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Thursday, July 29, 2004
Review (preliminary): Canon s410 vs. s230
Amazon.com: Camera & Photo: Canon PowerShot S410 4MP Digital Elph with 3x Optical Zoom
I'll eventually post a review on Amazon and my photo web page. Some initial impressions from a very picky customer:
1. s230 was (is) a fabulous camera -- almost a perfect blend of form and function. The s410 is a better camera, but it's drifted a bit from the vision of the original design team. It feels like a "B Team" product rather than an "A Team" product".
2. s410 has more than twice the picture power (50% more zoom, 90% more pixels)
3. s410 has a ridiculous menu that configures startup tones, pictures, etc. Stupid but one can ignore it. I have to see if I can modify the startup screen picture, if I can I'll put our name and address on it!
4. s230 looks and feels better than the s410. It's slightly more slender, feels more solid, is less flashy, looks more elegant. The s410 looks a bit cheap and gaudy by comparison.
5. Both are made in Japan!
6. The s410 has improved on the s230's mode setting (camera/video) and menu structures. It's hard to alternate between the two because of this, but one is much less likely to record video instead of taking a picture. I also like the way to switch between manual and auto mode.
7. The s410 has a spiffier intelligent focus mode -- that doesn't work any better than any of these things do! I turned it off, I prefer to use center focus at the right distance then reframe.
8. The s410 gets HOT if you take pictures quickly. CPU is working more. I wonder about battery life.
9. The s230 used the same data cable as my G2. The s410 uses a USB mini-B cable. Nice to have a standard data cable, but I wonder what happens if one accidentally uses a powered USB cable!
10. s230 and s410 use the same battery and elegant power charger. YAY.
11. s410 has a tactile feedback on the shutter that feels stiff to me -- as though it would increase camera vibration. I don't like it.
12. Both the s410, s230 and G2 use standard CF cards (YAY), but the s430 benefits from a high speed card.
I'll eventually post a review on Amazon and my photo web page. Some initial impressions from a very picky customer:
1. s230 was (is) a fabulous camera -- almost a perfect blend of form and function. The s410 is a better camera, but it's drifted a bit from the vision of the original design team. It feels like a "B Team" product rather than an "A Team" product".
2. s410 has more than twice the picture power (50% more zoom, 90% more pixels)
3. s410 has a ridiculous menu that configures startup tones, pictures, etc. Stupid but one can ignore it. I have to see if I can modify the startup screen picture, if I can I'll put our name and address on it!
4. s230 looks and feels better than the s410. It's slightly more slender, feels more solid, is less flashy, looks more elegant. The s410 looks a bit cheap and gaudy by comparison.
5. Both are made in Japan!
6. The s410 has improved on the s230's mode setting (camera/video) and menu structures. It's hard to alternate between the two because of this, but one is much less likely to record video instead of taking a picture. I also like the way to switch between manual and auto mode.
7. The s410 has a spiffier intelligent focus mode -- that doesn't work any better than any of these things do! I turned it off, I prefer to use center focus at the right distance then reframe.
8. The s410 gets HOT if you take pictures quickly. CPU is working more. I wonder about battery life.
9. The s230 used the same data cable as my G2. The s410 uses a USB mini-B cable. Nice to have a standard data cable, but I wonder what happens if one accidentally uses a powered USB cable!
10. s230 and s410 use the same battery and elegant power charger. YAY.
11. s410 has a tactile feedback on the shutter that feels stiff to me -- as though it would increase camera vibration. I don't like it.
12. Both the s410, s230 and G2 use standard CF cards (YAY), but the s430 benefits from a high speed card.
Monday, July 26, 2004
Photo sharing services (NYT)
The New York Times > Business > E-Commerce Report: Businesses Help Organize Photos
The article mentions a few services I've looked at, but it doesn't address key questions like storage limits, upload size restrictions, business models, printing services, print ordering, OS X support, workflow convenience, etc. In other words, it's not that useful an article .. EXCEPT it mentions which are popular now. These are the ones mentioned:
- CNET is buying Webshots, Webshots angle is sharing photos about places (travel, etc)
- Google has bought Picasa (which also distributed "Hello", a peer-to-peer file sharing app. See my prior posting on Picasa.
- Kodak's Ofoto.com, District Photo's Snapfish.com and Shutterfly.com are growing in popularity
- Yahoo is adding new features and may return to frontrunner status (displays ads with photos)
- Sharelot (displays ads with photos)
I've used Picasa/Hello, Flickr (very hot but he missed them), SmugMug, and Shutterfly. Of these only SmugMug let me upload full sized images for sharing and distribution -- they charge a yearly fee and have no ads. Google/Picasa/Hello is the real favorite since they seem to be able to provide tons of storage at low costs.
The article mentions a few services I've looked at, but it doesn't address key questions like storage limits, upload size restrictions, business models, printing services, print ordering, OS X support, workflow convenience, etc. In other words, it's not that useful an article .. EXCEPT it mentions which are popular now. These are the ones mentioned:
- CNET is buying Webshots, Webshots angle is sharing photos about places (travel, etc)
- Google has bought Picasa (which also distributed "Hello", a peer-to-peer file sharing app. See my prior posting on Picasa.
- Kodak's Ofoto.com, District Photo's Snapfish.com and Shutterfly.com are growing in popularity
- Yahoo is adding new features and may return to frontrunner status (displays ads with photos)
- Sharelot (displays ads with photos)
I've used Picasa/Hello, Flickr (very hot but he missed them), SmugMug, and Shutterfly. Of these only SmugMug let me upload full sized images for sharing and distribution -- they charge a yearly fee and have no ads. Google/Picasa/Hello is the real favorite since they seem to be able to provide tons of storage at low costs.
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Swiss Army Knife (Victorinox) with USB and flashlight
News: "Together with the Swiss data storage specialists at Swissbit AG, the renowned manufacturer of the Swiss Army Knife, VICTORINOX, developed SWISSMEMORY for computer users on the move. Modern, traditional and Made in Switzerland."
EDIROL MA-10D Digital Powered Speakers
Amazon.com: Electronics: EDIROL MA-10D Digital Powered Speakers (Pair)
I'm thinking of these together with an Airport Express ...
I'm thinking of these together with an Airport Express ...
Kensington PocketSpeakers
PocketSpeakers
I want these for my desktop machine! I need something compact for listening to music. These use USB for both power and digital audio. Sounds peruasive!
I want these for my desktop machine! I need something compact for listening to music. These use USB for both power and digital audio. Sounds peruasive!
Two large ships sink every week ...
Freak waves the real monsters of the sea - Environment - www.smh.com.au
This article also mentions 3 cruise ships, including the QE2, running into @ 30 meter waves over the past 8 years. With a bit less luck any of them could have gone down.
For years these giant waves were thought to be wild imaginings of drunken sailors. A recent satellite study shows they show up every few months. They can sink most ships.
I wonder how safe sailing ships are? I suspect they're far more dangerous than airplanes ...
Two large ships sink every week, on average, but the cause is never studied in the same detail as an air crash. It simply gets put down to 'bad weather'.
This article also mentions 3 cruise ships, including the QE2, running into @ 30 meter waves over the past 8 years. With a bit less luck any of them could have gone down.
For years these giant waves were thought to be wild imaginings of drunken sailors. A recent satellite study shows they show up every few months. They can sink most ships.
I wonder how safe sailing ships are? I suspect they're far more dangerous than airplanes ...
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