Image straightening is a new feature that allows precise positioning correction of images that have been poorly photographed or incorrectly scanned.

Before You Get Started

The first step is to have a look at the controls. At the top of the dialog box are are the tools that control the postioning of the image. They are the Rotate tools, the Pan tool and the Zoom In/Out, Zoom image to fit and Zoom image to normal size.

On the right of the dialog box are the various image straightening controls.

These are Rotate Image. This allows you to manually rotate the image by usingn the sliders or numeric entry. You can rotate the image to a maximum of -/+ 15 degrees.

To crop and straighten the image, enable the check box the the Crop image heading. This setting crops the image and preserves the aspect ratio of the original image.

If you want to preserve the width and height of the original image, enable the Crop and resample to original size check box. The image will be resampled to the original size after cropping.

The Grid. When this checkbox is enabled. a grid is placed over your image to help with straightening it. You can change the cell size of the grid and you can also change the color. In addition, you can make use of the Zoom and Pan tools to position your image, making it easier to straighten.

Below the Straightening Options area is the Hints pane, which gives you information about each tool in the dialog box. To learn more about a given tool, hover your mouse over it. The information is displayed in the Hints panel. At the far left of the dialog box is the Reset button, which you can use if necessary.

Straighten Image in Practice

Click on Adjust: Straighten Image, which brings up the following dialog box. This shows the default image before any adjustments have been made.

In the dialog box below, I’ve changed the color of the grid to black, increased its size and moved the image around in the window using the Pan tool. After that, I straightened the image. Once you’re satisfied with your corrections, click OK to apply them.

The history of GE in the digital camera industry is aimed mostly toward the mid or low end of compacts and thus the new GE X500 is a bit of a departure. With a bulkier body and 15x optical zoom, this new model will offer a challenge to the more recognized names at the end of the super zoom spectrum.

General Imaging provides an assortment of cameras to satisfy all of your needs and at an extraordinary value. The GE power series camera, GE X, is among their new digital cameras. They have conducted extensive research as to the wants and needs of the consumers in relation to their digital cameras and they have found that simplicity is essential in assisting them in taking great pictures. The GE DSC-X500 digital camera is waterproofed and packed with features, yet it is easy to use and offer more value to consumers at an amazing price.

Features Of The GE X500 Camera

General Imaging goes beyond the technology of point-and-shoot with the new GE Active Series Cameras. The new GE X digital camera is the true definition of the GE Power Series Cameras with the most up-to-date and intuitive state-of-the-art features all encapsulated in an easy to use, professional design. An impressive 15x zoom and Optical image stabilization get you closer to the action so you can take photographs like a professional. In addition, the GE DSC-X500 boasts a 28mm lens and ISO 3200.

Building on its remarkable success with its best-selling, introductory camera, the GE X5 Power Pro Bridge, the latest GE X500 Digital Camera is that much more powerful and it is equipped with 16-megapixels, an Electronic View Finder, Image Stabilization and Wide Angle Lens that are 27mm and engineered for crisp, clear pictures which gets you a lot closer to the action. The camera is as uncomplicated to utilize as the majority of point-and-shoot cameras, the GE X is an exceptional value with a number of the most advanced and popular features that are found in more expensive and larger Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras. The advanced features include High Dynamic Smile and Range, Aperture and Shutter Priority Modes, Face and Blink Detection; just to name a few. All of these combine to make the GE DSC-X500 Digital Camera one of extreme value.

Take a look at the GE line of cameras and you will be impressed. There will be one available for you in one of the Series that will fill your needs, whether it be from the GE Power, GE Active or GE smart Series.

Following the tips and tricks below will help give your home movies that polish that separates amateurs from the professionals. These movie making tips are fairly broad, there are so many kinds of camcorder’s that we can’t possibly cover them all. Read the manual that came with your camcorder, and follow these tricks to get the most out of your home movie camera.

Always Use A Tripod

The most crucial motion picture making tip to improve your videos is to secure them. Built-in image stabilization can only benefit so much. Shaky camera movements can make your audience feel sick, and can quickly make your films unwatchable. One of the best ways to improve the appearance of your videos is to get a quality tripod. Amazon has several great camcorder tripods for under $150.

Watch Out For Pan and Zoom

The leading movie blunder people make is constantly panning and zooming. Be aware when making adjustments, don’t zoom or pan without a purpose. Take a good shot of your individual via a camera tripod and leave it there for 10-20 seconds. Usually the only reason to pan and zoom is during a transition, not during action. If you are going to work with zoom, move the camcorder, you should not use the built-in digital zoom. When you are panning and zooming, use slow and level movements. This will make your home clips substantially more watchable.

Frame Your Current Shot

The big difference between starter and expert video is the ability to Frame a Scene. If actor A is speaking, actor A should be the center of your frame, when actor B begins talking, the home movie should cut to actor B currently being in the center. Frame your Scene so the most crucial thing is what is being centered on. Make sure the unit does not stray from the subject.

Bring Extra Battery Packs

Of all the home video making steps, this one has been on my list since the late 90s. Every time you are all set to take the most significant shot, your battery will die. It’s Murphy’s law. At all times carry 2 to 3 extra batteries each time you are going to record. If you can plugin that is even greater, but if you are in the field and are not able to, you need to have those batteries.

Fix Your White Balance

Every time you go into a new video scenario, you should set your white balance. While this may seem like a pain in the butt, it will keep your home movie from appearing yellow. Understand how you can set the white balance on your video camera (probably will be in the guide), and keep a white card with you when you film. Zoom in on the white card, so that it is the only thing in view. click the white balance button. You are all set.

Ideally these techniques will assist you get the most out of your video camera, and give your flick that sleek look.

The Panasonic HDC-SD800K is a High Definition Camcorder which delivers top class image quality. You can expect colorful, bright, and brilliant video clips in Full-HD quality when using this digital camcorder. It features Panasonic’s advanced 3MOS sensor technology for excellent true-to-life footage in any lighting conditions. This technology is essentially a three-sensor configuration which provides up to 9.15 MP (3 x 3.05 MP) additional resolution. The sensors divide the light input captured by the camcorder lens into three primary colors: red, green, and blue. Each color is then processed by a single sensor. Compared to the conventional 1MOS sensor, the 3MOS sensor technology maximizes the quality of Full-HD footage by reducing light loss, rendering colors, details, as well as gradation. The Crystal Engine PRO processor writes the enormous HD video files to the memory card quickly and efficiently. It also supports high-res digital zooming when the range exceeds the limit for optical zooming.

Like Panasonic’s 900 series, the HDC-SD800K is also equipped with a Leica Dicomar lens. The lens has the ability to render outstanding shading and sharp images. It will maintain high contrast and resolution even in harsh sunlight. Efficient light collection enables the lenses to capture bright and clear images whether in very bright environment or dim lighting. The lens also reduces flare, distortion, and ghosting at the image edges. For the Panasonic HDC-SD800K and 900 series HD camcorders, Leica especially built the new 35 mm lens with a 46 mm filter diameter, F1.5-F2.8 f/stop, 3.45-41.4 mm focal length, and 12x optical zoom range. It is able to zoom up to 20x thanks to Intelligent Zoom feature.

The Panasonic HDC-SD800K does not have built-in memory storage, yet it comes with an SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card slot. It provides a maximum of 1920 x 1080/60p pixel resolution image recording. The “p” in 60p stands for “progressive recording”, which denotes a more vibrant and detailed result of recording in a progressive frame rate environment. The “p” feature works better than the “i” (stands for “interlaced”) HD recording. The camcorder also offers 2D or 3D recording options with optional lens. The VW-CLT1 3D camcorder lens from Panasonic is one of several lenses which are compatible with the HDC-SD800K to record 3D video clips.

The camcorder measures 2.6 inches in height, 5.2 inches in depth, 2.5 inches in weight, and 11.6 ounces in weight. It also supports audio input with zoom microphone which allows 2 channel stereo operation mode. You can purchase it for $764.99 from the Panasonic USA website, or for as low as $592 from major online retailers.

There is a lot of jargon associated with most electronic equipment these days and digital cameras are no exception. A lot of it is helpful, but some is there just to ‘blind you with science’ and get you to part with your money.

If you are shopping for your first digital camera it is essential to know a few basic terms that the electronics store salesman may try to baffle you with. Things like megapixels(Mp); optical and digital zooms; ISO; movie clips; 2.5inch LCD and such like.

So let’s get those out of the way first.

Megapixels are a shorthand way of telling you how big a print you can make before it changes from a clear picture to little squares of colour.

2Mp = 4×6″

3Mp = 5×7″

4Mp = 6×8″

5Mp = 7×10″

8Mp = 10 x 14″

These sizes will produce prints indistinguishable from those produced using film. So if you are never going to make prints bigger than the standard 7×5″ you do not need to buy anything bigger than a 3 Megapixel camera.

The zoom, as you probably know is a way to make the image bigger or smaller. It allows you to appear closer or further away from your subject than you actually are. Zooms are available all the way from 2x to the 12x of a camera like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8K 7.2Mp.

The little ‘x’ means ‘times’. A 2x zoom means the image gets twice as big from one end of the zoom range to the other. A 12x zoom can magnify 12 times. You would think that bigger means better, but the more you magnify the image the more you magnify the little movements your hands make when you hold the camera. And that gives you blurry photographs. A useful general purpose zoom for holiday and family snaps would be around 3x or 4x.

A digital zoom is something you can pretend isn’t there. It does nothing for your pictures. It’s just the same as putting a magnifying lens over the LCD screen. If you have any image editing software, like Photoshop Elements, then you can have as much digital zoom as you want with the software. You don’t need it in the camera and it just degrades your image.

ISO is a hang on from film days. It is a measure of sensitivity to light. The higher the number the greater the light sensitivity. So why not just use the highest setting all the time 800, or 1600 maybe? Well there is a price to pay. With film a higher ISO number means greater sensitivity to light and the consequence of greater sensitivity is that pictures taken on ISO 1600 film look speckled. This is something called grain and is caused by clumping of the silver halide crystals in the film emulsion.

You would think with digital cameras, no film, no silver halide, no grain – wouldn’t you? But it’s not that simple. Higher ISO in a digital camera doesn’t mean the light sensor (CCD or CMOS chip) gets more sensitive. It means that whatever the sensor is picking up just gets more amplified. So if you think of a radio tuned to a faint station and you turn the volume up – you get a lot of background noise along with the music. Same with digital cameras, higher ISO means more background noise on your images. The noise looks a bit like the graininess of a film image – visible as little speckles in areas of a plain colour like the sky. So you need to shoot on the lowest setting possible, but as long as your camera goes to ISO 400, you won’t be disappointed.

Movie clips are something that you may or may not want. In a still camera they are a something you might have fun with, but it’s no substitute for a video camera.

Finally the LCD is the screen on the back of the camera. The bigger this is the easier it is to see what you’ve just taken. But I’ve yet to find one that is easy to see in bright sunlight.

Have fun making your choices, and check out the web page to find out more.

Satellite maps are a great resource to use when advertising a location, or to determine what the neighborhood and street of a location will look like. Is it an address you have never been to before? Do you want customers to know what the front of your building looks like? Is there nearby parking? This is the way to use Google Maps to your advantage.

The first step is to open a web browser and go to Google, then click on the link at the top of the page labeled Maps. Next, type either the name of a business or an address into the search bar at the top of the webpage. Be sure to include a city and state if possible, to help narrow your results. You can also type a business name and an address at the same time to find a business close to that location.

Once you have pulled up a map of a business, address, or place of interest you will have the options of reading and writing a review, learning more information about the location, getting directions, searching for a nearby location, zooming in, saving the location to My Maps, and sending the information. There will also be information such as the address, phone number, and website of the location you searched for.

Google Maps also allows users to view traffic, a simple map, a satellite map, and a terrain map. While viewing a satellite map, it’s possible to view the map from a street view by dragging and dropping the little stick figure at the top of the zoom-in/zoom-out bar, or by clicking on a specific direction to see road at that stage of your trip. Feel free to drag the street view photo, as this will cause the photo to rotate so you can look down the street and behind you! It is also possible to move up and down the street to see what the neighborhood looks like, simply click on the arrows in the center of the photo (on the white line where the street name is provided). From the street view, you may also zoom-in by double clicking on the photo.

At the top right of your map you will always see three options: Print, Send, and Link. Print will allow you to print a basic map of the location you entered. Send will allow you to email or send to a phone, car, or GPS. You will be able to send to multiple destinations and include a personal message. Link will provide you with a link that can be used in an email or instant message, or with HTML that can be used for a website.

Using the Print, Send, and Link features as well as the zoom-in and street view features is a powerful tool for both marketing and your own personal use. Google Maps (http://maps.google.com) is an easy to use tool that is both free and useful.

As a trainer, you get to like the unusual (and so do your trainees). In the old days Microsoft applications were full of “Easter eggs” – hidden features programmed in by developers but not readily available. Who can forget the Microsoft Access eight-ball, which dispensed life advice, or the flight simulator built into Excel? These days you have to look harder for weirdness – but features don’t come much odder than the way Excel allows you to display range names on screen.

Creating Range Names

A range name is a name which you can give to any cell or block of cells in Excel. So if you want to call cell B17 in worksheet Sheet1 “Bob”, for example, you can then easily navigate to this range (and use the range name within formula too, in place of the cell reference).

To create a range name like this for a cell or cells:

1. First select the cell or cells that you want to name (say B17, for the sake of argument).
2. Go to the name box at the top left corner of the Excel screen (this will display the cell reference of the active cell – B17 in the above example).
3. Type in a name for this range, making sure that you don’t include any spaces, then press ENTER. A good name would be something like InputCost or InterestRate.
4. You can now use the drop arrow next to the name box to move between ranges, and also refer to cells by their name in formulae.

So much for creating range names – now, how can you display these names within the cells they refer to?

Displaying Range Names

If you select a cell, Excel will show you its name in the name box (see above). If you have named a block of cells, you need to select the entire block to get this to work. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could tell Excel to display your range names as watermarks within the cells they refer to? And wouldn’t it be weird if Microsoft built in this feature and then made it virtually unusable?

To display your range names like this, what you need to do is to zoom out – usually to a view which is smaller than 40% (39% would do fine!). To zoom out, do one of the following:

• – hold down the CTRL key and use your mouse wheel
• – use the slider at the bottom right of Excel to change your zoom figure
• – use the Zoom tool on the View ribbon of Excel to zoom out

Whichever method you choose, you should then be able to see any range names that you have created written in faint type in the relevant cells or blocks of cells. Can’t see them? Try looking closer. Now do you see them? The problem is that they’re quite small, so your natural instinct will be to zoom out so that you can see the names more clearly; but the moment that you change your zoom view to anything more than 40%, the names will disappear again!

This article ends with a question: why would Microsoft programme in this feature, then restrict it in this way? We would be genuinely interested in the answer!

The Sony Cybershot DSC W210 packs plenty of power with its 12 megapixel sensor. This camera is small enough to fit into most pockets. It is available in silver, dark grey, pink and green. The Cybershot DSC W210 has a 4x optical zoom lens.

For most purposes you are likely to find the 12 megapixels overkill. Even if you are looking to make large prints you should find 6 to 8 megapixels plenty unless you are looking to go up to poster size and beyond. If you were planning to do that then the likelihood is you would be looking to invest in a more expensive and better quality camera anyhow.

To me the big advantage of having so many megapixels is that Sony has included a feature called smart zoom. This allows you to increase the amount of zoom available as long as you are prepared to sacrifice some of the megapixels you shoot at. In the past I have even found that shooting at lower megapixels can increase the quality of the images you shoot. Other advantages include taking up less space on a memory card and faster times to upload your photos to a computer. If you activate smart zoom you can increase zoom up to 25x. This may be overkill as at that setting you can only capture pictures for playback on a computer or television screen, but there are plenty of steps in the middle where you can find the right balance between print size and zoom.

The Cybershot DSC W210 fits into a group of pocket cameras that are less expensive than the top of the range models. The main reasons behind the savings tend to be the design of the cameras and the build quality. If you do not mind a fairly plain looking digital camera then you can save yourself plenty of money.

In terms of features there is not that much to choose between this camera and some of the more expensive ones. The 2.7 inch LCD screen compares well enough and the only obvious feature I can think of that is missing here is mechanical image stabilisation. This is where image stabilisation is handled either by gyroscopes in the lens or by making tiny shifts to the position of the sensor.

Aside from this Sony has incorporated some of the latest buzz features. These include face detection for sharper portraits and a smile shutter that automatically fires off a shot when the Cybershot DSC W210 detects someone is smiling. I have never noticed face detection making that much difference to a portrait shot and only you can decide how much value a smile shutter adds to the camera for you. Something you do not often see on a camera this size is the ability to add conversion lenses. This can improve the telephoto or wide angle capabilities of the camera. In order to do this you also need to buy a lens adapter.

The camera is able to produce High Definition still images, but it can only output standard definition movies.

On the whole I found the camera easy to use. Sony lays out its menus in a sensible way. They are icon rather than text based, but text does show up as you scroll through the icons.

When it comes to picture quality the Cybershot DSC W210 does a solid job. I cannot claim the pictures it produces are anything out of the ordinary, but on the whole the camera does a decent all round job if you are looking for a general snapshot camera with a reasonable price tag.

Similar cameras you may wish to take a look at include the Panasonic Lumix FS6, Panasonic Lumix FS7, Panasonic Lumix FS15 and the Olympus FE-5000.

One of the best features of Mirrorless Cameras is their Interchangeable Lens feature. In normal compact cameras, lens is part of the camera’s body and, although it can offer different degrees of zoom, its performances are fairly limited. In a Mirrorless Camera you can remove the lens and replace them with another one which better suits your needs in different occasions: detailed close-ups, panoramic views or super-zoom are some of the many options available. If you already have lenses that you’d like to reuse, there’s a great news: with the right adapter, you can mount almost any lens on your new Mirrorless Camera. If it’s a model adopting the micro 4:3 standard (like the Panasonic DMC-G1, for example), then you could reuse every 4:3 lens you already have. It’s a huge advantage! If you’re not familiar with the world of photography and its lingo, please read the following introduction on lenses, it will help you getting a grasp of the most common terminology and concepts.

Focal Length

The first feature you should check in a lens is called Focal Length. The following are its key concepts:

• Focal Lengths are indicated in millimeters (mm)
• Some lenses have one focal length, thus they are called Fixed Focal Length or Prime lenses. As the name implies, these lenses’ Focal Length cannot be adjusted. They are usually found on cheap cameras.
• The majority of lenses covers a range of Focal Lengths. These models are called Zoom Lenses.
• The smaller the Focal Length number, the wider is the angle of the view captured by the lens. These lenses are therefore suitable for panoramas.
• The greater the Focal Length number, the higher is the zoom and, consequently, the smaller is the part of the scene captured by the lens. These lenses are suitable for Telephoto (Zoom) pictures. For example, the big lenses you can see in the hand of photographers on football fields have a very high Focal Length, enabling them to take a picture of distant subject, such as the players on the other side of the pitch.

Here are some examples of different lens Focal Lengths:

• 35mm
• A Fixed (or Prime) lens with a moderate Telephoto view.
• 14-45mm
• A Zoom lens with a range from Wide Angle (14mm) to a moderate Telephoto View (45mm).
• 50-150mm
• A Zoom lens focusing on Telephoto, from moderate to high (hence unsuitable for wide angle pictures)

Mirrorless Cameras are normally sold with what is called a “kit lens”. This lens is a general purpose Zoom, and it’s suitable for taking Wide Angle and moderate Telephoto pictures. If you use your camera for recreational purposes, such as taking pictures of your vacations, this kit is all you’ll need. Should you decide, instead, to go for a Safari, where you will need to photograph far away subjects, then it will be worth investing in a Telephoto lens with a longer Focal Lens.

Maximum Aperture

The aperture of lens is a measurement of how wide the lens can open. The unit used to express it is called “F-Stops”. The higher the value, the smaller the Aperture (i.e. an Aperture of f/2.8 is wider than a f/5.6). A lens with a wider Aperture lets more light in and results in faster shutter speeds. It also performs better in conditions of low light (e.g. evening or night), allowing to capture images that would simply be too dark with a small Aperture. All lenses, with few exceptions, can be set to the same narrow Aperture. However, not all of them can be set to the same wide one. Another important fact is that some lenses have only one Maximum Aperture, while others have two. This type of lens is called Variable Maximum Aperture Lens. Only Zoom lenses can have Variable Maximum Apertures, and it’s directly related to their Focal Length. The longer the Focal Length, the narrower the Maximum Aperture. Let’s take, for example, a lens with a Focal Length of 14-42mm and a Maximum Aperture of f/3.5-5.6:

• At 14mm (Wide Angle) the lens can be set to a Maximum Aperture of f/3.5
• At 42mm (Telephoto) the Maximum Aperture becomes f/5.6

Pancake Lens

Mirrorless Cameras can also mount a special type of lens called Pancake Lens. This somewhat funny term derives from the fact that these lenses are very thing (like a pancake). The main advantage of a Pancake Lens is the portability; being so small they don’t add a lot of size and weight to the small volume of a Mirrorless Cameras. The major drawback of this type of lenses is their lack of zoom. Pancake Lenses are all Prime, i.e. they have only one focal length. If you need to get a close shot to a subject, they only way to do it is by moving closer, there’s no possibility of zooming. This can be a significant limitation, but it’s a matter of choosing between flexibility and portability.

Many people have trouble keeping one eye closed while peering through a microscope lens with the other eye. A stereo microscope eliminates the need to close one eye because it has two eyepieces. Stereo Microscopes have all of the features of conventional microscopes with some added advantages. First of all, stereo microscopes have two eyepieces. They allow for greater depth perception, allowing viewers to see objects in three dimensions. Many stereo microscopes have a zoom lens feature, and it is not uncommon to find a stereo microscope with two illuminators.

A stereo microscope has two eyepieces. This is a major advantage over conventional microscopes. The two eyepieces allow viewers to keep both eyes open, making it easier to focus on the object they are looking at. Many stereo microscopes have comfortable rubber eye guards that make the microscopes even more user friendly.

A major advantage of stereo microscopes is that they allow viewers to see objects in three dimensions. Most microscopes only show objects in two dimensions. People can look at insects, plants, coins, or anything else in all three dimensions, providing the most realistic viewing experience imaginable.

Many stereo microscopes have a zoom lens feature. This provides nearly limitless options for resolution and gives users more control over focus. The zoom lens allows users to slowly enlarge the object they are viewing more easily than conventional microscopes, which have two knobs to adjust.

Another feature found on many stereo microscopes is a dual illuminator system. A stereo microscope has the conventional illuminator below the stage as well as another one right above the objective lens. This provides more than enough light to view specimens in all of their three dimensional glory.

Stereo microscopes are versatile and easy to use. They are perfect for students or anyone else who wants to explore the miniature world around them.