Wednesday, July 12, 2006

More Words From AOL Pictures

As I mentioned previously, here are a few other items recently blogged in the AOL Pictures blog that you might find useful:

* Here's How to Contact the AOL Pictures Team, including how to submit pictures that you would like to see featured in their blog (like their Picture of the Week from last week, which is a series of rainbow shots).

* Will from the Pictures team is soliciting advice for a new digital camera to replace his ancient, brick-like 2.1 megapixel monstrosity.

With all the digital photo expertise around him, might he be fishing for comments? Nah.

Here are my two most recent cameras:

Joe with cameras

Me with my cameras -- I'm using a mirror that was given to us by the Business Conduct folks. I include myself in the shot since I am apparently a narcissist.
My current camera is on the right. It's a Canon PowerShot SD200, which was already obsolete at 3.2 megapixels when I bought it last year (around $200 bucks, including a 1gb SD card) -- it's about the size of a deck of cards.

The size, weight and screen size difference compared to the the S200 next to it is pretty dramatic. The S200 is a 2.1 megapixel camera which I also bought when it was obsolete, with memory card, for about $200 bucks.

[Update, 7/13: I've gotten a few comments from folks who aren't quite following the camera talk -- I took a few shortcuts in my entry, so here's what's going on -- I'm basically comparing my old camera, a 2.1 megapixel model, to my current camera, which has 3.2 megapixels.

A megapixel is a measure of resolution -- how much a digital camera can capture, which determines how big the photo can be. Unlike film, digital pictures are made up of dots, or pixels. The more dots you can use, the bigger the picture can be. "Mega" is the prefix for "million", so 3.2 megapixels is about 3,200,000 dots.

Digital cameras store their images on memory cards, of which there are different types -- my current camera has a 1-gigabyte memory card -- the type is called "SD" or "Secure Digital" -- it's about the size of a postage stamp and fits about 1,500 pictures.

I explain more about megapixels and other digital camera stuff in this earlier entry: Go Wild With Your Digital Camera.

Thanks -- Joe]

I am more of a snapshot guy, though sometimes I find myself wishing that I had a more fully-featured camera. And that I was a better photographer. I do like that fact that the SD200 fits easily into my pocket -- being small-statured, I also have small pockets.

In fact the current versions (SD450? SD500? Something like that) are slightly thicker and heaver, though the display screens are ginormous.

Anyway, as with any gadget, it really depends on your needs. But I've been happy with the Canon series so far. The fact that they have Maria Sharapova as their pitchwoman has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Thanks -- Joe


14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wish that just once I understood what you were writting about, LOL
I feel so dumb, but I keep reading because I feel it's the right thing to do.
;-)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this !     I really do need some tips on the next camera...

My camera gets really fizzy when it moves around, it must go :-)

Anonymous said...

I've got a big, honkin' Olympus with a mind-boggling 2.0 megapixels.  The odd thing is, I actually kind of like it.  I'm really hard on cameras, and this thing's practically bulletproof.  

-Dan

Anonymous said...

h

Anonymous said...

Iam afraid I have to agree with Julia ,julesinwa ,I am sure you are telling us something very useful, but I dont understand either .......Jan

Anonymous said...

Off topic here.
Can you explain this story to us?
AOL Said to Be Planning Free Ad-Based Web Access - New York Times  
I did a entry about it here:
http://journals.aol.com/onestrangecat/OneSummersDay/entries/1554
no one seems to be able to decipher it.

Kathy

Anonymous said...

Jan, Jools & others: I updated the entry to talk a little more about megapixels and digital camera memory. Also, check out my previous entry about digital camera stuff: "Go Wild With Your Digital Camera" -- http://journals.aol.com/journalseditor/magicsmoke/entries/1323
Thanks -- Joe

Anonymous said...

Hi Kathy -- it's hard for me to add anything useful -- the top execs don't come to me for corporate strategy (which is probably a good thing).

The current speculation in the industry is that AOL is going to radically revamp its revenue model, in response to declining subscriber numbers and other factors. Other than that, nothing's been approved (as the NYT article notes, that should happen in a few weeks when it's presented to the board of directors) and it's all rumors and speculation at this point, so that's pretty much all I can say.

The current round of speculation started last week with the Wall Street Journal article, though it's been percolating for a while.

Blogging Stocks has an entry on it from Tuesday: http://twx.bloggingstocks.com/2006/07/11/time-warner-losing-1-billion-to-make-aol-free-for-some/ and you can also do a news search to find some other articles: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=aol&btnG=Search+News

Thanks -- Joe (posted & mailed)

Anonymous said...

I love my Canon PowerShot S50. Yeah, it's a little thick and heavy to be a pocket camera, but it does fit well in my purse. It has nice features/auto settings and takes digital movie clips too. I use it for blogging all the time and my photo hobby. It's a 5.0 megapixel camera (I've had some gorgeous poster sized prints made from some of my photos). My next big dream purchase is a digital SLR style camera...something big with loads of megapixels and features. There is a Fuji model I was checking out the other day, but I may stick with Canon. I've had good luck with them.

Anonymous said...

aww.. making me mourn my camera even more!  My daughter killed it a few weeks back.. jamming the zoom lens so now it wont even turn on.  My husband had gotten it for me as a gift from Circit City in Feb. and bought the extended warenty on it for that "just incase the kids to get ahold of it" in mind.. and was asured by the salesmen that if it was dropped by a kid it would be covered.. Ha.. NEEDLESS to say salesmen lie.. when we tried to use the warenty they responded with..oh that was just a wear and tear warenty and being dropped isn't covered!

ugh.. sad over here with out my digital camera!

Anonymous said...

You're probably in the computer system now, unfortunately, so it probably wouldn't work, but for next time, put on your best blank stare and say "It just stopped working." -- Joe

Anonymous said...

ROFLMBO

"The person responsible for community, integrity, diversity and inclusion at AOL."

Did you *all* get these mirrors?

http://2writehands.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Nope. The Community-Integrity-Diversity-and-Inclusion Buck Stops Here. -- Joe
(Yes, we all got the mirrors.)

Anonymous said...

ok