Home & Small Office Computer Guide

If you do own one of those cameras then perhaps this CNet News article will interest you. It seems that some of the cameras have a problem with overheating and can burst into flames.

Around 680,000 of the cameras have been sold world-wide.

Are you challenged by digital cameras and digital photography? You really would like to take great pictures but the only thing you seem to be able to photograph is your feet?

If that’s you then there’s a new website on the Net where you can learn how to use your digital camera. The site is called Digital Photography School and it’s run by Darren Rowse - a well-known amateur digital photographer here in Australia.

You will find his writing style easy to follow and he updates the site just about every day so there is always something new for you to learn.

Well they do but they don’t.

There was a time when I took photos with a view to printing them but these days I nearly all my photographs are taken with a view to publishing them on the various Web sites I run. Sites like Hervey Bay Gossip and Aussie Motoring are packed with photos I take.

Because of the constraints of bandwidth and download time those photos are all published in file sizes of less than 60 or 70 kb and taken with a 4 megapixel camera. For ordinary Internet use and a 4 megapixel count and file sizes of the size I use are quite adequate even though there is some loss of detail.

But there is a demand for high-resolution photography where you can zoom in on a single feature and see every detail quite clearly. For that you need a pixel count in the billions and something like that doesn’t come from a camera.

Instead photos of that quality come from a computer running software that uses hundreds of photos stitched together with allowances made for a number of variables including things like the movement of the sun.

This northern summer Microsoft is aiming at producing a 10 gigapixel picture and you can read about it here

Kodak is set to release a new version of its compact duel lens camera that comes with telephoto capability and Bluetooth wireless technology.

The V610 is a 6 megapixel camera with 10x optical zoom and is possibly the first digital camera that carries Bluetooth technology onboard. By incorporating this technology into the camera Kodak has given users the ability to connect with any Bluetooth enabled telephone, computer or PDA within 10 metres (30 feet) of the camera.

The camera includes a 7.1 cm (2.8 inch) colour display, advanced video features and on-board picture enhancing features including cropping and red-eye removal as well as a blurry picture alert. The camera uses SD flash cards.

You can see further details of the new Kodak V610 here

Adding to its high performance, professional series CompactFlash card lineup, ATP have announced the availability of its 4GB ProMax CompactFlash (CF) memory cards.

With the data transfer speed rated at up to 22.5MB/s (150X), the ProMax CF card is the fastest CF card in the market today and is specially designed to maximize the performance of the latest digital SLR cameras and video camcorders such as the Nikon D2X, D2H, D200, D100, D70, the Canon EOS series SLR cameras such as 5D, 20D, 30D, etc., and JVC camcorders.

BetterPhoto.com, the worldwide leader in online photography education, today announced the release of their Digital Camera Buyer’s Guide for holiday shoppers.

The Visual Digital Camera Calculator makes it easy to choose the right camera, by allowing consumers to select from photos that illustrate their interests, goals, and values, and the side-by-side Digital Camera Comparison Chart give detailed specs, reviews, estimated prices, and more. These tools will make it easy for shoppers to determine the right digital camera for them – or their family and friends – this holiday.

“Finding the right digital camera – for yourself or someone else – can be frustrating and overwhelming,” said Jim Miotke, President of BetterPhoto.com™. “Our Digital Camera Buyer’s Guide is easy to use, intuitive, and provides all the information shoppers need choose the perfect camera.”

Find the BetterPhoto Digital Camera Buyer’s Guide at:
http://www.betterphoto.com/digital/camera-calculator.asp

http://www.betterphoto.com/digital/camera-comparison-charts/overview.asp

BetterPhoto.com brings together nearly 50,000 members for learning, fun, and community. The site offers over 50 different online photography classes, taught by world-renowned, published authors; the Winter session begins January 4. The monthly BetterPhoto.com contest, considered the best on the web, brings in almost 20,000 entries monthly, and awards winners in 10 categories.

I can remember when an 8MB flash card was a big deal for digital camera users - in fact I still have one and use it from time to time.

But these days with 6 megapixel cameras being common an 8MB card really isn’t going to be much use anymore. Especially when you can have big boy like this.

Kingston have a range of high capacity flash cards ranging including:

CF/512-SFE 512MB CompactFlash Card

CF/1024-SFE 1 GB CompactFlash Card

CF/2GB-SFE 2 GB* CompactFlash Card

CF/4GB-SFE 4 GB CompactFlash Card

You should be aware though that the 4GB card only works in newer cameras and other devices that are capable of utilizing a FAT32 file system.

With cards that size it’s almost worth thinking about using them as a portable hard drive for your computer.

If you’re in the market for a new cell phone or mobile phone then this will certainly interest you.

Wirefly an online leader in one-stop comparison shopping for cell phones and wireless service plans, today released its current list of best-selling cell phones. Of the 10 most popular phones going into the holiday shopping season, the top 7 are camera phones.

The top ten are:

1. Motorola RAZR V3 (Camera Phone)

2. Motorola E815 (Video and Camera Phone)

3. Samsung PM-A740 (Camera Phone)

4. Motorola V330 (Video and Camera Phone)

5. Audiovox 8910 (Camera Phone)

6. Motorola V220 (Camera Phone)

7. Motorola i850 (Camera Phone)

8. Motorola i710

9. Motorola V188

10. Motorola V260

The latest offering from Nikon is their pocket zoom camera, the S4. The key features are:

6.0 megapixels producing prints up to 16×20 inces

10x optical zoom Nikkor 38-380mm glass lens

4x digital zoom

2.5 inch LCD screen

16 scene modes for portraits, panoramas, etc. Four of those modes come with Scene Assist to automatically guide you in taking better pictures

Long battery life from a set of Coolpix rechargeable AA batteries that will allow you up to 290 images or 450 images with a set of lithium AA batteries

Adjustable graphic user interface with a help button that will instantly display an explanation for all the main menu functions.

Versatile swivel design that allows you to capture low angle and overhead shots

The MSRP for this camera is $US399.95 but if you shop around at Amazon or Overstock I’m sure you will pick it up for much less.

At a time when the Fuji (UK) website is still showing the Fuji Finepix Z1 camera as new Fuji have gone and released the Z2 and it’s so new that there isn’t even a photo of it on the main Fuji website. So I guess I’m just going to have to show you a picture of the Z1 and tell you about the Z2.

Some of the feqatures of the Z2 include:

Super slim design

5.1 megapixels

3x optical zoom

High resolution 2.5 inch LCD monitor

Sensitivity to ISO1600 (twice the sensitivity of the Z1)

The aluminium case comes in glossy silver, black, white or red

For anyone who needs a compact high-spec digital camera this is definitely worth a look.