Digital Camera
  Thanks
in large to Steve Desimone's excellent bookkeeping, the club treasury was
well-off enough to afford the club its own digital camera. The camera will serve
as a fundamental tool for maintaining a great web site with lots of
pictures of members in action. After several weeks of research it was
determined that the camera which offered the best features at the most
affordable price was the Canon PowerShot s30.
Canon PowerShot s30 - Great Reviews
At $398, the Canon PowerShot s30 offered the best balance between ease of use
and high-quality picture output. Originally released in October 2001 with
a street price of $600, this camera served as a true benchmark. Even after
a year the camera still ranked
10th in dpreview.com Top 20 cameras list. Over 12 months the price had
dropped substantially. It was an ideal situation.
-
dpreview.com
- "4.52 out of 5.00" - dpreview.com is the premiere digital
camera review website
-
dcresource.com
- "excellent choice that I definitely recommend" - very
thorough review
-
cnet.com
- "Editor's Choice", positive review rating of 96%
Features
Ease of use - The Canon PowerShot s30 has received
countless rave reviews, and always ranks very high in ease of use. This is
a key feature for our club, as we wanted our members to quickly gain
familiarity with how to use it.
High Resolution - The 3.2 MegaPixel Resolution (2048
x 1536) strikes the perfect balance for our needs. Anything lower reduces
the picture quality and ability to crop photos down without losing
clarity. Any higher than 3.2 is overkill for our needs. Unless you're a
professional or intend to make very high-quality prints, 3.2 MegaPixels is
fine. Even if anyone ever actually wants a photo printed, the PowerShot
s30 will do fine.
Small Image File Size - It's important that images
not consume too much hard disk space. Higher resolution requires more disk
space. At it's highest quality setting, each image from the PowerShot s30
will consume about 600k. Each image from the PowerShot s40, which is a 4
MegaPixel camera, requires nearly 1MB per image. Since most of this is
wasted it only amounts to a larger burden in storing the images.
3.2x Zoom - the PowerShot s30 has a 35mm lens with
a 3.2x digital zoom capability. This will enable us to zoom in on action
even from across several fairways.
Spare rechargeable battery (NB-2L Lithium Ion Battery Pack) - We
have a spare battery so when one runs out we can switch to the spare.
Recharging a battery only takes about an hour.
128MB CompactFlash card - We also have purchased an additional
memory card. The camera came with a 16MB card, which isn't enough. The
additional card will enable us to take 68 photos at the highest
picture-quality setting. If we ever fill up the 128MB card we can always
insert the 16MB card.
Waterproof Carrying Case - Crumpler
Digits, 0.6 litres,
Blue & Gold!, camera case. Lots of research went into this. It's the
best!
The Camera
Front view
Back view
Camera kit includes software CDs for downloading images onto computer, USB cables
for downloading the pictures, battery charger, 16MB CompactFlash card.
Canon PowerShot s30 Operating Manuals
& User Guides
The following are PDF files:
Camera Use Policy The camera was
purchased by the club, for the club. Any member is welcome to use it. If
you're interested, please contact Aaron, who will serve as the point
person. This being said, we're hoping that whoever is involved will be
able to take lots of pictures of members in action at lots of tournaments.
Also it's best that whoever has the camera maintains full possession
of it and takes complete responsibility for its well-being. This means
taking it home, locking it in the car, etc. In this way there can be no
confusion as to where the camera is or who is responsible. If you are in
possession of the camera treat it as if it's you're own personal property.
Please don't leave it laying around where you're not giving it your 100%
complete attention. When you turn the camera over to another person, make
sure they understand they are responsible for it. Using the camera at home
is fine, but only club members are allowed to actually use it. Please be
careful not to drop it or expose it to extreme conditions, especially
heat, as in a hot car. Goals Most people
dread the idea of having to worry about taking pictures when their focused
on golfing, but it's really not as distracting as people imagine. As an
example Aaron shot a personal best 78 at the 2001 Kooman Boycheff
tournament while snapping 155 photos (only 66 of which made the web site).
Once you've gotten the hang of it you'll be continually on the lookout for
photo opportunities across fairways, etc. Also, ideally we get some
interesting shots of our members in odd situations, and in a variety of
actions (driving, chipping, putting, etc). Also, please always use the
highest image-quality settings. during UCGC shoots. More than likely you
will not need to do anything to achieve this, as it takes a bit of
tinkering to adjust these settings away from the high-setting, which is
the default. Getting the Pictures on the Web Site Pictures
will be given to Aaron who will optimize them and place them online. The
easiest way to get him the pictures will be to give him the memory card.
He'll download them and return the card at the next tournament. The 16MB
card which came with the camera will still likely be available for use
between tournaments. Camera Purchase Details
Details on the camera purchase are in the form of an
email report Aaron sent to Ken &
Steve on 10/3/02.
Aaron's Camera History
Read more about the digital cameras Aaron has used
to build this site. |
