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Compact Flash naming standards
For many camera memory vendors, throughput is written as "1X" which means a maximum sustained data transfer rate of 150 MBps. Others, such as the Microdrive use real throughput numbers. For example,
- Lexar 40X = 6 MBps
- 4 GB Microdrive = 4.3-7.2 MBps equivalent to 28X-48X
- 340 MB Microdrive = 1.8-3.0 MBps equivelent to 12X-20X
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32X is 4.8 MBps
- 66X is 10 MBps
- 13X is 2 MBps
For Microdrives, I expect the specific speed of a write operation depends on where on the disk platter (inside edge versus outside edge) the data is being written. [14-Jan-06]
Four "must have" filters
An article in Popular Photography says that there are four filters worth having, even for digital cameras:
Polarizer filter. Good for removing glare from water or glass, deepens blue skies and brightens colors. Downside is that you lose 2 F-stops of light transmission.
81A Warming filter. Nicer/warmer skin tones and more natural looking colors. Loses 1/2 stop.
Daylight Florescent filter. Good for removing the green colorcast of florescent lights. Some say better then the florescent white-balance setting on digital cameras. Loses 1 stop of light.
Skylight 1A filter. Good as a lens protector. Cuts almost 50% of UV light. Adds some warmth to colors. Next to no loss of light. [18-Jul-04]
Nikon D70 EXIF bug
EXIF is the name of the meta-data standard which stores data about the photo in the image file. Information includes the time & date when the photo was taken, plus the camera settings (f stop, shutter speed, etc). The Nikon D70 has a "problem" in that the camera records the ISO setting in the EXIF data but not in the proper ISO field.
One solution (until Nikon fixes the firmware) is to use a tool that scans the specified directory and fixes the EXIF data for all images it finds. This program is available in two formats: NikonExifFix.zip (a Windows EXE) or NikonExifFix.jar (a Java file). The source of the program is also available.
The tool is discussed in the forum thread http://www.nikonians.org/dcforum/DCForumID86/892.html. [15-Jul-04]
EXIF-aware applications
Here's some programs I know of that can read and display EXIF data:
[15-Jul-04]
PSP and EXIF data
Paint Shop Pro has a macro (script) that will write EXIF data into the bottom right corner of the image. Seems to be easy enough to modify the macro to specify whatever EXIF data you wanted to include there. [15-Jul-04]
How important is the media write speed?
Compact Flash cards which offer much higher write speed are becoming available, although the price of them is up to twice as expensive than the "standard speed" models of the same size. The idea is that these will mean you can take successive shots much quicker because there is less time waiting for the data to be written to the media.
This is true for point-and-shoot digital cameras (such as my Canon S40), because the camera locks up until the photo is written to disk. However, for dSLR cameras such as the Nikon D70, there is a large write buffer in the camera meaning that the camera can immediately take a second (or third, or...) short without having to write the photo data to disk.
Byron and I did some experiments on his D70, to see how big the buffer is and how many shots could be taken in continuous mode before the buffer fills up and shooting speed is slowed to the speed of the media:
Large image (6Mpel), Fine JPG compression:
- Byron's highspeed Lexar 1 GB 40X CF card: 12 photos before it slowed down
- My slow 340 MB Microdrive: 9 photos
Large image, Medium JPG compression (smaller file size):
- Byron's highspeed CF card: 25 photos
- My slow 340 MB Microdrive: 13 photos
So the conclusion is: for the D70, the write speed of the media is only important if you are taking a large number of photographs as quickly as possible.
We expect that the smaller the file size (ie, smaller image or stronger compression), the more photos you can take in continuous mode before the buffer fills up.
In fact, Byron read in various reviews that if you select medium image size (as opposed to medium compression level), then the number of photos you can take continuously is unlimited, presumably regardless of the speed of the CF media. So basically the images are small enough in Medium size to keep pace with the camera's CPU and write engine. [13-Jul-04]
Printing posters
The company I used to print a panoramic digital photo out as a poster was http://expressdigitalimages.com. They printed my cricket photo out as an 8 foot x 18" poster for $100 including lamination. They said a minimum of 100 dpi for posters is recommended. [8-Jul-04]
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