Digital Delights

As the holiday shopping season is upon us in full swing, I find that I can not just launch into what I wanted to talk about: "really cool things to do with the digital pictures you've taken" until I quickly address the question I'm most frequently asked: "what digital camera should I buy?" So, first I'm only going to discuss my favorite digital cameras that I'm using today, because running through the laundry list of new cameras would eat up all the time I have between now and New Years. Then, I'll talk about some wonderful things you can do with the digital images you've taken.

I find that I need two types of digital still cameras: a really great one (that works with my fancy lenses) when I want to pretend to be "Mr. Photographer" and a really small one when I want to forget I have a camera until I need it.

Cameras, cameras, cameras
So, first the big mama: after a few months of unbridled romance, let me confess to the world that if you have the cash (and the Canon EOS lenses) the Canon EOS 10-D 6.3 mega pixel camera is the prosumer's dream. I never traded in a camera in my life, but a week after I had the 10D, I took my beloved Canon A-1 film camera and traded it in for car fare and said goodbye to film forever. Now, with single recharged battery and a hefty 1 gig memory card I can take about 360 outstanding highest quality photographs (and can review the pictures in the camera) without worrying about anything. The only thing I must warn you (which I almost forgot) is that this sweet mistress of imaging desire runs for about $1,500 just for the camera body. (Ok, that may be too much camera for most, so how about a decent compromise: Canon's spanking new EOS Rebel. Pretty much the same basic specs and functionality with a few less bells and whistles and a price tag of under a thousand dollars?)

For my favorite carry-it-with-me-every-minute-of-my-life camera, my hands down favorite remains the Casio Exilim series, particularly the EX-S3, because it's just a credit card sized camera that takes great 3.2 mega pixel images and tiny videos with audio. Honestly, without the camera I would have missed spontaneous shots of my kids and spontaneous news events I've observed. Small enough that it goes everywhere, easy enough so kids use it (better than I do), and it features a rechargeable battery that does not quit. (Less than $349.)

Recently, Canon (here we go again) introduced the new Powershot SD10 Digital Elph and I must confess I'm feeling a tad conflicted. Though I still carry that Casio everywhere, sometimes I slyly slip the sleek silver (comes in four colors actually) 4 mega pixel camera in my other pocket. In addition to the higher resolution, you can take longer video clips if you choose and this camera does feature a modest zoom lens. But then, is it as thin as my Exilim? No way! Is it still as "carry-able everywhere?" I guess so. Is it as handsome? Abso-bloomin-lutely. This is something you expect a movie star to whip out of her pocket to photograph the paparazzo right back. (About $349.)

But I swore that I wasn't going to just talk about the myriad of digital camera choices yet again (though I will do that soon.) Instead I wanted to share some wonderful tools and products that make the digital imaging experience even more terrific.

One of the first adventures a digital photographer will discover is that within no time, imagery files are everywhere. The software that comes with most of these cameras is generally adequate for the first couple of months, but soon, you'll be wondering how you can do more with the pictures you've taken. There are two outstanding software packages that really make the idea of storing photos fun: Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 and Picasa.

Photo Editing, Storage and Sharing
"Fun?" you protest, thinking I've gone to far. Trust me: if my parents (tough crowd) thanked me profusely for getting them Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0, then you will love it too. Here's why: First the software helps you find and organize all the photos you have all over your computer. (It does it without bringing in the 5 million-odd images Microsoft thought they needed to include in their various programs, too, thank the lord.) You can easily categorize whole groups of pictures with smart tags: by name, location, event, or whatever category you choose. Some think actually cataloging and identifying all your photos is an insanely difficult thing to do. Well, that's what I though until I sat down and started playing. And before I knew it, every photo was indexed, labeled, and ready for sharing. One of the great attributes of digital cameras is that the photos start out with "metadata" (attached information) that is very useful when getting your digital photo collection together. Since photos have time and dates attached to them, without even lifting a finger, Adobe's Photoshop Album 2.0 allows you to see them in a variety of ways, including on a monthly calendar, which is quite handy when you are searching through years of imagery. Some other features that Adobe really put some thought into include the easy tools to "fix" photographs. Though more sophisticated photographers have become adept at Photoshop and other image manipulation software, all you really need is what the Album software provides: red-eye removal tools; contrast, brightness, and color adjustments; and best of all, a "fix automatically" option that you can entrust bunches of photographs to. You can't imagine how many great photographs this saved that I thought I'd need to discard. In addition, the software has a variety of sensible tools you'll regularly use to share your photographs: guiding you simply through the process of emailing photos that in the past would be too large to share and even helping you create slide shows you can send in Adobe Acrobat formats. This is the best $50 you can spend once you've purchased your digital camera hands down.

Another joyous photo organizing tool is a hip new product called "Picasa" which does much of the same stuff Adobe's product does in a fairly stylish and, at $29 dollars, a slightly less expensive way. It too intuitively searches through your computer for your photographs and catalogues them by date. Unlike Adobe's Album software, Picasa actually updates itself automatically when you add photographs to your computer. On the other hand, the latest version doesn't "yet" have all the file indexing tools of Adobe's product. But red-eye and photo-fixing software is also built into Picasa, plus an ingenious mode in which you can breeze through your entire photo history in a very visual "whirlwind" effect. But my favorite part of Picasa is a brand-new add-on tool called "Hello." Once you have the Picasa software, download the "Hello" picture networking software and get your friends to do the same. The next thing you know: over a decent internet connection, you are exchanging images and "conversing" using instant messenger-style discussion tools. I found it to be a marvelous way to share pictures and even to troubleshoot problems I had with my computer with the much smarter person who was "with me" using "Hello" across the country. This software is quite new so there are some rough spots being ironed out, for example, some firewalls and corporate email operations keep "Hello" from working… so I found, sadly, I couldn't use this cool program to share photos all the time I wanted to. But Picasa (and it's baby sister "Hello") are definitely things digital photography enthusiasts must try.

Pictures Bound to Please
Two more wonders I recently "created" could only have come about because of the power of digital imaging: making your own photography books and photography book covers. Earlier, when talking about digital photography and Apple, we discussed iPhoto and the photography books you could produce, sending imagery on line, to create a Picture Book.

Now, anyone using any platform can upload, print and publish stunning picture books using software from MyPublisher.com. You can download simple photo-book software for free from MyPublisher.com and within minutes, select and arrange photos, add text, and "voila", off to the printer. A few days (and a mere $29 bucks later) a really stunning high quality photobook returns with your pictures looking as good as you would expect from any professional book. This is a perfect holiday present to send to friends and family. Even though it only takes minutes to make, we've actually seen people cry with joy when they get these photo books from their loved ones. (You can use Adobe Photo Album 2.0 software to create your books or, better yet, just get the free software as a very quick download from MyPublisher.com.)

When photojournalist Rick Smolan and David Eliot Cohen decided to collaborate with other digital photographers to capture one week in America, they did it super-sized. First, they collaborated with 25,000 citizens across the nation and the first result of their week-long photographic extravaganza is America 24/7, an astonishingly beautiful journey through all 50 states. It is easy to spend hours enjoying the great art inside the book, but one of the coolest things is that for a mere $5.99 shipping and handling charge, you can have your own customized book cover using a picture you supply to grace the cover of this ultimate coffee table masterpiece. All I did was submit a high-resolution digital photograph, on line, to and a few days later my picture (with photo credit) came in the mail. Amazing. This wonderful book, America 24/7, costs $50, hardcover.

Handheld Editing
Many of the good digital cameras ship bundled with great photo software from a company called Arcsoft. Earlier this week, they came with showing their photo imaging software on a cell phone! They brought Nokia's popular 3650 model which features a nice backlit screen and digital camera. The coolest new feature of Arcsoft's Photobase is that shortly you'll be able to download an inexpensive add-on (less than $10 bucks) that will let you take panoramic photos using a cell phone: basically letting you digitally stitch together several photographs just using the camera in a cell phone. This technology is mind blowing.

One More Thing…
Finally, saving the coolest for last, I said I wasn't going to use this time to talk about any more digital still cameras, so I found a nice loophole to get around that. For the past few weeks, the folks at Panasonic have been letting me play with the D-Snap camera, also known as the "Panasonic SV-AV 100." The loophole is that it both a digital still camera and a digital movie camera, with a neat fold out screen yet it fits inside the palm of a small hand. Using an astonishingly tiny SD card, (a large-capacity 512 meg one, I'll grant you that) you can store about 300 minutes of mpeg4 video (low quality) or several minutes of high quality mpeg 2 video. It won't exactly help you if you're out to make the next great feature film, but it sure makes quick work of family get-togethers and parties. If the holidays are not that, then what are they? (About $1,000.)

By Daniel Dubno