Saturday, December 31, 2011

Introduction to Digital Camera Basics

!±8± Introduction to Digital Camera Basics

DIGITAL CAMERA BASICS

This article covers the basics of digital photography which will provide a helpful insight if you are looking to purchase a new camera and to use an existing camera. If you're already the proud owner of a digital camera, you've probably spent more time snapping pictures than learning what your camera's buttons and symbols do.

Today's digital cameras fall into several categories:

COMPACT DIGITAL / POINT & SHOOT CAMERA
These cameras are the most inexpensive and can cost as little as £60, but for more functionality can rise to circa £450. Compacts are small and portable and are designed to travel, so usually fit in your pocket or bag easily. They usually have zoom lenses and built in flashes, and mostly automatic settings to allow you to take pictures without understanding the complexity of photography.

DIGITAL SLR CAMERA
The term Digital SLR is an acronym for digital single lens reflex. These have a larger build and true SLR cameras have interchangeable lenses allowing for different types of photography. When you look through the viewfinder, you are effectively looking through the lens itself with the help of a series of mirrors that directs the light to the viewfinder. When you take a picture the mirror positioned behind the camera lens snaps up to expose the image on the digital sensor behind. This is why when you press the shutter the image in view disappears for a length of time, this length of time is known as shutter speed. Like the old 35mm camera experience with its interchangeable lenses, filters, and other gadgets, the digital SLR brings this experience into the digital age.

Amateur SLRs
The amateur SLR usually comes as a kit, which includes the camera body and lenses, and perhaps other useful gadgets as a bundle. Prices range from £450-£900 depending on the make, functionality and build quality. These cameras are sufficient for everyday photography, and can have automatic functions as well as a number of manual functions which gives the photographer more control over image capture. A professional camera now can be classed as an amateur camera in the future when newer and better models are released, so it can sometimes be a fine line between the most expensive 'amateur' camera and a cheap 'professional' camera.

Professional SLRs
Professional cameras are generally quite expensive because they are on the edge of camera technology. When you hear the term 'professional digital SLR' it is generally referring to the camera body only. Prices for camera bodies can range for £1000-£6000 depending on the professional field of the photographer. Lenses are purchased separately, and can range from £400 - £1200 for a good all round telefocal lens with a maximum range of 200mm-300mm. These can sometimes be purchased as kits, but do not get this confused with 'kit lenses' which are what you get with an amateur camera. Larger telefocal lenses used for professional sports photography can be as much as £8000!

MEMORY CARD BASICS
A good tip when comparing memory cards is to look at price per megabyte, availability, and compatibility with your equipment.

CompactFlash cards tend to be the largest in physical size. These are available in capacities from 1GB up to 16GB. Prices have fallen dramatically in recent times so 4GB or 8GB is quite common to own.

Sony's Memory Stick format is interchangeable among all of its cameras, camcorders, and laptops. Memory Sticks persuade the customer to purchase additional Sony equipment as they can only be used with Sony products, but can be read by other manufacturers regarding laptops and PCs.

Secure Digital (SD) cards are the same size as postage stamps, most PCs and laptops and even handheld PC devices offer compatibility with this card.

xD-Picture Card is the smallest memory card and is a proprietary format for recent Fuji camera and Olympus camera.

TAKE CONTROL USING MANUAL

Moving away from the cheapest digital compact cameras, there will be manual functions on the camera settings to allow you to take your camera off autopilot and be in more control of the image exposure.

Aperture-Priority Mode
Aperture-priority mode is probably the most popular manual mode allowing you to specify how wide the camera's shutter opens, and the camera automatically takes care of the other settings (shutter speed or flash) to create a correct exposure. Aperture controls depth of field in the image. Simply, it controls how much of the background is blurred or in focus, also known as bokeh, among other professional effects.

Shutter-Priority Mode
Shutter-priority mode allows you to specify the speed that the shutter opens and closes, while the camera adjusts the aperture accordingly to create a correct exposure. A fast shutter is great for freezing action like in sports photography and slow speeds are great for night time photography as it allows more light into the camera while taking a shot. Shutter speeds can be manually controlled to create wonderful effects in a number of photography fields.

White Balance
Light varies depending on where you are and if not configured properly can lead to poor quality shots when printed. To compensate for varying light depending on location most cameras offer a white balance control. This setting allows you to select lighting conditions like Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, and Fluorescent.


Introduction to Digital Camera Basics

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Canon EOS Rebel T3 12.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm IS II Lens and EOS HD Movie Mode (Black)

!±8±Canon EOS Rebel T3 12.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR with 18-55mm IS II Lens and EOS HD Movie Mode (Black)

Brand : Canon
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Price : $439.00
Post Date : Dec 25, 2011 21:15:10
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The Canon 5157B002 includes the EOS Rebel T3 Digital SLR Camera and the EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS type II Lens. This camera and lens is perfect for photographers ready to make the move to digital SLR photography. The EOS Rebel T3 delivers beautiful photos and video, speed, simplicity and fun. It features a 12.2 Megapixel CMOS Image Sensor and Canon DIGIC 4 Image Processor for richly detailed images and quick camera response. It has Canon's amazing 63-zone, dual-layer metering for accurate exposures and features Canon's Basic+ function, HD video recording and Live View shooting, plus a convenient in-camera Feature Guide.

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Monday, December 19, 2011

Tweaks to Speed Up Internet Streaming Video

!±8± Tweaks to Speed Up Internet Streaming Video

The birth of "Guerilla Video" sites, such as Peekvid.com, Alluc.org and Youtube.com have given users instant access to a plethora of free media files. Although streaming video technology offers instant access to video files, zero loading time is not always possible. There are many factors that attribute to your computer's ability to start videos immediately. Other factors such as choppy PC video playback and slow video streaming also hinder your viewing experience. There are easy fixes to these problems. Sometimes choosing another site for the source of the video streaming or a lower quality version of the video can award you with instant play. These alternatives are not always available. However, there are a number of tweaks that help speed up your streaming video startup times, eliminate choppy PC video play and stop slow streaming video.

Before we start with the tweaks to speed up slow streaming video, lets get a basic understanding of streaming video technology in order to stop choppy video. Streaming video is a prerecorded video files that can be distributed as part of a live broadcast "feed." The video signal is converted into a compressed digital signal and transmitted from a Web server. This server is able to be multicast the same file to multiple users at the same time. When you click on the on the video it is partially loaded before you can access it. This is known as "buffering". This helps you to load and play the video instantaneously. Now lets take a look on how to cut down on buffering time, stop slow streaming video and eliminate choppy PC video playback .

Common Streaming Video Problems

Problem #1: Choppy PC Video Playback--Choppy video is usually a PC performance related issue. Here are a few things you can try to stop choppy playback and improve computer performance.

Solution A. Turn Off Hardware Acceleration-All media applications require different aspects of your computer's hardware. Depending on the task, the requirements may change. Turning off hardware acceleration allows the application to set the requirements itself and not be forced to use one universal setting. Hardware acceleration has been to known to cause choppy PC playback, application crashes and slow streaming video problems.

You can eliminate the problem below:
1.Click on "Start"
2.Click "Control Panel"
3.Select the "Settings" tab and click on the "Advanced".
4.Click on the "Troubleshoot" tab.
5.Disable the hardware acceleration completely by dragging the slider to the extreme left.

Solution B. Turn off Video Acceleration-The reason for this tweak is the similar to hardware acceleration. This act frees up resources in your media player and not your hardware. However you will need to decrease video acceleration in your chosen player. Some sites like Youtube.com don't offer this option. However, Windows Media Player gives the ability to easily alter this problem, follow the steps below. Other players' instructions will vary.

1. In Windows Media Player
2. Click the "Tools" menu tab
3. Click on "Options"
4. Select the "Performance" tab.
5. Move the Video Acceleration Slider to "None"

Solution C. Adjust your Windows Desktop Visual Effects-You computer will get a significance boost in
speed. This tweak will also free up more resources for your media player and PC performance.

1.Click "Start", and then click "Control Panel".
2.Click "System" and Choose "Display".
3.Find the "Advanced" tab and Click
4.Under "Performance", Click "Settings"
5.Under "Visuals Effects", you may choose from a list of options such as "Adjust for best performance" or custom. If you choose Adjust for best performance all the features will be unchecked.

For more performance tips check the "Speed Up PC" to free up more resources to stop PC choppy playback.

Problem #2: Slow and Constant Buffering-This problem can be attributed to two factors internet speed and your media player. You can tweak your PC setting in both areas to cut down on slow streaming video. Remember that each player has its own buffer settings. Below is an how to change buffer setting in Media Player.

Solution A. Adjust Buffer Settings-- To change the default buffer settings in Windows Media Player, use the following steps:
1.Start Windows Media Player
2.Click the "View" men
3.Click "Options"
4.On the "Advanced" tab, click "Streaming Media"(Windows Media)
5.Click "Change" to alter the buffer settings.

Remember that the higher you set the buffer the more of the clip will be loaded. The waiting time before you can see or hear the file will be longer, but there should be fewer interruptions once the clip begins to play.

Solution B. Use a Video Specific Proxy-A proxy allows for popular files to be loaded onto its servers. This eliminates the need for your computer to load the files. For example if you use the proxy, YouTubeProxy.org, you will not have to wait for your computer to download popular YouTube.com content because it may be already loaded in the server. This is a great way to stop slow streaming video.

These are just a few tips to eliminate choppy PC video playback and slow streaming video. However, there are more advanced ways to stop this problem. Depending on the site, there may be independent software developed specifically to speed up slow streaming video. Also, remember the general maintenance is a good way to avoid choppy PC video playback.


Tweaks to Speed Up Internet Streaming Video

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