I don’t understand teenage girls. This is a video where I try to understand them and that.
“Another great gem” – Barry Aldridge
Posts Tagged ‘Understanding’
Understanding Teenage Girls
30
Jan
Understanding What the Anti Dust Feature is in Digital Slr Cameras
25
Jan
Digital cameras use a sensor known as CCD in order to convert light energy to pixels. Dust that accumulates on the CCD can result in black pixels or imperfections in the photo as it blocks light energy from hitting parts of the CCD. We will go over a few solutions for eliminating dust on the CCD.
The CCD sensor is located behind the reflex mirror in a digital SLR camera. When taking a photo the mirror moves and lets the light coming through the lenses hit the CCD which then converts the light to a series of pixels comprising the digital photo. Most of the time the camera is closed and dust can not penetrate it. Some cameras might not be completely sealed against dust resulting in dust penetrating he camera’s body even with the lenses installed. However in most cases the majority of dust exposure is when lenses are replaced. During that time the camera is open and exposed to air and dust.
In order to minimize dust on the CCD make sure that you minimize the time in which the camera is open and exposed to air. For example when changing lenses make sure that you are in a relatively clean environment and that you have the second lenses handy. Try to avoid changing lenses when in windy or dusty environment. Never take the lenses off a camera and leave the body open and exposed – either install other lenses or put a seal on the body to prevent dust penetration.
Even with careful care dust will eventually find its way into the camera and on the CCD. There are a few ways to get rid of that dust. Depending on your camera some of them will not be available to you.
Active dust removal: Most new SLR cameras include some sort of active dust removal mechanism. The most common one is anti dust vibration. This solution removes dust from the sensor by vibrating it in high frequency for a short period of time. Vibrating the CCD will result in dust falling off the CCD or “dancing its way” from the CCD. Different cameras turn the anti dust vibration at different times. Some cameras turn it on every time the camera is switched on, some every time it is switched off and some both when the camera is switched on and when it is switched off. Other cameras turn the vibration on periodically or let the user turn it manually.
Cameras that include an image stabilizer based on sensor movement usually also include anti dust vibration since they already include the mechanical part: a motor that can move the sensor and thus the anti dust vibration is a simply software addition.
Passive dust prevention: Passive solution that tries to eliminate some of the causes for dust accumulating on the CCD. The main reason that draws dust to the CCD is static charge. Some manufacturers add an anti-static coating on the outer layer of the CCD (usually this is the low pass filter layer). By doing that the CCD is less likely to attract dust due to its static charge.
Manual dust removal: Manual removal is simply a way for you to manually clean the CCD. When put in manual dust removal mode the camera moves the mirror and keeps it in a position where the CCD is exposed and is reachable. At that time you can try to blow off dust from the CCD for example by using an air blower. You could also use special cloth in order to clean the CCD but be very careful when doing that and make sure you read the manufacturers instructions for how to clean the CCD without damaging it. If you’re not sure how to clean the CCD it is better not to attempt cleaning as it can be easily damaged.
All dust removal methods have their limitations. Adhesive dust or other material is either very hard to clean or impossible to clean. Eliminating dust completely from the CCD is impossible but by applying care and the mentioned features most of the dust that results in photo imperfections can be avoided. For the casual photographer the built-in active or passive anti dust features should be enough and manual cleaning will not be needed.
Understanding Digital Cameras: Getting the Best Image from Capture to Output
24
Jan
Product Description
Understanding Digital Cameras will help you to:
* Choose the right camera, lens and output option to capture the perfect image
* Develop great technique, whatever your style or subject matter
* Be inspired! Showcasing a wide range of images, plus the work and insights of guest photographers
This key resource for all photographers will help you get the very best from today’s sophisticated digital cameras.
Discover which type of camera, lens, lighting and printer is right for you with clear explanations and close-ups of camera settings and menus. A key tool to improve your photography is to see comparison images side by side. Tarrant shoots the same scene with different equipment or a d… More >>
Understanding Digital Cameras: Getting the Best Image from Capture to Output
Understanding Money & Banking Pt. 1: What Is Money?
17
Jan
Part 1 of a multi-part series by lawyer Paul McKeever that explains the nature of money and banking as it has never been explained to you before.
Elvis Costello Hosts Letterman And Sings “what’s So Funny ’bout Peace Love & Understanding”
13
Jan
Elvis Costello introduces himself and then sings “Peace, Love & Understanding” with the Imposters…March 12, 2003, when he guest-hosted for David Letterman.
Photography – Understanding Film Vs Digital Cameras
10
Dec
Emulsion film, as a medium for capturing photographic images, has been around in one form or another for more than 150 years. But due to the rapidly growing popularity of digital cameras, newcomers to photography are sometimes surprised to discover that film is still being manufactured and sold for all-purpose photography. Once their first digital camera is in hand, and they have mastered the art of recording images electronically, and storing them as files, the idea of using film seems a strange concept indeed.
So why is film still being used by some photographers?
To understand the answer to this, we will need to take a look at the differences between film stock and the modern image sensors that make digital cameras possible.
Let’s start with the newer technology: the light sensitive electronic surface that sits at the center of a digital camera, and which is known as an image sensor. Basically these sensors are a specialized form of microchip. But they do not carry out any computations. Instead, all they do is measure the amount of light that falls on different parts of the sensor surface in a given time window. If you were to zoom in on one of these thumbnail-sized chips, blowing it up to the size of a football stadium, you would see that the surface of the sensor looked a lot like your tiled kitchen floor.
Each one of those square tiles represents a separate photodiode, capable of measuring just the amount of light that falls on it. In fact, sitting just above each photodiode is a colored filter. The filter is there to block all but the wavelength of light that it sends on to the photodiode. These filters come in red, green, and blue, so that any given photodiode will be measuring only the intensity of light for the particular color of the filter sitting above it.
Imagine for the moment that every tile on that kitchen floor is green. Now take one row of tiles and color every second tile blue. For the next row of tiles, color every second tile red, but shift the red tiles across by one space so that the red tiles appear beneath the green tiles of the previous row. Then repeat the process with blue tiles on the next row, and so on, until the entire floor is covered with these alternate rows of green/blue and green/red tiles. This is just what the surface of the image sensor looks like when seen close up.
In point of fact, this particular arrangement of colored filters, with twice as many green pixels as either red or blue, is known as a Bayer array. It is the most commonly used color filtering method employed in digital cameras, but it is by no means the only one used. Because the human eye is more sensitive to green light than red or blue, the green-favoring of the Bayer system actually works to its advantage when the colors are finally combined to produce printable images.
Every time a digital camera is used to record an image, this mosaic of colored tiles captures the various intensities of red, green, and blue light. So every photodiode, or “electronic pixel”, has associated with it a color and a number. If a perfectly green lime was being photographed, the red and blue pixels would have the number zero associated with them, while the green pixels around them would carry non-zero numbers. In reality, small contributions of red and blue light would be mixed with much stronger green contributions to produce the hues of green that color the skin of the lime.
All of this information is whisked away from the image sensor and stored in a temporary image buffer, later to be transferred to the memory card used by digital cameras to store images as files. Software is then used to manipulate the images (or not) before they are finally sent to a photo printer.
The resolution of the images is determined by the number of photodiodes (pixels) that can be crammed onto the surface of an image sensor. These days it is not uncommon to find about 4000 pixels along one edge of the sensor, and 2500 along the other. The product of these numbers is 10 million, or 10 megapixels in the digital camera parlance.
So, how does this compare with film resolution?
Well, these days the brand of film stock recognized as offering the finest resolution is Fuji’s Velvia 50 RVP. While it is not possible to ascribe a grain size to the emulsion that is used in slide film (there are a number of different sized grains in the dyes that make up the emulsion) an effective number of pixels per inch can be assigned to film stock based on how many closely-spaced “thin lines” can be resolved in the laboratory. The effective PPI, or pixels per inch, for Velvia is about 4000. This translates, assuming a 35mm frame size, to about 22 megapixels of image resolution. For better known film brands, like Kodachrome, the number is closer to 9 megapixels.
Clearly, with current top-end digital SLR models offering resolutions that surpass 20 megapixels, the numerical advantage that film once offered in terms of image resolution has all but vanished. Digital cameras now match the image resolution of even the very best film stocks, and will surpass them as image sensor technology continues to improve.
So now we are back to our still-answered question: why is film stock still produced when digital imagery is on a par with it, at least in terms of resolution?
The answer is that resolution is by no means the full story when it comes to creating a great image. As mentioned, emulsions contain a range of grain sizes and dye components that work together to produce effects that cannot easily be reproduced with three sets of red, green, and blue numbers. Velvia, for instance, adds more warmth to the actual recorded colors, and produces landscape images that look better than the real thing.
Fortunately for us, the makers of film stock, and the makers of digital cameras, are not, by and large, the same people. Otherwise film stock might disappear a lot more quickly from the world of photography. That probably will not happen for a while though. Not as long as film stock can produce images that surpass the quality of digital methods. Until that is no longer the case, photographic film will have a place in the world of photography.
To help you select a suitable digital camera to get started with, I have put together an article for you about how to find the right Beginner Digital Camera.
Whether you need a simple point-and-shoot model, or a more complex digital SLR model, you will find the answers, and greatly discounted digital camera offers, at http://www.bestdigitalcameradiscounts.com/
Understanding Digital Cameras
30
Nov
Capturing beautiful moments and making them accessible quickly is no longer a rich man’s forte. Most of us have access to our memorable moments in just a click away. Digital cameras save you a lot of time. Once the photo has been taken, you can just download those images in a computer and make them accessible on the net in various ways. Digital cameras record and store photographic images in digital format. Capturing pictures is usually accomplished by use of a photo sensor, using a charged couple device (CCD.) After transferring the pictures to your computer, you can edit and save them in a compact disc or hard drive.
With digital cameras you can instantly seize the picture you would love to keep forever. Delete unwanted pictures easily. No hassle of buying films. You don’t have to print every picture; you have complete control of the final print after editing on computer. No worries of negatives getting spoiled or lost. You can store many images without having to change or buy films.
There are many brands of digital cameras available in the market today. These include: Sony, Canon, Olympus, Nikon, Kodak, Minolta and Fuji. These are a few famous brands worldwide. Even basic digital camera models have plenty of features, levels and menus. This makes it difficult for beginners to select the right camera meeting their needs. Digital cameras are available in all price ranges depending on the amount of features they have. Before you start comparing the features you should decide for what purpose you would like to use your digital camera. The best way to start your search is to log on to the net and visit all the sites that offer feature and price comparisons for different types and brands of digital cameras.
Almost all digital cameras today have live-preview functionality, where a screen is provided in the camera to see the preview of the image that you just clicked. The most commonly compared feature in digital cameras is the “mega pixel.” This means the amount of pixels in millions. Therefore, a four mega pixel camera would have four million pixels. The other important features to compare include optical and digital zoom capacity; connectivity with other devices such as computer, printer, etc.; the internal storage space as well as compatibility with external storage devices; memory cards; batteries; and image file formats.
Many digital cameras offer connectivity through USB port, FireWire port, USB PTP mode, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc. These days, many cameras are offering PictBridge mode that allows direct printing from the digital camera without the mediation of a computer. Though all cameras have some amount of internal memory, external memory cards are required to save more pictures. These include Micro Drives or Compact Flash memory cards that are generally used for high-end professional cameras. Memory Stick by Sony is a proprietary flash memory card. SD/MMC, Mini SD and Micro SD cards are the ones used mostly for commercial digital cameras.
If you are an amateur photographer, then you should select a camera with automatic settings and features. This will help you in getting the right pictures based on the amount of light and scenes without too much effort. But if you are looking for a professional camera then you should pick the one that allows you to select all shooting modes manually. There are many shooting modes available in the latest models of digital cameras including landscape, portrait, panorama, action settings, night mode, beach mode, snow mode, and sunset/sunrise modes.
The common formats in which you can take out the image output include JPEG, TIFF, DNG, etc. For videos, the most common formats are AVI, DV, MPEG, MOV, WMV, ASF, and MP4.
Understanding Security Cameras In 16 Easy Steps
10
Sep
Before you go ahead and start choosing and installing the system it is wise to be aware of the common security camera term and definitions that you may come across. Familiarize yourself with them at the start of the project to ensure you get the best system for your requirements, in this article some of the most common terms will be explained for you.
Alarm Input – This will tell the unit to begin recording if anything triggers the alarm mechanism.
CCTV – Closed Circuit Television, the security camera system will transmit the information over a closed circuit of electrically conducting cables or via a wireless transmitter.
Day and Night Cameras – These cameras allow the user to capture very clear pictures in very low lit areas.
FPS – Frames per second are the number of images that can be displayed by the system per second.
Housing – This is in reference to the casing that will be used to house the video camera.
Infrared – This technology is usually used in night vision cameras.
Infrared Cameras – These cameras are used to formulate a picture using infrared radiation rather than the traditional forms that use light.
Lens – The camera lens is the part that determines how much visibility can be seen from the camera, different lenses will provide varied views and angles.
Micro Cameras – These are small cameras or hidden cameras usually used inside the premises or house.
Monitor – These are used to display your images that are captured from your security cameras. Often with the advancement of technology they will be computer screens that are used with digital security systems.
Motion Detection – This is where movement is used to trigger the activation of the security systems. The motion detection systems use special sensors that will activity if any form of motion is detected.
Outdoor Security Systems – These are specifically designed for the outdoor environment and are waterproof and weather proof.
Plug and Play – This is a term that refers to the installation of the camera system. Usually when you connect a new device to the system the main control unit will recognize the unit without the need for setup.
Remote Surveillance – This is where you have the ability to be able to view the images provided by the camera systems remotely from anywhere you choose.
Resolution – The higher the resolution the clearer that the images you retrieve will be, this will be applicable for the digital camera systems.
Wireless Camera – The wireless cameras allow the systems to be setup without wires, they will use wireless technology to transmit the images to the receiver.
The list of security camera term and definitions within this article covers some of the main ones you might see, there are other terms that you may come across when researching your system. If there are any which you do not recognize then make sure you understand the complete meaning before purchasing your system. The technology can be complicated and understanding the key facts will be important in ensuring that your system operates in the way that you would like.