Prakash Advani's Blog

Most digital cameras especially SLRs are now using RAW file format which retains all the details unlike jpg file formats which is a lossy compression.

Now Linux users can also use RAW. You can use the UFRaw, which can also be used as a plugin for gimp.

Pentax K100D is an interesting Digital SLR Camera.

Pros:

• Has good reviews about the photo quality.
• Built-in Anti-Shake, so you don’t need to spend extra for anti-shake when you buy an extra lens. This is a great feature cause if you buy other brands, you have to pay almost twice for the lens with Anti-Shake.
• Takes AA batteries (Alkaline, Ni-MH) as well as Lithium-Ion.
• Accepts SD Memory, which is getting more common now in consumer devices such as MP3 players, Phones. So if you run out of memory on your camera, you can plug out a mini-SD from your cellphone, plug it in the SD adaptor and use in your camera.
• Supports both JPEG and RAW format.
• Value for Money (around US$500).
• Accepts all the Pentax lenses ever made. Yes Pentax claims that you can use any of the Pentax lenses ever made, the latest ones can fit on directly and the older ones need an adaptor.

Cons:

Not much really of an issue, seems like a good buy but may of concern to people.

• 6 megapixel may be limiting for some: 6 MP is good enough to print A3 size prints, but may be issues if someone wants to use your photos for printing larger than A3 posters.
• Weight: slightly heavier than Olympus/Canon in the same category.
• Pentax not being the most popular SLR in some countries, getting choice of lens may be difficult.

Note: There is a cheaper K110D is also available which is identical to the K100D except it doesn’t have anti-shake. Anti-Shake is highly recommended so its worth paying the extra.

Read the review at DP Review, they have listed this camera under Highly Recommended.

See my photo album.

There was a time when people would buy their computer based on the gigahertz. After the gigahertz race, now people are running after megapixels. What are you going to do with all those extra pixels?  Is the megapixel the most important criteria to selecting a digital camera?

Not necessary. If you can print an A3 size print from a 6MP (megapixel) do you need bigger than that?

From this article:

Digital camera makers continue to squeeze ever more megapixels into their products. But does that make for better pictures?

Some experts say no. Image quality isn’t improving, they say, and some fear it may actually be degrading as the megapixel race escalates.

Also consider the fact, that higher megapixel, mean bigger image sizes, which require more memory costs.

So unless you are into professional photography, your buying decision shouldn’t only be based on megapixel. Especially when you are starting with your first point-and-shoot camera. You could also save a 100 dollars by just selecting one model older with lower megapixel.

Related article: 25 things you must know before buying digital camera

Did you know that photography was accidentally discovered? Louis Daguerre discovered photography in 1837 in France. Since then people have been able to capture all the moments, important events or just plain fascination.

Nice Article .

Interesting article on things to check before buying a digital camera.

Top three things that I liked the most:

Don’t Get Caught Up in Mega-pixels – just because the camera is higher Mega-pixel, doesn’t mean its better. 4/5 Mega-pixels is more than enough for every day use unless you want to take very large (poster size) prints.

Ignore Digital Zoom and check the Optical Zoom.

Be Careful When Buying Package Deals – Its often cheaper to buy the memory separately from another reseller and camera from a camera shop.

Also cameras don’t bundle any useful memory, so you always need to add the cost of memory. If the camera takes AA batteries, then you need to add the cost of rechargeable AA + charger.

Things to add to this list:

If you need more than 6X optical Zoom, make sure that the camera has Image Stabilisation.

If you select a camera which takes AA batteries, then you can use rechargeable batteries and when you run out of them, you can always buy regular AA batteries and use them, although you may not get lots of shots there. But the non-AA cameras which have Lithium Ion batteries typically have longer battery life, so that may be a consideration.

Some cameras such as Sony use proprietary memory. This means that every memory that you buy is more expensive and only works with Sony products. If you camera/ mobile phone/other devices use standard memory such as SD Memory, you can interchange the memory. This is big plus. When I am traveling and run out of memory on my Camera, I plug out the memory from my mobile phone and stick it in.

After having used both Canon S2 and Konica Minolta Z6, here is my feedback.

Note: Canon S3 is a 6 Mega Pixel while S2 is 5. Other than that I haven’t noticed much of a difference.

Features which are common to both the models:

6 Mega Pixel
12 X Optical Zoom
4AA Batteries
Image Stabilisation

Picture quality of both are similar.

Advantages of Canon S2/S3.

The camera has more intelligence. For example if you take a vertical photo, the camera will put a rotate tag in the image. When you view the picture in a viewer, it will turn the picture and show you the right orientation.

The camera also has good support for panoramic photos which makes it easy to take panoramic photos.

The LCD is vari-angle which means it can be twisted around to get those difficult shots.

Z6 doesn’t have these features.

Advantage of Konica Minolta Z6

Cheaper than Canon
Weight is a bit lighter, advantage is that its easier to click photos with one hand.

Final impressions.

The Canon S2/S3 is a better buy overall. It looks better as well. If you are on a budget or don’t want a heavy camera, the Z6 may be better. One thing to consider is that Konica Minolta has sold off its Digital Camera business to Sony so getting support later may be a challenge.

Also since Canon has launched S3, the S2 has become cheaper. S2 which is 5 Mega Pixel is good enough unless you want to take very large prints. So you could get a good deal on the Canon S2.

Sample photos:

Canon S2

Konica Minolta Z6

See previous related post.

I have written a small script to create personalised greeting cards.

With this script you can print a persons name on a template file at a specific location.

How to use it. Create a template file, then run the command greetings Name (where name is the name that you want to print on the file. This would generate a Name.jpg out of the template file. If you want to modify the position of the text, Look for “text 300,80” try changing this.

Sample Template File.

Example Output File.

Download the script.

Dependency: This program relies on convert program, which is a part of ImageMagick. I have written and tested this on Linux.

I was planning to buy the Konica Z6 but after much consideration settled for the Canon S2.

Advantage of both Canon S2 and Konica Z6.

– 12X Optical Zoom.
– Standard AA Batteries.
– Standard SD Memory.
– Many SLR like features and finer controls.

Canon S2 Advantage:

– Better image quality as per web reviews.
– LCD can rotates around which provides flexibility.
– Super Macro mode to click real closeups.
– Looks better.

Konica Z6 Advantage:

– 6 Megapixel vs Canon S2 which is 5 Megapixel.
– Cheaper by US$100.
– A bit ligher than S2.

I have been using the Canon S2 for a week now, here is what I didn’t like about it.

– Bulky and a bit heavy as compared to my older point and click.
– You tend to press the menu button by mistake while taking a photo.

Konica Minolta has a new model DiMAGE Z6. This is a good semi-professional Digital Camera. I like the DiMAGE because it has most of the features found in high end digital cameras at a cheaper price. It also uses standard SD Memory and AA Batteries.

I also liked the earlier model Z5 and that has been on my shopping list. As compared to that Z6 has the following extras:

• 6 Megapixel vs 5
• better battery life

The Z5 support 640X480 movie mode but Z6 only supports 320X240.

So if these don’t matter to you, then you could still go in for the Z5. Z5 prices are expected (if not already) to come down as Z6 is available in the market in September.

Here is a detailed comparison of Konika Minolta DiMAGE Z6 and DiMAGE Z5.

Also read the complete review at DP Review.

As per an article:

9.7 million digital cameras were sold in the United States in the first half of 2005.

This showed 20% growth but comparatively, in the year 2004 the growth was 50%.

The reason for the slow down is because people are now buying camera phones so consumers aren’t buying stand alone digital cameras.

Professional photographers would still continue to buy high end digital camera.

If you are looking at buyging a SD memory card which is a standard memory used by most digital cameras, then SanDisk Ultra II SD Plus is an interesting product. It is a standard SD Card but also has a USB port. So it can be directly connected to the PC to transfer images, without requiring an adaptor.

It can also double up a a USB pen/thumb drive.



See a bigger picture here.

I have written a small script to make it easy to process digital camera photos.

You can use the script to optimise your photos before putting them up on the web. It does the following:

It creates a directory web and puts the processed photos in that so as to not alter the original images.

When you click photos vertically from a Digital Camera, it actually stores the photos horizonally and puts a rotate tag. Some of the viewers are not able to understand them.

This script looks for images with rotate tags, rotates them and removes the tag. This makes it easier to view on any image viewer.

The script also optimises the size of the image so as to save space. For example a 3.2MB pixel photo can take 1-2 MB of space, after using this script it is optimised to 1024×768 ( which is good for viewing on the screen) and uses only 100 KB of space.

It puts a copyright notice on the top right corner of the image.

And it changes the file name to lower case.

The script requires the following:

Linux, haven’t tested on anything else.
convert (part of imagemagick).
jhead
chcase. This requires Perl.

I have also found ren a nice tool to rename multiple files. Eg. If I have files called photos001.png.jpg, photos002..photos003… and I want to rename all of them to photos001.jpg ..photos002.. then I can do that by typing.

ren “photos*.*.*” photos#1.#3

Download the script from here.

See some of the photos which have been processed using this script in my photo album.

I went for Mumbai Motor Show, it was a let down since most of the car manufacturers were not participating. There wasn’t much to see other than some nice Vintage cars – which I can’t own and Chevrolet’s – Which I can’t afford

See the photos.

I went to watch the Mumbai Marathon 2005. It was a happening event, almost everyone that matters was there! Right from the dabbawala to top industrialists and movie stars, they all were there. Never seen so much of excitement.

I managed to click quite a few photos with my Digital Camera. Check them out:

http://www.cityblogger.com/photos/marathon

Digital Camera’s are getting increasing popular and once people acquire a basic one there is an urge to have a Digital SLR.

Why an SLR? Its considered to be a professional. The point and shoot camera are suppose to be only for Beginners. I disagree with that to an extent because the more complexity you have in your camera, you end up spending more time setting it up. This specially doesn’t work when see something interesting and want to quickly take a shot.

Normally SLRs are also more expensive but I came across an inexpensive one. The Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3

At around US$ 350 I think its a good deal.

Things I liked:

Read the reviews at dpreview.

Been thinking of doing of some underwater photography.

This article tells you how to do it really cheap!

Using Karunakar’s Telescope , we managed to take a few photos of the Moon. We did this without the any SLR/Professional camera, just a normal digital camera from the top of my building.

After buying my digital camera, I decided to set up my own photo album.