I took along the new digital camera to Easter Brunch to get some help on how to use it. My best help came from a fellow guest, a four year old, who advised me to read "the destructions." I will read them and hope I understand them. When I do, I will take lovely pictures -- or unlovely pictures, and send them along. Alas, the destructions seem complicated, but I have managed to master other destructions. I can tie my shoes. I can bake a cherry pie. Perhaps I'll learn how to use the camera in time to take a photo of what may be the last remaining pile of snow in the Twin Cities. It's at least 9 feet tall and has stripes of black grime, a sleeping tiger.
(I really am beginning to wonder about spell check. The spelling of "destructions" does not please them. The choices they give me are cherce. Among my choices: "destruct ions.")
My comment is too big for one comment...I will break it two.
ReplyDeleteTaking the pictures with your digital camera (if it is a point and shoot) should be easy, just like a film camera. Make sure your batteries are charged. If the camera uses standard batteries AA batteries I recommend getting Sanyo Eneloop rechargeables. Digital cameras can eat normal batteries like candy. The Eneloops are rechargeable and hold their charge when not used much longer than standard Nimh rechargeables. You can buy the Eneloops at Amazon, but you will need a charger too. The charger that comes with the Eneloop kit I bought is a very slow charger that takes 24 hours. I already had a fast charger (1 hour- I think I would avoid the 15 minute chargers). You will want two sets of batteries. One time at a zoo, my backup batteries were dead, I paid $16.00 for a lousy set of 4 AA photo batteries (all they had) at the souvenir shop. The damn things didn't last a long as my fully charged Nimhs. This was before I was using the Eneloops. Regular Nimh will not hold a charge for very long when not used. If the camera uses a proprietary battery, the above discussion does not apply. Just keep your camera charged up, and consider buying an extra battery if the battery is replaceable.
Of course I am forgetting a memory card. Your camera may or may not come with a memory card. It will need one. Most use standard cards, but some are proprietary. This can be a bit tricky, you will have to read the destructions. Amazon has standard memory cards. I am calling them cards but they are the size of a postage stamp and yet hold a ton of photos. I have an 8 gig card and almost 2000 photos on the camera and I still have more than 6 gig left on the card. You want a fast card also. This is the speed that the card will transfer the images. Fast cards will allow the camera to process the image faster and download faster. The camera may have a limit on how big and fast a card it can handle. If so buying a bigger and faster card is just wasting your money, and may not work at all. Again the destructions!
Continued from above...
ReplyDeleteAnother thing to be aware of is don't take huge pictures with the pixel settings way up. You don't need 8 X 10 prints. The file size gets very unyieldy. My computer will not display the biggest photos my camera can take. The 640 by 480 are nice for emails, but are kind of small for anything else. I have found the 1600 X 1200 to be the best size compromise for viewing and ease file handling--that is called M3 on my camera. I don't know if that is a standard terminology or not.
Getting your photos out of the camera and into the computer is the crux of digital photography. You will need to load the camera system software into your computer and generally use a mini USB cable to down load your photos. The cable and software should have been provided with the camera. Once the photos are in your computer, you treat them just like you would treat any other file, you look at them by clicking on them. Windows will automatically open the picture in its photo viewer. Windows has an option under View called View Thumbnails that shows you postage stamp sized versions of your pictures when you are looking in folders. You can insert them into emails. In blogger you use the insert image tool in the tool bar to choose and insert your image. Placement of the image in blogger is a bit of a pain in the ass. We will cover that when you are ready. If you have any specific questions ask & I'll try to help you. Unfortunately I am only familiar with Canons. If you have a different brand, hmmmm. Once you get the software set up, handling your pictures should be very easy. If you have a computer savvy friend, they should be able to get you set up and ready roll in no time.
What is great about digital cameras, it is like handing a baby a machine gun, sooner or later he will hit something. You take a zillion photos and you have one good one. That's great! You got one good photo. With film cameras, I took a roll of picture that was expensive as hell and they all sucked. 1 out 200 photos is better than 0 out of 20. All the crap I talked about above are one time deals. Once you are set up, take your photos, download them, and enjoy them on your computer. Very simple once it is set up.
BTW, today is my last Monday--at work that is. I guess I should toddle off.
HA HA, worked like a charm.