SnapShot Archives - 12/19/1999
SNAPSHOT - PHOTO NEWS FROM BETTERPHOTO.COM
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Welcome to SnapShot, the weekly newsletter on the art
of photography from http://www.betterphoto.com
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IN THIS ISSUE
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Sunday, December 19, 1999
* Quick Synopsis
* What's New at BetterPhoto.com
* Photographic Happenings on the Web
* This Week's Photo Tip
* Camera & Photography Q&A
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT
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Hot, Fun Instant Camera Makes Mini Sticker Photos
Discover how much fun taking a photo can get with the new Polaroid
I-Zone Instant Pocket Camera. Colorful, compact and - best of all - it
produces mini photos. To top it all off, the instant camera can also be
used to make sticker photos! All this within minutes of taking the picture;
talk about immediate gratification! This is great of kids and photogs of
all ages who just want to have a little fun with photography. Learn more at:
http://www.betterphoto.com/reviews/reviewItemDetail.asp?reviewItemID=540
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QUICK SYNOPSIS
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* Find the perfect gift for a photographer with our Last Minute Gift Guide
* Win a monitor or year of printer paper from Kodak; enter by 12/31
* Win a couple days with a legendary camera from Polaroid
* Be among the first to try a new slide film; special offer from Kodak
* Learn how to make funky photos with toy cameras and cross-processing
* Match a digital camera with your iMac
* Send your seasons greetings via an e-card featuring a favorite photo
* Multiple exposure with an FE10? Can't get there from here
* Find the best digital camera for real estate applications
* Learn about f numbers and different perspectives toward their use
* Get the most bang for you buck with digital cameras under $500
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WHAT'S NEW AT BETTERPHOTO.COM
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Last Minute Gift Guide
Less than one week left! Time to wrap up the final decisions.
If you are still in need of finding the perfect gift, visit BetterPhoto's
Top Ten Gifts for a Photographer. You will find gifts for all price
ranges, from stocking stuffers to pro cameras:
http://www.betterphoto.com/exploring/topten/toptengifts.asp
One of our recommended gifts is the cool Minox subminiature
spy camera.
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PHOTOGRAPHIC HAPPENINGS ON THE WEB
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Enter Kodak's Digital Coach Sweepstakes
To promote a new Camera Center and Store - the digital coach - Kodak is
producing a sweepstakes where you can win a $5000 flat-screen
monitor or a year's supply of Kodak Inkjet Paper.
http://www.Kodak.com/members/coach
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/digital/promos/digCamSweep/index.shtml
The coach recommended we get a DC280:
http://www.betterphoto.com/reviews/reviewItemDetail.asp?reviewItemID=62
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Win Two Free Days with the Polaroid 20 x 24 camera!
Polaroid is putting on a photo contest where first prize is two days free
use (30 free exposures) of the legendary Polaroid 20 x 24 camera in
either New York, San Francisco or Prague with three nights
accommodations and travel expenses. Enter in any of three categories:
commissioned work, fine art, or personal development - all work being
done, of coarse, on Polaroid film. The deadline for entries was 2/18/2000.
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Try out the new Kodak E100VS Pro Slide Film
Get about half off the usual price of slide film and be one of the first to
try Kodak Professional Ektachrome E100VS film. Trial pack of 4 rolls:
(link no longer valid)
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WebMonkey Explores Cheap and Cool Photos
Virginia at WebMonkey explains how some cheap, plastic cameras
and funky, precomputer processing techniques can produce cool-looking
pictures. By developing images in the wrong chemicals, overexposing the
film, and doing Polaroid transfers, you can create wacky & wild photos
that stand out from the crowd, without resorting to Photoshop. This is a
great introduction to fun, weird image manipulation techniques:
http://go.hotwired.com/webmonkey/99/23/index3a.html/eg19991217
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Fun Digital Cameras from Kodak
Kodak is now making an array of digital cameras that match iMac colors.
The DC240i features 1.3 MP resolution, 3X optical, and 2X digital
zoom - enough detail for sharp 5 x 7 prints. Includes an 8MB Picture Card,
camera bag, AC adapter, and more.
Reviews:
http://www.betterphoto.com/reviews/reviewItemDetail.asp?reviewItemID=58
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THIS WEEK'S TIP
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As Christmas rolls around, you may find yourself sharing photos with
friends and family. If you really want to knock their socks off, plan
ahead; get out your photos, albums, or Zip disks and organize. Pick
out your favorites and leave the rest out of sight. Set up your impromptu
presentation so that all you share are your best images. If your family
really loves you, you might even be able to get away with a slide show ;^)
Here's another idea: if you are set up to edit your images digitally,
consider sending a homegrown e-card as an extra way of saying
"Happy Holidays!" Everyone loves to get email from friends and family.
Supplement your snail-mail cards with an electronic touch.
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CAMERA AND PHOTOGRAPHY Q&A
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Q. My camera is Nikon FE 10. How do I make a double exposure or multiple
exposures; show me the exact method on the camera and the also the
adjustment for the second shot when taken on multiple exposure with the
aperture settings, etc.
A. I have inquired about using your camera to do multiple exposures and my
sources say that the FE 10 does not offer that possibility. It is a great
camera to work with and learn with but, in order to do multiple exposures,
you would need a different camera. At the least, you need something that
will allow you to disable the film advance so that you can expose the same
frame more than once. Most manufacturers avoid this in an effort to make
their camera foolproof. And even if your camera did do this, getting a
well-exposed multiple image would remain very difficult - a lot of
calculation or a lot of luck being required. Many newer camera models now
offer multiple exposure modes which take care of everything for you. I would
highly recommend renting, borrowing or buying one of these if you really
want to explore multiple exposure photography.
Next week we'll look more closely at your best options among cameras...
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Q. Hi, I am a Web designer who works with a real estate agent. He is
asking me for a recommendation for a digital camera to use so that we
can bypass the developing/printing/scanning process and just publish
directly to the Web. 72 dpi is fine as these pictures will only ever go on
the Web. We need mostly interiors of houses and apartments, and
exteriors of buildings. What is important is to be able to store a large
number of images, and to identify which picture is which. If you can
give any advice or help I would be most grateful.
A. My wife is also a real estate agent and we use one of the Kodak digital
cameras. She has been extremely happy with how it shoots both interiors
and exteriors. People rave about the fliers she puts together with the
pictures it takes. It is an older, discontinued model - the DC120 - but
even better are the DC210 Plus, DC260 Pro, or the DC215. All would
all be great!
DC210 Plus Digital Camera:
http://www.betterphoto.com/reviews/reviewItemDetail.asp?reviewItemID=56
DC260 Pro Digital Camera:
http://www.betterphoto.com/reviews/reviewItemDetail.asp?reviewItemID=6
DC215 Digital Camera:
http://www.betterphoto.com/reviews/reviewItemDetail.asp?reviewItemID=415
If you really want to hold tons of pictures, check out the new Agfa ePhoto
Clik! Digital Camera. It uses Iomega's large 40MB storage media and
can hold 60 high res images (compare this to an industry norm of 2 - 4
high res images).
Agfa ePhoto Clik! Digital Camera:
http://www.betterphoto.com/reviews/reviewItemDetail.asp?reviewItemID=1272
I am not sure how easy you will find either of these brands' software for
keeping track of which image is which. With any digital camera you use,
this is always a challenge and just requires an organized method of
note-taking, for the most part.
If you need to keep these images for a long period of time in an organized
archive, you can look into Cumulus from Canto as an application that helps
with storing images in a database.
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Q. What does the F# stand for on my camera lens?
A. Good question! The f # (or f-stop) is a way photographers have
developed for keeping track of how much light gets to the film. The
number comes from dividing the focal length of the lens by the diameter
of the hole that the light is coming in through. So a 55mm "normal" lens
with an aperture of 5mm would mean an f-stop of 11. Interestingly, this
terminology dates back to when photographers controlled aperture by
attaching various plates - each with a different sized hole drilled into
it -
to the camera to "stop" varying degrees of light from reaching the film
plane. (Be grateful we don't have to do that anymore!)
Used in conjunction with the shutter speed - how long the hole is opened -
your selection of an f-stop controls how much the film gets exposed to
light.
One final note: in addition to the ring of f numbers you can choose
from to control aperture, you will often see a single f number or range
of f numbers written on the lens. This number, such as f2-f3.5, represents
the minimum f-stop the lens can achieve. This is useful to many sports,
action, and news photographers because it tells them how much light
they will be getting when they shoot "wide open" - at the largest aperture.
While these photographers generally need as much light getting to the
film as possible - to stop action - nature and landscape photographers
like Ansel Adams want the exact opposite. They like to use as high as
possible of an f number to get the most depth of field. That's why he and
others started the f64 club.
This f number on the lens is a range (rather than a fixed number) when the
lens can zoom from one focal length to another.
Learn more about using f-stop and shutter speed to control exposure:
http://www.betterphoto.com/exploring/tech.asp
Learn more about Ansel Adams:
http://www.betterphoto.com/exploring/ansel.asp
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Q. I am going to purchase a digital camera. I teach fire training courses
and need landscape photos. Can you help me with my decision on
purchasing a camera? I have used a Sony #71 and am somewhat
pleased with it but is there a camera that will do a better job for less
cost?
A. With the Sony Mavica MVC-FD71, you have the simplicity and ease of
saving your images to a common floppy disk. This is unique and not to be
thought of lightly; anything that simplifies the process is a big help.
Other features add to the attraction of the Sony - among which are the
incredible zoom, the rechargeable battery, and the big monitor for image
review.
Sony Mavica MVC-FD71 Digital Camera:
http://www.betterphoto.com/reviews/reviewItemDetail.asp?reviewItemID=96
If I was considering all my options, though, I would ask myself if I planned
on printing those landscape images and, if so, how big. If you ever might
need printed images in the 5" x 7" to 8" x 10" range, steer toward the
Kodak's DC240 or DC215 Zoom Digital Camera Millennium Edition,
two cameras that will give a lot more resolution than the Sony for a little
less money. The DC240 gives more zoom, which you might helpful for
composing those landscapes
DC240 Digital Camera:
http://www.betterphoto.com/reviews/reviewItemDetail.asp?reviewItemID=58
DC215 Zoom Digital Camera Millennium Edition:
http://www.betterphoto.com/reviews/reviewItemDetail.asp?reviewItemID=415
Also look at the Olympus D-340R Digital Camera for an even less
expensive option that still delivers quality images and high resolution.
Either of these three latter options will require more work and involvement
with the computer, but the output will be more versatile.
Olympus D-340R Digital Camera:
http://www.betterphoto.com/reviews/reviewItemDetail.asp?reviewItemID=92
*****
Ask a question of your own or answer a few from your fellow photographers:
http://www.betterphoto.com/qnaTOC.asp
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ADVERTISE IN SNAPSHOT
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Until next week, enjoy shooting!
Thank you,
Jim Miotke
BetterPhoto.com
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