Technically Easy

Category: Cameras

Posts in this category include reviews and discussions on various digital cameras. Both older and newer models are discussed.

  • How to Organize Your Digital Photos

    If you are like me, then you probably have thousands of digital photos stored on CDs/DVDs or a hard drive. There doesn’t appear to be any problems with the way you store you digital photos, until you need to find a specific one. At this point you remember how you stored your old printed photos in a shoebox in a closet somewhere and had no idea where a photo could be found.

    In this post I’ll explain the method I use to organize my digital photos in an easy and efficient manner. I am able to find a specific photo or all photos of someone within a few minutes, if not seconds.

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  • Understanding Digital Camera Features

    Digital cameras come with many features that can affect the quality of your pictures. All digital cameras have a set of standard features, while the more advanced cameras also include additional features. I will discuss some of the important features that affect your pictures, and recommend settings that you should use.

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  • Digital Camera Memory Cards

    The digital camera has changed the way people take pictures. It is now easier to take a picture, decide if we want to keep it, and delete it if we don’t. Some cameras even allow you to apply effects to your pictures, such as colour replacing. How are digital cameras able to do this? Pictures are stored as files on a memory card that you load into your camera.

    There are many types of memory cards on the market today, and different digital cameras require different memory cards. Some cameras even allow you to use two types of memory cards. What is the difference between all the types, and which one is better? This post will describe the various popular memory types and discuss their differences.

    What is Flash Memory?

    Before we look at the various cards, it is important to understand what I mean I say flash memory. You may be familiar with computer memory (RAM) or hard drive space, which have been around for many years. Both of these storage mediums have their advantages and disadvantages. The RAM in your computer has no moving parts so it may not break as easily than a hard drive, but it is volatile, meaning that it won’t keep the data once the power is turned off. Hard drives are non-volatile, can hold enormous amounts of data, but they have many moving parts, that could easily break.

    Flash memory is non-volatile memory with no moving parts. They have been known to be durable even on some intense testing. The memory can be electrically erased and written to just like a hard drive, and very small physically. Although they don’t have the storage capacity of a hard drive, they are becoming larger each year.

    CompactFlash / MicroDrive

    The CompactFlash cards were once the most common flash cards used, however, that crown now belongs to the Secure Digital memory. CompactFlash is rather large at 3.3mm x 36.4mm x 42.8mm (thickness x length x width) for the Type I compared to the other memory cards. Type II cards are thicker at 5.0mm, but the length and width sizes are the same. Cameras that use Type I cannot use Type II, however, cameras that use Type II can use either.

    Some older cameras that use CompactFlash may not be able to use any size larger than 2GB. This is because CompactFlash uses FAT for sizes under 2GB, and FAT32 for any sizes above 2GB.

    Some cameras that accept CompactFlash Type II may also be able to use a MicroDrive. A MicroDrive is a small hard drive usually in sizes of 340MB and 1GB.

    Secure Digital (SD) / MultiMediaCard (MMC)

    This is perhaps the most common memory card in use today. They are much smaller (2.1mm x 32mm x 24mm) than the CompactFlash cards but have the same amount of storage space.

    Both the SD and MMC cards are almost identical in terms of size and look on the outside, but inside they are technically different. Although your digital camera may accept SD memory cards, it may not accept MMC cards as well.

    There are also miniSD cards on the market mostly used in MP3 players and mobile phones; I have yet to see any digital cameras that use this memory card. The miniSD is smaller than the SD card since it is only 1.4mm x 21.5mm x 20mm.

    Sony Memory Stick (MS)

    This type of memory card, or rather stick, was created by Sony in 1999 and is used in all of their Cybershot digital cameras as well as their digital video Handycams.

    The original blue Memory Stick was incredibly slow compared to today’s SD and CompactFlash cards. There have been several versions, or types of memory sticks developed by Sony over the years.

    There is the Memory Stick Select which allows you to select between 128MB and 256MB to make it compatible with older digital cameras. Next came the Memory Stick Pro that had a capacity up to 2GB. With the exception of the Cybershot F717, this Memory Stick was not compatible with any of the pre-2003 digital cameras. There is also a high speed Memory Stick Pro that is capable of transfer speeds of 80Mbps.

    xD-Picture Card (xD)

    The xD card was developed by Olympus and Fujifilm and is about the size of a postage stamp. Most Olympus digital cameras now use the xD card. There are currently two types of xD cards on the market: the M series and the H series.

    Not all cameras can accept both types of xD memory cards, so check your manual before purchasing an xD card. The H series cards are reported to be about 2-3 times faster than the M series.

    Summary

    There are many types of flash memory cards on the market to use with your digital camera. Any digital camera you purchase today will use one of the memory cards mentioned in this post. Always read your instruction manual that came with your camera to determine the exact memory card that you can use. As always, technology progresses, and there may be a time when the above memory cards will be replaced with something else. As long as you can keep taking pictures, you don’t need to worry about that, though.

  • Types of Digital Camera Batteries

    I mentioned in a previous post, About Digital Cameras, I mentioned that you should always buy two sets of rechargeable batteries. In this post I discuss the two most common rechargeable batteries used by digital cameras, although there are other types of rechargeable batteries on the market.

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  • Understanding White Balance

    When taking pictures with a digital camera you may notice that sometimes your photos have a colour cast to them. Many people keep their cameras on the auto setting, which attempts to remove the colour cast, but may not always work.

    Digital cameras have the ability to change what is known as the "White Balance&quot (WB). This setting attempts to offset the colour produced by a specific light source to make the colours as true as possible. This post will discuss what white balance is, and how to use it.

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  • How Digital Cameras Work

    Over the past few years the digital camera has become very popular with everyone from the amateur photographer to the professional. The digital camera provides the ability to instantly view a photo and either delete or keep it. How is a digital camera able to take and store a photo without the use of film? This post will explain how a digital camera is able to do that.

    The Image Sensor

    Digital cameras include a digital sensor that converts light into electrical charges. There are two types of image sensors found in digital cameras: charged coupled device (CCD) and complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS). Most digital cameras use a CCD image sensor so we’ll focus on that type.

    The CCD has millions of elements that are light-sensitive. Each one of these elements represents a single point in the picture, which is called a pixel in computer terms. For example, a 6 megapixel camera would have approximately 6 million pixels. A megapixel is equivalent to 1 million pixels.

    When light hits one of these elements an electric charge is created with the strength of the charge determining the brightness of the pixel. No charge produces black while a full charge produces white. As you can see, a CCD produces shades of gray and not colour. Colour is produced using a filter within the digital camera.

    Generating Colour

    There are many kinds of filters that can be used within a digital camera to generate colour, but the most common one is the Bayer filter pattern. This type of filter contains a series of rows with one row alternating between red and green, while the next alternates between blue and green. You’ll notice that green is in all rows, why is that?

    The human eye is more sensitive to green colours than to red or blue. To ensure that the images appear as "true colour", there are more green pixels than red or blue. In other words, there is the same amount of green as there are blue and red combined. The image below shows an example of a bayer filter.

    When a picture is taken, the raw output from a bayer filter is a mosaic of red, green and blue pixels. The digital camera then uses a demosaicing algorithm to convert this image into true colours. Each pixel in the filter can be used more than once, and the colour of each pixel is determined by averaging the values from the surrounding pixels.

    Once the image is generated from the CCD and coloured by the filter, the camera than applies any white balancing, sharpening, contrast, and other settings specified by the photographer. This step is skipped if the picture is to be saved in a RAW format.

    Storing the Image

    Early digital cameras stored the images on memory within the camera. As digital cameras evolved, new types of removable memory became available. Digital cameras today can use one or several types of memory including:

    • CompactFlash
    • Secure Digital (SD)
    • Memory Stick
    • SmartMedia
    • CDs or DVDs

    Some cameras can also accept two types of memory, such as CompactFlash and SD, although most only accept one type. No matter what type of memory your camera uses, you will need a lot of room to store the pictures, especially when storing the images in one of the uncompressed formats.

    The most common file format used by digital cameras is JPEG. This is a compressed format commonly used for photographs. JPEG files use a lossy compression, meaning that data in the picture is discarded when the file is compressed. The more a file is compressed, the more data is lost and JPEG artifacts appear. This also means that the file size is smaller. Your digital camera has built-in settings that can be used to control the amount of compression.

    Another common format used by digital cameras is the TIFF format. This is usually an uncompressed format which results in much larger file sizes. Unlike JPEG, however, a picture in TIFF format doesn’t lose any data. You trade memory space for quality.

    Some of the higher-end cameras can also save pictures in a format called RAW. In this format, no processing (white balance, sharpening, and contrast) is done by the camera. This format allows complete control for those that like editing images in photo editing software. These files are larger than JPEG but are much higher quality. One of the biggest differences between RAW and the other formats is that RAW is proprietary. This means that only specific photo editors can be used to modify a RAW file.

    Once a picture has been saved to the memory card, the next step is transferring the pictures to a computer.

    Transferring Pictures

    Digital cameras can store hundreds and possibly thousands of images on a memory card. That’s great, but you would probably also like to delete the old images to make room for the new ones. This is done by transferring the images to a computer.

    Included with your camera is either a USB (Universal Serial Bus) or Firewire cable. These cables are used to transfer data between devices. Your computer will have either a USB or Firewire port, or both. Simply plug in the cable into your computer and then into your digital camera. Turn on you camera and your computer will recognize the camera and allow you to transfer the files.

    I use Windows XP, and when I plug in my camera it instantly becomes a drive letter under Windows Explorer. This allows me to copy the images to my computer just as I would with any file.

    An alternative to using your camera to transfer pictures is to purchase a card reader. Card readers require little power (they get their power from the USB or Firewire port), and they may transfer the files faster than your camera. Without using your camera, you can also save battery power. The one big difference between the card read and the camera is that a card reader may support many different types of memory cards. This allows someone with a CompactFlash card and someone else with a SD card to use the same card reader.

  • Backing Up Digital Photos

    There is much discussion on the Internet about the best method for backing up digital photos. Some say CD/DVDs are the best media, while others prefer hard drives or tapes. In my opinion there is no right way to back up digital photos as each method has its advantages and disadvantages. I will discuss the various media and their advantages and disavantages in this post, and then discuss the method I use to back up my digital photos.

    Optical Media (CD/DVD)

    CD/DVDs are perhaps the most popular method for backing up digital photos, as most computers now come with a burner and software. Most photo organizing software also include the ability to burn your photos to a CD/DVD.

    Advantages: Very little cost to storing your digital photos, as your computer probably includes a burner. You can buy CD/DVD spindles that include hundreds of blank discs for a few dollars. A single layer, single-sided DVD can hold up to 4.7GB, which means you can store thousands of photos on a single DVD.

    Disadvantages: The biggest and possibly most talked about problem with optical media is that they could develop problems as time passes. This could lead to you digital photos becoming unreadable. To help minimize read problems in the future, only buy name brand CD/DVDs.

    Another disadvantage with CD/DVDs is the fact that they are a progressing technology. This means that in a few years they will be replaced by another form of optical media. For example, the CD is now being replaced buy the DVD, which in turn is slowly being replaced by high-definition DVDs. This means that you will have to eventually move your backups to the next generation of optical media every few years.

    Hard Drives

    Hard drives can store enormous amounts of information, much more than either tapes or CD/DVDs. All computers come with at least one built-in hard drive so you don’t need to buy anything else. An external hard drive, however, is preferred for backing up data.

    Advantages: As mentioned they have massive amount of storage capacity, meaning one hard drive can probably store your entire digital photo collection. You would only have to purchase the drive and no additional media. An external hard drive is very common today, and can connect to your computer through the USB port. This keeps your data safe in case your computer fails and you need to reinstall your operating system. Unlike the other media, hard drives have been around for many years, and although the technology may change, you will still be able to use your current hard drive for many years.

    Disadvantages: The biggest problem that you can run into would be a hard drive failure. Always keep in mind that anything with moving parts can break, and a hard drive is no exception. If you take care of your hard drive, then it should last for many years.

    Magnetic Media (Tape)

    This is not as popular for a home user as it is for a business user. Tapes are popular for a business since they can store much more than a CD or DVD, and they are more reliable.

    Advantages: Tapes, as mentioned, can store a large amount of data, although not as much as a hard drive. Not only can they store a lot of data, but they can also be erased and rewritten many times. If you take care of your tape, then it can last for many years.

    Disadvantages: Out of the media mentioned in this post, tape backup is probably the most expensive. You would need to buy a tape drive, and then the individual tapes, and depending on the type you buy it can be quite expensive. This is one of the reasons tapes or used more in business than at home. Tapes can also degrade if used on a frequent basis, which could cause problems with your data, so just like the other media you will need to take care of your tapes.

    Online

    This type of backup isn’t discussed as frequently because most don’t think about using an online service to store their data. There are many places online that can provide you with enough disk space for your entire digital photo collection, but you will need to research the best Web site that suits your needs.

    Advantages: One of the biggest advantages is that you don’t need to worry about resaving your data as technology progresses. Your chosen online company will do that for you. Another advantage is that the online company probably has a good backup and restore system in place in case of a hardware problem (at least you hope). This will help ensure that you never lose your data.

    Disadvantages: You will probably need to pay a monthly fee to store your data on the servers, and depending on your budget, this may not work for you. You will also need to do much research into the online company first to ensure that your data is safe and secure. The last thing you need is to see your digital photos all over the Internet because someone accessed your backups.

    My Method for Backing Up

    After reading this post, you may be wondering how I choose to back up my digital photos. Here is what I do:

    1. First I copy the digital photos to an external hard drive. I use a Western Digital 250GB hard drive which has more than enough storage space for my needs. This also allows me to pull up the pictures at anytime without having to find a DVD first.
    2. I then backup the same photos to a DVD (usually one for each year). This allows me to keep my digital photos off site in case something happens.
    3. I also maintain my collection of digital photos on an online Web site. This provides extra protection for my photos.

    As you can see I don’t stick with one method of backing up my digital photos. The best thing you can do when backing up your photos is to make multiple copies. This way if one copy doesn’t work, you have another.

    Summary

    I discussed the various media that you can use to back up your digital photos. I have also described the method I use to backup my photos. After reading this post, I hope that you will be able to choose your preferred method to keep your photos safe for many years. Remember: always make multiple copies of your data.

  • Converting Digital Photos for E-mail or the Web

    There have been many times in the past when someone has sent me an e-mail with picture attachments. I don’t mind picture attachments, if they are resized. Many times the pictures have not been resized and I end up downloading 5 files that are a combined 10MB. Even on broadband this can take some time.

    In this post I will outline the steps I use to resize my digital photos so they can be easily sent by e-mail or posted to a Web site. The steps outlined are general enough where they can be used by most photo editors as they all have the needed features.

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