Digital Photography: May 2005
Digital Photography, Identity Theft: May 2005
Each year in May I have the opportunity to test new digital photography software and, if I’m fortunate, a new camera.
“What’s the occasion?” I hear you asking.
Since 1997, when the school acquired its first digital camera, an Epson PhotoPC 500, I have been photographing graduation events for my school.
That first camera, not even qualifying for a 1 megapixel rating, consumed a case of 24 double-A batteries in a night of shooting. Although the shots left a lot to be desired by today’s standards, they were adequate for Internet posting, e-mailing and for a basic CD-ROM yearbook.
A year later we had a second Epson, same model, same limitations. At least this time the formal entrance of graduates didn’t have to be halted as batteries were changed.
Two years later the original Epsons were retired from active duty. One still works while the other has a defective shutter button.
It is worth noting that those cameras did not come with built-in LCD screens. We acquired an add-on screen that extended from the side of the camera but its drain on the battery was prohibitive, reducing battery lifetime to a few tens of minutes at most.
By the close of the millennium I was employing a used Epson PhotoPC 800. Its nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) rechargeable batteries were excellent and would last several hours. The 2.2 megapixel rating made for a better end product all around.
The 800 and its batteries were still good until about a year ago. The camera is still functional but it is time for a new set of batteries as the originals now hold only a few minutes of charge.
Three years ago I switched over to the Canon line, first with an S30 and then with an S50. These units have been superb, used as they are on almost a daily basis. Students appreciated the wide variety of features they could put to use in the digital photography portion of their computer classes.
For this year’s graduation ceremonies I decided to return to my roots in photography by using a digital SLR camera, the Canon Rebel XT (marketed in the rest of the world as the 350D), released in February of this year.
Canon’s first semi-pro DSLR, the Digital Rebel, received rave reviews and the same seems to be holding true for the newer unit.
Having now shot well over a thousand images with the XT, I’m finding it difficult to go back to the consumer-level cameras. No more shutter time lag, responsive and accurate focussing coupled with a wide range of automatic and manual features make for an enjoyable experience with a very low level of rejected shots.
To be sure, DSLR cameras are not cheap. But in relative terms, they are about the same price as that sub-1 megapixel camera I first used eight years back.
At our various graduation events not only are photos taken but they are also displayed, either on large projection screens, on television screens around the school and on small hand-held multimedia devices.
This year, Google’s free Picasa photo management software featured in most of the displays. It’s collage feature was used to generate random photo arrangements of groups of students, it’s timeline feature was used to organize five years’ worth of digital images for the graduating class and its slide show component was used to run automated displays.
At the commencement ceremony for the past few years we have projected a photograph of each student as he or she crosses the stage. This year I decided to go with the highly recommended (and free) IrfanView graphics software package from Europe.
Both the Picasa and Irfan packages are worthwhile additions to your home computer system. Get Picasa at www.picasa.com and IrfanView from www.download.com.
………
Identity theft
Hardly a week goes by without some form of identity theft story. A month or so back there was the case of consumer data being compromised at one of Canada’s credit bureaus.
Still in its early stages is the potentially much bigger problem that could result from up to 40 million credit card records, some Canadian, stolen from Atlanta-based CardSystems Solutions. Although just coming to public light a week back the data may have been compromised a month earlier.
Strictly speaking the latest incident is not one of identity theft. In this case, account numbers and the corresponding security codes for numerous credit card types, primarily Visa and Mastercard, but also including Discover and American Express, were copied from networked computer facilities at a Tucson branch by hackers.
Should you become a victim of identity theft, be it the online variety or through loss of a wallet or purse, you will want to report the incident through at least one of the three major Canadian credit bureaus.
Equifax Canada
www.equifax.com/EFX_Canada
NCB Inc.
www.creditbureau.ca
Transunion Canada
www.tuc.ca/TUCorp
Only Transunion’s web site offers a comprehensive set of instructions, in question-answer format, to help victims of identity theft and fraud. The Fraud Victim Assistance Department operates a toll free reporting line (1-877-525-3823). The Transunion site helpfully provides the equivalent number for Equifax (1 800 465 7166).
The other two agency sites seem geared for commercial customers, probably not unexpected given that their raison d’etre is to provide credit information to businesses.
For additional background on identity theft, try the Identity Theft Resource Center (“helping people prevent and recover from identity theft, www.idtheftcenter.org). Another interesting site, Javelin Strategy and Research (www.javelinstrategy.com/media), maintains a clearing house for mainstream media articles about identity theft and online consumer scams.
Peter Vogel is a Physics and Computer Sciences teacher at Notre Dame Regional Secondary School (www.ndrs.org). Suggestions and comments may be sent via email to peterv@portal.ca.
Each year in May I have the opportunity to test new digital photography software and, if I’m fortunate, a new camera.
“What’s the occasion?” I hear you asking.
Since 1997, when the school acquired its first digital camera, an Epson PhotoPC 500, I have been photographing graduation events for my school.
That first camera, not even qualifying for a 1 megapixel rating, consumed a case of 24 double-A batteries in a night of shooting. Although the shots left a lot to be desired by today’s standards, they were adequate for Internet posting, e-mailing and for a basic CD-ROM yearbook.
A year later we had a second Epson, same model, same limitations. At least this time the formal entrance of graduates didn’t have to be halted as batteries were changed.
Two years later the original Epsons were retired from active duty. One still works while the other has a defective shutter button.
It is worth noting that those cameras did not come with built-in LCD screens. We acquired an add-on screen that extended from the side of the camera but its drain on the battery was prohibitive, reducing battery lifetime to a few tens of minutes at most.
By the close of the millennium I was employing a used Epson PhotoPC 800. Its nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) rechargeable batteries were excellent and would last several hours. The 2.2 megapixel rating made for a better end product all around.
The 800 and its batteries were still good until about a year ago. The camera is still functional but it is time for a new set of batteries as the originals now hold only a few minutes of charge.
Three years ago I switched over to the Canon line, first with an S30 and then with an S50. These units have been superb, used as they are on almost a daily basis. Students appreciated the wide variety of features they could put to use in the digital photography portion of their computer classes.
For this year’s graduation ceremonies I decided to return to my roots in photography by using a digital SLR camera, the Canon Rebel XT (marketed in the rest of the world as the 350D), released in February of this year.
Canon’s first semi-pro DSLR, the Digital Rebel, received rave reviews and the same seems to be holding true for the newer unit.
Having now shot well over a thousand images with the XT, I’m finding it difficult to go back to the consumer-level cameras. No more shutter time lag, responsive and accurate focussing coupled with a wide range of automatic and manual features make for an enjoyable experience with a very low level of rejected shots.
To be sure, DSLR cameras are not cheap. But in relative terms, they are about the same price as that sub-1 megapixel camera I first used eight years back.
At our various graduation events not only are photos taken but they are also displayed, either on large projection screens, on television screens around the school and on small hand-held multimedia devices.
This year, Google’s free Picasa photo management software featured in most of the displays. It’s collage feature was used to generate random photo arrangements of groups of students, it’s timeline feature was used to organize five years’ worth of digital images for the graduating class and its slide show component was used to run automated displays.
At the commencement ceremony for the past few years we have projected a photograph of each student as he or she crosses the stage. This year I decided to go with the highly recommended (and free) IrfanView graphics software package from Europe.
Both the Picasa and Irfan packages are worthwhile additions to your home computer system. Get Picasa at www.picasa.com and IrfanView from www.download.com.
………
Identity theft
Hardly a week goes by without some form of identity theft story. A month or so back there was the case of consumer data being compromised at one of Canada’s credit bureaus.
Still in its early stages is the potentially much bigger problem that could result from up to 40 million credit card records, some Canadian, stolen from Atlanta-based CardSystems Solutions. Although just coming to public light a week back the data may have been compromised a month earlier.
Strictly speaking the latest incident is not one of identity theft. In this case, account numbers and the corresponding security codes for numerous credit card types, primarily Visa and Mastercard, but also including Discover and American Express, were copied from networked computer facilities at a Tucson branch by hackers.
Should you become a victim of identity theft, be it the online variety or through loss of a wallet or purse, you will want to report the incident through at least one of the three major Canadian credit bureaus.
Equifax Canada
www.equifax.com/EFX_Canada
NCB Inc.
www.creditbureau.ca
Transunion Canada
www.tuc.ca/TUCorp
Only Transunion’s web site offers a comprehensive set of instructions, in question-answer format, to help victims of identity theft and fraud. The Fraud Victim Assistance Department operates a toll free reporting line (1-877-525-3823). The Transunion site helpfully provides the equivalent number for Equifax (1 800 465 7166).
The other two agency sites seem geared for commercial customers, probably not unexpected given that their raison d’etre is to provide credit information to businesses.
For additional background on identity theft, try the Identity Theft Resource Center (“helping people prevent and recover from identity theft, www.idtheftcenter.org). Another interesting site, Javelin Strategy and Research (www.javelinstrategy.com/media), maintains a clearing house for mainstream media articles about identity theft and online consumer scams.
Peter Vogel is a Physics and Computer Sciences teacher at Notre Dame Regional Secondary School (www.ndrs.org). Suggestions and comments may be sent via email to peterv@portal.ca.
posted by Peter Vogel at 5:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home