Topic: Digi Cam - Hints and Tips Please !

[MagpieDi]

May I beg some advice from any digi cam experts amongst us ?
Have been a good girl and read the user guide , but still unsure !  ::)

a) For close ups, which focus mode is preferable, macro setting or zoom function ?

b) Does the image size make any difference when taking a pic ?
If small setting is used, will I be able to enlarge with the photo software on the PC ?

c) Any idea, rough estimate, how many pics -  medium size( 1280 x 1024 pixels ) will store on a 700MB CD-R ?
Don't want to risk storing the only copies on the hard drive !  ( re- Tim's catastrophe  :( )

Many thanks!
Di

[ciaozzy]

Yo Di

Cant help with most but first question.. use macro... I used tdo photography as a hobby and still have my minolta dynax slr..

sorry cant be of morehelp

Oz

xx

[BikerBob]

Hi Di, the following may be of interest to you re digital photography.
a) Macro is for taking closeup photographs of flowers, birds, insects etc usually of around 6" to 2or3feet, so in normal use you would use zoom as required.
b) Image size relates to more memory, so the larger the size of the image the more memory is requires both on the hard-drive and the card or chip in your camera. So therefore the larger the image size the less photos you will be able to take and store on the camera.
c) 1280x1024 is very large and therefore takes up more memory, which is OK generally on the computer with big hard-drives, but you would probably need to reduce them for storage on a CD ROM which you can do with an Image Viewer software like Photoshop, Adobe etc. I notice that some of the photos on my computer relate to around 300kb per photo which is normal resolution, so you would be able to work out how many of those would go onto a CD by dividing 300kb into 700mb unless you reduced them and would therefore get a lot more on the CD. Reduction of the image does`nt seem to be too detrimental in viewing the image. If you do any scanning of photos they are usually large images and would also need to be reduced.
Hope this is of some help !?
Regards
Bob

[tim]

-or put another way - zoom is like a telescope; macro is like a microscope? = Tim

PS - thank goodness I had most of my garden photos in my album on the web!

PPS Just for the hell of it - this is at 2" on macro - you wouldn't do it on zoom.

[ava_banana]

I agree with the above......

.......although will add that file sizes can be made smaller on a PC (lower resolution), but detail cannot be added, in that you can't take a poor quality picture on the camera and add quality to it......

As an example, if you take a picture at 72dpi (dots per inch), which is quite a low resolution (poor quality), this means that for every inch of picture, there are 72 blocks of colour across, by 72 blocks of colour down.

If your picture was going to be viewed and printed at 1 inch across by 1 inch down, this wouldn't look too bad. However, if you take this 1 inch picture, with it's 72 blocks of colour by 72 blocks of colour and magnify it in size, say for example to 2 inches by 2 inches. Each block of colour will be 4 times the size (if you see what I mean). You will begin to make out separate blocks of colour.......the image will appear quite pixelated.....and not nice and smooth.

What we do, is that we got a 128mb card for the camera, which means that a the highest resolution we can get 81 shots on it.

We then take the shots off the camera and any that are fantastic, we keep at the maximum resolution and size, because we never know what we will want to do with it (good example was an excellent picture of the children which we printed in full A3 size and framed........and it looks fantastic). We then burn a CD of the good ones, in as big a size as we want. (CDs are relatively cheap).

My advice, if you have the room, is always to take at as good a quality as you can........you never know when you will take that fantastic shot which is just perfect (I have a really excellent one from last year of our Strilitzia the first time it flowered......thinking of entering it in a photo comp.....just got to get my bum in gear).......

If that doesn't make sense, please ask......I will try to explain it in another way............

............good luck   :) :)

[MagpieDi]

Hey.....guys...brilliant stuff!! Thankyou sooo much!!  :-*

Who needs a user's manual when we've got our very own experts right here!!!




Now then .....my headlight bulb has just blown.......  lost the manual.....step-by-step guide please !!   ;)  ;D

[budgiebreeder]

yep thanks chaps even i can understand that i think.Got my brand spanking new Digi Camera today can't wait to get going.

[ava_banana]

................funnily enough Magpie I changed the headlight bulb on my motorbike on Sunday afternoon......

.......easy-peasy-lemon-squeazy....... ::)

;D ;D

[MagpieDi]

Wow..Tim...illustrated tutorials too!!!  Excellent!  

So ..... for example ........if my pet robin won't keep bl**dy still for 10 seconds when I'm 6" from his beak.......best to use zoom!!!...   ;)

...whereas .....the cute but dead fieldmouse gets macro setting!!  ;D

Have I passed ??  ;)  ;D

[MagpieDi]

Ava.....easy-peasy  ??? ...would be if I could find the bl**dy bonnet release lever!!  ::)  

however......looking forward to a dishy 20 year old mechanic coming tomorrow........all that bending over the bonnet  ;)
.....got me digi cam macro setting at the ready girls!!  ;D


pardon guys ??? ....you thought I needed it for veggies and flowers...........aaaah bless!!.......such innocence !!  ::)

[Ragged Robin]

 Magpie, I object strongly to being anyones pet, but if anyone wants to pet me..........thats a different matter altogether  :-*  ;)
In future anyone adressing me as "pet Robin" will be considered persona non grata!!!  

[MagpieDi]

Ok!     Ok!........Raggy pet....... tell your young pal..........if he doesn't stop hopping about while I'm aiming my digi.......

......he'll be a volucris vita defunctus!!!  :o   ;D

[Ragged Robin]

......... do you mean he will be an ex- robin?

[MagpieDi]

Ha!!.........maybe!!!  ;)  ;D

...or better still .......an ex 'D i c k y'  bird!!!  ;)  ::)  ;D

[tim]

MD - sudden afterthought - 'closeups', you said?
I would NOT use macro for portraits of course - terrific distortion. In fact, portraits are often done on 'telephoto' lenses to get the best proportion. = Tim