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| Digital Photography Tips! |
 Coolpix950 Wide Angle |
 Coolpix950 Telephoto |
 Dave Kunze's Ultrazoom :) |
Here's Dave:
"It appears that anyone who has a decent quality pair of binoculars or spotting scope has an "emergency" long telephoto lens for their Coolpix 950.
Here are three photos. All were taken with the CP950 set at 'A-rec' and auto focus. All have been sized from 300 ppi to 82 ppi and compressed as a .jpg in Micrografx Picture Publisher 8. All were taken from the same spot at my patio door within a couple minutes of each other.
The 1x was taken at wide open on the CP950, the 3x was taken at full telephoto on the CP950 without any additional lenses.
The "binoculr' shot (titled "Dave Kunze's Ultrazoom above - Mike :) was taken with a pair of 8x42 Nikon binoculars (roof prism model). The rubber eye cup was folded down, the binoculars were focused and simply sitting on the rubber "floor" on the head of my tripod (an older Slik). The CP 950 was held against the binocular as steadily as possible and a the shutter pressed. This is the best of three shots. Note
the infamous "fringing" apparent along the hard edges of the car.
I'd be interested to know what you think after trying this. Don't forget to accurately focus the binoculars or scope. 8-)"
(Jul 03) - Shoot the 'works this Fourth! Now that several consumer digicams on the market have the ability to take long time-exposures, many of you will be wanting to take digital pictures of the July 4th fireworks. Rob Galbraith has an excellent tutorial on fireworks photography on-line, although it's aimed at people shooting with high-end digicams like the >$5K Kodak and AP units, for print publication. Nonetheless, there's a LOT in his article that will be useful for amateurs as well. To our mind, the most important advice is that you have to expose for the highlights (the brightly colored streamers), or you'll just get streaks of overexposed white in your shots. This is tougher with consumer digicams, because most that provide long time-exposures only do so with the lens wide open: This will almost certainly overexpose the fireworks themselves. Two tips: If your digicam provides variable-ISO capability, shoot using the lowest ISO speed available. (Watch out that your digicam doesn't override your choice though - for Oly C-2000 owners, this means being sure to shoot in Shutter Priority mode, which you'd probably be doing anyway.) A second tip would be to put some sort of light-reducing filter over your lens. This could be a Neutral-Density filter (which few amateurs tend to have), or more conveniently a polarizing filter, which typically provide a 1-2 stop decrease in light intensity. If your camera provides them, you may also want to play with the white-balance settings, trying not only auto, but incandescent and daylight settings. Another really important tip is to keep exposure times short, to keep the sky as dark as possible. Try to time your shutter release relative to the "chuff" of the launching mortar, so you'll only have the shutter open for a minimum amount of time as the shell actually bursts. Oh yes, one last note: If your digicam has either manual focus or an autofocus override, set the focus to "infinity", to avoid autofocus "hunting." Good luck! (If you get some nifty shots, post an album to ir.clubphoto.com, and we'll tell everyone about it. Download the free Living Album software to make it easy for yourself. We hadn't thought of it before, but maybe we can have a contest for the best shots, with a prize of a CF or SM memory card to the winner! - If we get more than a few people responding, we'll definitely do this!) (Fireworks GIF courtesy Atlas Advanced Pyrotechnics.)
(Jun 29) - Too cool to wait for tomorrow! - The ever-resourceful Max Lyons of TawbaWare (Thumber) fame has come up with a new one: The double-teleconverter. (tele double-converter?) He managed to stack both a standard Nikon 2x teleconverter together with a Tiffen 1.5x (actually ~1.3x, according to Max). The result is a mondo 2.6x teleconverter that doesn't even require unreasonable manual dexterity to slap together. Image quality leaves a bit to be desired, particularly along the bottom of the frame, but it's a fairly cheap way to get a really long tele! Visit his page to see how he put it together, and how it works! - I got such a kick out of this one, I just had to post it now, even though it's about 1:30AM as I write this... (Thanks, Max!) slide scanner will not work with his blue G3, and that the company "will be updating the Scan Dual drivers for compatibility with the new Blue & White Mac G3 ... in the summer of 1999."
Reader Steve Maller meanwhile noted that his Polaroid SprintScan 35 Plus slide scanner originally wouldn't work in his new blue G3/400 with an Adaptec 2906 SCSI card, but a note from Polaroid tech support offered an update to the stand-alone software for the scanner:
"The latest release of Polacolor Insight, Version 3.0 virtually eliminates this issue when used with the Adaptec 2906 or 2930 SCSI host adapter. The use of Polacolor Insight, version 3.0, applies to all models of the Polaroid SprintScan (35 ES, 35 LE, 35 Plus, 45, 45 Pro, and the newly released SprintScan 4000). Version 3.0 can be downloaded from the Polaroid FTP site." Thanks to MacIntouch for this item!
"The problems mentioned regarding the Grappler and the UMAX scanner aren't limited to Grapplers. Working in a repair shop and installing scanners for customers, I've seen this problem many times on all sorts of Macs, even ones with built-in SCSI ports. Mainly, the problem is that the SCSI cables that come with UMAX scanners are atrocious. Usually we have been able to solve the problem by simply replacing the cable with a thicker or shorter one."
"Adds support for AutoFocus feature of PowerLook 3000 (F/W1.7 or later), reduces streaking (LBB error) caused by any dust in calibration area, new MagicMatch engine with support for sRGB and LAB scan modes, support for extended-bit TIFF format files in "scan to file" mode, improved preview accuracy in lineart mode, correct CMYK values in info (pixel) tool from previews. Bug fixes include correctly detecting if Kodak CMS is already installed (will install only if older or nto present), in IPM correction mode fixes occasional problem changing between percent and dimension scaling settings, improves compatibility with NT service packs. Minor UI improvements such as option to apply colour enhancement to full preview, warning when scanning >1220dpi in Low Lens mode (PowerLook 3000 only), improved histogram tool (more accurate display of levels & gaps), auto-selection of 35mm slide tray now functions if tray is off-centre. [source TU98018]. This driver is also included on IMC TechAssist Service CD 1.00."
"I noticed in the news today that you mentioned problems with the Polaroid scanner plug-in. I've found that the plug-in only works if the scanner is the only device on the id number. This is regardless of the bus that the scanner is hooked up to.
When I had the scanner on ID 3 on bus 1, and my CD-ROM had ID 3 on bus 0, there was a conflict. As soon as I gave the scanner its own unique number it worked." Thanks to MacInTouch and their reader Scott Slater!
- (Mar 23) - Want a little more information... from your image files? The latest development version of Cameraid is out, and author Juri Munkki emailed us with the following:
"The latest development version of Cameraid will show the ISO speed, metering mode and exposure compensation value from EXIF-encoded files.
It's not an officially supported release, but it's available to anyone who adventurous enough to try:
http://www.clinet.fi/~jmunkki/cameraid/versions.html" Thanks, Juri!
- (Mar 01) - Learn which batteries serve your camera best! We received an email from "tianuat" today to advise of changes to his battery test page, as follows:
"I have updated the batteries and charger page on http://digicam.s-one.sg/ . I have added 2 chargers information and results. One from MAHA MH-C204F rapid charger and th other a modified traval charger from a standard Ericsson mobile phone travel charger, this little baby take both 110v and 240v. Both produced very very good results. Check it out. The mirror site in the US is http://members.xoom.com/cp900/
- (Feb 25) - Watch those selfish PDAs! David Weaver from Largan Inc., whose digital cameras we mentioned in our news update of Feb 23, contacted us with this tip:
"I recently have become aware that the PDA's in use (especially the Palm Pilot's) essentially lock out the serial port for being used by other devices - like digital cameras - that use the same port.
There is a simple solution. Turn off the Hot Sync Manager. It is the Blue/Red Arrow icon located on the lower right tool bar near the clock in Windows 95/98." Thanks for the note, David!
- (Feb 23) - Break the 115K barrier! Reader Gord Russell contacted us to let us know that he'd been successful using his Olympus D320L digital camera at above the normal 115,200 kbps limit normally imposed by PC com ports. Not all cameras will be able to operate above this speed, but it's certainly worth checking if yours can...:
"Serial transfer speeds for digicam to pc is always quoted as 115 kbps when, I belive, most digicams are capable of 230. Its true most PCs aren't equiped for more than 115 but they can be easily upgraded for less than a third party card reader. I purchased a LavaPort-650 (http://www.lavalink.com) which will do up to 460 kbps. I'm sure there are other manufacturers as well. Installation was a snap and I've
been using it with an Oly D320L for a couple of months now. And if you ever operate your camera via the pc the speed increase is a real coup!" Thanks, Gord!
- (Feb 10) - Watch that polarity! Reader Gerald Payne contacted us with a very important caution on our previous tip regarding using 3rd-party AC adapters with your digital camera. He points out that the polarity of the AC adapter also has a very large part to play, and if you get this wrong, you could potentially kill your camera!
If you know what you're doing with electronics, you certainly can save money buying a third party adapter - but if you look at our news page for today, you'll see that if you get that ac adapter wrong, it might not just be your camera you hurt!
"I think these points need to be made before somebody fries a cam:
While the idea of saving $35, or so, by buying a brand-X adaptor for a digicam sounds like a good idea to some I'd advise some caution! There are three very important points to remember: 1. The adaptor puts out DC like a battery. This means that the polarity of the adaptor is very important. Connecting an adaptor of reversed polarity to your camera could easily burn out most of the camera depending on it's internal design. (read VERY expensive repair) 2. You also need to know the required current rating to buy an appropriate supply that will not overheat and become a possible fire hazard. 3. Buying a supply with too low a voltage output may mess up some of the cameras which seem to flake out or get locked up under low voltage conditions.
All that being said, they sell adaptors, toroids, and noise suppression chokes in Radio Shacks across the land. On the other hand, I'm a fair electronics engineer/programmer type and I bought the correct adaptor for my camera from the manufacturer. It was expensive, but not as expensive as a possible $2-300 repair and having to give up my camera to get it fixed to boot! It's also smaller and more efficient than any normal "wall-wart" transformer supply you'd be likely to find. What does that tell you?" Thanks for the note, Gerald!
- (Feb 08) - Save money on AC Adapters! We normally recommend people stick with the AC adapters designed for their cameras by the manufacturers. Our general policy is "Why risk a $700 camera for the sake of saving $30 on an AC adapter?" That said, you *can* use third-party adapters with some cameras. (Note the emphasis on SOME - Certain units are very sensitive to electronic noise, and require special noise-suppression "chokes" on the power leads.) While we still advocate sticking with the "real deal" on power adapters, some adventurous readers may benefit from the following: (We however, will take NO responsibility for fried digicams!) All that said, readers Milan and Libbie Aleksich wrote in with the following: "Hey, just a quick note on how to save big on getting an A/C adapter for your digital camera- Just go to Walmart! I have an Agfa 1280 (4xAA Nimh) camera and after getting it decided that an A/C adapter was a good Idea, the only problem is that best price through the web was about $50, I tried a regular A/C adapter, a 6v 500ma one and didn't have any luck. But if you look for a universal adapter with a high output for CD Players, etc it will work and will only cost you about $10. Just make sure that it's output is at least 800ma and it will work fine (my camera has LCD monitor and flash, if yours has neither then a lower output adapter should do fine)."
- (Feb 08) - Diamond SmartMedia works with PDR-M1! A user who wished to remain anonymous wrote in with news that the SmartMedia that Diamond sells for their Rio product works fine with the Toshiba PDR-M1 digital camera. One note - once the Diamond Rio software formats the SmartMedia, they can no longer be used or formatted by either the camera or the FlashPath adapter. A side note is that according to the readme file for the NT4.0 FlashPath driver, it supports 32MB cards already! Toshiba will not give out these drivers unless you ask for them specifically, however, as they do not work 100%, sometimes causing system lockups in Toshiba's tests. (Dave's note: This is a pretty amazing deal, as Diamond is selling the 16MB cards for something like $45 each! This tip about not formatting them first (or ever) in the Rio device is a pretty key one!) Thanks to our modest anonymous reader!
- (Jan 27) - Camera timer for Macs! We've been using the shutter-lag timer from Digital Eyes, built for the PC. (Digicams tend to have a lag between when you press the shutter-release button and when they actually take the picture. This lag can vary quite a bit between cameras.) Tim Holmes (of the Cult of Tim) just wrote with word of TenSeconds, a shutter-timing tool for Macs, which you can download here. Note though, that this tool is in early beta stage, and apparently really prefers Mac OS 8.5 to run. Tim's page says its "appearance is not ideal under Mac OS 8.0/8.1", but we actually couldn't get it to run at all on our G3 PowerMac, under OS 8.1. Nonetheless, this will be a useful tool for Mac users to contribute to the ongoing effort to characterize camera shutter-lag timing, once the bugs are out! Thanks, Tim!
- (Jan 24) New software for HP Scanner users: Reader Jonathan Ratzlaff wrote in with the following: I have been using the PScan 32 driver from http://www.mecc.co.jp/lenik/psmart.htm and am quite impressed with the results from it, especially the ability to do batch scanning. I have found that for my slides at least the gamma needs to be set at 3 while for most other media the median setting seems to work well. It only saves files in tiff format both 8 and 16 bit files, however the scan speed is fast. For the price (free) it is worth looking into and playing with. Thanks for a great tip, Jonathan!
- (Jan 24) Read the manual - First! We have a link posted in our review for the Nikon CoolPix 900, but many folks may not be aware of it. Reader Ward Tongen wrote: Are you considering the new Nikon CoolPix 900? Download the user manual and really get to know what it can do before spending the big bucks at: http://www.nikontechusa.com/ Thanks for the tip, Ward!
- (Jan 10) Save yourself a little money! (Really more of a "deal" thing, but it will scroll slower here...) Reader Theo Schiff contacted us with a simple but useful tip for our United States readers. When making larger digital camera purchases, remember that you can save a little money by buying from a vendor who is not located in your state. In Theo's case, he saved $35 on a Canon A5, compared to the price including tax that he'd have had to pay if his retailer had a local branch. Thanks for a great tip, Theo!
- (Jan 5) Keep taking great photos for longer! Reader Chris Newell contacted us from Perth, Western Australia (where would we be without the Internet?) to remind us that there's a simple way we can extend the lifetime of our poor, overworked batteries when using our digicams - turn off that LCD display ASAP! Chris has been getting to grips with his new Kodak DC200, and has found that by keeping the LCD turned off whenever possible, he's already shot 130 photos on the Kodak Photolife alkalines that came with the camera(!) Great tip Chris!
- (Jan 3) HP Photo Finishing Software Found! When we reviewed the HP PhotoSmart Scanner, it came bundled with a great software package for printing your pictures, called the HP Photo Finishing Software. It now apparently has been removed from the bundle, but reader Peter Fearey found that it can be downloaded from the HP customer support site, at this link. The software will complain about the HP camera not being connected when you launch it, but it does work, and is well worth the trouble to download it! Thanks, Peter!
- (Dec 24) Thumber update! Max Lyons just emailed us to let us know that he's just finished a minor update to his exceptionally useful "Thumber" photo file organizer & printer program. Check it out at the Thumber web site!