The Gadgets Page

This picture of a beautiful couple was taken over fifty years ago. A few shots were taken with an Argoflex camera, the rest were waiting for exposure, but they never got their chance. The camera was abandoned, then found at a flea market or an estate sale, then ended up in the hands of Gene McSweeney.

• Film Found In Old Cameras

Gene rescues old film from old cameras and carefully develops them, displaying the photos for us to see. He philosophizes about the discarded cameras, photos and film, wondering where the subjects are now.

“There’s a marked sadness to photographs like these. Photos that are lost. Photos of long-dead people that stopped for a moment and smiled for the camera.”

I also see ghosts in these neglected photographs. Was the film undeveloped because film and developing was deemed more valuable than the image of those photographed? What would the families of these subjects feel if they saw those lost photographs now? Would they even recognize the faces?

Gene and I exchanged a few emails and he stated beautifully why these old cameras can still compete with the technological beasts of today:

“I’ve got more cameras than you can imagine. Some of them are very expensive and complex. I use the complex ones every now and then but I prefer the “junk” cameras as they free me from all the technical stuff. Junk cameras boil everything down to light and form. The basics of photography.”

I am so grateful that I live in the digital age. I can click a photo whenever I want without guilt or even contemplation of the expense of film and developing. These photographs remind me how it used to be before we carried cameras and telephones in our pockets.

Via: Boing Boing: Photos from undeveloped film in antique cameras

After you’ve uploaded all of the images in your digital camera’s memory, what do you do?

• Use the camera to delete the files (Erase All)
• Use the camera’s “Format” option to erase the photos
• Use the computer to delete the files

Derrick Story recommended that you Erase, Don’t Format, apparently because using “Erase All” gives you a better chance of recovering deleted files, but later updated his post after comments confirmed that a formatted card is also recoverable.

What do I recommend? First, forget about recovering files. Don’t erase files or format the card unless you’re quite sure you have a good copy of all of the photos on the computer, and don’t ever assume you can recover a deleted photo.

Taking file recovery out of the equation, either Erase or Format will work, but some cameras will reset the filename sequence to 0001 when you reformat, so you may want to avoid that. The only other reason I can think of to avoid formatting is if you’ve been using the card in other devices (mobile phone, Palm, etc.)—formatting will delete all files, not just pictures, which may be more drastic than you wanted.

Personally, I just delete the files with my computer. It’s fast and works just fine, as long as you’re careful:

• Depending your settings, the files might go to a “recycle bin” or “trash” folder on the card instead of being truly deleted. This only wastes space, so be sure to delete them properly.
• Don’t format a memory card using your computer. Formatting on the camera ensures compatibility with the camera—both Windows and MacOS can format cards using file systems that won’t be recognized by some cameras.

If you’d rather avoid the potential hassle of deleting files on the computer, just use “Erase All” on the camera. Like Derrick, I also recommend formatting the card every month or two, or when you put it into a new camera, to avoid creeping file system errors.

[via TUAW]

A common technique in digital photography is focus-and-recompose: You center the subject in the frame, half-press the shutter to focus, then move the camera to create a better composition with an off-center subject. I use this technique with almost every photo I take. Here’s an article on why this technique can sometimes create out-of-focus pictures:

• Visual Vacations: Why Focus-Recompose Sucks

If you’ve had problems with poor focus or are just curious about how focus systems work, this is a good read.

Keep in mind that you may never run into this issue—with most digital cameras, especially consumer and prosumer models, the large depth of field compensates for the error most of the time. Watch out in these situations, though:

• When taking close-up portraits, especially with digital SLR cameras
• Macro photography with any camera
• When deliberately narrowing the depth of field by using a wide aperture

The solution? Most prosumer and SLR digicams let you choose a non-centered focus point. Use this rather than focus-and-recompose for the best shot.

[via Mezzoblue]

Digipower’s DPS-9000 power pack is a universal battery that attaches to many (but not all) different digial cameras and camcorders. It attaches to the camera via a tripod mount. With the high cost of replacement OEM batteries, is this a viable alternative? We tested one for a couple of weeks to find out.

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I just got my new digital camera, the Panasonic FZ30. This is Panasonic’s latest “super zoom” camera, with a resolution of 8 megapixels and a 12X Leica zoom lens. After experimenting with the camera for a few days, I’m very pleased with the camera. I’m working on a detailed review, but in the meantime here are a few first impressions:

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SD (secure digital) cards are becoming increasingly popular for digital camera storage. They’re tiny, convenient, and getting affordable in sizes as large as 1GB and 2GB. But they come in a bewildering array of different speeds and prices, even within one manufacturer’s line. What’s with the different card speeds, and which one do you need for your camera? This article gives you the details.

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If you own a digital camera or camcorder, there’s a good chance you’ve spent some money on expensive extra rechargeable batteries. OEM batteries are often in the $50 range, and while there are a wide variety of cheap replacements, most of them are inferior quality. Fortunately, Maxell makes replacement batteries for many models. After testing two different Maxell batteries for a few weeks, here’s our quick review.

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I’m considering a new digital camera, and my current favorite is the Panasonic DMC-FZ30, which just started shipping in the US. It has a 12X Leica zoom lens, 8 MP sensor, and an anti-shake system—my compact Panasonic has the same system, and I can take great pictures despite shaky hands.

From the early indications, this looks like a great camera. The only potential concern is noise—this review at DCResource includes some examples of noisy photographs, but they don’t look unacceptable to me. More importantly, there are some much better photos out there.

The noise issue comes down to the difference between consumer (or “prosumer”) digital cameras and digital SLRs. Since the SLRs are getting cheaper, cameras like the FZ-30—which costs about the same as a bottom-end SLR—are being scrutinized more closely. I’ll write more about these issues soon.

Since this camera is my current obsession, I’ll be posting more details and links as I continue researching it. (Last week I called that “wasting time”, but now that I’m writing here I get to call it “research”.)

Resolution is one of the most important factors to consider when you purchase a digital camera. If you already own one, you can choose different resolutions when shooting pictures. This article is a basic guide to camera resolution and how to choose the correct resolution for different needs.

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