The Gadget Scientist

This is the second set of Gadget Scientist Holiday tips! This post focuses on what to pack when travelling with your digital camera, and a few practical suggestions when taking photos on holiday.

Batteries:

A lithium ion camera battery

This might seem obvious, but in the middle of packing for a big trip it’s easy to forget something like this! Depending upon where you are travelling you may be able to buy a replacement battery or charger. If you have an older model camera however, these batteries or chargers may no longer be manufactured. If you’re away for a few weeks use online stores, or eBay to find older model chargers, and get it sent to your holiday address.

A friend recently travelled to New York without his camera charger, and found out that they were no longer manufactured. He ended up buying a whole new camera! (and thanks to J&R for helping him choose one!)

Memory cards:

A 2GB memory card

Memory cards are usually easier to buy when on holiday, but remember to buy the format made to fit your camera. Buy a large capacity memory card, for example 2GB or 4GB, so you can store more photos on it.

A 4GB memory card

Memory cards are only intended as temporary storage devices.
If a card fails, all the photos and videos stored on it will be lost, including your precious holiday snaps.

So make sure you keep memory cards protected:

• use a memory card case when they’re not in the camera
• don’t leave them in direct sunlight
• keep them away from water, sand and magnets.

File size:

A low resolution image is blurry and can appear out-of-focus when looked at close-up.

Newlywed friends of ours accidentally took all of their honeymoon photos using the smallest file size on their camera. Although they managed to fit hundreds and hundreds of photos on the memory card, all of them ended up thumbnail size, and couldn’t be printed.

This is because the smallest file size setting on a camera captures photos with limited detail, or low resolution images. Low resolution images have a fuzzy appearance when viewed on a computer, or printed on photo paper.

A high resolution image is crisp and clear

Use the largest file size setting to capture the maximum level of detail and achieve a high resolution image. High resolution images are clear and crisp when viewed on a computer or printed. You might not fit as many onto a memory card, but you won’t need a magnifying glass to see the ones you do take!

And finally, remember to pack your copy of The Gadget Scientist Guide to Using Your Digital Camera! It’s full of advice and answers on common photo problems, and fits easily into your camera bag, handbag or suitcase!

Find out more about the book on The Gadget Scientist website.

Flowers, insects, jewellery and cakes are ideal subjects for close-ups, and it’s the macro feature that makes close-up photography possible.

Without macro turned on close-up photos will be blurry

Point-and-shoot cameras usually have a minimum focusing distance of about 50 centimetres (20 inches). This is why close-up photos look blurry.

Turn macro on for in-focus, close-up photos

  When using macro the cameras minimum focusing distance is reduced to about 15 centimetres (6 inches) and close-up photos will be in focus.

On point and shoot cameras, turn on macro by pushing the ‘flower’ button. Sometimes the button is labelled MF for macro focus. (This can be confusing however, as MF stands for manual focus on some cameras and lenses.)

A flower has become the standard way to represent the macro setting on cameras – presumably because flowers are the traditional close-up subject choice!

On DSLR cameras the ability to take macro shots depends upon the lens. There are specialist macro lenses, but even some standard lenses can take close-up photos. To find out, check your lens and see if there is a flower icon somewhere on it. (Usually it’s a macro switch rather than a button on lenses.)

We hope you enjoyed this Gadget Scientist post based on content from our photo guide book!

If you’re interested in finding out more about The Gadget Scientist Guide to Using Your Digital Camera, take a look at the Gadget Scientist website.

School and summer holidays are fast approaching, and so are photo opportunities! The Gadget Scientist received it’s first holiday photo emergency call this week, so thought it was a good time to point out a few tips when taking your camera on holiday this year. This will be the first in a three-part series, and all the holiday problems are real!

Holiday Tip One:
The first tip is to remember to take your copy of The Gadget Scientist Guide along with you on holiday! It’s pocket-sized and can easily fit in your handbag, camera bag and takes up very little room in your suitcase. You never know when you might have a question about your digital camera, and we hope that The Gadget Scientist can solve most of your problems!

For example this week I received a message from a friend who is on a cruise. A hand symbol was always appearing on the screen on their camera, and they couldn’t work out what it meant.
 
I can only assume my friend’s copy of The Gadget Scientist book had accidentally fallen overboard – because what serious holiday-maker would leave the house without it?! But, nevertheless, I was of course happy to provide the answer (despite being disappointed my friend hadn’t committed every single page of the book to memory….)

Reduce the effect of camera shake by using the image stabilisation setting.

The hand symbol represents the Image Stabilisation feature:
This reduces the effect of blur in low-light conditions due to camera shake. Camera shake happens when the hand holding the camera moves when a photo is being taken. This commonly happens in low-light conditions because the camera needs longer to take a photo.

A red-flashing camera symbol is a warning that your photo will be blurry.

How do you know when to use Image Stabilisation?
If you have a compact camera, then it will probably show a red-flashing camera symbol as a warning that your photo will be blurry. When this happens, turn on the Image Stabilisation and the hand symbol will appear.

If it's too dark the camera shake icon will appear, even when using IS.

The image stabilisation feature (or “IS”) can usually be turned on and off in the MENU. If the red-flashing camera symbol is still showing when using Image Stabilisation then there’s not enough light to take a photo without blur – even with image stabilisation. If this happens, use a tripod or turn on the flash.

Continuous IS:
My friend on the cruise was worried because the hand symbol was permanently showing. This is because their camera was set to continuous image stabilisation and on compact camera’s this is OK. You can leave it on all the time and image stabilisation will kick-in when it’s needed.

DSLRs and Image Stabilisation:
Image stabilisation on DSLRs is a specific feature of certain lenses. For example, I have a Canon 75-300mm lens with image stabilisation. It’s turned on and off using a switch on the side of the camera.

Two important things to know about IS lenses:

• The image stabilisation is made possible by gyroscopes in the lens. Make sure you turn the image stabilisation off when travelling. This locks the gyroscopes and prevent damage in transit.
• Image stabilisation is very power hungry. Only turn it on when you need it, and remember to turn it off afterwards. Otherwise, you’ll eat up battery power very quickly.

We hope you enjoyed the first Gadget Scientist holiday tip – there’s more to follow in the next week or two!

If you’re interested in finding out more about The Gadget Scientist Guide to Using Your Digital Camera, take a look at the Gadget Scientist website.