Computer Column

Computer Column
by

Denton Croft

Eighteen months ago I wrote a short column on digital cameras. I recently had need to investigate the cameras currently on the market and found that my previous article has no relevance to what is available in the market today. What was top of the line then are children's toys today. For example, we just bought our grandson a 12 megapixel camera with 5x optical zoom. I had previously reported that an 11 megapixel camera was top of the line and well beyond the means of the average person.

Today's cameras have features that were not even dreamt about 18 months ago. My grandson's camera has "facial recognition" which means the camera will actually locate faces in the field of view and insure the faces are in focus. If the people are on the move it will actually track the faces as long as they are in the view finder. It also has an image stabilization feature. According to the manufacture this means "You can capture sharp, blur-free images even when your subjects are on the move."

Cost of the camera? Eighty dollars at CompUSA! It was an Olympus FE-46. Want to spend a few more dollars? Polaroid has a camera that will detect smiles and blinks. According to the ads "If you're taking group photos at a family reunion, and Aunt Mable always blinks when you click, your camera will wait to capture the shot so your photos have smiling, focused, centered faces, with all eyes open."

Video cameras are another amazing story. One of our Elfers instructors bought a video camera and posted one of his first works on Youtube (www.youtube.com). You can see it by going to Youtube and searching for "Wiregrass TSO Christmas light display." There were several other videos but his is at the top of the list. If you should decide to watch it, be sure you have the resolution set to 720P. The resolution can be changed by adjusting a control on the lower right hand side of the Youtube display. There are three settings, 360, 400 and 720.

Shortly after the start of the video was a shot of a hotdog stand. There was a one foot by two foot sign with the menu. What amazed me was that you could read everything on the sign. I can remember the time when you would need professional equipment priced at $3,000 or more to get the clarity that this video offered. The instructor told me that his camera, a Kodak Zi8, was priced at below $200 and further, he did not use the full resolution available.

I am not endorsing any of the items I mentioned above. As always, do your own research when you are ready for new technology. With today's technology the items I describe may well be obsolete by the time you read this.

Computer Classes

February Schedule:

COMPUTER I
2/9 – 2/10 – 2/11
10:00 am – 12:00 pm

PICASA

2/15

10:00am – 12:00pm

COMPUTER II
2/16 – 2/17 – 2/18
10:00 am – 12:00 pm

EMAIL BASICS
2/24
10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Cost of the 3-day, 6-hour course is $33.00 and includes a student manual. The one-day Email Basics class is $11.00. Call (727) 847-1290 to inquire or register, or come to the front desk at CARES Elfers Center, 4136 Barker Drive, New Port Richey.

Please note the new time of
10:00 am – 12:00 pm.

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