Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with camera

Best camera store on Manhattan?

avocade — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:35:05 -0800

Want to try out lenses, tripods, filters, etc for my new Canon 40D. Nice camera, btw!

Do film cameras have any unique benefits?

invitapriore — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:04:29 -0800

In terms of output, what are the benefits to using film cameras over digital? I want to get back into photography. For a long time back in high school, I had access to a friend's semi-DSLR (lens not removable, fully adjustable shutter speed and aperture but limited choices in terms of things like white balance) and now I want to get back into photography. I've always been drawn to the idea of film cameras, and a friend of mine has a dark room, but my concern is the result and not so much the process. Does the medium of film have any unique advantages in terms of the images you can create?

My budget isn't very high, so if I were to go with a DSLR it would have to be old and somewhat cheap. Given this, the initially low investment that a film camera represents is somewhat alluring. I understand that film is a repeated expenditure, but I don't think I'll be shooting so much that it'll be a strain on my income.

Why is my camera not a camera?

EmpressCallipygos — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:00:39 -0800

I have an Olympus digital camera. On my old computer I could plug it in via a USB port and transfer images from the camera to the computer, using the Olympus software. But I got a new computer last summer -- and neither my computer nor the Olympus software recognizes it AS a camera. Instead, they think it's a flash drive. Is there a way to correct this? I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Olympus software, and updating it with the Olympus site. Unlike other questions I've seen that are similar, I AM able to get things off the camera -- I just have to treat it as a flash drive to do so. But it is mildly annoying and requires one extra step; so if there's a way to fix this, fine, but I'm not bereft of photos so I can put up with the current status quo if need be.

Stats on the computers -- the old one was a Gateway running Windows ME, purchased in 2000. New one is a Dell Vostro running Windows XP, purchased last year.

HD Camera that won't freeze?

trbrts — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:00:52 -0800

Can you help me find an HD video camera? I need an HD video camera for work. I work in the snow, so, it needs to be pretty rugged and not be shy with cold temperatures. I'd love to get away from tapes, but, I've heard that HD cameras don't play nice with freezing temperatures (but I've never actually seen this in print anywhere). I'm often out in the mountains before sun rise in below zero temps, so, I need a camera that can handle these conditions. It needs to be small enough to fit in my backpack with all the other equipment that is required for ski touring in the backcountry. I currently work on Windows XP, so it needs to play nice with that. I've been a still photographer for a long time, but, I really don't know anything about video and I'm trying to get up to speed with a good camera that I'm not going to destroy in one winter. Suggestions?

Also what are some good video forums/sites for N00bs?

Thanks in advance.

How do you work this thing?

katillathehun — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:14:48 -0800

I've recently inherited a few old cameras from my late grandfather, my favorite of which is a Minolta Hi-Matic G in almost perfect condition. I need a little help using it and finding out what can be used with it. 1. What kind of flash(es) can be used with it?

The Electroflash 20 that came with it doesn't appear to work anymore. Well, it makes that whine like it's charging, but it never seems to fully charge, and it doesn't fire. Anyway, I haven't been able to find another one exactly like it. I have found other Electroflashes on eBay, but I don't know anything about these things, like if any of them would be compatible. Honestly, I don't know much about flash photography in general; I avoid using a flash whenever I can. Still, I'd like to have something if and when I need it.

2. There's some threading on the lens housing. Can something be screwed into that? Like, I don't know, a filter or um... something? If so, what?

Might be obvious, but I'm not educated on this stuff, and there's no manual.

3. So, who knows where I can download a manual?

I found one for sale, but if anyone knows where I can download one, you'll be my hero, the wind beneath my wings, everything I'd like to be, etc.

I think I have a winner but

chickaboo — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:04:41 -0800

Digitalcamerafilter: Tell me what you think of your Olympus 1020 After shopping for a bit (thanks to everyone who responded to my previous thread, as well)
and I think I have narrowed it down to the Olympus 1020
I like its small size, and its excellent zoom. Is there something I'm missing that would warn me off it?

Where can I take pictures in DC?

fogster — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:47:01 -0800

Photography in Washington, DC: Where can I take my camera, and where can I take my tripod? I'm going to DC for a few days, and would like to take some pictures. I'm an avid photographer, and will be bringing a large SLR and tripod, so "sneak the camera in your back pocket" isn't an option. Showing up at a place with my camera that doesn't allow it would be a major imposition to me and everyone I'm traveling with, so I'd like to hit the ground running.

Can anyone comment whether cameras and tripods are permitted at the following places:
- White House (okay, this is a no, I know)
- Old Post Office Pavilion
- On/of the metro trains? (Boston's T doesn't allow photography, I know)
- The various Monuments (I've heard that the Lincoln Monument security disallow tripods)
- Inside the Capitol
- National Cathedral
- Smithsonian
- International Spy Museum (no cameras per their site)

Bonus points: any other good places I should bring the camera that I haven't thought of?

Is my Canon a lemon?

monster max — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 07:10:20 -0800

I'm really disappointed with my (fairly new) Canon PowerShot A570IS digital camera. It seems to eat batteries and the images seem really noisy. Can you help me work out whether (a) I'm imagining it or (b) I've just got a dud unit or (c) if I've got the settings wrong somehow. I had one of its predecessors, an A85, which I loved, ran forever on one set of batteries and produced excellent photos. It died after a very busy life (and being heavily used by my young children!) so I replaced it with a newer version that had had excellent reviews in lots of places.

I've checked reviews more recently (and searched on here) but can't see anyone else with these problems.

And if I should be posting this to a photography forum instead, do please suggest one.

Thanks. I'm hoping the answer's going to turn out to be (c) somehow...

120 film processing in Montreal, Canada

exquisite_deluxe — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:36:02 -0800

Where can I develop 120mm colour film in Montreal, or by mail order to Canada? I'm thinking about purchasing a Holga camera, but I don't know anything about developing 120 film. My main concern is convenience, so I'm looking for a drop off location either downtown or easily accessible by metro. Popping an envelope in the mail would be even simpler, if there is a developing place that charges reasonable rates for Canada.

Digital Camera for college?

tihleigh — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 23:48:23 -0800

I'm heading off to college in a few months and I'm absolutely overwhelmed by the myriad of point-and-shoot cameras on the market. I ran through some pictures (well, actually many pictures) on Flickr to try and get a feel for what I was looking for, but some pictures are naturally more appealing than others and the quality is affected by various factors, so I ruled that method out as an objective option. I'm pretty sure more megapixels isn't always more quality and that there are other factors to account for, such as noise and shutter speed, but I'm at a loss at what really matters in a digital camera. I hope I don't sound completely uninformed, but I've scoured previous topics and while they're very helpful, they're a little outdated. I would really appreciate recommendations on a compact/ultracompact camera that takes pretty pictures! I'm willing to spend up to 300, but hopefully no more than that :) Thoughts? Suggestions? Jeers? :(

Guides/tricks for my new DSLR?

meerkatty — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 10:55:24 -0800

Please help me use my new DSLR camera. Are there guides/tricks for specific cameras online? I took a course today on how to use my new Canon Rebel xti, which came with a handy password protected guide online. (The guide was far superior to the camera manual - with explanations of when and why you would use a certain function, complete with photo examples.) The course was a little basic for my needs but I can't take the more advanced part of the course for a few months. Are there guides along these lines available online?

Big bonus points for anyone who has the password for Henry's School of Imaging Canon xti Part 2 guide.

camera buying shy

chickaboo — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:41:46 -0800

I need a new digital camera. Don't roll your eyes. I do need some help. I am looking for something that is fairly compact, costs less than $500, and has a decent zoom. I had a canon elph that recently died on me, but I was really frustrated with the zoom on it, it was really crappy.

I generally take snaps of family and friends - lots of children - but I also sew and would like to capture some of the detail in my work.

Any and all advice is welcome! thank you!

Looking for a camcorder to help record university help sessions

Proginoskes — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:25:50 -0800

I run help sessions for math students at my local university. I'd like to start videotaping them and allowing my students to view the recordings on the web. However, I know next to nothing about what sort of camcorder would be appropriate for this. The two most important criteria are that it clearly shows what I'm writing on the blackboard and that I'm able to use it with a wireless microphone (any suggestions about wireless microphones would be helpful, too!). Thanks.

Going handeld! Need advice...

TuxHeDoh — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:51:27 -0800

I'm going to be doing some live/handheld camera work for a church conference next week, i've got the camera experience and know how to focus, iris up, bump the gain, white balance on stationary cameras, but haven't done a lot of handheld work. This will be used during concert-like worship sets, and high-energy crowd particpation stuff. Do any mefites have any suggestions for things I should try, pay special attention to, figure out prior to showtime?

Price check, please.

tomcochrane — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:33:37 -0800

I'm looking for a site that lists the resale value for used electronics. I'm looking into buying a dslr camera (my first) and am considering getting one used. However, I don't want to get ripped off. So if such a site exists, then I might be able to get a feel for how much I should have to pay for a camera.

ps. I'm looking at getting a Nikon D40 if I can find a decent deal.

How to get my photos off my camera?

kilikina73 — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 09:41:58 -0800

Why can't my laptop get my photos off my camera? I have a Canon Powershot TX1, and all of a sudden, my laptop stopped "seeing" the photos on it. When I plug the camera into my (windows xp OS) laptop using a usb cable, it recognizes the camera, but just hangs and shows no data on the drive. More info: The card (cards -- I've tried both) is fine -- I've been able to access the photos using a card reader, but the laptop just does not want to read the card via the camera. The laptop "sees" the camera itself, but when I go to open the camera using win explorer, the hourglass pops up and then nothing happens. Thoughts?

Looking for Fun Camera or Computer Projects during a Cross Country Drive

hworth — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:55:38 -0800

I'm looking for instructions, guides, or suggestions of something fun to do with my camera or laptop during an upcoming cross-country drive. In a week and a half I'll be driving from St. Louis to Southern California. I have a MacBook with OS X Tiger and a Canon Powershot SD 750. I have 5 2gb memory cards for the camera.

I wanted to do something fun with the camera or isight while on the road. Rigging up the laptop on my front seat to shoot a time-lapse video from the isight seems like the easiest option, but I'm wondering if anyone has any more interesting/complicated suggestions.

I would be happy to invest the time to learn any sort of program or skills with the camera or computer, but not looking to spend more than 50 bucks for any additional supplies. If anyone has any links to cool projects online, I'd be happy to copy someone's cool idea with my own trip as opposed to doing something original.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to set up my laptop on my passenger seat to keep it safe and secure? I'd hate to slam on the brakes and have it smash into the dashboard.

Help me conceive / design / implement a videoconferencing solution for a medium-sized business with three offices.

aydeejones — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:34:43 -0800

Help me conceive / design / implement a videoconferencing solution for a medium-sized business with three offices. Our requirements are numerous and may need to be reined in based on budgetary constraints... Our offices are connected via 54Mbps LSS circuits. Our primary requirement is that the offices be able to conference with each other from their respective board / conference rooms. Our main office board room table is 20" x 4" and this is where most of the big meetings take place, so it'll probably need the best wide-angle PTZ camera out of the three, and decent sound pickup.

We also have a relatively large, open waiting area where meetings take place, and want to be able to use videoconferencing for these meetings so that our staff don't have to travel so much.

These larger staff meetings involve lots of back-and-forth discussion so we're debating how best to address the A/V needs here -- wire the room for sound, use a good condenser mic from the center of the room, pass around a dynamic microphone as people talk, etc.

Oh, and we want to be able to record these meetings for future reference, and want to be able to log in and witness these videoconferences through a web browser. Sure would be nice if you could *participate* in the conferences via web browser, but that's probably pushing it; we want anyone to be able to see what's going on but aren't interested in ensuring that every workstation has a camera installed.

Our current budget is sub-10K and I don't think that's realistic when looking at some of the tightly-bundled setups a la Polycom. I'm debating how far to go with a piecemeal solution; I have some audio experience and would love to get my hands dirty, but do not want something that is cobbled together, requiring my intervention at every turn to keep it running smoothly. I am more of a software guy and I love to write code more than anything else, so if that factors into how slick this could be (Sharepoint?) I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Someone suggested that I might be able to use this rig which has a decent DVR, but this is clearly a security-only solution and does not include sound functionality. I think I've successfully convinced them that trying to use such a contraption would be quite difficult and would involve MUXing and would be like forcing a square peg into a round hole.

This seems to be a pretty big undertaking, eh? "Call a consultant" is certainly a passable answer but I'm hoping to tap into some past experience and make this a great resource for other souls like myself who are tasked with bringing a medium-sized business into the wonderful world of videoconferencing without shelling out crazy cash.

My new camera is worthless!

wafaa — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 14:52:47 -0800

My new Canon SD750 suddenly displayed the dreaded black screen. Help! I ordered this from Amazon and received it 3 days ago. I was getting ready to take a picture and the LCD went black. I can still see the menu and images stored. My Googling gave me results that pretty much said, wow that sucks, and Canon sucks with their customer service, and something about a CCD failure... I went to the troubleshooting section of the manual and it said "black display--hit the display button, if that doesn't fix it, your camera needs service". I checked Amazon's return policy and if I understood it correctly, it said only new, unopened product will be accepted for refund. Now what?

Autofocus on a new camera

jrholt — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:52:09 -0800

Help me figure out my new Canon dSLR camera's 9-point autofocus feature! I just bought a Canon 5D, and one of the features I was looking forward to is the "multistick" autofocus point selector. I've used other people's 5Ds before, and theirs has always been set so that all one must do is push the stick in the appropriate direction, and the AF sets. On the factory settings, though, there's a more involved method of first clicking something else, and then selecting the AF point.

I would be eternally grateful for assistance in this matter.

snappy situation

troika — Thu, 29 May 2008 11:50:19 -0800

Where can I get 120 film (for a Holga) in Washington, DC and Auckland, NZ? Is mail order my only option? Also, regading developing: is mail order my only option?

Inexpensive, basic lens for a Nikon D40?

The corpse in the library — Thu, 29 May 2008 11:33:53 -0800

Inexpensive, basic lens for a Nikon D40? I am overwhelmed by my options when it comes to lenses for my Nikon D40 DSLR. I have the 18-55mm it came with, but I would like something less bulky -- and less eye-catching -- for carrying around with me.

I see the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor lens, and it sounds great -- but I don't want to lose the autofocus.

I also see the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM lens, and it sounds glorious -- but too expensive.

Is there a basic lens out there, around $100, that will work with my D40, including autofocus?

Is a broken camera lens useful for anything?

logic vs love — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:01:34 -0800

Can anything interesting be done with a broken SLR zoom lens? So, I dropped my digital SLR and the lens didn't survive. It was a 18-70mm zoom lens, if it matters. Now the barrel is tilted and it's nearly impossible to zoom in/out or focus. It was the kit lens so I'm not too upset, but I'm wondering if there's anything fun that can be done with it at this point? It seems such a waste to just toss it.

I want to corrupt my memory!

ChrisManley — Mon, 26 May 2008 07:03:12 -0800

How can I corrupt memory? I have a plain SD card, and I'd like to be able to reliably make the memory corrupt. Can this be done? Basically, I want to get that error that everyone dreads when it shows up on the digital camera. That the card is corrupted and needs to be formatted.

I've found many resources on how to recover from corrupt memory, but none that give any idea how to cause it consistently. The only information I've found are the things that might cause it - running on low batteries, unplugging during file copies and the like.

I've spent some time with a hex editor, attacking the headers and such of the memory stick, but none of these have caused corruption.

Any ideas?

I'm looking for a hard-headed camera.

yomimono — Thu, 22 May 2008 09:01:33 -0800

I'm looking for a digital camera to take on my two-month bike ride. I'm not hugely into photography, but I'd like to bring a camera along on my bike ride along the Great Lakes. I have a few requirements that seem to be mutually exclusive, from what I've seen at amazon.com and camera shops I've asked around at:

Waterproof - it does not need to be submersible, but I want to be able to take pictures in the rain without killing the camera.
Durable - it needs to be able to handle being shaken around in a saddlebag.
SD card compatible - I have a few SD cards and will be bringing along an EeePC, so I am fairly inflexible on this.
Optical zoom - 2x or 3x is fine. I would consider a camera without this if it met the other requirements.
Linux-compatible - I will not buy a camera that requires some bizarre Windows-only software to get the photos off, or shoots in some weird-ass proprietary format.
Swappable batteries, or a very long battery life - I will be in the backwoods for days at a time, away from electrical power.
Hackable firmware would be nice, but this is definitely not necessary.

My budget is in the $300-$400 range. If it's impossible to get all these things, can you recommend a camera with some of these attributes?

Thanks in advance!