The great CFC chain letter part 2: around the world in 800 days!

[warpus]

check http://yetiworldtour.com for the up to date map and photos

Disclaimer: Map might not fully work with some older versions of explorer

 

[JohannaK]

I want to take a year of my degree in Australia. A bit of luck, and c_h will only have to send it back to the East.

 

[Birdjaguar]

What's happening?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I'm reading the instructions for my camera. Bumbles the Yeti has been enjoying the company of Mossfoot (my replica of the main character in the Fuzzy Knights webcomic). When I figure out how to work this damn thing, I'll take a picture of them.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I'm reading the instructions for my camera. Bumbles the Yeti has been enjoying the company of Mossfoot (my replica of the main character in the Fuzzy Knights webcomic). When I figure out how to work this damn thing, I'll take a picture of them.

NDBM.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Turn it on
Point the lens at the yeti
Push the button.

 

[madviking]

how is this gonna take as long as the first camera..........

 

[peter grimes]

Turn it on
Point the lens at the yeti
Push the button.

In her defense, there may be several screens of user-defined settings to wade through first. Things like date/time, language, initial recording preferences, and so on.

At least the cameras these days don't use lens caps

I started messing around with our old Canon Powershot. Turns out some people came up with an unofficial mod pack - the Canon Hack Development Kit:
http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK_in_Brief

You can take an off-the-shelf little camera and massively tweak the factory-defined setttings - shoot in RAW, time-lapse, light-trigger (for shooting lightning!), superfast shutter, and so on. Overlay histogram, all sorts of stuff. I haven't done too much with it yet, so I can't describe what works well and what doesn't:

RAW - CHDK can record raw files, giving you access to every bit of data the sensor saw, without compression or processing. Raw files can be manipulated on the camera, or processed on your PC. CHDK supports the open DNG raw standard.
Override Camera parameters - Exposures from 2048s to 1/60,000s with flash sync. Full manual or priority control over exposure, aperture, ISO and focus.
Bracketing - Bracketing is supported for exposure, aperture, ISO, and even focus.
Video Overrides - Control the quality or bitrate of video, or change it on the fly. Extended video clip length - 1 hour or 2GB.
Scripting - Control CHDK and camera features using uBASIC and Lua scripts. Enables time lapse, motion detection, advanced bracketing, and much more. Many user-written scripts are available on the forum and wiki.
Motion detection - Trigger exposure in response to motion, fast enough to catch lightning.
Edge overlay - Detect the edges in a scene, and display them later. Ideal for timelapses, stop-motion, stereography and much more.
Live Histogram - CHDK includes a customizable, live histogram display, like those typically found on more expensive cameras. (RGB, blended, luminance and for each RGB channel)
Zebra-Mode - Displays under and overexposure areas live on the screen.
GRIDS - Create custom grids and display whichever one suits your shooting conditions.
Multi-Lingual Interface - CHDK supports about 22 languages, and adding more languages is simple.
DOF Calculator - Display detailed DOF information on the screen.
Customizable OSD - Improved display of battery status, free space, camera parameters, and much more. Fully customizable with an on-screen editor.
Filebrowser - Manage files without a PC.
Textreader - Display text files on your camera.
Games - Play Reversi, Sokoban, Mastermind, 4-in-a-Row, Tetris, Snake or Sudoku on your camera.
Calendar
USB Remote - Simple DIY remote allows you to trigger exposures or scripts.
PTP Extension - Remote control and display from a PC
Benchmark - Compare the performance of your SD cards.
User Menu - Edit your own customizable User-Menu for fast access to often used features.
Battery Indicator - Always on
Ability to control dark frame subtraction

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Thank you, Peter. While I hope the picture I took with the first camera turns out, the last time I took pictures was with my dad's 35-mm one... and before that, with my Kodak Instamatic. This is my first serious foray into digital pictures, and it's a LOT to take in.

So saying "just point and click" isn't terribly helpful.

 

[peter grimes]

Yeah, these days the camera's automatic settings still require at least some understanding of what's going on.

But if you're coming from a film experience with an SLR, then it's not totally new.

Let's assume the camera is in Full Auto mode.

When you go to take a photo the sensor must:
-read the scene,
-the processor must determine how to interpret what it is that you're trying to photograph
-calculate the proper exposure, aperture, ISO, white balance, and focus.
-Based on these calculations, the lens must be adjusted and the sensor prepared.

Because these are electronic components, it all happens very fast - in about 1/100th to 1/10th of a second. Focus is usually the thing that takes the longest.

The way you tell the camera to do this is by pressing the shutter release half-way down - and hold it - until you hear a beep or see a little red light turn green, or see a green light, or some other little cue. Then you know that the camera is ready for you to continue pressing the button the rest of the way down. If you don't wait that split second, the settings may not be properly calibrated. But for nearly all photos, you won't even notice this - just compose your scene (through the view finder or on the screen) and depress the shutter release.

Once the image is recorded on the sensor, the camera must compose the image from the electronic imprint that's held on the sensor (just like developing the latent image from exposed film!), and process and record the data to the memory card. These things happen very fast, but they still do take a moment or two - again, typically between 1/100th and 1/2 second. Then you're ready to take another picture.

This is the basic rundown of what happens - it really is point and shoot in a certain respect, it's just that the computer is doing most of the legwork on the front-end so that you don't have to think about it. Some cameras have a full-manual mode if you want to get more control over your images, but that's a whole other post...

 

[classical_hero]

Thank you, Peter. While I hope the picture I took with the first camera turns out, the last time I took pictures was with my dad's 35-mm one... and before that, with my Kodak Instamatic. This is my first serious foray into digital pictures, and it's a LOT to take in.

So saying "just point and click" isn't terribly helpful.

Actually it is since if you can take a picture that doesn't work, then you can delete it and it will be like it never happened. That way you can take lots of pictures and once you have found out what to do, via trial and error, then you can delete the pictures you don't want and keep those. You can make as many mistakes with a digital camera as you want while you learn how to use it. Just play around with the settings until you get used to them. Practice makes perfect.

 

[warpus]

Take a crapload of photos, using various settings. Then copy them all to your computer - there will be at least 1 or 2 worthy ones

 

[AdamCrock]

So saying "just point and click" isn't terribly helpful.

Sorry Valka I think it is exaclty as easy as that Do not worry , take a few "test shots" at first , see how it works , You'll be pro at no time

edit: do not worry about alll those settings, at first use "auto" or "default" - it doesn't have to be a masterpiece of a picture

 

[emzie]

Valka you didn't buy a professional camera. Just set it to automatic and take a picture. Hook up your camera to your computer and transfer/upload the image.

 

[warpus]

And seriously, with the amount of storage on one of those memory cards, you can shoot 200 photos, from different angles, with slightly different settings if you want, and a couple of them will turn out great. I took over 100 yeti photos and only 10 were good. Out of those, 3 were great. Same on my trips - I take a crapload of photos and then sort through them. Even a professional photographer will take a ton of photos and a lot of them will not turn out that good. Just snap away and then upload and pick out a couple good ones. There's no need to be careful.

 

[Zelig]

Pretty much any recent phone/camera is going to have burst mode exactly to take advantage of shots that are essentially "free" - you hit the shutter button once and it takes 3-10 photos, then you pick out the best one later.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

There's no need to be careful.

That's going to take some getting used to.

I took really good pictures with my Kodak Instamatic. My grandmother, on the other hand, never took good pictures with it (kept cutting peoples' heads off - even horizontally). I took decent pictures with my dad's 35-mm camera. This one... I'd prefer not to have to do 200 pictures to get a few decent ones. There are some things where I read the instructions first, rather than the other way around...

 

[AdamCrock]

That's going to take some getting used to.

I took really good pictures with my Kodak Instamatic. My grandmother, on the other hand, never took good pictures with it (kept cutting peoples' heads off - even horizontally). I took decent pictures with my dad's 35-mm camera. This one... I'd prefer not to have to do 200 pictures to get a few decent ones. There are some things where I read the instructions first, rather than the other way around...

Valkie'd'Ur ! ^^ There is a targeting scope there just point it on the centre and shoot ! ^^ (wish I was there to show You) Like Warpus have said shoot untill You can't feel Your finger and then choose and upload hehe sorry if I sound a bit to demanding I just want it to move on ! btw. There's no other way around , You must learn first , and learning means You will waste a couple of first shots, there is no other way

 

[emzie]

As I type, the Yeti is sitting on my laptop watching the words appear on the screen. Wave to Birdjaguar, Bumbles!

He just waved - did you see?

I'm still recovering from surgery, folks. I'm not getting around too well yet.

6 weeks later. You're able to get around now right.

 

[warpus]

Let's get this yeti on the road!

It would give me an excuse to make some improvements to yetiworldtour.com