Digital Camera Articles

How to Resize Digital Camera Pictures

2007-11-06T06:04:00.001-08:00

Ever get an email from a friend with a link to their recent travel or new baby pictures? But when you follow the link (hopefully you don't have to log in and create a new account to see them!), you see a bunch of little thumbnails which are too small to recognise, and when you click on each thumbnail, it takes forever to download each one. Not to mention that some have not even been rotated for you! Or the pictures are not even that great! In cases like this I often abandon the project and go on to other things. Your friends might do the same if your pictures are presented this way, without even telling you. If you want your friends to view all your pictures and enjoy the experience, you should prepare each picture for the web. This may require you to resize each one, and then save them in a more compressed format. For printing, each picture should be at least 6MB in size, but for the web 20 to 60kb can often be plenty. Resizing them to a size proportional to your computer screen and saving them in a compressed format will make them load a lot faster on the page. If you put a lot of pictures on each page, in nice viewable sizes which download very quickly, they can all download while the viewer reads your text or appreciates each picture. Otherwise, clicking on thumbnails and waiting for slow downloads can become rather tedious and boring. On my 5Mpixel camera, since I never really print my pictures, I keep the quality setting at the lowest level, produces 250kb pictures which are still four times larger than any computer monitor. I personally use IrfanView, which you can access from the Download Translation Programs pages, and manually do each one, using the shortcut keys to resize and rotate everything. The program is very fast and light. And free. Another thing I sometimes do is, in my Total Commander (download from a view the Total Commander Help pages), I right click on a folder and then press Explore, Thumbnail View, then you can select a bunch of pics while holding down the CTRL button, after which you right click and choose either Rotate Clockwise, or counterclockwise. And lastly, a friend of mine a professional photographer says he made some macro in Photoshop to go through a folder and do certain adjustments on all the pics. So you could try that too. My lowest setting on my camera is 250kb, and it still uses up four computer monitors. So, in my file manager I'm in a folder I want to work on, have the first picture and select ENTER, which opens the picture in IrfanView (I have my computer set this way because this program is super fast and useful). Then I can press R or L to rotate right or left, and then CTRL R to resize. At the bottom left I always have checked "Keep aspect ratio", and while the top left cell is selected in the "Set new size" subwindow, I'll punch in between 350 and 700, depending on if its a vertical or horizontal shot. You'll get a quick feel of what number to choose. If I don't like the size, I press CTRL Z and take it back to the original size, because it seemed to me resizing a resize started screwing up the quality. You can also screw around with brightess and all sorts of cheesey effects, but when I occasionally want to change colours, I prefer to do that in Corel Draw, because the effects are better. Then, once resized, I press S (save as - stays in the same folder once you set it up the first time), through the Options tab I set the quality level I want (usually around 80%), and then press Enter. I go check out the picture I saved to see how many kb and it's final quality, and if I am happy with that, I'll do the rest of the pics in that folder the same way. The final pictures are between 20 and 70kb in size, so they load fast, and fill up between one quarter to a full monitor, depending on the individual picture. The way I prefer to show my pictures is to make simple webpages, putting pictures and text into tables. As the person is reading some hopefully interesting text, the pictures download in the background. You can make a longer page, so all the pictures have downloaded once you get to the end of the text. And the person can scroll the page up and down to see all the pictures before them. Or make little horizontal slide shows when there are too many pictures (see examples on the travel to Stoliv Montenegro pages - and the "galleries" for an alternate horizontal presentation).Always ALT TAB back to the file manager, down arrow once, ENTER, maybe L or R, CTRL R, punch in a number, ENTER, S, ENTER. You get into a groove and you can do a folder fairly fast. Handling BatchesIf working with a LOT of pictures, you may want to perform these tasks on a lot of pictures at once. When you have the first picture open in that folder, press T, which opens up a Thumbnails window. Here you can also rotate certain pics. With the first file selected, hold down SHIFT and then click on the last file. Or hold down CTRL and click the pics you want to work on. Once that is done, press B, which opens the Batch Conversion window. Choose your directory etc., the Output Format, the Options tab next to that, and then you can select "Use advanced options" to the right of that, press the "Set advanced options" tab and have a hootin and holerin blast! In the program's Thumbnail window, when your pics are selected, you can right click them and do a bunch of other stuff, like make a contact sheet. If rotating and resizing the pictures individually, while doing so, you may also want to crop them. Do this simply by selecting with the mouse the area you want to crop and press CTRL Y. If the image is zoomed in and very large on your screen and therefore difficult to select the area you want with your mouse, simply zoom out of the picture by pressing the - (minus) key on the keyboard. The plus (+) key zooms back in. http://computer-tips.kenax.cz/resize-digital-camera-pictures.html http://computer-tips.kenax.cz/ Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karel_Kosman

Buying Your Child A Digital Camera - What You Need To Know

2007-03-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

Purchasing any gift item for your child is a mind-numbing task. You can never be sure whether they will like what you buy for them or not. So, when you want to buy a digital camera for your little kids, then there are lots of things, which you must know, which will help you (hopefully!) to get the right camera for your child.

One of the most important things for children is that the digital camera should be one of the latest available in the market. If it has been heavily advertised and people are talking about it, then it is even better. This gives children a sense of pride and also allows them to ‘show-off’ their possession to their friends.

Another factor, which is critical for children, is that the camera must look good. This is very, very important to them. It does not matter whether it has a big screen or small screen, whether it is 2 mega pixel or 1.5 mega pixel – the camera should have a smart shape, come in flashy colors or it can also look cute or funky. But, the camera should not look ‘boring’ or very ‘serious’ in nature. However good the functions might be, if the camera does not look good, it is most likely that your choice will get rejected.

The size is also important. Most children will definitely prefer a digital camera that is small and compact in size. The weight and size should be such that they are able to easily put the camera in their pocket or hang it by a string. Large and bulky models, even if they have better features are not advisable for children.

It is also necessary to remember that even though you might gift your child a digital camera to click photographs for school projects, they will be using it to take pictures of their friends. So, look for some ‘fun’ features in the digital camera. These can include colorful background images or sound effects, photographic effects that they can use to enhance the images taken by them.

One more thing is ease of use. It is important that the camera has a simple system through which children can easily take pictures quickly. However, you really do not need to worry about this aspect a lot because today’s children have been born in the digital era. They are able to pick up things much faster than you or me, so as long as the camera is good in all other aspects, even if its ‘click ability’ is a little confusing, it does not really matter. They are fast learners these days!

Last but not the least, is the price. While buying a digital camera for your child, it is understandable that you really do not want to spend a lot of money. There are lots of choices available in the market today. The price range starts from as low as $30 and can go up to $300. So, it really depends on how much you would like to spend on the camera. Start simple and upgrade if they grow out of the digital camera that you buy for them. Hey share them with the whole family!

Kevin Rockwell worked as a network TV cameraman for 20 years shooting news and sports. Now a devoted fan of digital photography and video he works to gather information, tips and news for digital camera users. Oh and he loves to shoot pictures of his kids playing sports. http://www.great-digital-cameras.com/gdcj.html

Sigma announces Foveon-equipped SD14 digital SLR

2006-10-02T14:20:00.000-07:00

Sigma today announced the SD14 digital SLR, which uses the one-of-a-kind Foveon X3 image sensor. While the sensors in most cameras have the red, green, and blue pixel sensors side-by-side, the X3 sensor has each of the primary colors in its own layer. This allows for greater resolution and more accurate color than a traditional CCD or CMOS sensor.
You can read more about this camera here: Sigma announces Foveon-equipped SD14 digital SLR

Exciting New Releases

2006-09-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

t's that time of year again, and the big digital camera manufacturers are wasting no time in pushing out some hot new products for users eager to get started on their holiday wish lists.

In particular, Canon has presented a small, but exciting series of new cameras. We already told you about the Digital Rebel XTi / 400D, but now Canon has something special for all the mainstream photographers, especially those who have been loyal to their 'A' series. Last year, the A620 and A610 were the runaway hits, improving on the already fantastic Powershot A95 with more megapixels and a smoother design. Now, Canon introduces the Powershot A630 and A640, bringing 'mainstream' cameras into places formerly reserved for professionals and gadget freaks. The A640 clocks in at a whopping 10 megapixels, while the A630 has 8. Both cameras have 2.5-inch LCD displays and substantial 4x optical zooms. We at DCHQ have no doubt that these are going to be successful and satisfying cameras, continuing the strong tradition of the Canon 'A' series.
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First look: Olympus Stylus 720SW and Pentax Optio W10

2006-07-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

Though digital cameras are summer staples, their delicate controls and circuitry are hardly sympatico with sea and sand. Enter two supposedly beach-friendly new subcompacts--the $400 Olympus Stylus 720SW and the $300 Pentax Optio W10.

The 7.1-megapixel Olympus has a sleek metal body whose rubber gaskets indeed seal out sand and water, allowing the camera to take pictures at depths of up to 10 feet for up to one hour. Olympus claims the camera is shockproof, supposedly able to endure drops from heights of up to five feet. The 6-megapixel Pentax has a similarly sealed construction, though it’s limited to 30 minutes of waterproof duties at depths of up to 10 feet.

Read the full article here: First Look: 2 beach-buddy cameras

Digital Cameras are Good for the Environment

2006-07-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

As we consider the digital camera revolution that has taken place over the last decade, most people think about it in terms of enhanced benefits for consumers. We can take a lot more pictures at much lower cost with digital cameras versus film cameras. We can also more easily manipulate and share those photos since they're all in the digital realm.

But one thing many people don't think about actually deserves mention as potentially the most profound effect of the digital camera revolution: how digital cameras greatly reduce the destructive impact on the environment compared to film cameras.

At first, you might think, "How can that be? My film camera didn't harm the environment!" Even though it wasn't your camera that harmed the environment, your film processing did indeed harm it. Any time you take your pictures to a photo processing center, that film is run through batches of chemicals. These chemicals are environmental hazards, and once they are used to process film, those chemicals must be discarded. These chemicals include both developer solutions and fixer solutions.

Read the full article here: Digital cameras are good for the environment

Digital camera makers focus on new features, not new models, at trade show

2006-06-30T14:02:00.000-07:00

Highlight:
Major camera manufacturers showed a wide variety of new features for their existing digital camera models at a Florida trade show oriented towards digital photography. Nikon showed some 7-megapixel camera models that include new technology for better auto focus of pictures with multiple individuals.

Read the full article here: Digital camera makers focus on new features, not new models, at trade show

Finding the right battery for your digital camera is vital

2006-06-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

Digital cameras' power demands can quickly drain batteries, which means that you need to find batteries that will stand up to the rigors of these hungry devices. Alkaline batteries can quickly be run down in a digital camera and need to be thrown out once they are spent. Thus rechargeable Li-ion, NiMH, or NiCad batteries are a much better choice for digital cameras.

Read the entire article: Finding the right battery for your digital camera is vital because of the power that digital cameras draw

Analyst Predict Decline in Digital Camera Sales

2006-06-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

The price and complexity of digital cameras, combined with competition from cell phone cameras, have some analysts predicting sales for digital cameras will drop significantly by 2007. Christopher Chute, an analyst at IDC in Framingham, Mass. says digital camera companies aimed their product at affluent households, and never looked for the next segment of users. Chute estimates only 55 percent of American households will ever own a digital camera. Also, it was expected that digital cameras would kill film, but this is not the case, analysts say, largely due to digital's inability to live up to its promise of simplicity and economy. Some analysts disagree, however, saying a digital camera's ability to replace video cameras is fueling sales, and will continue to do so. These proponents also add that, while both digital cameras and camera phones race to increase the megapixel quality of their wares, the two products are more complementary than competitive, since camera phones often turn users on to digital cameras.

The complete article is found here: Some analysts predict decline in digital camera sales