Recently in photography Category

Sydney's Opera House is probably one of the most recognisable images of Sydney and even Australia.
The ferry from one side of the harbour to the other takes you in really close to it, which is when I took this snap

While I may use Flickr to store a lot of my photos I also like to have hard copies. Call me traditional if you will, but you can't put a Flickr photo in your wallet, for example, unless you print it out (not that I have any photos in my wallet at the moment...)

I currently have 3 cameras that I use when I'm "out and about":

• my phone's camera (currently the E71 - so the quality isn't exactly stellar!)
• Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W170, which I tend to leave in my jacket most of the time (logic being that if I have it with me I might actually use it!)
• Canon EOS 400D - great camera, but it's a bit bulky to carry around the place

So where can you get your photos printed?

Donncha did a round up a few years ago, but it's a bit out of date (if he's done another one please let me know!)

So who is economical these days?

I did a bit of digging around over the weekend and compiled a short list. All pricing is based on 6" x 4" prints, as they seem to be the most common.

A lot of the services offer discounts if you pre-purchase credits, so if you're planning on printing 500+ photos at once the cost per photo will drop quite a bit compared to the price of printing 30.

All pricing is based on their normal price without any extra discounts for bulk purchases or pre-orders, as I am unlikely to print hundreds of photos at one go.

UK pricing is currently close to parity with the Euro, but check the rates as they will change

Foto.com - 10cm x 15cm (6" x 4") 9c
BonusPrint - 6" x 4" 9c
MyPix (Pixmania) 6" x 4" 14c
Snapfish (HP)  6" x 4" 14c
Spectra 25c (drops to 15c on large orders)
DigiPrints.co.uk 9p
Photobox 6" x 4" 10p (drops to 5p if you order more than 500 prints)

Based on the pricing above it looks like the best deals can be got from Foto.com or Bonusprint, so I will definitely be using one of them for my next batch of snaps!

If anyone knows of any other companies offering these services that ship to Ireland please let me know

As I mentioned the other day, my slim digital camera was kidnapped by my sister some time ago and the likelihood of getting it back is slim to none. She might as well hold onto it!

While my Nokia N95 does have a camera it's a real pig to operate. The delay between when you fireup the camera and are actually able to take a shot is really frustrating (admittedly I'm not a very patient person at the best of times either!) and the quality of the shots in low light environments isn't that great.

So I decided to take the plunge and get a reasonable spec compact camera.

I'm fairly clueless when it comes to digital cameras, but I knew more or less what I wanted:

• something quite small and slim (preferably as slim as my Sony Cybershot)
• something easy to use (do you really want to mess about with settings when you're in a pub or restaurant? I know I don't)
• at least 8 megapixels

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W170 may not be as slim as the T7, but it's a nice little camera all the same.

It comes with a variety of usage "modes" and would appear to be almost completely "idiot proof".

The one thing to be careful of, however, is that, in common with a lot of cameras, it doesn't come with any memory sticks, so you'll need to buy at least one. I opted for a 4 gigabyte memory card, as that should be more than enough for "normal" usage.

I've already taken a few shots with it and was impressed with the general responsiveness and speed, so I think it will suit my needs. The real test, however, will be in bad lighting in a pub or restaurant, so I may have to wait until the weekend to see how well that works out.

Full spec below:

CCD      1/2.3" Super HAD CCD sensor
10.3 megapixels of which 10.1 effective
RGB filter
Interlaced scan
Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens
Resolution (in pixels)     3648 x 2736
Optical     Viewfinder     Optical
LCD display     2.7" LCD screen (6.7cm)
230,000 pixels
Macro Distance     10 cm
Normal Distance     From 50 cm upwards
Optical Zoom     5x
f (equivalent to 35mm): 28-140mm
Digital Zoom     10x
ISO range     ISO Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
Aperture and Shutter Speed     Diaphragm aperture: F3.3-5.2
Shutter speed: 1/4-1/1600 in Automatic mode
Shutter speed: 1"-1/1600 in Programme mode
Delay: 2 or 10s
Focal length (in mm)     5-25
35 mm equivalent focal length (in mm)     28-140
Stabiliser     Optical
Flash (built-in)     Flash: automatic, manual, slow synch, red-eye reduction

Flash range from 0.5 to 2.7m in telephoto and ISO Auto
Flash range from 0.2 to 4.2m in wide angle and ISO Auto
Flash range up to 8.4m in wide angle and ISO 3200
Flash range up to 5.3m in telephoto and ISO 3200
Storage     Image formats     JPEG
Memory Card Type     Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Pro Duo, Memory Stick Pro Duo High Speed, Memory Stick Pro HG Duo
Included Memory Card     No
Internal Memory     15MB
Video     Video mode     Yes, with sound
Video Sequence     VX Fine MPEG video: 1640x480 pixels at 30 fps15MB
TV Output     HD output with optional VMC-MHC1 component cable
AV output
Webcam     No
Computer InterFace     Port     USB 2.0 and Pictbridge
Wireless function     No
Compatibility     PC and Mac
Included software     Picture Motion Browser 3.0
Picture Package Music Transfer
Extras     Power sources     Lithium batteries
Other features     Focal distance: 5 - 25 mm
Super SteadyShot optical stabiliser
BIONZ image processor
14-bit analogue/digital conversion
Noise reduction system and colour optimisation (Clear RAW NR)
D-Range Optimizer Standard / Plus

Focusing: 9 points, semi-manual, centred, spot

White balance: Automatic, Cloudy, Daylight, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, Incandescent, Flash
Exposure metering: centred, spot, matrix

Scene modes: Beach, High Sensitivity, Landscape, Snow, Soft Snap, Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Fireworks, Smile Shutter, and Underwater

Automatic face detection (child/adult)
Automatic smile detection (child/adult)
Automatic scene recognition

Musical slideshow mode with 8 transition effects and 8 customisable music modes

In-camera editing: Trimming, Red Eye Correction, Soft Focus, Partial Color, Fisheye Lens, Cross Filter, Retro, Radial Blur, Unsharp Masking, and Happy Face.

Colour mode: vivid, sepia, black and white
Size     9.4x5.8x2.4cm
Weight (in grams)     142
Included accessories     NP-BG1 lithium battery, battery charger, multifunction AV and USB cable, strap

Over the last few months I have been forced to collect most of my possessions from the various houses I'd left stuff in while travelling. It's amazing how easy it is to live without a lot of stuff, but it's equally amazing what gems you can find hidden amongst the boxes and bags of possessions you'd almost completely forgotten about.

One of the things that I'd love to sort out are my old photos and negatives.

While I'd be the first to admit that I don't take enough photos I have got some lovely memories gathering dust. Most of them aren't even in photo albums or proper sleeves - just the standard envelope thing you'd get from Fnac or wherever.

I've been trying to work out how to deal with them.

The problem is simple enough - convert a bunch of negatives and photos (which I don't have the negatives of) to digital images that I can use and abuse in a more meaningful manner.

I don't want to spend a fortune on scanning equipment as it's a one off operation, so there'd be no point.

And to make it all the more "interesting" any software or hardware would have to be either Mac or Linux compatible, as I don't use Windows (and my current home desktop Windows install is more than a little broken anyway ...)

Searching online I'm presented with a huge choice of hardware and software, but I have absolutely no idea how good or bad any of it is, or if it will work with a Mac.

So, if any photographers out there have any suggestions I'd really welcome them.

Yet another offer!

This time it's HP Ireland's online photo service (Snapfish) that is offering 40 free prints to new users.

Go to the special new user site to take advantage

While doing some shopping in Aldi this afternoon I spotted this sign.

I know that vendors have to be careful, but do they think we're all stupid?

Krystian has done up some desktop wallpaper for his new iMac and is giving it away as a free download

Packing in a hurry is not a good idea. You end up with:

• clothes you're not going to wear
• adapters for the wrong country
  
• no card reader, so you can't get photos off your camera
• forgetting silly little things
  

When I get back on Friday I'll be able to transfer all the photos from my Sony Cybershot T9 to one of my desktop PCs and then upload them to Flickr or use them in blog posts.

It's kind of annoying having to wait!

Moral of the story - be better prepared!

Big multinational companies run marketing campaigns that affect popular culture.

It doesn't matter whether the captions or catchy songs are telling the truth or not. It doesn't matter if the marketing message is cliched or based on out of date stereotypes or old technology.

George gave me a link to this really cool and amusing Kodak video.

It's a breath of fresh air!

Enjoy!

Sunday afternoon exploring ruins

EDIT: I originally posted this photo from my Nokia N95 while standing beside the ruins of Dunamase castle. One of the limitations of using "life blog" is that you can't specify categories or tags (if you can I can't see the option!), so I have to do an edit afterwards. It also shoves the uploaded image directly into the web root, which isn't exactly desirable, as I like keeping images and other content in separate directories so that I can have more control