Digital Cameras

 

Selecting A Camera

 

            Digital Camera or Digital Video Camera?

 

            Issues:

·        Pixels, Resolution & Picture Quality (Megapixel = 1,000,000 pixels)

o       Internet 72 pixels per inch  (640 x 480 resolution)

o       Medium quality pix 150 pixels per inch (1280 x 960)

o       High quality pix 300 + pixels per inch (1600 x 1200)

 

o       2 megapixel camera - medium quality 8 x10 or professional 3 x 5  -1600 x 1200 resolution

o       3 megapixel camera  - medium quality 11 x14 or professional 5 x 7

o       5 or 6 megapixel camera - ???

·        Battery

o       Battery life

o       Rechargeable

o       LCD screen

·        Storage medium / Media Cards - Listed in Megabytes (MB)

o       SmartMedia

o       Memory Stick (Sony)

o       CompactFlash (Kodak and others)

·        Zoom

o       Optical

o       Digital – uses software but can produce lower image quality by lowering resolution

·        Flash

 

PC World            http://www.pcworld.com/

·        Click Advanced Search at the top of the page

·        In the Search For box, type in Digital Cameras

·        Uncheck all Search In boxes except Reviews

 

ZD Net - http://www.zdnet.com/reviews/

·        Type in Digital Cameras in the search box

 

Price Grabber    http://www.pricegrabber.com

·        Click on Digital Photography under Computers

·        Click on Digital Cameras

·        You can sort the cameras by rating or by price by clicking at the top of the column

 

Digital Camera Reviews  http://www.dpreview.com/

 

C Net http://electronics.cnet.com/electronics/0-1629009.html

 

Steve’s Digicams

 

Imaging Resource  http://www.imaging-resource.com/

 

 

Buying a Digital Camera

 

Price Grabber (has vendor ratings)       http://www.pricegrabber.com

Street Prices                                                http://www.streetprices.com

            Best Buy

            Sam’s

 

Taking Pictures

 

Delay time

Take highest quality pictures – you can always reduce the quality but you can never increase it.

            Taking Great Pictures - http://takegreatpictures.com/

 

Downloading Pictures

 

Each camera is different

Connection Speed

·        Serial – Slow

·        USB – Faster

·        Firewire – Fastest (for right now)

Connection Options

·        Media card holder

·        Connect to PC

·        Mouse slot

·        Floppy Disk or mini CD

 

Editing Pictures

 

            10 Step Guide to Editing Your Pictures  http://graphicssoft.about.com/library/weekly/aa10stepprep.htm

            Prepare Your Pictures for the Web http://graphicssoft.about.com/library/weekly/aa000516a.htm

Microsoft Photo Editor

            Microsoft Paint Silhouettes

 

Microsoft Paint

http://www.uncc.edu/~rmsnyder/IS528.WEB/paint-01.htm

http://www.uncc.edu/~rmsnyder/IS528.WEB/paint-02.htm

Other programs

            Adobe PhotoShop  http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/photoshoptutorials/index.htm

            Adobe PhotoDeluxe  http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/photodeluxetuts/

            Adobe PhotoShop Elements http://www.arraich.com/elements/psE_intro.htm

Paint Shop Pro 5.0  http://wdvl.internet.com/Authoring/Graphics/Tools/PSP/

PictureIt!  http://microsoftgraphics.com/paint/paint.htm

            Roxio PhotoSuite

            Ulead PhotoImpact  http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/photoimpact/index.htm

 

 

Scanning Pictures

 

 

Storing Pictures for the Long Term

 

File Formats

·        Tif – very large files

·        Bmp – relatively large files

·        JPG – good for color pictures

·        GIF – good for B/w pictures and color

·        PNG – newest file format

 

Converting File Formats – Changing file formats will not make a poor quality picture good.

·        Open your graphic

·        File ► Save As

·        Hit the drop down arrow at the bottom of the window Save As type

·        Select the file format you want

·        Click Save

 

Creating Folders

            File ► New ► Folder

 

            Renaming Pictures – Names & Date

1)     Click twice on the file with a delay in between

2)     Right click and select Rename

 

            Viewing File Size

                        View ► Details

 

Selecting Files

                        Ctrl A – Select all

                        Click first picture  ► Shift & click the last – Select all consecutive files

                        Ctrl & click to select or deselect

 

            Burn to CD or DVD

 

 

Printing Pictures

 

            Printer Paper

            Printers – Cost of ink, printer and paper

            Printer Reviews http://www.steves-digicams.com/

 

            Taking them to a Photo Shop

 

            Printing from Word

                        Creating a Table - http://www.cheney268.com/Training/Word/Tables/Tables.html

                        Working with Graphics - http://www.cheney268.com/Training/Word/Graphics/graphics.html

            Printing from storage media

 

Resources

            Web Photo School - http://www.webphotoschool.com/ir/

            Getting Started with Digital Cameras - http://www.imaging-resource.com/GETSTART.HTM

            Taking Better Pictures - http://www.imaging-resource.com/BETTERPICS.HTM

            Short Courses - http://www.shortcourses.com/

            Say Cheese - http://www.saycheese.com/

 

RLS 03/26/03