person removed from a photo The picture on the left had five friends together after a wedding but an in law had jumped into the shot Could you remove Mom asked my friend She offered the picture on the right for additional raw material It took 1 5 h
22. rofessional camera with changeable lens system is your best bet Get the checkbook ready LCD screen LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display Are the acronyms getting to you yet This screen is the same as a flat panel computer monitor On a digital camera this monitor is used for many things It is the only way to change many of the cameras settings even if your camera has a mechanical setting wheel on the top The LCD will also offer a preview of the picture before you snap it and review of it after you snap usually for 2 seconds With the LCD you can review all the pictures contained in the camera on the memory card You can verify that the picture you want is properly exposed and stored The LCD is the most fragile part of a camera not protected by a cover when the camera is not in use Many of the more rugged cameras have smaller or recessed LCDs to protect them from damage If you drop your camera and break the LCD screen you will be buying another camera the camera is ruined 5 Qe Bad MENU DISP 0 GB AO Your options are to buy a camera with a small LCD screen around 1 diagonal a medium 1 5 diagonal or a large LCD with a two inch or larger LCD LCDs are difficult to see and use in bright sunlight you will still use the viewfinder to frame the picture This may be a lesser consideration than the other features of the camera nevertheless make sure that you can adequately see the options menu on the screen with or witho
23. ry Management Boost Charge Converter Pump Inverter Power Management fan Alkaline The block diagram shows a fast microprocessor memory a color display and buttons for a user interface with a power supply for rechargeable battery operation That would be a good description for a laptop computer Add the lens and the CCD module and you have a camera All of this processing power means that the camera can make many calculations and decisions while you take the picture Before the shot Display options on the screen and allow the user to change them with the buttons Display the viewed image on the LCD screen Focus the camera Determine exposure time and whether to fire the flash Charge the flash if needed Determine the color balance to correct for lighting During the shot Discharge the CCD Expose the CCD to the image for the time required Fire the flash Stop charging the CCD after the proper exposure is made After the shot e Measure the charge on all the elements of the CCD all 4 million in a 4 megapixel camera Convert the voltage on each of the CCD elements to a number Store the raw image in memory Read the raw image out of memory and compress it using a JPEG algorithm Store the compressed image on the memory card Display the photo briefly on the LCD panel Calculate memory remaining and display the number of shots remaining Sound like a lot of computation It is And that s just part of i
24. s been replaced with a light sensitive chip called a Charge Coupled Device CCD This chip is an array of millions elements that are sensitive to light When light hits an element in the CCD array a electrical charge is accumulated at a rate determined by the amount of light striking it This charge is then measured by an analog to digital converter that converts the voltage to a digital value that can be stored in memory The raw image derived from the CCD is too big to store The camera contains a specialized chip know as the compression engine which takes the raw image and compresses it to a size that can be stored on the memory card This compression reduces the overall storage requirement by a factor of 3 to 16 This is a block diagram of a camera from the Texas Instrument web site www ti com They want designers to use their integrated circuits so they supply much of the design for the camera ma Status Speedlight 1 6 in 1 8 in Video TFT Op Amps Panel Motor Motors I Drivers Lens TFT Controller TI Digital Media Processor Audio D A Be Module Audio I N Power Apis Bee eng Removable as SDRAM Memory Storage 1 5 V 1 8 V 2 5 V 3 3 V 5 V 7 5 V I 12 V 1 15 V Reset Core Supply System Supply LCD CCD Supply Supply Voltage Supervisor Low Buck Buck Dropout Boost Regulator Converter Converter Li lon Protector Battery Battery Wall Supply Monitor Charger USB Power Batte
25. t since it must do all that three times to do color The focus exposure and color balance calculations are the principle reason that most people take better photos with a digital camera than with film Although modern film cameras do an admirable job with focus and exposure control no film camera can do color compensation With film you must use a different film for outdoor and indoor shots or put a filter over the lens What the heck is a megapixel Mega is a prefix that means million A pixel refers to the element on the CCD that captures light Thus a 4 megapixel camera has approximately 4 million sensing elements on its CCD The megapixels a camera has nothing to do with the size of the image but has everything to do with resolution You can get a print of any size with any camera but the image quality will be better the higher the resolution Here is an extreme example 1600x1200 pixels 80x60 pixels The following is a guide to the maximum size of pictures from common cameras 2 megapixel 1600x1200 3 megapixel 2048x1536 4 megapixel 2272 x 1704 5 megapixel 2568 x 1928 6 megapixel 3072 x 2000 8 megapixel 3264 x 2448 11 megapixel 4064 x 2704 The higher the number of pixels the greater the need for storage An image stored in a 4 megapixel camera takes twice the memory space as does that from a 2 megapixel camera Cameras can take pictures in lower resolution For example a 4 megapixel camera can be set to
26. the camera is not good the picture quality will be compromised Most manufacturers of cameras do not make their own lenses but contract out for their manufacture For the most part the quality of lens in midrange cameras is very good Watch out for low cost cameras They may have a lens of lesser quality Some midrange to high end cameras boast lenses from a specific lens manufacturer For example the Carl Zeiss Company is advertised as a producer of lenses for some cameras This is also an assurance that you are getting a lens of the highest quality for the type of camera you are buying Will you notice the difference That depends on how exacting you are with your demands on that particular camera Another feature of lenses is the objective diameter the size of the opening at the front of the lens Larger lenses gather more light than smaller ones Any aberrations in the lens are spread over a larger area so apparent distortions are lessened Professional quality cameras have large lenses with large objectives Higher zooms require more light and a larger objective lens Of course cameras with such lenses won t fit in your pocket Cleaning the lens of a camera Lenses are extraordinarily fragile and once damaged cannot be repaired When light hits the surface of the lens some is reflected and some is transmitted through the lens Most of the light that is lost is lost at the interface between the glass and the air To counteract this lens
27. thers in your work You may be able to use a work if you use a small portion and have no effect on the commercial market or potential use of the work Here are some interesting issues with digital photography good for thought and discussion Discussion questions on ethics You see a news photo in a magazine Is it an accurate depiction of the truth Are advertising pictures different Can should they be manipulated What about political ads Is it ok to remove wrinkles and whiten the teeth of a politician What about taking undesirable people out of political ads or adding people of diversity Are digital photos legal as evidence Can you tell if a photo has been digitally manipulated Should it be identified as such Discussion questions on copyrights Should you get permission to alter an image Who owns an image that combines several copyrighted images Will you get caught Does it matter What is in the public domain When should you put notices on your photos Is it possible to enforce copyright laws 19 Buying a digital camera 1 Checklist Megapixels L 2 Megapixels L 3 Megapixels Very High Quality Professional L 4 Megapixels L 5 Megapixels L 6 Megapixels L 8 Megapixels L 11 Megapixels Zoom E pPieital Oal L 3X Optical Zoom L 7X Optical Zoom L 10X Optical Zoom L Digital Zoom in addition to Optical Zoom Professional 3 L Interchangeable Lenses Memory car
28. ut your reading glasses Memory cards Once the image has been compressed the camera stores that image on a memory card The memory card is used over and over again Once full you erase it by moving the pictures onto your computer or printing them and then erasing the card An erased memory card is the same as a new one You don t ever need to buy another as you did with film There are many types of memory cards Some names of the cards are Compact Flash or CF Smart Media Secure Digital or SD Older technology cards such as CF compact flash and Smart media are larger and less dense than newer cards such as SD secure digital and xD eXtreme Digital cards Inside all the cards is the same type of non volatile memory your pictures are preserved even when the card is out of the camera Remember the rule of thumb for storage One half the megapixel rating per picture So a 4 megapixel camera will require 2 megabytes of storage per picture Thus the 32 mbyte card that came with the 4 megapixel camera will only hold 16 shots 16 shots is not enough for a good afternoon especially if you decide to shoot some video Unfortunately in an effort to save money most digital cameras come with only a small memory card Plan on buying a 128 or 256 megabyte card when you buy the camera A 256 Mbyte card will hold 128 pictures from a 4 megapixel camera That s enough memory to get most people through a long weekend of digital photography
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