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October

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Tech Tips: Digital Photography

Megapixels — Learning New Language

So, you got that hot new digital camera for Christmas. Whether it's a 3.2, 5.1, 6.3 or 8.0, do you ever find yourself wondering, "What's up with megapixels?" and "Is more really better?" How exactly how do the Powers-That-Be arrive at that magic megapixel number? Did they just grab it out of the digital ether, or is there some math you're missing out on?

Learning about digital photography means learning a new language. Other than depending upon others to take and produce pictures for us, it's important to become acquainted with how digital works! The term megapixel simply means 1 million pixels. That means a 5 MP camera can capture 5 million pixels at its highest quality setting. The more of these pixels you capture, the larger you can print your image. Stop and re-read that last sentence! It's the main reason for wanting more megapixels.

So, how many MP are you going to need to print the size photos you want to print? Well, it depends on how large you want to print and at what resolution.

For the most part, photo-quality ink jet printers do well with 200 DPI (dots per inch), although 300 DPI is usually considered "photo quality". [It's really hard to tell the difference.] There are "ok" results at lower resolutions than mentioned above, but 200 DPI or better always makes a nice print. So, let's use that number as the minimum and plug it into the following equation:

In order to print a 4x6 print at 200 DPI, you need to take the length and multiply it by the resolution, then do the same with the width. Next multiply those results. Don't worry, no need to hyperventilate. This is much easier than it sounds:

                                                                          4 (width) x 200 (resolution) = 800

                                                                          6 (length) x 200 (resolution) = 1200

Those are your minimum width and length pixel counts. To print a 200 DPI photo quality 4x6, you would need an image that was 800 x 1200 pixels. Now, to determine how many MP this is:

                                                                           800 x 1200 = 960,000 - Round up to 1,000,000.

Not too bad. Now we know a 1 MP camera can make a good 4x6 print at 200 DPI. Now, if you want a 300 DPI print, you'll find after re-running the numbers you'll need a 2.1 MP camera to do the same job! Goes up fast, doesn't it?

Here are some charts to save you some number crunching:

                 200 DPI:                                                             300 DPI:

Important: 300 DPI is generally considered photo quality. If you go higher than that, it's not really going to make any difference once the results are printed. So, if you only print 4x6 photos, a 2.1 MP camera is all you'll need (only 1MP if 200 DPI works for you).

Here's an example to illustrate this. Let's say you take the same photo with both a 2.1 MP camera and a 8MP camera. Now, you go home and make a 4x6 from each camera. Guess what? You won't be able to tell the difference. And any differences you could detect are probably due to sensor and lens differences. It's even possible that the 2.1 MP camera would give you better results if it had a better image sensor and lens than the 8MP camera!

You see, megapixels alone don't determine quality and sharpness. They're simply a measure of resolution—how many dots make up your image. Picture quality and sharpness are determined by the quality of your sensor and lens.

For instance, you can go out and buy that new 8MP camera. Sure, it's going to capture high resolution images, but if the lens is of poor quality, all you'll end up with is high resolution images that are not overly sharp and have no fine detail. If the lens isn't capturing fine detail, you can bet your sensor won't either. In addition to the lens, the sensor must be of good quality.

Your best bet to insure you have a good lens and sensor is to stick with name brand cameras like Canon, Nikon, Olympus, and Sony. You may see an off-brand with the same MP count for a lot less, but it may—probably does—lack in these other areas. Try to find online reviews of the camera if you have any question about it. Here are some websites you can go to: http://www.dpreview.com/ ; http://reviews.cnet.com/Digital_cameras/2001-6501_7-0.html; and http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,4148,5,00.asp.

www.worldstart.com

Did You Know?: Reset Your Wireless Mouse Connection

If your wireless mouse stops working, especially if you've already changed the batteries, you may need to reset the channel. (First, make sure you put those batteries in right!)

On the bottom of your mouse and the receiver you'll find a little button. It may be small and require a paperclip to depress, or it may be a good size with the word "connect" near it.

Most of the time you depress the receiver button first, then the mouse. Check your owner's manual to make sure (there may even be instructions on the bottom of your mouse). Hopefully this solves the problem and you're back in business. By the way, the same thing can be done to your wireless keyboard.

www.worldstart.com

Take a Bow: Marta Austin

Marta Austin gets a tech Hi-5 for some awesome computer work on she did on her daughter's laptop. Here's Marta's story in her own words:

Katie’s laptop came home at Thanksgiving with numerous problems, including the “Adware” Trojan horse.  After installing the Norton Security system, and running the complete virus scan, there were still problems, including the “Adware”, and a dialer that hijacked her browser to a porn site.  I downloaded about 30 pages of instructions on how to delete these things from the Norton Security website, and followed all of the instructions.  This included entering the registry to delete the Trojan horse and the dialer.  Frankly I was very nervous that I would accidentally delete something that was a component part of the computer!  But, alls well that ends well, and the computer is working well now.  It took me about 6 hours to do the entire job.

Marta says she reads the Tech Gazette regularly each month and listens to a weekend technology radio program hosted by computer guru, Jeff Levy (http://www.jefflevy.com/). Armed with knowledge she's gleaned from those and other resources, Marta was able to figure out how to get rid of all those critters.

By the way, if any of you are brave enough to go into your registry, make sure you backup your system first. Manipulating the registry is pretty much like doing brain surgery, as far as I'm concerned. If a mistake is made and there's no backup, it can really mess up your system. Unless you have pretty advanced skills, I'd recommend hiring a computer expert to do this.

Congratulations, Marta, for a job well done! If you have a success story you'd like to share, send it in to the Gazette at nicki.yokota@smes.org.

Spyware,  "How do I know if a program I am downloading is spyware?"

www.worldstart.com

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