This video demonstration from the Android And Me enthusiast site illustrates how Scalado’s software, known as Rewind, works for group shots. Instead of hoping that everyone is wide-eyed and smiling when tapping the shutter button, the software uses a burst mode to capture five successive images in quick succession. To do this, a peppy processor is needed for the fast image capture. Once the picture is taken, the software uses facial recognition to zero in on each member of the group; tapping a face in the picture creates a circular control around the person’s image. A turn of the circle scrolls through all five images of the group member’s face so the best one can be chosen and seamlessly stitched into the final image.

Scalado’s solution applies to standard photos as well because no matter how fast you tap the shutter button on your smartphone’s camera, you don’t always get the perfect shot. Using a similar burst mode concept, Scalado’s app can take two images before you press the shutter button as it can constantly monitor images when the camera app is running. Tapping the shutter snaps the prior two image scans, the one during the button press and two more immediately after that, offering five image captures of the scene to choose from and save.

Since the software requires an advanced mobile phone processor and can enhance native camera functionality, Scalado is looking at handset makers to implement its camera solution. That means it’s likely to be an included feature on a smartphone, not a camera application that consumers can buy as a separate mobile application. Given that, the company has partnered with Qualcomm, I’d expect the software to first appear on handsets from HTC and HP as both companies power their current and upcoming smartphones with Qualcomm Snapdragon chips.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):

• The Case for Increased M&A in 2011: Actions and Outlooks
• Green IT Q1: Cleantech Breaking Out — and Bracing for Hard Times
• Bluetooth to Feel Blue as Personal Area Network Battles Loom

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Unlike other cell cell phone cameras, the iphone digital camera in truth normally takes respectable photographs that are perfect for your MySpace webpage. However, there are a few suggestions to taking great photos with your iphone camera, and when you apply these suggestions to your iphone than you’re going to have the ability to take gorgeous photos with your cell cell phone.

The very first tip that you have to keep in mind with regards to your iphone camera concerns the way it the truth is takes photos. If you have attempted to take photographs using your iphone, then you might have observed some thing was slightly off. As opposed to normal digital camera models that have a 2 stage process to taking a pics, the iphone attributes a one-stage process. Furthermore, unlike normal cameras that take the photograph once you press the shutter button, the iphone has a significantly different process. When you click the shutter button of the iphone, nothing happens, nevertheless, it is when you release the shutter button how the iphone usually takes the picture. This has ended in numerous pics becoming somewhat “off timing” for the reason that the users are not used to precisely how this camera the truth is takes photographs. And as a recent Local Mobile Monopoly review stated this could become especially irritating should you be operating an audio conference teleconferencing service or anything at all related.

A fantastic tip for taking a picture with your iphone is to push the shutter button, after which put in place the picture. Immediately after you are satisfied with what you are seeing, then you can release the shutter button to take the photograph. Right after this tip will enable you to take superior constructed photos, in addition to photos that are accurately timed. The next tip for your iphone camera is how you put in place your contact list. This tip is truly enjoyable and will help make your contact list hilarious for you and everybody around you. When you take photographs of your connections, you can set them to where they’re going to appear after they contact you. A fantastic technique to have fun using this function is to place your buddies on one part of a glass display and then position your self opposed to this.

Make your good friend push their face up against the glass whilst you are taking the picture. This can work as an optical illusion, and when they call you it is going to appear as if they’re trapped inside your iphone. If you are looking for a fun technique to express your self, and to simply have a great time with buddies, put in place your contact list by doing this. The iphone has numerous different suggestions and tips inside it, nevertheless, the principal is to just experiment with these suggestions to make them be right for you. Possibly the best factor about the iphone will be the truth it offers users the capability to personalize and write a cell phone environment that’s entirely their own.

These are not listed in any specific order and I do not assume in any order of value either although if you were to push me for an answer, I would place a tripod as my number one accessory. It will also rely on what kind of photography you are pursuing as to which one will be number one to you. They are, however, accessories that I would list as important to the gear bag of a photographer.

1. A tripod
If you do not already have a tripod then get yourself one. Find the most expensive one you can afford. A proper solid tripod is important to the kit of a photographer. There are a number of locations when light conditions are not good and the additional stability helps you make crisp, sharp images. Just a little camera shake will cause blurring to some degree in the final image. A tripod is particularly effectivewhen shooting close-ups of flowers and small creatures and helps you to have complete control of your images.

2. Remote shutter release
This is coupled with the tripod and is important when avoiding camera shake. Even when your camera is mounted on the tripod, the most basic action like pushing the shutter button can still trigger camera shake and prevent you from taking the sharpest images. It works very simply either connected by a cable to the camera or using an infrared connection to activate the shutter.

3. A good circular polarising filter
A polarising filter cuts down glare and reflections off shiny surfaces. Those of you who have ever owned or used a pair of polaroid sunglasses will understand the effect that it has on shiny and reflective surfaces. This includes foliage as well. When using polaroid sunglasses while looking at water you are able to see below the surface if the water is clear. The sky becomes bluer and the green vegetation greener. If you are landscape photographer you will really benefit from a polariser. I think about this essential. One tip though is that you should always use one that has the parallel or higher quality of your lens. There is no point in putting bad glass in front of good glass.

Summing up, I will suggest you to own all three important accessories that I have stated above. Those accessories can really help you to get the best image quality. However, if you are not afford to purchase all three, you can choose one of them that serve your particular needs the best. Have fun with your digital camera.

[resource]If you want to know more about touch screen camera, you may visit Touch Screen Digital Camera and Touch Screen Camera.

One of the vital differences between amateur and professional photography is the professional has learned to manage and manipulate the photography background – where the amateur focuses all their concentration on the subject and typically simply lets the background happen on its own.

Have you ever been so caught up with your subject and lights and so forth that (when you look at the finished photo) you discover a huge rubbish can – right behind your subject – spilling garbage all over the ground? In every photograph? And you never even noticed it during the photo shoot!

Or, maybe you have been guilty of having tree branches seeming to stick from the subject’s head, like horns?

They are ridiculous mistakes that are easily fixed and can promptly raise your photography’s effectiveness.

The unpleasant news is we don’t actually perceive how much better our pictures are! Let us face it; if you don’t have garbage or horns and so forth, you never stop to consider how much better your photograph is…you simply do not notice. Our attention only comes to bear if we overlook something and screw up (we all do every so often).

If you would like admiration for your creative undertakings, you can’t let these problems into your photos. It truly is an easy fix…just remember to check out the background and all four corners in the viewfinder before you press the shutter button – after that you adjust accordingly.

If you have a tough time remembering, take a piece of masking tape and write – in huge black print – “CHECK THE SURROUNDINGS”. After that put the tape to the backside of the camera. This will help remind you until it becomes a habit.

You will never be aware of how many photos you’ve saved, but it’s well worth the effort.

The following most straightforward photography background procedure – to make your subject “pop” from our photo – is to isolate them.

I am certain you’ve seen photos where the subject is in clear, razor-sharp focus – but the background is totally out of focus and is nothing but a wash of color.

This is done with controlling the depth of field.

Depth of field establishes how much of the photo is in focus. One can find complete textbooks written re this area (heck, I wrote one myself!) but the easiest ways to do this “wash of color” technique are to:

1. Use the longest focal length lens you can.
2. Open it up towards the widest aperture possible – this would be the lowest f-stop numeral.
3. Place the background as far to the rear of the subject as is practical. Or else locate the subject as far in front of the backdrop as you can.

Plainly each of the 3 tips has many variables. Through adjusting the options presented to you, you can make your photography background as focused or unfocused as you would like. There is not any right or wrong.

Absolutely out of focus, to some extent in focus, sharp as a tack…that is where your creative eye comes into play.

After you’ve mastered the “in camera” strategies of controlling the backgrounds, then it is time to consider making some fabric backgrounds. This will give your photography a professional “studio” appearance.

A pretty good quality backdrop can literally cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Consequently, in lieu of shelling out the big bucks, I recommend creating your own. Luckily a photography background is simple to generate and can be made for pennies on the dollar.

Pay attention to your photography background and you will be shooting professional quality photos in no time.

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What it does is tracks the exact time that the button was pushed, and then goes out and searches for another image taken at that exact time. Once the camera finds one, it displays the image in the LCD on the back of the camera. Sascha’s “Buttons” are part of a larger art project called “Blinks and Buttons.”

[via Make]

The camera is a 5 mega-pixel still, but it’s capable of shooting video at 720×480 and 30 FPS. It comes standard with 16MB of built in, but you can have up to 16GB using the SD expansion slot.

In addition to the ski goggles, Liquid Image has already applied this technology to swim goggles and scuba masks, so it’s not limited to just the ski crowd. Good thing since they won’t be available until this summer. Prices will start at $149.

From the press release:

The Liquid Image Summit Series is the world’s first snow goggle with an integrated digital camera. The goggle contains a wide angle lens to capture all the action while skiing, boarding, sledding or snowmobiling. The hands free unit has a 5.0 MP (2560 x 1920) camera mode and a video mode that records D1 video (720×480) at a rate up to 30 frames per second with audio.

The Summit Series Snow Camera Goggle is easy to operate. There is a button for On/Off/Mode and another button for the shutter. To record a photo or a video, simply turn on the camera, choose the mode, then press the shutter button. LED lights inside the goggle indicate the mode to the user. Large side buttons along the right side of the frame allow for greater dexterity while wearing gloves.

Liquid Image Summit Series 335 Snow Camera Goggle
The internal memory has 16 MB NAND Flash. The memory is easily expanded to record thousands of photos or hours of videos by adding a Micro SD/SDHC Card up to 16 GB. Files may be downloaded to a computer through the High Speed USB cable provided, or through a Micro SD/SDHC card.

The Camera operates on an internal rechargeable Lithium Battery. Estimated battery performance is 2200 still images or 2:20 hrs of video.

The Summit Series Snow Camera Goggle model 335 is estimated to ship late summer 2010, in time for the Winter Ski Season and for Holiday shopping. This new model follows the concept of the original Liquid Image Underwater Digital Camera Mask by creating an easier way to record photos and videos. The concept of integrating the camera into the sports equipment allows the user to travel with fewer items and to keep their hands free while performing sports activities. The integrated camera records a view similar to what is seen, allowing the user to share their experience with other people, and to enjoy their activities to a greater extent because they concentrate less on holding and operating the camera.

The Summit Series Snow Camera Goggle model number 335 has an estimated US price of $149.00. Specifications and pricing are estimated at this time.

Liquid Image Co, LLC, is a manufacturer of cameras, electronics, toys and games that target sports and outdoor activities with an emphasis on Sport Technology and POV Cameras. The corporate office is located in Sacramento, CA, with an international office located in Hong Kong.

When you buy a camera, you’ll be pelted with specs from a salesperson, many of which are confusing, and even misleading. You will cower, and may cover your head for protection. He will keep pelting. And really, he has to—spec sheets and jargon are integral to camera marketing, at least for now. Here’s what it all means, in one handy cheat sheet.

Types of Cameras

Before you set out to buy a new camera, or even just to get to know yours a little better, you’ve got to know the difference between the different types or cameras. Here are the ones you’re likely to come across.

Point-and-Shoots: Also known as compact cameras. If you don’t know what kind of camera you’re looking for, or what kind your have, it’s probably one of these. They’re the smallest style of camera, typically—at least in the last few years—trending toward a boxy, mostly featureless shape. The lens is non-removable. The flash unit is built in. They have LCD screens on the back, not just for reviewing photos, but to use as a viewfinder as well. When you press the shutter button on a point-and-shoot, there is a slight delay before the photo is actually recorded. Many new point and shoot cameras will take video, and some even manage to record in HD.

Bridge/Superzoom Cameras: These cameras often look like DSLRs, but don’t be fooled: They’re just juiced-up point-and-shoots. They will typically come with longer lenses and slightly more impressive specs than your average P&S, and will give you a bit more photographic flexibility to play with. Sadly, they suffer from the same picture-taking delay, or “shutter lag,” as point and shoots. The problem with bridge cameras, especially now, is that in order to get a decent one you have to spend at least a few hundreds dollars, at which point you may as well get a…

DSLRs: This unwieldy acronym stands for Digital Single Lens Reflex. Narrowly, this means that the camera has a mirror mechanism which allows photographers to see through the camera’s lens while setting up a shot, and which flips up, exposing the image sensor (the equivalent to film in a digital camera). Widely, this means that the camera will have interchangeable lenses, a larger sensor than a point and shoot, and to an extent, more image controls. When you press the shutter button on a DSLR, it takes the photo instantly—no lag, like in a point-and-shoot. Many new DSLRs at mid-to-high price points shoot HD video; some manage 720p, some manage 1080p, but all turn out impressive results, if simply because of the cameras’ lenses. That said, they’re not really ready to replace proper video cameras yet, because amongother things, no DSLR to date has got the autofocus during video thing right.

These are the cameras that photographers, or people who call themselves photographers, use. They’re also the ones that are capable of taking the best photos.

As a rule, DSLRs are more expensive than point and shoots. But they’re getting cheaper. Much, much cheaper. Olympus, Nikon, Pentax and Sony all have DSLRs that can be had for under $500—and these are real cameras—rendering the entire category of bridge cameras kind of pointless.

Micro Four Thirds/Digital Rangefinder: Micro Four Thirds cameras are interchangeable-lens cameras, minus the straight-through-the lens viewfinder that defines a DSLR. In other words, they have larger sensors like DSLRs, have swappable glass like DSLRs, but use an LCD screen as viewfinderlike a point-and-shoot. This saves space inside the camera, meaning that—at least this is the theory—it can be more portable than an equivalent DSLR, while maintaining the same versatility and image quality. Most of them record video, too, and they’re pretty good at it: They don’t have the complex viewfinder/mirror system of a DSLR, so it’s technically simpler to record video. Some of these cameras are styled like DSLRs, like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, while some are styled more like portable cameras, like the Olympus EP-1.

This is a small category for now, and accordingly, prices are still high, starting at about $750. Panasonic and Olympus are basically the only game in town.

Sensors

The sensor is the part of the camera that actually records the image. In other words, it is your camera.

Megapixels, and image resolution: Megapixels have been central to digital camera marketing since the beginning (it just sounds like a 90s term, doesn’t it?). A megapixel, quite simply, is one million pixels. If a one-megapixel image (or sensor) was perfectly square, it would be 1000×1000 pixels. They’re usually rectangular, at 4:3 or 3:2 ratios, which means their resolutions look more like this: 2048×1536 pixels for a 3-megapixel camera; 3264×2448 pixels for an 8-megapixel camera, and so on.

As digital cameras mature, this number means less and less—it’s easy to cram megapixels in a camera, but without good optics and light sensitivity, it doesn’t mean that it’s going to turn out an honest, clean, high-quality images at such a high resolution. My cellphone shoots at five megapixels, but the images look like screenshots from some kind of ghosthunting show. My DSLR shoots at 10.1 megpixels, but turns out images more than twice as clean and clear as my phone. My point-and-shoot is rated at 12.1 megapixels, but on close examination, its images are effectively blurrier than those from the DSLR.

If you’re planning on making huge prints, or need to crop your images a lot, a high megapixel count is necessary, but beyond a certain point, the returns are minimal. You’ll read a lot of guidance from camera manufacturers about how many megapixels you need to print different sized photos, which you can ignore, because they seem to change with every generation of cameras. Unless you’re printing billboards or in magazine or something, don’t sweat it too much.

Aside from indicating how many dots a camera is capable of capturing, megapixels can be a helpful indicator of how old a camera’s guts may be. Megapixel count has been increasing fairly steadily over the years, so within a given manufacturer’s camera line, increased megapixels could correlate to newer sensors, which could, along with high resolution, take richer, less noisy pictures.

ISO: This indicates how fast your camera’s sensor collects light—the higher your ISO, the more sensitive your camera is to light, the less light you need to take a picture. And while high-ISO capability is most useful in low light, it also comes in handy when you’re shooting extremely fast exposures in the daytime, like at a sports game. With higher ISOs, though, comes more noise—some point-and-shoot cameras advertise extremely high ISOs, on the order of 6400. Shots at this sensitivity will invariably look like ass. DSLRs, which have larger sensors that are better at gathering light, can sometimes shoot at 6400 ISO and higher without too much noise.

It might help to think of it like this: ISO ratings are actually a callback to the days of film. You used to have to anticipate how you’d be shooting, and buy film based on how sensitive it was, as expressed in an ISO or ASA rating. The ratings got carried over to digital cameras, despite film getting replaced with sensors.

Anyway, don’t buy a camera for its ISO rating alone, because there’s a good chance its top two to three settings will be useless.

CCD and CMOS: From our previous Giz Explains on the subject:

There are two major types of image sensors for digital cameras and camcorders: CCD (charged-couple device) and CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor, sometimes also known as active pixel sensor). We’re not going to get into the really geeky differences, because you don’t really need to know or care. What you should know is that higher-end digital SLRs (the big cameras with a removable lens) use CMOS because it’s easier to make bigger CMOS sensors; and mobile phones do because CMOS uses less power. That said, most point-and-shoot cameras and most camcorders use the more common CCD sensor.

Things are a little different now, and CCDs are common in DSLRs nowadays. The difference for consumers is minimal—don’t be alarmed to see either on your camera’s spec sheet. UPDATE: As some commenters have pointed out, this isn’t quite right: DSLRs are still trending more towards CMOS sensors, including most of the latest/greatest cameras. Anyway: still more of a curiosity than a purchasing point, for most people.

White Balance: Have you ever seen a set of indoor pictures that’s totally, inexplicably orange? That’s a white balance problem. Your camera can adjust to compensate for different light temperatures—tungsten lights have that orange hue, and sunlight will turn your photos kind of blue—and correct your image’s color accordingly. Virtually all cameras let you adjust white balance with presets, though it’s best if you can adjust it manually, too.

Sensor size, and crop factor: Some cameras have sensors that are roughly the same size as 35mm film, at 36x24mm. These are called full frame cameras. They tend to be more expensive—like Canon’s 5D and 1D series, or Nikon’s D3s—and their bodies tend to be a bit bigger. Semi-pro to pro equipment, basically.

APS-C sensors, on the other hand, are what almost all consumer DSLRs ship with. These sensors are about 22x15mm, which is significantly smaller than a full frame’s sensor. Why does this matter? Larger sensors provide more room for each pixel, which makes them better at picking up light. (A bucket analogy is useful here.) More importantly for APS-C users, though, is crop factor. A smaller sensor will pick up a smaller section of what’s coming through a lens, so: A 200mm lens on a full frame DSLR becomes a 300m lens on an APS-C camera, a 50mm becomes a 75mm, etc. Of course, camera manufacturers make APS-C -specific lenses which are designed for the smaller sensors, but the listed focal lengths aren’t adjusted—they’re still 35mm-equivalent numbers. Just be aware the any given lens will shoot differently from one type of camera to another.

Optics

The optics are the the parts through which your camera sees. They’re the eyeballs, basically.

Swappable lenses: There are two kinds of swappable lenses, generally speaking. Ones that zoom in and out, which are called “zoom” lenses, and ones that don’t move. These are called “primes.” They’re all classified by focal length. Strictly speaking, focal length refers to the distance required for a lens system to focus light. In real terms, focal length roughly correlates to physical lens length, and helps indicate how much a lens magnifies an image. 18mm focal length on a DSLR is considered wide, 200mm or more would be considered a telephoto lens.

Point-and-Shoot Lenses, and the X Factor: The second most prominently featured number on your point-and-shoot’s obnoxious feature sticker is the zoom rating. It’ll be expressed as a number, with an x: 5x, 10x, etc. You’ll also see a printed range, something like 5.0-25mm, which describes the focal length of the lens. Here’s a trick: Divide the larger focal length measurement by the smaller one. The result should match your “x” zoom rating, because, well, that’s all it is: the quotient of the maximum lens length and the minimum lens length.

This is misleading labeling. Mounted on the same camera, a lens that zooms from 50mm to 100mm would be called a 2X lens, while a lens that zooms from 18mm to 42mm would be called a 3X lens, even though at the longest, it doesn’t zoom in as far as the 50-100mm lens does at its shortest. Take this equation into account when comparing point-and-shoots, but most of all, try them. You’ll see the difference.

Shutter, shutter speed, and shutter lag: You shutter is the little door that opens up between your lens and your sensor, allowing for photographic exposure. Shutter speed ranges are advertised with the intention of implying that the camera will be useful at both ends: from the 10-second long exposure to the 1/4000th-second high-speed shot. Keep in mind, for both numbers, that shutter speed alone doesn’t guarantee anything. If your camera can shoot at 1/4000th of a second, but it’s got a small aperture and low ISO rating, your shots will probably be too dark.

Shutter lag is something else entirely. You know how on a point and shoot, there’s a frustrating gap between when you press the button and when your shot actually takes? That’s it. The lower the shutter lag, the better, though many camera manufacturers don’t even bother to advertise this.

Aperture: This is the hole through which light passes after its been through part of your lens, and before it hits your sensor. The bigger the hole, the more light gets in. The smaller the hole, the less light gets in. Larger apertures allow you to take pictures in lower light situations, but only allow you to focus on a thin plane—either your background or your foreground will be out of focus. Smaller apertures let you keep more of a scene in focus but they let less light through, and require longer exposure times. Apertures are described by f-numbers—these are the ration between the width of an aperture and the focal length of a lens. The smaller the number, the larger the aperture.

Optical vs Digital Zoom: Another scourge of the camera buyer is digital zoom. Optical is magnification by your lens—in other words, it’s true zoom. Digital zoom is just your camera taking the optically zoomed image and blowing it up, like you’d do in Photoshop. It’s only useful for framing shots and sometimes helping your camera focus properly. Otherwise, it’s a gimmick: Ignore it, shoot wide and crop your shots later.

IS, or Antishake: Image stabilization is fast becoming a standard feature on even the cheapest cameras, though you’ll find some sub-$150 point-and-shoots without it. The point of image stabilization is to correct for camera movements during an exposure, which cause blurry shots.

There are two types: Digital IS, which you’ll find mostly in point-and-shoots, corrects the image with software, and can be somewhat effective, though the results are often passable, not perfect. Optical image stabilization physically moves some part of the camera to counteract shaking. In some cameras, like Nikons and Canons, the moving parts are in the lens. In most other other manufacturers’ DSLRs, it’s the sensor that actually moves to stabilize the image. Optical IS almost always works better, but it’s not magic—you won’t be able to shoot a freehand four-second exposure just because it’s on, but you might be able to keep things together for a half-second or more.

Software

“Modes,” Face Detection, Smile Detection: Your camera’s modes are assistive tools,, not hard features. They’re generally just collected presets for settings that you can adjust yourself, like equalizer presets on your iPod. They can be useful, though you’ll be a better photographer if you manage settings yourself.

Face and smile detection, again, are like crutches. Face detection guesses when there’s a human in the photo so the camera can adjust exposure, white balance and focus to make sure that said human doesn’t end up blurry. Smile detection is a crude algorithm that measures facial features, and won’t take a photo until the subjects are judged to be SUFFICIENTLY CONTENTED, by which I mean they have vaguely crescent-shaped mouth holes. It’s a good way to ensure that nobody is ruining a photo with a grimace. Also, to ensure that none of your photos are ever interesting.

Image formats: You digital camera doesn’t have film, but your photos have to go somewhere. In today’s cameras, the digitally stored photos are either JPEGs or RAW files. JPEG files are compressed, which means that they are encoded in such a way that they don’t take up much space, but lose a small amount of quality. This is how point-and-shoot cameras almost always store images, and how DSLRs store images by default, generally.

If JPEGs are like photo prints (they’re not, really, but bear with me) then RAW files are like the digital negatives. (In fact, one popular RAW format, .DNG, crudely stands for “digital negative”). Raw files contain almost exactly what your sensor has recorded, which means you can change values like exposure, white balance and coloration after taking the photo, to a surprisingly high degree. It feels like cheating! There is a downside: larger image files. And, depending on the type of RAW file—different camera manufacturers have different ones—you may need special software to view and edit your photos. Shoot in RAW if you can, and buy a camera that’ll let you. This is a huge feature.

As a bonus, most cameras that shoot RAW will also let you shoot RAW and JPEG files simultaneously, so you have a lightweight, ready-to-print-or-upload file right away, as well as the RAW source, for later editing. It takes up a ton of space, but hey, space is cheap nowadays. Spend a few bucks on a bigger memory card, and live your life.

Video: Most new cameras, including some DSLRs, shoot video. But just because your camera shoots stills at 10 megapixels doesn’t mean that it’ll shoot anywhere near that kind of resolution in motion. The standard resolution for most point-and-shoot cameras is VGA—that’s just 640×480 pixels of video, which is good enough for YouTube—while DSLRs, and some nicer point-and-shoots, record in either 720p or 1080p, which are HD resolutions, which translate to 1280×720 pixels and 1920×1080 pixels, respectively.

Storage

Point and shoot cameras usually come with a small amount of onboard storage. This, I’m about 100% sure, is there so that the camera technically works when you buy it, making your inevitable extra storage purchase seem more like a choice, and less like a mandatory camera tax. Anyway, with any camera, you’re going to need to buy some memory, or storage.

There are a few peripheral memory card formats still kicking around (Sony, can you please just put Memory Stick Pro out of its misery? Thanks!) but there are only two that matter.

SD: Also seen as SDHC, or SDXC, these little guys are the card of choice for point-and-shoot and bridge cameras, and some newer DSLRs. They’re small, they works fine, and they’re available in just about any capacity you could ever want. Almost: Most cameras are only SDHC-compatible, a standard which maxes out at 32GB. SDXC, the next evolution of the SD standard, maxes out at a theoretical 2TB, though almost no cameras support it yet.

Compact Flash: These cards are chunkier, can be faster, and are more durable, and anecdotally less prone to temperature and weather damage. These are what you’ll find in DSLRs.

Speed ratings: Memory cards come in different speeds. These are advertised in a variety of different ways, for no good reason. You’ll see a couple of numbers on most cards, in the “133x” syntax. Ignore them—they are inflated, unregulated and therefore, basically meaningless. What you’re looking for on SD cards is a Class rating, from 1-6. The official SD Association chart:
For Compact Flash cards, your best bet is to look for an actual transfer speed on the card, expressed in MB/s.

Further Reading

Reviews: One gadget blog, try as we may, can’t cover the hundreds of cameras that come out every year. We’ll leave that to the obsessives. See:

• DPReview

• The Photography Bay

• Photography Review

• Photo.net

You really shouldn’t buy a camera without consulting these guys first. They have a habit of lapsing into jargon at times, but hey, if you’ve read this far, you’ll be able to get by.

Taking Photos: So now you’ve got your new piece of neck candy, and you feel awfully cool. You know what would make you cooler? Learning how to shoot, for god’s sake. A few of out recent guides:

• The Basics: Your new camera has been removed from the box. It has been fiddled with. You cat has been photographed multiple times. Now what?

• When Not to Use Flash: The answer: Pretty much always.

• How To Shoot HDR: Taking hyperreal photos by combining multiple exposures, without, as we call it, the “clown vomit.”

• For general advice, Photo.net‘s comically extensive set of photography guides provides instructions for virtually any scenario. Need to shoot some, say, nudes? In, say, Namibia’s uniquely harsh sunlight? They’ve got you covered.

And although broad guides are useful, I’ve learned more about photography and cameras from Flickr than any other resource. Join the Flickr group for your camera, and spend some time on the message boards. You’ll learn clever tricks for getting the most out of your hardware, but in doing so, with the help of a gracious community, you’ll learn just as much about photography as a whole.

Still something you wanna know? Send questions about DSLRs, P&Ses, B&Bs or BBQs here, with “Giz Explains” in the subject line.

First Place
“Smoke Signal was taken with an Olympus sp350 set to night scene. This was taken with a color changing led rave light about six inches long by 1/2 inch wide that I wrapped with electrical tape to create a candy cane stripe. I placed the light on my record turn table at a slow RPM and swiped the camera vertically to create the spinning stripe”
- Brad Bogle

Second Place
“No photoshop! To take this photo, I set up some white paper for a background in a dark room. I laid strawberries on a table and separately stood up a banana with some cardboard and tape. With the lights on, I set up a quick-release tripod properly framing the banana (this makes it much easier later). Now the lights are off. So now I set my camera to bulb and used my built-in pop up flash to shoot straight down on the strawberries, filling the frame. Keeping my finger on the shutter button, I put my camera on the tripod and then hit the pilot button on an external flash. The flash hits the white background behind the banana, silhouetting it briefly. Effectively, this washes out all of the original photo of the strawberries except for where the silhouette is, thereby superimposing the first image into the second. And you get a cool glossy product-shot-reflection-look that results from the shadow drop off of the external-flash (although if you look closely, you’ll notice the “reflection” is actually just other strawberries from the initial shot) And now you can have a strawberry-banana! Canon 20D 17-55 IS lens @ f/22 ISO 200 13s (multiple focal length)”
- Jason Yore

Third Place
Nikon D5000; Nikkor 18-200mm VR; Exposure: 36.5 seconds; Aperture : f/5.0; Focal Length: 38mm; ISO: 400; WB: Daylight. I had a friend spin some burning steel wool in an eggbeater attached to a lanyard at the top of the overpass. What you’re seeing are the resulting spark trails. More here. [Ed note: the umbrella shots are even more impressive]
- Dan DeChiaro

These placements are almost unfair with so many good shots being in the mix. I wish that I could honorable mention you all. Check the gallery. It’s well-worth a waste of 10 minutes.

Automatic Mode  :

A setting that sets the focus, exposure and white-balance automatically.

Burst Mode or Continuous Capture Mode :

With one press of the shutter button, a series of pictures taken one after another at quickly timed intervals.

Compression :

The process of compacting digital data, images and text by deleting selected information.

Digital Zoom :

Cropping and magnifying the center part of an image.

JPEG :

The predominant format used for image compression in digital cameras.

Lag Time :

When the camera actually captures the image, there is the pause between the time the shutter button is pressed.

LCD :

(Liquid-Crystal Display) is a small screen on a digital camera for viewing images.

Lens :

A circular and transparent glass or plastic piece that has the function of collecting light and focusing it on the sensor to capture the image.

Megabyte :

(MB) Measures 1024 Kilobytes, and refers to the amount of information in a file, or how much information can be contained on a Memory Card, Hard Drive or Disk.

Pixels :

Tiny units of color that make up digital pictures. Pixels also measure digital resolution. One million pixels adds up to one mega-pixel.

RGB :

Refers to Red, Green, Blue colors used on computers to create all other colors.

Resolution :

Camera resolution describes the number of pixels used to create the image, which determines the amount of detail a camera can capture. The more pixels cameras have, the more detail it can register & the larger the picture can be printed.

Storage Card :

Holds images taken with the camera, comparable to film, using smaller removable storage device. Also called a digital camera memory card.

Viewfinder :

The optical “window” to look through to compose the scene.

White Balance :

White balancing adjusts the camera to compensate for the type of light (daylight, fluorescent, incandescent, etc.,) or lighting conditions in the scene so it will look normal to the human eye.