GraniteGeek

GraniteGeek http://www.area603.com/index.php?blogId=6 Earlerich 2009-08-18T09:31:23Z Facts about CDs http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=2259&blogId=6 When I’m teaching digital photography classes, I always emphasize the importance of backups. For most people, file size of each photo and numbers of photos means that they can do regular transfers to CDs or DVDs. There are some things you can do to increase the probability that you will be able to retrieve those precious photos or data later. In all the hundreds of discs I’ve burned in the last ten years or so, I think I’ve only had failure of the CD/DVD twice. It wasn’t a problem since I always make two or three copies, usually from different manufacturers. For the past four years, I also transfered photo folders to external hard drives. I have four, the largest being 500 Gb. They are all nearly full, so the next purchase will be a 1000 Gb or 1 Terrabyte. I still burn CDs or DVDs because I can distribute copies easily to my sister or to friends for off site storage.These little 4 5/8” diameter discs are good for many years but are really not true archival storage. Kodak makes a gold based CD that they claim is good for 100 years. The plastics used to make the disc is vulnerable to heat distortion, humidity, sublimation of the plastic into the air, degradation due to UV light and physical damage.That brings me to the factoid in the header. Looking at the disc, most people assume that the data is stored on the shiny side. The truth is that the data is stored inside the disc just under the label. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, any small scratches on the disc will be out of focus to the laser and sensor that reads the tiny pits that constitute the data. Second, the area under the screen printed label is better protected from damage.It is so tempting to use those stick-on labels from Staples or other office supply stores. I don’t like them because the adhesive will fail at some time in the future. When it does, the whole label must be peeled off so the disc can be read. In doing so, you will also be removing the data on the disc. The world already has enough coffee table drink coasters without making any more. <a href="http://www.ppmag.com/bonus/2006/04/answers-to-your-questions-abou.html">http://www.ppmag.com/bonus/2006/04/answers-to-your-questions-abou.html</a>This is a link to a nice, concise write-up of CD protection and archive prediction. General 2008-07-31T08:32:30Z Earlerich Camera Batteries http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=2202&blogId=6 As I entered the Daland Memorial Library here in Mont Vernon, I was immediately informed that the new digital camera recently acquired stopped working. "We even put new batteries in it."A quick inspection revealed that the new cells were chinese cheapies marked "SUPER HEAVY DUTY". I've run across these before and recognize them as regular old-fashioned carbon zinc, a technology long since replaced by alkaline and other much better chemistrys. Digital cameras are different than most applications in that they require a lot of current when they are taking a photo. The current needed for focusing, flash and exposure control along with the LCD backlight is too much for those carbon zinc cells. They can't deliver more than a couple of photos before they give out. You may be able to see old photos on the card, but nothing else works.The correct type of battery cell to use is Nickel Metal Hydrid, abbreviated as NImH. They are also rechargable and will last for over 500 charge/discharge cycles. They have mostly replaced Nickel Cadmium as a better power source for camera use. As in any of these, it is important NOT to completely discharge them before recharging. None of these have the so-called memory effect that has been proven to be an urban legend.Even newer cameras, especially single lens reflex models (SLRs) usually use a propriatory battery using Lithium Ion chemistry. Those are even better although the cost is higher. I typically get over 1000 shots per charge on my Nikons. Nicads would yield around 200 shots and NImH would give about 300 on an average point & shoot camera. Anyway, I popped a couple of the right batteries in the camera and it fired right up. Easy fix.Before someone gets fussy, a battery consists of multiple cells. Calling a single cell a battery is wrong, but its way too late to try and change the language.Mont Vernon General 2008-07-01T17:00:00Z Earlerich Photos from Space http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=2147&blogId=6 <a href="http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/06/the_sky_from_above.html">http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/06/the_sky_from_above.html</a>These are probably the most awe-inspiring photos of storm clouds from space I've ever seen, taken by astronauts. I wanted so badly to be a part of the space program when it was starting up. The closest I got was to be a missile technician in the Navy. Rockets are cool! General 2008-06-11T11:17:41Z Earlerich Clouds http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=2109&blogId=6 Here's a link to one of the most viewed but also ignored natural wonders that we all experience. <a href="http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/">http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org/</a>The cloud appreciation society has a wonderful collection of clouds of all descriptions, photos taken with an eye to the beauty of nature. Earle Rich - Mont Vernon General 2008-05-24T12:20:37Z Earlerich Little Bitty Cameras Rant http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=1958&blogId=6 It’s time for a little rant about digital cameras, specifically those little bitty pocket cameras that are so popular. They are great cameras, taking wonderful photos BUT. . . Why are they so hard to use? One of the things I enjoy while traveling and visiting tourist sites is taking photos of families with their camera. You’ve all seen the family group, the Dad or Mom taking a photo of the other members while that one person always gets left out of the vacation pictures. So, I volunteer to get everyone in the picture. I have a couple of reasons for doing this. First, I get to use a lot of different cameras, useful when I’m teaching a digital photo class. Next, I’ve met a lot of great people this way, starting interesting conversations with good people.So, after approaching the person with the camera with “Would you like to have a photo with everyone in it? “, I figure out the particular operation of that camera and attempt to take a picture. On a sunny day, those cameras that only have a rear viewing screen are almost impossible to use. I shade them with my hand or hat, straining to see something so I can create a composition. Sometimes I just give up and point it in the general direction, take a photo and then review with the camera in my hat. The use of the rear LCD screen mandates that the camera be held at arms length, unless the operator has trifocal lenses and can hold it a little closer. This is the worst possible position to ensure that camera is held steady. I saw one woman, suffering from essential tremors using one of these. The camera wobbled and dipped so badly that even with image stabilization, the chances of a crisp, sharp picture was pretty low. If she had been sold a camera with even a basic viewfinder, held and braced against her face, she would have been a lot better off.The viewfinders in those cameras with them, including high end SLR units are great BUT. . .I’ve kept track of the numbers as I use them, and about 40% have never had the diopter control adjusted. This little knob or slider next to the viewing window adjusts the sharpness of the viewed image to your eye. If there is shooting information or a viewing grid showing, you can use those for adjusting the crispness of the viewfinder. Sometimes I’ve set the control properly, handed the camera back and asked the owner if they see any difference. I’ve received lots of grateful thanks after this simple act.The one exception to this rule is when people adjust the diopter control to use with their eyes without corrective glasses. In that case, they know what is best for their use. General 2008-03-27T19:51:27Z Earlerich Old argument, digital vs. film http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=1830&blogId=6 One of the great things about going digital is that the need for all those various films isn't needed any more. Film speed? Just dial in a different ISO. My D200 can have a sensitivity of ISO 100 to ISO 3200. Lesser cameras are just as easy to change, just having a lot more noise at the higher speeds. (Just like going from Pan-X to Tri-X or Royal-X back in the days. The same applies to color balance. We used to have outdoor and indoor films to compensate for?the yellow light from incandescent bulbs. Now, just point the camera at a white card and color balance is set for that particular lighting situation. If I don't want to bother with that simple step, software will allow me to set any color temperature compensation later.? Color filters? Software again lets us apply any standard filter to a photo. The exceptions are for polarizing and infrared filters to emphasize clouds in a blue sky. We can go most of the way in software, but it's nicer to start out with an image shot with a polarizer. B&W? We can now take the usual color shot, set an adjustment layer for black & white and then adjust color sliders to make the print look like those competition prints I used to do with my 4x5 view camera. Big - bold and glossy, thats what the camera clubs wanted and now I can do it in digital. There are software programs called plug-ins that will simulate those films we used in the past. The Kodachrome and Ektachrome look and almost any other film can be had now with a click of the mouse. I've never felt the need to simulate film differences, but it's nice to know I can. Earle Rich General 2008-02-09T07:39:18Z Earlerich Saving WW2 History http://www.area603.com/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=1431&blogId=6 I was just given the job of copying an album of WW2 newspaper clippings and other memoriobilia assembled by the mother of a friend. He was a tail gunner in B-29s in the Pacific theater, flying missions over Burma, Japan and other hot battles. She had carefully assembled his letters and telegraph messages in a large album, now slowly decaying due to age and acid containing paper. Some of the photographs were showing stains because of residual fixer left from short washing cycles. The 178 oversized pages would have been a real time hog to scan. My scanner, a Microtek i900 has a larger than normal platen, but I would still need multiple scans of these pages. So, I set up the copying stand, used the Nikon D70 camera with zoom lens set to 35mm, RAW quality, manual exposure of f8.0 and 1/10 second exposure. The two lights, set at 45º are high efficiency fluorescents. There is no need now to use hot photofloods. The D70 has a nice infrared remote that works like a TV remote. That allows the shutter to be tripped without touching the camera, eliminating one more chance for vibration.Once the proper exposure was determined by examining the histogram display on the camera, the actual copying went very quickly. If I was scanning, this would take a full day or more. By using the camera, it took less than two hours and that included taking the album apart so each sheet could be handled by itself.The editing process also went quickly. I’m using several programs, including Adobe CS2, Elements 5.0, Lightroom, PaintShop 9.0 and Google Picasa. I teach digital photography, so I need to have some skills in all of them. In this case, Adobe Lightroom was the perfect tool for quick editing. Once the photos are moved off the compact flash card into the library folder, going to the develop module allows modification of all image parameters. Most album pages were newspaper clippings, so decreasing the saturation to zero removes all color information. Then its just a matter of further adjustments of exposure, black levels, fill light and so on to make those high contrast newsprint photos look better than the originals.One of the nicest features of Lightroom is that by clicking “Previous”, all the editing adjustments for the last photo are applied to the next photo. So, all that has to be looked at for this new photo is to check the cropping, making sure all the printing will fit in the new image. Instead of taking a minute or two to redo the adjustments, the editing is cut down to perhaps 10 seconds. That is a huge saving in time. The whole editing process for these 178 pages took perhaps three hours total.The last step was to export the adjusted raw images into a new folder called “Edited” and save them as a high quality JPG file. I always save the camera image number with each photo, so each has a unique identifier with it. The customer then has the ability to rename each image, identifying people, dates or places but still keeping that number. Going back to retrieve the original RAW image for further editing is then very easy.I see way too many old photo albums dissolving into dust. When we copy these pages with digital techniques, we can at least stop and sometime reverse the appearance of age. We can make multiple copies of these CDs and decrease the possibility that our view of the past will survive a local catastrophe. New Orleans is a prime example of so much creative photography now lost forever because the only version of a family’s history was stored in a shoebox and is now buried in a landfill. I’ll discuss sometime my own family’s photo history and how I managed to archive it.Earle RichMont Vernon, NH General 2007-10-05T15:27:16Z Earlerich