Hey Greg..got a minute ?

[jimmy johnston]

Hello Greg,

I enjoyed meeting you at Jasper. I had the red Allison and ran in mod. prod. You shot a few pics of me and my boat while we were in tech. I have a question..

I noticed on the attach file part of the posting section that you have a maximim of 100,000 bytes. Am I correct in understanding that this number refers to the overall amount of memory that the file requires? Also, if I want to upload a pic, what size (5m, 3m,1m, vga) pic should I initally take? In other words, how much memory is required for say a 5 megapixel pic, 3M, 3:2 reduced, 1M, or VGA. I am wanting to post some pics of a complete motor for sale and i want to comply with the boards rules.

Thanks Jimmy

[stvhelm]

you can use the medium or lowest quality and smallest size 640x480 settings in your camera. other wise you have to resize the pics to post. the pic would have to be less than 1 mega pixel if you dont want to resize it

[jimmy johnston]

Thx Greg..

I can shoot as low as 640 x 480 with my SONY Cybershot. At that setting, how much memory per pic is required?

Also, I know your hot on the Nikon 5700. It looks really cool. Does it have a hot shoe for a bigger flash and is any flash built in? My biggest complaint about todays cameras is that the built in flashes SUCK! If you are more that about 5 feet from a subject any shots in the dark are shadowed!!

I also noticed on the Sony that I can shoot in Fine, or Standard mode. It looks like I can take about twice the number of pics in Standard vs Fine. What is actually taking place in the camera in these two different modes?

Thanks JImmy

[merklebob]

shoot at you cameras best resolution and resize in the soft ware. the cameras internal software does a poor job of down sizing compared to resizing on a pc. best is to use adobe photo elements 2.0 or the new 3.0[$50 to 100], best is adobe photoshop cs [$650 -+]

[Scream And Fly]

Hi Jimmy,

Yes, 100KB is the photo limit. But you don't have to buy software to edit and resize your images. There are a lot of great programs that are free.

Yes, the 5700 has an intelligent hot shoe, as well as full manual control. It's my favorite non-SLR camera.

I do agree that most internal flashes are not very good - but for most indoor photos they work fine. For outdoor photos, you'll want better flash.

When you shoot in "fine" or "hi" modes, the images are larger and have less JPEG compression, so they will use more storage space in the camera and on disk.

Here is a copy of a post I made a few months ago. This software is very, very good. If you need any specific help, please let me know.

Greg

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------



I know a lot of people are always asking what software they can use to edit and resize images. I came across a great little FREE program you can download that will handle all of these needs very nicely. Here are the features of IrfanView:

Many supported file formats
Multi language support
Thumbnail/preview option
Slideshow (save slideshow as EXE/SCR or burn it to CD)
Show EXIF/IPTC/Comment text in Slideshow/Fullscreen etc.
Support for Adobe Photoshop Filters
Drag & drop support
Fast directory view (moving through directory)
Batch conversion (with image processing)
Email option
Multimedia player
Print option
Change color depth
Scan (batch scan) support
Cut/crop
IPTC editing
Effects (Sharpen, Blur, Adobe 8BF, Filter Factory, Filters Unlimited, etc.)
Capturing
Extract icons from EXE/DLL/ICLs
Lossless JPG rotation
Many hotkeys
Many command line options
Many PlugIns
Only one EXE-File, no DLLs, no Shareware messages like "I Agree" or "Evaluation expired"
No registry changes without user action/permission!
and many more...


Click here for the IrfanView home page so you can download your FREE copy! (http://www.irfanview.com/)

Some screen captures I took while testing this software. It's very easy to use.



http://data.screamandfly.com/files/irfan_1.jpg

http://data.screamandfly.com/files/irfan_2.gif

Greg:)

[jimmy johnston]

Is it 100kb, or 10kb on the max size? I may not be understanding you right. The thread says 100,000 bytes ??? Isn't that 10kb ?

Concerning the freeware editing software. I am running XP pro and when I bought my laptop, it came with a program called jasc photoshop. Of course, it was mainly for promotion purposes with a buy it, or lose it arrangement. I did not elect to buy it so while I did retain most of its features, resizing was not one of them. If i download the Irfan software, how do I tell my computer to use it instead of the jasc photoshop to process photos. Right now, once the pics are loaded into the hard drive, they automatically bring up photoshop for processing !!!

Also, are the SLR digital cameras the best??? I'm definitely in the market for a more verastile camera than my SONY and don't want to make a mistake!

Thanks Jimmy

BTW I really appeciate your help!!!

[Scream And Fly]

Jimmy,

Jasc Paint Shop Pro is a fantastic program for all photo editing and graphics. It's considered "semi-pro" software, so take your time and learn it. You'll be glad you did. You can call me anytime for help.

The maximum attachment is 100KB. That should be more than large enough for any photo. I was actually going to prepare an article on digital photography techniques, photo compression, editing, etc. I think a lot of members would find that very useful.

The SLR (Single Lens Reflex) cameras are the most versatile, but there are other factors. First is cost. My favorite is my Nikon D1x, although I almost never use it, since it's very large and cumbersome for the crazy stuff I do with cameras. Someone like Lamar Standish at Apollo Imaging is very familiar with the SLR cameras too - he shoots professional photos for prints, and the versatility of the SLR is important for what he does.

Also remember that SLR cameras are not to be treated like typical point and shoot models. They require cleaning at times, backfocus adjustments, etc. They are best suited to professional photography - not the casual user.

Another point to note is that SLR cameras cannot use the LCD monitor for framing, which is another reason I use my 5700 and E995. The swiveling screen really helps for tech work.

For me. I can use both - depending on what I do. At times, I'm literally hanging out the side of the boat at 100+ MPH, so I need to operate the camera with one hand - something you cannot do with an SLR. For that, my Nikon 5700 is the best ticket. It offers full manual control (which is important for me) and fantastic image quality. It can also shoot in RAW mode, which again, is important to me. I'll cover that in my article.

Remember, more megapixels does not always mean better image quality - especially with consumer-level cameras. I'll cover that in-depth in my article. Most of the photos I shoot are for the web, so my primary focus is on image quality, not image size. For example, the Nikon 5-megapixel 5700 will shoot a "cleaner" 400 ISO image than the 8-megapixel Nikon 8700 will. This is a limitation of the CCD (Charge Couple Device) imager in the camera, which is what captures the image.

I might be going off on too many tangents here. The bottom line is, what are your specific needs for a camera? That is what will determine your purchase.

Photo: My Nikon 5700 with Nikon HN-CP11 lens hood attached. Note hot shoe and vari-angle monitor.

Greg

[jimmy johnston]

Thanks Greg,

Great info and answers for my questions. The CCD vs Megapixel is a great way to describe the image quality. I have alot to learn but at least today I can take a digital pic, get it on my computer and/or save to a CD plus make a print. This entire issue of digital photography would be a hell of a lot easier if the hardware builders would write a manual that anyone could understand. The basics are easy, its just the application that can be a bitch!

Thanks for the info.. I plan on posting a few pics in the "for sale" sections in a few days. I'll give you a heads up so you can give me some feedback..

Thanks Jimmy