MAMA's Techno-Geek Thread

[jwardell]

Quote: Originally Posted by blalor (original)

Engadget has an article on Dash Navigation and their new device.

I hate monthly fees, but comparing to a map update puts it in perspective.
To me Dash's ideas seem like the only way to make a GPS useful in the boston areas, where only local knowledge of streets, traffic lights, traffic density, and time of day can really define the best way to get from A to B. Taking the major/shortest routes suggested by your navigation (or google etc) is almost certain to take many times longer. Even something like a day-to-day work commute takes years to optimize with the several tricks of local streets. The only traffic service we have here is smartroutes at boston.com and it is terribly innacurate and doesn't reflect the usual tieups, only major accidents.
Pulling real speed data from cars is a way around all that. I'm waiting for pricing, I'm sure it will be out of my diminuitive range, but it will give me something to shoot for.

Quote: Originally Posted by snid (original)

Just testing something new in the vbCode stuff...

Did it work?

I thought you found a way to embed some javascript or something! But then I quoted you and saw it's just a new UBB tag just for that purpose. Well, I can see where it can be useful.

[bethandlouis]

Not so new product review ahead-

So i was looking at my less than a year old iPod and noticed 3 rather large scratches going across the screen. It seems that the #1 problem is trying to keep these things from getting scratched. I have it in a polycarbonate cover now but it was after the scratches were acquired. So I decided to do some research for the greater good. I had seem the blogs about using Brasso on the iPod (this scared me for a few reasons (although it seems to work)) others recommend a commercially available product called ice creme. I ordered said ice creme and waited patiently to see if it worked. The directions say that you will have to "work" with the iPod for 20-60 minutes (it's true). For iBook's 1-3 hours. It's an easy process once you find the right amount of pressure to apply. My iPod looks brand new.

Reading the other uses I instantly thought of the watch Louis bought for me in Vegas (it was scratched within a day) . Fixed it right up with the ice creme. Told Louis that I would work on his 2G iPod (yes they still work!) It looks brand new. This stuff is great!

[GadgetGav]

Thanks Beth. I tried a plastic polish on my nano, but I think I ran out of patience before it made much difference..!
If you're interested, a friend of mine is a reseller for the invisible shield type protector film. They do films for everything from iPods to laptops to cellphones.

[jwardell]

Yes if I ever get another ipod, I had promised to cover it in invisishield. I actually first saw it at macworld boston two years ago in hynes...

The 2G ipod I had, I bought an original iskin cover that I put on the first day and never removed it. When I sold it years later, still not a scratch. But here are several other covers that will scratch the ipod (just like a bra on your car) if it can move around in it at all.

Hah looks like I still have the photo here from when I sold it. It was the only used ipod on ebay with no scratches, and I got plenty for it.

[GBMINI]

(repeated from Amateur Photographers Thread)

I need another camera - advice wanted
I bought a Canon PowerShot S3 IS and while it's mostly good, it's lower light performance is awful; grainy when you get into evening hours, useless indoors unless there's heaps of light, and the flash takes 5s or more to recharge

Who's got good low light performance on their digital camera?

[jwardell]

Low light performance is mostly attributed to the size of the lens...
Ian, you're geeky enough to join us with a digital slr now, right? Especially now that they cost a third what I had to pay...
You probably want portability (though the rebel series is pretty small now--this weekend I mistook blalors for a compact!), which means smaller lens size, which means bad low light quality...

In a generalization, CMOS sensors do better with low light than CCD.
And Canon's firmwire does much better than other brands at higher ISO values (automatically selected in lower light situations).

So you already have a good one for all that. Canon also announced the PowerShot G7. But really a rebel XTi and a fast L lens is your best answer.
Until you start talking about flash...

[blalor]

Quote: Originally Posted by jwardell (original)

Low light performance is mostly attributed to the size of the lens...

I actually thought it was related to the size of the sensor. A smaller sensor has the buckets closer together and tends to heat up more, and thus generate more noise. Low-light performance requires boosting the signal from the sensor, but that also boosts the noise.

A faster lens (larger aperture) will allow more light to fall on the sensor (at the expense of DoF, but I'm not sure what that function curve looks like for itty-bitty cameras).

Quote: Originally Posted by jwardell (original)

this weekend I mistook blalors for a compact!

Hey, it's bigger than it looks!

Er, waitaminute...

[bethandlouis]

Josh is totally right. I was in the market for a new camera last year about this time (was getting bored with my powershot) and bought the Canon S2 IS. While it was really neat (great video capture and cool options) it lacked a lot of things I was looking for. When I bought Louis an SLR I rarely used the S2 (actually sold it on ebay for close to what I paid for it). It takes amazing pictures. I did end up getting a ultra compact P&S (Olympus S720 SW to take on kayak trips (waterproof and shockproof without waterproof housing)) It has a special feature to use in low light conditions but I haven't had to use it so I can't report on how well it does.

You get into a lot of money with SLR's when you buy a lot of lenses. If you get a good all around lens it will really get you far (also getting Sigma lens saves a lot of $$$). Louis has been really happy with his camera (and with the beta of Adobe Light Room).

[jwardell]

Well, OK, sensor too (which increases with camera/lens size), but the bottom line is, Size Matters!

I have my D60 SLR, and tiny pentax that I keep in the MINI's cupholder. I can pocket that if I need quick shots somewhere...but in practice I almost never use it. Still, it is better to have a big slr and a tiny point-and-shoot than try to do everything with a mediocre one.

Wait, isn't this the same wiht winter and summer tires?

[MGB Boy]

Go for film, Ian!

-Ricardo

[GadgetGav]

Sensor size / pixel density starts to affect noise too. The race for bigger numbers of MP for the stickers is making smaller pixel 'wells' with less sensitivity.

Sites like dpreview.com and steves-digicams.com have good reviews - pick a price point and see what they say... but like others have said, you can't go wrong with an SLR (unless you want to put it in your jeans pocket!)

[snid]

Quote: Originally Posted by MGB Boy (original)

Go for film, Ian!

Yeah! Then instead of it being "noisey" which is bad, it can be "grainy" which is all artsy and stuff



ISO 3200 with dad's old Leica and indoor / ambient light only:



Which reminds me... I need to take some more pictures with the Leica, and try some super high speed film in the medium format camera some time.

Damn you guys for making me look at lenses again... good thing all the lenses for the medium format camera are in the $600 - $1500 range so there's no danger of me buying one.

[MGB Boy]

Quote: Originally Posted by snid (original)

Yeah! Then instead of it being "noisey" which is bad, it can be "grainy" which is all artsy and stuff



ISO 3200 with dad's old Leica and indoor / ambient light only:

Well duh, shoot at 3200 and no wonder it'll be grainy...

-Ricardo

[Theo]

Ian,

Explore the menu settings a bit. Usually Canon (maybe all mfgrs) "defaults" the ISO setting to "automatic" to curtail the need for the flash. This is how Carol's Elph works.

I have since reset the ISO setting to 100. Yes, the flash does come on more often, but I must admit that the Elph takes fairly decent flash pictures (IMHO). Redeye is a problem (even with the anti-redeye pre-flash thingy) but Photoshop and Scott Kelby's excellent book for using PS with digital images easily comes to the rescue. Of course the 5s recycle time is not that convenient for catching lots of action.

Actually, the only time this "film" speed thing is really a problem for me is when I want to freeze action in low light conditions where a flash will make no difference (distant subjects, e.g.; night -time Fenway shots). For those situations I use my (bulky) Nikon.

Thinking of repacing the Nikon, though. Holy Smokes! What DSLR do I choose????

Theo

[bethandlouis]

Quote: Originally Posted by MGB Boy (original)

Go for film, Ian!

-Ricardo

And maybe you can buy a record player too