Forget baseball--America's real national pastime is taking pictures.
Twenty years ago, 110-format film cameras ruled the earth. A decade ago, Advanced Photo System cameras were the kings of the snapshot. But today, unquestionably, digital is it. Thanks to digital technology, the average picture you take today is noticeably better than the average shot you captured ten years ago. That's great--but the biggest boon of going digital is that it makes taking (and sharing) your photographs easier, including being able to review your shots and throw away the bad ones.
So besides testing this month's Top 10 point-and-shoot cameras, we've rounded up a dozen interesting products and services that can enhance your digital photo experience and give your snaps some extra zing.
If you go into an electronics store and browse the digital camera section, you may be overwhelmed by the choices available. But choosing the right point-and-shoot camera isn't really difficult: It's basically a matter of understanding the features you need.
More pixels means better photographs--right? Not always. There's more to image quality than the resolution: The quality of the lens and of the image processing that the camera performs also play significant roles. In our image-quality tests, we rated the 5.1-megapixel Olympus C-5500 Sport Zoom and the 7.2-megapixel Casio Exilim EX-Z750 as having equally strong image quality. The 5.1-megapixel images from the Olympus are large enough to produce nice-looking prints at 8 by 10 inches (the size we use for testing), but not at much bigger sizes. To produce a good-looking photo print, you need at least 200 pixels per inch. So the 7.2-megapixel Casio (which takes photos at resolutions of up to 3072 by 2034 pixels) can produce a good-quality print as large as 11 by 14 inches. On the other hand, all of the cameras on our chart can produce attractive 4-by-6-inch photos that you will be proud to display.
Even though today's thin-and-light cameras can fit into a shirt pocket, many of them have big, bright LCD screens. The Casio Exilim EX-Z750, for instance, is under 1 inch thick, but offers a 2.5-inch LCD screen that's great for showing off your photos at a party. Such smaller models provide the same resolutions and scene modes as their bigger cousins do, but their zoom lenses are typically limited to 3X; a larger camera like Olympus's SP-500 Ultra Zoom has the size to accommodate a larger lens and can zoom farther into the action (up to 10X).
All the cameras we tested offer automatic shooting modes such as portrait, sports, fireworks, and museum. These scene modes can help you get the best pictures without having to manually change settings such as shutter speed. The Fujifilm FinePix F10 comes with just 5 preset scene modes, while the Casio Exilim EX-Z750 offers 30. But you probably won't use most of the Casio's modes, and scrolling through the list to find the right one can take a while. If you just want to point and shoot with your camera, try a simple model (such as the chart-topping HP Photosmart R717) that makes picture-taking as easy as possible by offering on-screen instructions. Our December review of advanced cameras evaluated plenty of units with sophisticated features, starting with the top-rated Canon PowerShot G6. Note, however, that some point-and-shoot camera models--among them the Canon PowerShot A520 and the Nikon Coolpix 7900--have useful advanced features of their own, such as manual control and several metering modes for taking finer control of the photographic process beyond what many of these cameras allow.
You might assume that the smaller a camera is, the shorter its battery life will be, but that's not the case. The compact Casio Exilim EX-Z57 had very impressive battery life, reaching our testing limit of 500 shots--that's more than double the life of the HP Photosmart R717. Some of the cameras on our point-and-shoot chart (such as the Olympus C-5500 Sport Zoom) use nonrechargeable AA batteries, which is a useful feature if your battery runs out and you're within trekking distance of a store.
We evaluated four new cameras for this month's chart: Olympus's SP-500 Ultra Zoom and Stylus 800, Panasonic's Lumix DMC-XL1, and Samsung's Digimax i5. The Olympus SP-500 carries an impressively long 10X zoom--the longest on the chart--while the Stylus 800 has a splash-proof case that protects the electronics from water, salt, and sand. The Panasonic provides three aspect ratios for taking wide-screen photos; and the Samsung is the size of a pack of cards, though the quality of its photos was mediocre. We also reexamined Nikon's Coolpix 7900 under our new test plan. (For more on testing, click here.) The two Olympus models and the Nikon made our Top 10. Click the links to read reviews of the Lumix and the Digimax.
See our current Top 10 chart of point-and-shoot cameras.
Boost Your Photo Fun
When you slip a compact point-and-shoot camera into your backpack, you probably don't plan on schlepping a big, heavy tripod to mount it on. But if you want to capture a long exposure or to steady the camera so that you can take a sharp picture in low light, what can you do?
Consider the Pod--it's one of those useful little gadgets that you'll find painless to pack on your next trip. Imagine setting your camera on top of a beanbag, and you pretty much get the picture. The Pod's mushy body provides a stable base for your camera, and it includes a threaded tripod bolt in the top. Just screw your camera onto the bolt, and then position the Pod's grippy bottom on almost any stationary surface to shoot a shake-free photo.
Portability is the Pod's main appeal. Available in two sizes, its 3.75-inch- or 5-inch-diameter body is filled with beans, so you can cram it into a small bag or backpack. And because the Pod is so small, you can use it in places--such as museums and art galleries--that expressly forbid ordinary tripods. The cost varies a bit, depending on your choice of color and size. $14 to $17.
The LE-Adapter lets you attach a telescope, binoculars, a spotting scope, or a microscope to your camera, dramatically magnifying its zoom power.
The LE-Adapter works with a range of digital and film cameras, from small point-and-shoot models to single-lens reflex units. All you need is a set of threads on the front of the camera lens; the adapter comes ready to screw onto cameras equipped with either 37mm- or 52mm-diameter threads. If your camera's lens has a different diameter, you can purchase a step ring online or at most camera stores to act as an intermediary between your camera and the LE-Adapter.
Of course, your photos won't be quite as bright and sharp as you're used to with your ordinary camera lens. A set of binoculars, for instance, may deliver a lot of magnification, but the optics aren't designed to take photos. On the other hand, the LE-Adapter allows you to capture photos that you otherwise couldn't with your digital camera. $126.
On a long trip, you probably carry extra memory cards or a laptop to accommodate all the pictures you'll take. But if you're already packing an iPod, why not let it do double duty as a hard drive?
That's the idea behind Belkin's Media Reader for iPod with Dock Connector. This gadget plugs into the docking port at the bottom of your iPod Photo or other model such as the Nano (not the iPod Mini, however) and transfers your photos via memory card--CompactFlash, SmartMedia, SD Card, or Memory Stick. Using iPod software version 2.1 or later, you can easily transfer your images first onto the iPod and later to your computer.
Belkin's convenient Media Reader device quickly turns your iPod into a handy place to store your photos. $50.
Boost Your Photo Fun (cont'd)
These days, text and photo blogs are as hot as Web sites were in 1996. But some people are reluctant to post personal photographs to a blog that the entire universe has access to. If you're looking for a way to share pictures, text, and files with a select group of friends and family, look no further than Imeem. Imeem is not a Web site; it's a program that hosts content such as text blogs, photos, discussion forums, instant messaging, and file sharing. Once you create your online space with Imeem, only people you personally approve can see your content. Or you can relax the privacy rules and let a wider circle of people see your stuff--such as friends of anyone directly linked to you--or you can just open the floodgates to the whole world.
When you're not logged in to Imeem, your user profile and text blogs remain available to anyone who has permission to see them, because they reside at Imeem's site. Your photos stay on your PC, however, so they're available for public viewing only when you're online. And when someone else views your photos, the program stores copies of the pictures on that person's PC. As an alternative to renting space on a public server, Imeem works well--especially if you link to a lot of friends. Free.
Slide is unlike a typical photo-sharing service. Whereas most sites post pictures online for visitors to peruse in a browser-based photo album, Slide displays your photos in a rolling filmstrip that scrolls slowly down the side of your computer screen. The pictures are small and unobtrusive; but if you hover over a particular image, the filmstrip pauses and the selected image pops into a larger window for closer inspection. Controls in the window let you share the picture instantly--at its original resolution--with anyone via e-mail. (The images are stored locally and are always sent from your own machine.)
Slide's filmstrip routinely displays images stored throughout your PC; this can lead to serendipitous rediscovery of long-lost photos. If you like, you can organize photos into channels and invite friends and family to subscribe to them so that they can see your photos on their own desktops. You can subscribe to other people's channels as well, so at any given moment you may be watching a filmstrip of your cousin's best photos. Some Web sites have created their own channels: You can subscribe to Gizmodo.com's parade of gadget-related photos, for instance. Free.
Sometimes, in spite of the growing number of online file-sharing sites, the hardest part of digital photography can be showing off what you've done. Generally you can't e-mail 6-megapixel images because most e-mail servers balk at such large files. Enter Avvenu, a service for sharing photos or entire folders on your computer with friends and family.
The photos stay on your PC, while Avvenu acts as a Web-based go-between. Use Avvenu to share photos, music, and other files; the recipient gets an e-mail message containing a preview of the photos and a link to the appropriate online location for downloading a copy of the files. From then on, your friends can access anything you throw into your shared folders. The downloads are secure; only people you choose can obtain them.
You can access the Avvenu service from any Web-enabled device, including mobile phones and PDAs, and browse your photos from the palm of your hand. Free.
Konfabulator is a free utility that lets you position widgets (little apps that do all sorts of things) on your desktop. Two of these widgets add cool capabilities to the popular photo-sharing Web site Flickr.
FD Flickr Uploader makes short work of posting your photos on Flickr. The Uploader sits on your desktop; just drag one or more of your photos to it and then type a title, tags, and a description for each image. In some cases you can save oodles of typing by applying the same set of tags to all of the images that you upload, with a single click.
Once your pictures are online, Flickr Album enables you to see them right on your desktop. Enter your Flickr ID or specify a tag that you're interested in, and you'll see a virtual album of Flickr photos. Clicking on any image sends you to its Flickr page in your Web browser. Free.
If you're eager to get a little more digital camera savvy, you don't have to wait for Windows Vista--with its built-in photo organizer and editor--to arrive. Microsoft's PowerToys--free but unsupported add-ons to Windows--include a couple of goodies especially designed for photographers.
Image Resizer addresses the common problem of how to shrink your digital photos. And there are many reasons why you might want to resize a photo--for instance, to attach it to an e-mail message, to post it on a Web page, or just to save disk space. With this utility you right-click one or more images and get a handy dialog box that lets you select one of several common sizes. Resized pictures appear as copies of the original in the same folder, or you can choose to replace the originals.
The other utility helps you use the RAW mode that some digital cameras offer. RAW is a lossless, uncompressed format; as such, it represents the ultimate in digital quality. JPEG, in contrast, is a compressed format that strikes a balance between file size and image quality. Until now, RAW has been hard to work with on a PC because the files are large and few applications recognize them. Microsoft's RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer PowerToy lets you preview RAW images, see thumbnails of them, and print them as if they were saved in any other file format that Windows understands. This software works with most Canon and Nikon cameras. Free.
Are you ready for a taste of so-called geo-photography? GPS-Photo Link associates photographs from almost any digital camera with position data from an ordinary handheld GPS receiver, as long as the receiver can download the saved waypoint coordinates to your computer. If your camera can record time and date information with each photo, it will work with GPS-Photo Link by matching times and dates.
At home, run the GPS-Photo Link wizard to synchronize the GPS coordinates and the photos; the result is a custom Web page that displays your pictures together with breadcrumbs on a satellite map that shows where each picture was taken.
GPS-Photo Link is expensive and somewhat finicky to use. But for marking your photos with navigation data and linking them to real, high-resolution satellite maps, it is currently the only game in town. $229.
Boost Your Photo Fun (cont'd)
When selecting inkjet printer paper, it's good to use paper from the same company that made your printer, because they're generally engineered to work well together. But what about special projects? Pictorico produces a superb family of inkjet papers that work well with most popular inkjet printers, including models from Canon, Epson, and HP. Pictorico Premium Canvas paper, for instance, has the look and feel of a painter's canvas, complete with rich texture and a warm paper tone. $17 for ten sheets of 8.5-by-11-inch stock.
T-shirts may not qualify as fine art, but transferring digital photos to clothing is popular for fundraisers, team sports, and family projects. Like Pictorico paper, HP's Iron-On Transfer paper works well with a wide variety of printers, so it's a great choice for putting a photo of your bowling league logo onto team T-shirts. $15 for 12 sheets of 8.5-by-11-inch transfers.
What color is white? Your digital camera must answer that question every time it takes a picture. To a camera white looks different indoors, outdoors, at sunset, and at high noon. Unfortunately, when running on full automatic settings, most digital cameras get it wrong about as often as they get it right--a major reason so many pictures have obvious color problems.
One way to solve this regular headache is by performing a white-balance adjustment--if your camera has this feature--each time you start taking pictures. To do this, you access the calibration function, aim the camera at a white or gray card (available from any camera shop for about $5), and shoot. But ExpoCap from ExpoImaging makes the task even easier. Just snap the opaque cap onto the front of your camera lens, and then set your camera's white balance. Unlike most white-balance aids, the ExpoCap gives your pictures a slightly warmer tone, which translates into better skin tones in pictures of people.
ExpoCap snaps onto the front of any camera lens that is 52mm, 58mm, or 67mm in diameter. If your lens isn't one of those standard sizes, you can set the white balance manually by holding the cap in front of the lens--or you might just want to go and purchase that $5 calibration card from your local camera store, instead. $59.
Because most digital photos never get printed on paper, sharing them electronically makes a lot of sense. That's where a digital display comes in handy. The Philips 7FF1AW/37 Digital Photo Display may have a name that only a robot could love, but this 7-inch LCD screen surrounded by a wood or contemporary clear plastic frame looks attractive enough to occupy a position of distinction in your living room, which is exactly the point.
The display can store 50 pictures internally, or you can play slide shows of your photos via SD Card, CompactFlash, or Memory Stick media. The display also has a built-in transition library of interesting visual effects to put between photos.
The display looks sharp and bright from a wide range of viewing angles, with 720 by 480 resolution in its 5.4-by-3.6-inch frame. And you needn't confine the display to a tabletop. Pass it around at a party, and its rechargeable battery will keep it alive for almost an hour. $249.
Camera and Photo Tips
Forget that advice you may have heard about not using a flash outside. When you take pictures in bright sunlight, your flash can help eliminate harsh shadows and thereby produce a better exposure. For best results, stand within 10 feet of your subject.
Don't use your digital camera's format command; instead, use the "erase all" option. If you format your memory card, many cameras will then create file names starting at number 001 all over again, leading to duplicate files on your computer.
All inkjet photos fade eventually, but you can stave off the inevitable for many years by keeping them out of direct sunlight and under a sheet of glass or plastic. Many modern printers generate prints that supposedly will last a century, but only if you use the recommended special paper and ink.
Try using your camera's burst mode instead of relying on a tripod. Brace yourself against something rigid, hold as still as possible, and press the shutter release so that the camera takes a bunch of pictures in succession. Then find the shot in the series that has the least camera shake (and delete the rest). Odds are good that at least one photo will be pretty steady.
The inexpensive HP Photosmart R717 provides extensive in-camera coaching and convenient extra features.
Richard Baguley and Dave Johnson
