tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21902899167763914832024-02-20T14:26:52.756+00:00Stuff here!Hello! I was sitting another day, being very bored, thinking about different things, and decided to create a BLOG!!Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-2363141133157432832013-04-01T02:38:00.000+01:002018-02-15T21:19:48.655+00:00Spherical wave animation (dipole e/m radiation)I recently was shown an equation for a spherical wave, given as an E-field vector field:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9EAitnVrs5k5MoaJ6i9iyyDzxxBsDVo6YJqeLIiHnR4HP-Dp2KyOS4rQvOVq0QuYzBAvOsOlFTKfRLntZm3zWlvL6DJ5m62jlSI8NkphqaA5XjCQIZZz4vnLmhsApoI1OpY68m8rjMaM/s1600/CodeCogsEqn.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9EAitnVrs5k5MoaJ6i9iyyDzxxBsDVo6YJqeLIiHnR4HP-Dp2KyOS4rQvOVq0QuYzBAvOsOlFTKfRLntZm3zWlvL6DJ5m62jlSI8NkphqaA5XjCQIZZz4vnLmhsApoI1OpY68m8rjMaM/s1600/CodeCogsEqn.gif" /></a></div><br />
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It looked interesting, so I decided to try to visualize it to understand better how would such a vector field, directed along phi unit vector, generate a spherical wave? For this I used MATLAB MuPad application to convert the equation to Cartesian form and then generated some plots.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaRpWFltp-CS0x_bqXNgyTRkO68fRjuf_xRTVb5K7NNirt_hZ8gvy7ZtaqoqpgQS6VzzkGDUsZH0wxn-2_5Be3HsWW-Dwgs-FNk7o89YoI0yCYO8ck4Q0ujSMRMNKe1hwAv4B0QZBbUCU/s1600/E_slice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br />
</a></div>Slice plots of E-field magnitude: <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaRpWFltp-CS0x_bqXNgyTRkO68fRjuf_xRTVb5K7NNirt_hZ8gvy7ZtaqoqpgQS6VzzkGDUsZH0wxn-2_5Be3HsWW-Dwgs-FNk7o89YoI0yCYO8ck4Q0ujSMRMNKe1hwAv4B0QZBbUCU/s1600/E_slice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaRpWFltp-CS0x_bqXNgyTRkO68fRjuf_xRTVb5K7NNirt_hZ8gvy7ZtaqoqpgQS6VzzkGDUsZH0wxn-2_5Be3HsWW-Dwgs-FNk7o89YoI0yCYO8ck4Q0ujSMRMNKe1hwAv4B0QZBbUCU/s320/E_slice.jpg" width="160" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg918g_4DfMgs_0TZBmJ2pyW9euKqhEsEUl8b3-O6F6FPNuJu-jAViLd2_ziyWcy-61SpsIhk2I09x9s1oKcyS7Wjge5wrJvoZ20wmaCS5QUNRbDm_ertS5l5OpfuqCBBM88UTnlGN4a9E/s1600/E_side.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg918g_4DfMgs_0TZBmJ2pyW9euKqhEsEUl8b3-O6F6FPNuJu-jAViLd2_ziyWcy-61SpsIhk2I09x9s1oKcyS7Wjge5wrJvoZ20wmaCS5QUNRbDm_ertS5l5OpfuqCBBM88UTnlGN4a9E/s320/E_side.jpg" width="160" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfa4JcZOkDRxF0nOf-TqxjN6Zp07zo_-sNHT9BaB5XEugIYr8QJ6nNRZ29rF1ijC9HmlhbbcXzO9QnkPCIs1kbPqb6ivHWGkh4wfAKMRZij0fRhEpvI7hwD-P_tZwVt0k8wC8paoxTHqM/s1600/E_top.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfa4JcZOkDRxF0nOf-TqxjN6Zp07zo_-sNHT9BaB5XEugIYr8QJ6nNRZ29rF1ijC9HmlhbbcXzO9QnkPCIs1kbPqb6ivHWGkh4wfAKMRZij0fRhEpvI7hwD-P_tZwVt0k8wC8paoxTHqM/s320/E_top.jpg" width="160" /></a><br />
Iso- surfaces of magnitude of E-field: <br />
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<span class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">High intensity isosurfaces</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCYYSh6jLY95yWXw8HqhpHbBoUntR2q8XQzvebGhCOGVeT7WM29z0VTwj_1tK8oUuqETZVPprosC5jGBWgV9S4MCUE0ul8ByNsDAhgStNcIjCLzcMDng4hYEUt9HFFomC4a_b9WBpvTLo/s1600/far.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCYYSh6jLY95yWXw8HqhpHbBoUntR2q8XQzvebGhCOGVeT7WM29z0VTwj_1tK8oUuqETZVPprosC5jGBWgV9S4MCUE0ul8ByNsDAhgStNcIjCLzcMDng4hYEUt9HFFomC4a_b9WBpvTLo/s200/far.gif" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPmi5c8k2vfw9OAg9ShOGEI0cDiZysIFYu3LIMW_O9Qj9jlXGFl36OTHE0bHroIqxzvfV2BQThyphenhyphenkCI0qNTGuXCM0EfJSop8GTOIN95bsPUDUJcZpb2BiEipOSwTixeAN6rZLIlnqqMDjU/s1600/medium.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPmi5c8k2vfw9OAg9ShOGEI0cDiZysIFYu3LIMW_O9Qj9jlXGFl36OTHE0bHroIqxzvfV2BQThyphenhyphenkCI0qNTGuXCM0EfJSop8GTOIN95bsPUDUJcZpb2BiEipOSwTixeAN6rZLIlnqqMDjU/s200/medium.gif" width="200" /></a><br />
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Medium intensity isosurfaces<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimy85sORM_wCox_RnFdjZXo6VLH-wkcaf_VyhikRiXgFU-4UleGada1Zo5fVRkmPigr-P_8x-WM4_P4iwWry4XCGsOJpPjAq4bmuxkU-_6m2yiiVMoaarb3BYU-oQO_ouO4XZDaJvWRh4/s1600/further.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimy85sORM_wCox_RnFdjZXo6VLH-wkcaf_VyhikRiXgFU-4UleGada1Zo5fVRkmPigr-P_8x-WM4_P4iwWry4XCGsOJpPjAq4bmuxkU-_6m2yiiVMoaarb3BYU-oQO_ouO4XZDaJvWRh4/s200/further.gif" width="200" /> </a><br />
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Low intensity isosurface (becomes more spherical) , as seen with circles here: <a href="http://www.1stardrive.com/solar/mechs8.gif">http://www.1stardrive.com/solar/mechs8.gif </a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv5MjqGqt90UY4zRpaMSxi0qZoVsyMds1sn2St2vkdopzyn0RwfGKLhuY0aKVhw9yJK_2BeMdaRWroUg5pFqMBF9qvDuWh0oovIQXOqfigKEEI-K-DMI_X-PgUrbY-h8I_AjEszJANxoU/s1600/normalized_int.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv5MjqGqt90UY4zRpaMSxi0qZoVsyMds1sn2St2vkdopzyn0RwfGKLhuY0aKVhw9yJK_2BeMdaRWroUg5pFqMBF9qvDuWh0oovIQXOqfigKEEI-K-DMI_X-PgUrbY-h8I_AjEszJANxoU/s200/normalized_int.gif" width="200" /></a> These "doughnut" shape features shrink in size because the intensity decreases with distance (as 1/r^2), however, if we normalize the intensity by r^2, we will now see where each individual point of E-field propagates with time, and the "doughnuts" will just expand, as shown on the right. <br />
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Some more:<br />
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<a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a><br />
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B-field and Poynting vector intensities are coming soon !Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-48772128392642402872011-10-16T21:24:00.014+01:002018-02-15T21:20:24.165+00:00Hexapod robot update: walking, MATLAB code and AVR studio code<span style="color: blue;">Note: the code (both controller and MATLAB) need a lot of improvement especially to address how quick the robot responds and routines need fine tuning (each servo is slightly different for example). It's just first rough <u>draft</u> that is working. I will work on it when I have free time again over Christmas period. As well as addressing mechanical problems, since currently the joint are too flexible. </span><br />
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Updates:<br />
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1) I added some capacitors (100 uF, 10uF, 1uF, 1nF) in parallel with the 3 batteries to stabilize current fluctuations and improve the battery life. About 3 pounds from Maplin Electronics.<br />
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2) Set UART2 (WIRELESS_UART) buffer to 1024, otherwise it stops working often. <br />
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3) My AVR studio code is quite long now , but basically what it does is:<br />
- Start: turn off servos (in software initialisation function)<br />
- Read character from UART2 (bluetooth serial) and depending on what that character is do things. I wrote a whole bunch of different commands depending on what is sent through uart. For example if I send "m12145d" it means "m1: move 1 servo, then next two chars: 2, 1 are leg_ID, joint_ID, and last three are servo position (angle) where 'd' or 'r' indicares whether to move "direct" or "reverse" , i.e. +- angle" And similar. For example m6: move 6 servos simultaneously. m9: 9 servos etc.<br />
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4) I wrote my walking gait by working our geometrically the angles I need to move the body in a particular direction say by 5cm at a time. There is a long list of move_9s (...) commands in the AVR code that include run eight 3x3 matrices for this gait.<br />
Here are my AVR studio source files: <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?6u3vancozpzcg66">http://www.mediafire.com/?6u3vancozpzcg66</a><br />
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5) I can send characters one by one from MATLAB, even at 9600 baud rate I can send chars every 0.1 ms. But with big buffers in UART and in MATLAB I can actually forget about this (althoughI set a limit to read robot uart not faster than every 0.5ms).<br />
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My MATLAB code has some functions now just to get rid of writing low-level fprintf command every time. The main file is main_script.m (note some of those functions are not so useful anymore, only the ones used in main_script.m). Here are the source files: <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?x82x6co2y35h8cs">http://www.mediafire.com/?x82x6co2y35h8cs</a><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;">Update: sorry the file was unavailable, mediafire thought I was sharing MATLAB distribution since I called it "MATLAB" and they deleted it automatically, what they didn't see was the file size was only 6kilobyte :D</span> <br />
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And finally, a video of main_script.m running from MATLAB:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4FxWpbLiw5g" width="420">&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;</iframe> <br />
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Video 2 <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/abtdMBxdTOw" 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If you have any questions, suggestions etc post a comment. I just re-enabled notifications of comments, so I will reply asap :)<br />
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<div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">P.S. I was asked to give more explanation about the code by e-mail, so I decided to paste this e-mail here, as it may be useful :</span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The controller code is programmed into the robot (not the matlab code). And there I wrote a number of things for the robot to do , depending what it receives via bluetooth serial port and RS-232 protocol. This protocol is used to send 8 bits of data at a time (i.e. 1 byte, or 1 character). With baud rate set at 9600 I can send 1 character every 0.1 milliseconds. This is ok to send data from time to time, but it is not enough (although maybe my code is not optimized) control servos 1 at a time. So what I had to write was basically to do a number of actions for some characters sent. Currently I have the following character communication setup:</span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> if I send :</span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
"m" : means move.<br />
-"1", "3", '6", "9" : how many servos to move<br />
-and then depending on the number of servos parameters for each servo in format: leg_id, joint_id followed by two digits and followed by "r" or "d" ("r" for reverse or - movement and "d" for direct movement). I.e. if I send "m12345d" (1 character at a time) it will move servo 1 on leg 2, joint 3 by +45 degrees. If I send m3 I will to send parameters of 3 servos etc (i.e. 3x leg_id, 3xjoint_id, 3xpositions).<br />
"i": moves the servos incrementally , similar structure to "m" but</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"> needs more work on code, not so good.<br />
"f": turn off power to servos</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
"o": turn on power to servos</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
"r" : reset all servos to 0</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
"w": walking routine. Followed by another single character (0-5) that</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"> specifies in which direction to walk ( I call it leg shift). If I sent "0" it will walk in the direction between legs 0 and 6, if "1" it will go in the direction between 1 and 2 legs and so on. Next character is "delay" that sets the delay between leg moves (but needs more work). So I usually send "w07" or "w19" etc.<br />
"s": is supposed to be "smooth walk" , has similar structure to "w".</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Needs a lot of work.</span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
Ok, this outlines that basic idea so far. Now specifically with MATLAB</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"> code, first open main_script.m . This has action that are done in my robot testing videos. The command:</span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
s = serial ... </span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">creates a "serial port" object (i.e. so your program</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"> knows where to send data). This will only work after you "pair" up<br />
robot bluetooth card and your computer (just as any other bluetooth device).</span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
Other commands basically wrap what I wrote above about character</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"> command in a nice way. I.e. don't want to type fprintf(s, ... ) all the time to send characters. I just want to be able to say move 1 servo and give some parameters , instead of m13245r. I think it's quite self explanatory. Btw, the function that sends 1 byte is fprintf. I.e. it I write:</span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
fprintf(s, '%s\n', 'f');</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
This will send "f" to the controller, and the controller will find</span> <span style="font-size: x-small;"> what to do with it (i.e. turn off power to servos). So instead of<br />
writing this, I wrote a function servos_off.m</span></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
I hope that helps.</span></div><a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a><br />
Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-91711702643001711282011-08-22T21:12:00.021+01:002018-02-15T21:52:41.362+00:00Making a hexapod robot !<br />
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I decided to make a basic robot over the summer, here is what I got :) Work in progress!<br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="color: #990000;">Watch in HD ! Turn on annotations to see updates!</b></span> <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="457" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ssn-uaSfPNU" width="570"></iframe> <br />
List of components that I bought on ebay (<span style="color: #990000;">note: wait time can be more than 1 month!</span> ):<br />
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<ul><li>Axon 2: <a href="http://www.societyofrobots.com/axon2/">http://www.societyofrobots.com/axon2/</a></li>
<li>Serial Bluetooth RF transceiver module with backplane</li>
<li>20x micro servos SG9 (but they are not very good quality: very difficult to attach servo head, wobbly, noisy), rated at 7.2V</li>
<li><strike>2x 1800mAh Li-Ion batteries, NB-2LH, sold only on ebay with so high mAh. And a charger .</strike>One battery stopped working today :( My total current was peaking at 4A, so each battery was getting about 2A (maximum, or ~1A average). So I will look for a better solution.</li>
</ul><span style="color: #cc0000;">Update: I decided to use 3 of these Li-ion batteries in parallel to reduce the load on each and improve mAh. So far it has been working fine. Even with maximum stress (running :)</span> <br />
<ul><li>50x self tapping screws,cross head, 1.7x5 mm or 2x6mm, try to find with pointy end (not flat). <a href="http://tiny.cc/quqq3">http://tiny.cc/quqq3</a></li>
</ul><br />
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AVR studio 5 direct download link:<br />
<a href="http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/as5installer-5.0.1163-full.exe">http://www.atmel.com/dyn/resources/prod_documents/as5installer-5.0.1163-full.exe</a><br />
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McUber download page: <a href="http://www.yetasoft.com/products/mcuber/">http://www.yetasoft.com/products/mcuber/</a><br />
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Note: if McUber gets stuck on "Retrieving Ports" message, then you need to associate JAR file with JAVA properly, by downloading JARFIX: <a href="http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Miscellaneous/Jarfix.shtml">http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Miscellaneous/Jarfix.shtml</a><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="457" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HVeWoHqm3Es" width="570"></iframe> <br />
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Webbotlib 2 download: <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/webbotavrclib/files/Version2/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/webbotavrclib/files/Version2/</a><br />
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Project Designer download: <a href="http://webbot.org.uk/iPoint/ipoint?Link=4&LinkType=External">http://webbot.org.uk/iPoint/ipoint?Link=4&LinkType=External</a><br />
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WinAVR download: <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/winavr/files/WinAVR/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/winavr/files/WinAVR/</a><br />
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Hyperterminal for windows 7 64 bit (and other) <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/?m281qazx3sexpw8">http://www.mediafire.com/?m281qazx3sexpw8 </a><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="457" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yxT-kXhUT5g" width="570"></iframe> <br />
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Assembling components:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="457" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Zqy4GPvATSE" width="570"></iframe> <br />
<div style="color: red;">Updates: </div><ol style="color: red;"><li> Three batteries are needed to reduce the load on them. But a tiny bit more space is needed on the bottom of the base for three batteries, so the wooden pieces that are inserted between two disks should be maybe 0.5cm more.</li>
<li>A much easier way to make battery mount is to remove a thin wire with metallic end from a futaba head, then make a small hole in the battery cover (that comes with the battery), pull that wire through with wire going 1st. If the hole is small enough, it will hold the metal end nicely.</li>
</ol><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmZHEIOgCoOhjb-vrOQ_lHNGYnwK-gvQi1ZdfqR1du7EQbpdI_UYC5M9riI9kIEb6kYTrSzYDeVomr62Wo5ZCLfKVYaPU9Ic6eM56X84fuUrqbTuglOvag1543YYOblDl26HjzXwdEOJo/s1600/hole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmZHEIOgCoOhjb-vrOQ_lHNGYnwK-gvQi1ZdfqR1du7EQbpdI_UYC5M9riI9kIEb6kYTrSzYDeVomr62Wo5ZCLfKVYaPU9Ic6eM56X84fuUrqbTuglOvag1543YYOblDl26HjzXwdEOJo/s200/hole.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSjfq2zUtNYxaMlJQWP7kcIIQlBErtr0tgdVPO0-5qEutIpykkzPv7t7-Gt6s4Eap74Xyj0zwbEc0Rk_qm7EpHVzHjIF3NR0Sc1L53YL8vhyAHWvm-lEZxjrOWQ7SbSgJET-1OeOhhUAk/s1600/lead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSjfq2zUtNYxaMlJQWP7kcIIQlBErtr0tgdVPO0-5qEutIpykkzPv7t7-Gt6s4Eap74Xyj0zwbEc0Rk_qm7EpHVzHjIF3NR0Sc1L53YL8vhyAHWvm-lEZxjrOWQ7SbSgJET-1OeOhhUAk/s200/lead.jpg" width="175" /></a><br />
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<span style="color: red;">3. Outer leg wooden part (thin end pieces) are not quite</span><span style="color: red;"> proper for this robot, they are not strong enough and make servos use a lot of power :( I suggest to make round end pieces, with wider and thicker wood. And attach to the servo perpendicularly, with screws. (alternatively design all parts in a 3D program and print on a 3D printer)</span><br />
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<span style="color: red;">4. Those cheap e-bay servos are not very good.. they are working, but not accurate at all. The plastic disk is very weak, and it wobbles. I'll try to attach some other plastic parts and see it it's going to help. It's better to pay a little bit more, but get better built servos.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red;">5. It is also very convenient to drill a hole to access the screws which hold servo "head" in place, because a LOT of adjustments will be required.</span><br />
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First steps!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4FxWpbLiw5g" width="420"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a><br />
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I will upload walking hexapod video and more source code, as soon as I figure it out :)<br />
Thanks for watching :)Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-30320528943947276752010-05-10T15:40:00.001+01:002018-02-15T21:50:03.265+00:00Funny stuff :D<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitheprZkmxOThCGfVH1-bQbfTwPnKdIUUHjEiRgFXlxay5nPb0ZMQKDIdliQpXML5b9VraxUWPMDt5BGFKnngaSOASdL7S9ue970UCBYetHTFtJ12g5UARBx6en1HmaR7O-IwoGcQhzME/s1600/Mwqgx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitheprZkmxOThCGfVH1-bQbfTwPnKdIUUHjEiRgFXlxay5nPb0ZMQKDIdliQpXML5b9VraxUWPMDt5BGFKnngaSOASdL7S9ue970UCBYetHTFtJ12g5UARBx6en1HmaR7O-IwoGcQhzME/s640/Mwqgx.jpg" width="476" /></a></div><br />
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<a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a><br />
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<i><span style="color: #999999;">translated from : http://mihail-kukuruza.livejournal.com/139347.html</span></i>Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-37125436574558381392010-01-12T14:23:00.048+00:002018-02-15T21:50:45.538+00:00Tips on photographing FireworksThere are so many amazing pictures on the internet of fireworks, but taking such pictures is very difficult, as I learned in practice. I went to a firework display a few months ago, and now, finally had time to process the raw pictures I took. But I can remember that it was freezing cold that evening and because fireworks are usually fired at night, you need to dress warm and get some gloves if you want to photograph firework displays. Because your fingers may freeze and you won't be able to change settings on you camera :(<br />
Anyway here are some examples I got from photographing fireworks, which I took on Guy Fawkes day (not a very fancy show, but I'm planning to go to one someday and practice more firework shooting):<br />
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<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="600" height="400" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&noautoplay=1&hl=en_GB&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2F105273151506738141274%2Falbumid%2F5425852901662550577%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_GB" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed> <br />
Here are some tips that you may wish to consider:<br />
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<ul><li>You will need a tripod or your photos may look blurry (it's hard to make them sharp even with a tripod). </li>
<li>Fireworks are shot at night, so you have to guess the settings that give you good results, so you don't really know what aperture, shutter speed, focal length or ISO you want to use until you start taking pictures. On one hand it's dark at night, and you may think that you need high ISO, slow shutter speed and wide aperture, but on the other hand, fireworks are bright, so maybe you don't need setting like that. But also if you zoom in close on fireworks, it's very bright and you need completely different setting, and if you zoom out it's a different story again. </li>
<li>Get to the place a bit earlier, so you can find a good spot with clear sky, make sure there are no bright sources shining directly into your lens, and that when more people arrive they wouldn't want to stand in front of your camera. </li>
<li>Fix your camera to a tripod and aim at the area of the sky where you think the fireworks will be (you don't have to be very accurate here, because you can always crop your pictures a bit) </li>
<li>Landscape or Portrait camera orientation depends on your situation and position. If e.g. the landscape around is ugly, there is no point in capturing it really :) </li>
<li>Start with quite general settings like: RAW file formal (really helpful for fireworks), fast or slow shutter speed, depending of the effects you want to achieve and standard aperture (ISO 400-ish..). Do not rely on the light meter this time, it won't tell you anything useful. </li>
<li>After fireworks display have started, take a couple of pictures and review them thoroughly, adjusting the settings accordingly. You will probably need to switch to manual focus, and try to focus your camera on one firework quickly and leave the setting for a while. Also, you need to consider the depth of field: if the firework display is very big, you may need deep depth of field (which is achieved with lower aperture and slow shutter speed, see <a href="http://read-stuff-here.blogspot.com/2009/12/beginners-guide-to-photoraphy.html">this post</a> for more information).</li>
<li>Try different settings (e.g.slow shutter + zoom out+higher iso/apertre, or fast shutter+zoom in+average iso/aperture) </li>
<li>It's also a good idea to have a remote control or shutter release, because human reaction is quite important here. A firework may fire and you press the shutter speed, when it's half-way out of the viewing range etc.. </li>
<li>After you've done the photoshoot, you will probably need to crops most of your pictures, sharpen them and maybe do other corrections like saturation etc.. </li>
<li>And most importantly: dress warm!</li>
</ul><ul></ul><br />
Thanks for reading!<br />
If you have more suggestions or want to share links to your pictures, post them in comments!!<br />
<ul></ul><a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a>Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-73285491274088474102010-01-04T12:45:00.052+00:002018-02-15T21:50:58.512+00:00How to create a panorama with Autopano, Autostitch (free) and PhotoshopI woke up this morning at 8am for some reason, although I usually wake up at about 10am this time of year, and saw an amazing view through the window: commonly green grass and trees were white!! Because of morning frost, so I though I needed to take a picture of that!! And I took a couple of panorama-source images just for this tutorial. <br />
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<embed flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&noautoplay=1&hl=en_GB&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2F105273151506738141274%2Falbumid%2F5422860969593537665%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_GB" height="400" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="600"></embed> <br />
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<div style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Autopano Pro (Giga)</b></span><br />
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</div>The quickest way to create a panorama is to use a program called <a href="http://www.autopano.net/en/">Autopano</a>. It has a lot of settings that you may want to adjust, and it can recognize automatically which files can be formed into a panorama, so you just select a folder and Autopano groups images into possible panoramas and shows you their preview. Go to <b>File > Browse Folder</b> , then select the folder you want to analyze and tick Auto-detection: <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Ic52L6cNU8eYawY3pm5OODGo6Ch0uWDX52mjtb0rNhrTOWL56yzcyoOanNPqoazVBlqBxg6t9fRsR_kWwZ__qMktXVJmnQtrWVqLs9q_vBhCiuio4Fo6j1vry45HDLMjlp0gX_rYlSQ/"><img alt="Autopano" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Ic52L6cNU8eYawY3pm5OODGo6Ch0uWDX52mjtb0rNhrTOWL56yzcyoOanNPqoazVBlqBxg6t9fRsR_kWwZ__qMktXVJmnQtrWVqLs9q_vBhCiuio4Fo6j1vry45HDLMjlp0gX_rYlSQ/" width="275" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHTtwZNFTxs4amlZj8HQC9C2CDt9QjUn9xEv0H1W6S-rfCwqNL7xkRWO4GKMKMgg7RRUtK2Sa5YD8-lmoBXPdqqwy8dPCaz8WIwKela_kCc7_3tAuKSQAwbV473RXoUy1rb7FjXN94tEA/s512/pano3.jpg"><img alt="Autopano 2" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHTtwZNFTxs4amlZj8HQC9C2CDt9QjUn9xEv0H1W6S-rfCwqNL7xkRWO4GKMKMgg7RRUtK2Sa5YD8-lmoBXPdqqwy8dPCaz8WIwKela_kCc7_3tAuKSQAwbV473RXoUy1rb7FjXN94tEA/s512/pano3.jpg" width="243" /></a><br />
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It will then analyze the pictures in your folder and create previews of possible panoramas:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBP_hjh2_FAhp8VoyrI80AWkK6X5uWisHOJCLUWOPCFFBQfm4RoptgMO6jclABsJ6gQYeLVZ6bCNzuQQWb7eIomYKxYq04oRXBPewqJHgG8-huApB8oOvz09b7BYstiDmHKvyMZjjcQ2o/"><img alt="Autopano preview" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBP_hjh2_FAhp8VoyrI80AWkK6X5uWisHOJCLUWOPCFFBQfm4RoptgMO6jclABsJ6gQYeLVZ6bCNzuQQWb7eIomYKxYq04oRXBPewqJHgG8-huApB8oOvz09b7BYstiDmHKvyMZjjcQ2o/s640/pano4.jpg" width="365" /></a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT9vMnh8qri07mQc3WCPVMY7kG6mrYqOPW2Vn6RY07lhs-DaqxZ3tZO1zmpaZCknZsp5TkoL-VKMX36l74b4FRGuOtfpcnmLAvV0f_E_2evWOLGYyUJe5mXgyRtIEe_sOvROz1FzFXhbg/s1600/pano5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT9vMnh8qri07mQc3WCPVMY7kG6mrYqOPW2Vn6RY07lhs-DaqxZ3tZO1zmpaZCknZsp5TkoL-VKMX36l74b4FRGuOtfpcnmLAvV0f_E_2evWOLGYyUJe5mXgyRtIEe_sOvROz1FzFXhbg/s320/pano5.jpg" /></a></div>If you are happy with this selection then just press render, or if you are not, you can also select individual files and create a panorama from them. And also you can edit the panorama setting by clicking the blue button above each panorama preview.<br />
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It will take a few minutes to render your panorama, depending on the size/number/resolution of the pictures and the settings you chose. For this example I chose to reduce the resolution a bit, because it's for web publishing, and doesn't require extremely high resolution. <i>Note: when you combine a number of pictures, the default setting is keep the resolution of each picture, and your final image may have hundreds of megapixels resolution, if left on this setting, and therefore take hours to render, so think what kind of resolution you would need before rendering.</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA8IUhPXQ7_pgcvPICBHRogR32tEhpR9ojkjktmeG8CE12gGpiSYB2UxpZGAkKujRK5hMtosf_7b764LtcvD0aBHUrNRCPq6payY086jqEIQP9qNGCmrK8xNclLbxbIa0atAzLIayUwPs/"><img height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA8IUhPXQ7_pgcvPICBHRogR32tEhpR9ojkjktmeG8CE12gGpiSYB2UxpZGAkKujRK5hMtosf_7b764LtcvD0aBHUrNRCPq6payY086jqEIQP9qNGCmrK8xNclLbxbIa0atAzLIayUwPs/" width="401" /></a><br />
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You will need to crop the final image, and I also like to sharpen it a bit, and do some modifications in Photoshop, like higher contrast, "S-curve" adjustment or even black & white. Thw final image looks like this (Note: because it was shot in the morning, there was a lot of noise, so I had to do noise reduction (added blur) to the picture and I also didn't use highest quality rendering mode in Autopano, just a quick render, but you get the idea how it would look like):<br />
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<div style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Auto stitch (free)</b></span><br />
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</div>This is a small program if you don't want to pay for friendly user interface of Autopano Pro and its smart panorama detection features. Autostitch was actually the technology that was developed by the University of British Columbia and then sold to industries like AutoPano, Adobe, Serif, Calico etc for further development. A free version is available to download <a href="http://people.cs.ubc.ca/%7Embrown/autostitch/autostitch.html">here</a>. It's still quite good I think, you just go <b>Edit > Options</b> to adjust the resolution and other settings and then select the images you want from <b>File > Open</b>, it will then render the images and open them in the default image editor.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOwewIU8OuufPShvatMd0GS6ZfTRmWiUpmjClCcHPhAXGv0JqTJpnFfyWo1vdtMR7DGK9fYrXa1m9uNEE56uel-qd36tw3_MwFCSUbKF0lsMsjTTEsXznoQ3squamvHGKYMjbFVaXQB1g/"><img alt="Auto Stitch" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOwewIU8OuufPShvatMd0GS6ZfTRmWiUpmjClCcHPhAXGv0JqTJpnFfyWo1vdtMR7DGK9fYrXa1m9uNEE56uel-qd36tw3_MwFCSUbKF0lsMsjTTEsXznoQ3squamvHGKYMjbFVaXQB1g/" width="198" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDP8bB_5LNnYH06wB3VlJ0ntIGPcNRi568iU3aecPiFCviw2zLediAcHIIiyklZOEJSCWwU0zkTVdWyf7rtABGc9Gz6CW_enjPWu8Vi-sI8PcZYi3spho-DwGhT-JBmIq3aTAgeWLZTPo/"><img alt="Autostitch" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDP8bB_5LNnYH06wB3VlJ0ntIGPcNRi568iU3aecPiFCviw2zLediAcHIIiyklZOEJSCWwU0zkTVdWyf7rtABGc9Gz6CW_enjPWu8Vi-sI8PcZYi3spho-DwGhT-JBmIq3aTAgeWLZTPo/" width="188" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_9dvgrnVPP_OgDX7y9GYMfmqeD6_flz-suv1XrLbmijNUvrLW7s99z7SFGEYjgezai1wwZwz6D48oc85LD322lnzAL8ILdhaQY102su_lZ21iSp1AqgB4D7vZXbDPik3xrkE5VRdEoaw/"><img alt="Autostitch" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_9dvgrnVPP_OgDX7y9GYMfmqeD6_flz-suv1XrLbmijNUvrLW7s99z7SFGEYjgezai1wwZwz6D48oc85LD322lnzAL8ILdhaQY102su_lZ21iSp1AqgB4D7vZXbDPik3xrkE5VRdEoaw/" width="182" /></a><br />
After the process is complete, you will probably need to crop the generated panorama and maybe do some adjustments (the following images are distributed with Autostitch for testing purposes): <br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgquDxZ1dFcYK4nYWQ-nVjN7N1kP9IrT6OW34s9AOy0iMaTb4iSLGnASGH058-zwHugQmaSQPiMJRWPekoQl-_Yqma1kzbCnd4spjhgegzYPPWUd_MmcIZ56WD9PUdeWofpmwm84azGjvI/s640/pano10.jpg"><img height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgquDxZ1dFcYK4nYWQ-nVjN7N1kP9IrT6OW34s9AOy0iMaTb4iSLGnASGH058-zwHugQmaSQPiMJRWPekoQl-_Yqma1kzbCnd4spjhgegzYPPWUd_MmcIZ56WD9PUdeWofpmwm84azGjvI/s640/pano10.jpg" width="258" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkA3gGu1UM5Gn8GbJYQ4OvhJlHeAZmbuX9ax47bS-AykA6FXmgoabsxliNHiZ-yYu8JIPIuZk84XSc7awaIK6M9rv8WCQe1rcVlAd_KlK5b8VTe4k0V56wJVInyZupVoNLbWjc2n55ZfU/s640/pano11.jpg"><img height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkA3gGu1UM5Gn8GbJYQ4OvhJlHeAZmbuX9ax47bS-AykA6FXmgoabsxliNHiZ-yYu8JIPIuZk84XSc7awaIK6M9rv8WCQe1rcVlAd_KlK5b8VTe4k0V56wJVInyZupVoNLbWjc2n55ZfU/s640/pano11.jpg" width="272" /></a><br />
<br />
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<div style="color: #990000;"><b>Photoshop CS4</b></div>Photoshop can also be used to create panoramas very easily, just go to <b>File > Automate... > Photomerge... </b> Then select the images you want to add and click ok. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwGMG2t-wd7LK7DzsnwUJD29lV8lzGmvtz45WzFnoTbKk-QBiptHycauVc5K-TQJtXfVaa29oQ1CRLTBfMyiwDHKUEK51BC0wNuPypKz8MwV95RRR0MooVKHOee3utiiqREUGgJs7_AnQ/"><img alt="Photoshop Panorama" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwGMG2t-wd7LK7DzsnwUJD29lV8lzGmvtz45WzFnoTbKk-QBiptHycauVc5K-TQJtXfVaa29oQ1CRLTBfMyiwDHKUEK51BC0wNuPypKz8MwV95RRR0MooVKHOee3utiiqREUGgJs7_AnQ/s512/pano2.jpg" width="247" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWWraHWdBX3BJkKSetbyW0o9WNkbPAyTYmBEyGVXVmelPKmyLEoi-Uy_2NeN-MkOzl-OPF4vUFcODkK6hY2x8qHyOLhT6WL4MGpeBn17hgjpZ-Fx-JkdaKGaeSoCI1ebNV65V6pS-dxNk/"><img alt="Photoshop photo merge" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWWraHWdBX3BJkKSetbyW0o9WNkbPAyTYmBEyGVXVmelPKmyLEoi-Uy_2NeN-MkOzl-OPF4vUFcODkK6hY2x8qHyOLhT6WL4MGpeBn17hgjpZ-Fx-JkdaKGaeSoCI1ebNV65V6pS-dxNk/s576/pano12.jpg" width="279" /></a><br />
It will then take some time for Photoshop to render the panorama. And it will give you the final result, which you may want to crop or modify a bit:<br />
<a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpKHp3I5JoMxwAkbTdI58MwucUdYBIcr3NLkRx7T8u1F-wgapl02M6fCWWea8QP18RNtkchyjqAZtkD91t4BpfZaQy_nJOIKJl7PsfEZMWdu6PkzoeUh3LZwJoM4nMm3YrmUsQVLQxVqA/"><img height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpKHp3I5JoMxwAkbTdI58MwucUdYBIcr3NLkRx7T8u1F-wgapl02M6fCWWea8QP18RNtkchyjqAZtkD91t4BpfZaQy_nJOIKJl7PsfEZMWdu6PkzoeUh3LZwJoM4nMm3YrmUsQVLQxVqA/s640/pano13.jpg" width="567" /></a><br />
So the result with Photoshop is (this is another set of shots later in the day with better light conditions);<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9PZF5adjnZcaikAquqFoOW3p_Ez2glQQpEpSdNlqx8UrmoPioosfDH1CTl3lAGf1NbTseuNG3xf7MOGeYtQ-LNxgE5b2igWQI4TevbegO579FylrHleyxlYbDgChlqjn8IBsacguAQks/"><img height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9PZF5adjnZcaikAquqFoOW3p_Ez2glQQpEpSdNlqx8UrmoPioosfDH1CTl3lAGf1NbTseuNG3xf7MOGeYtQ-LNxgE5b2igWQI4TevbegO579FylrHleyxlYbDgChlqjn8IBsacguAQks/s640/final_pano2.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
<i>Thanks for reading, if you have any questions or suggestions, post them in comments.</i><br />
<i>Hippo</i>Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-69388530959672013162009-12-30T13:14:00.243+00:002018-02-15T21:51:37.026+00:00How to create an HDR (high dynamic range) image with Photoshop and Photomatix Pro<br />
An HDR is an image that has a lot more colours than a standard picture, sometimes these colours are not even distinguished by our eyes, but with that much colour information, it is possible to create cool effects by mapping those colours to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_space">colourspace</a> that our eyes can see and the screen monitors can display. It can also be used when taking a picture of scenery that has areas too dark and too bright to capture in a single shot, HDR software will basically take balancely exposed dark areas from overexposed photos and balancely exposed light areas from underexposed photos and merge them together. The latter does not require special colour manipulations after, just plain software image merging.<br />
Here are some examples of HDR mapped images that I took. You will be surprised how boring the source images are:<br />
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<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="600" height="400" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&noautoplay=1&hl=en_GB&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2F105273151506738141274%2Falbumid%2F5421015222601831873%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_GB" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed> <br />
Making an HDR consists of two major parts:<br />
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-size: large;"><b>Taking photos:</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #741b47; font-size: large;"><b> </b></span> <br />
First of all, to get a very high colour range, you need at least <b>three </b>photos of the same object at different exposures. Usually -2 stops, 0 stop, and +2 stop. Of course other setting are widely used (e.g. -0.5, 0, +0.5, -1, 0, +1) and more than 3 photos (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2) etc.. But the minimum is always three. This can sometimes prove difficult, because you have to keep you camera perfectly still for all 3 shots, so you need to consider a lot of factors like: wind, mirror movement, camera shake when you press the shutter button, the depth of field change when using different apertures, maybe quickly moving clouds ... There is a little cheat however: many cameras nowadays have AEB: auto exposure bracketing. If you enable this setting, it automatically changes the exposure for the next 3 shots (varies on different cameras, can be 6 shots in F0.5 steps, etc). So, for example, on my Canon 400D, all I do is, set AEB to -2, 0, +2 (in the Camera Menu, first tab), then set the camera to "timer mode", adjust shutter speed and aperture for desired Depth of Field (I also found fast shutter speed a more favourable setting), fix the camera on a tripod and press the shutter button. The camera takes 3 shots one after another, at -2, 0 , +2 stops. This obviously is the quickest way to take 3 shots, which minimizes effects from wind, movement, etc..<br />
Alternatively, if your camera does not have AEB, just take a photo at normal exposure, then very carefully change the camera setting to underexposed and take a picture and do same for overexposed setting. Take a photoshoot with many sets of 3 photos and download those pictures to your computer. Now the major part is done :) <br />
As an example, below are three images that I took as using AEB(notice that the first photo has washed out sky, second photo has better looking sky, and the third has balancely exposed small house on the very left side of the photo):<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGGYkLb5dh5GZyYR9t3YXVNTfU_Y_877niJTmV52ZEsW9naVRMeGnb3E8s_qsxXV-mGa8tEelh5T21e5T193saJZdy3ZjgK6hXew98zz8HG2v0a8-ISghJFMRXRakOwdGE4-XTjzSK_0o/s512/example1.jpg"><img alt="HDR example 1" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGGYkLb5dh5GZyYR9t3YXVNTfU_Y_877niJTmV52ZEsW9naVRMeGnb3E8s_qsxXV-mGa8tEelh5T21e5T193saJZdy3ZjgK6hXew98zz8HG2v0a8-ISghJFMRXRakOwdGE4-XTjzSK_0o/s512/example1.jpg" width="171" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Hg_-FlO2k19B5lq7hTyXXfKAuGTbJxDEPlVelgIKFXRR99okPClEk2Inhv_Qqivs2yrRGk3rC0TALH-_prdt_gFv_RcRF1Var7mVTlbeJXWLfiZ6uSsZAKOKMPuRCvyqxp2h3vE3oYw/s512/example2.jpg"><img alt="HDR example2" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Hg_-FlO2k19B5lq7hTyXXfKAuGTbJxDEPlVelgIKFXRR99okPClEk2Inhv_Qqivs2yrRGk3rC0TALH-_prdt_gFv_RcRF1Var7mVTlbeJXWLfiZ6uSsZAKOKMPuRCvyqxp2h3vE3oYw/s512/example2.jpg" width="171" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHKaYMo_lQm5unaBMYOgTWQNu_CjG2jymblF8JMCwHpO2v0G_xoA8loGgmmt6cT0MIreIuDdLoUmLKgiGmQOSj5TM3E1M-SR_dgdGE1-lHi93zTUxonn8eO6vn2Zn3tD-HgfuiACkFcOc/s512/example3.jpg"><img alt="HDR example 3" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHKaYMo_lQm5unaBMYOgTWQNu_CjG2jymblF8JMCwHpO2v0G_xoA8loGgmmt6cT0MIreIuDdLoUmLKgiGmQOSj5TM3E1M-SR_dgdGE1-lHi93zTUxonn8eO6vn2Zn3tD-HgfuiACkFcOc/s512/example3.jpg" width="171" /></a> <br />
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-size: large;"><b>Processing photos with software to create an HDR</b></span><b style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;">:</span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #990000;">Update: Photoshop CS5 now has HDR image toning and much better HDR controls, so the "grudge" effect is not needed anymore. </span><b style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></b><br />
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The second part of creating a good looking HDR image is to merge the three photos above into one, which will have high dynamic range colour information. Photoshop is a very popular photo editor and it can be used to do this. Usually, I create HDRs with exhaggerated colours, looking unrealistic, but cool (see the slidewhow), but with Photoshop it's quite tricky to create such HDRs (possible but takes a while), compared to other HDR generating software (which will be described later). Nevertheless, I'll describe some commonly used setting when using Photoshop to form an HDR. Using the above images as an example, when Photoshop merges images into an HDR it only takes e.g. blue skies from the underexposed picture, tree clours from the overexposed picture etc... And colour manipulations are done to already formed HDR and of course this can be used on any image, not just HDRs. So what I usually do in Photoshop is open all images in Photoshop, then increase <b>each</b> image saturation slightly (depends how you like it) by going to <b>Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation...</b> and then I increase the conrast in each image (e.g. for this example I want the sky in the second picture to have more contrast) by going to <b>Image > Adjustments > Curves...</b> and changing the diagonal line to a very well known "S-curve" (or inverse S-curve for the sky, select one or another to increase the contrast)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6jm2h_cfFDJMG4xLKM2gAStNw9vlVZ8u7N4oBrw2s8jW_R2f20I5U-9e523MXRPeqrqOx9RxmA12mwQAWem96fsMzV8nKlkeCjr46v6lVGIMA3ch-go_PAEjEaaRVrDOyEqm_uR2uxc/"><img alt="Photoshop Saturation" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY6jm2h_cfFDJMG4xLKM2gAStNw9vlVZ8u7N4oBrw2s8jW_R2f20I5U-9e523MXRPeqrqOx9RxmA12mwQAWem96fsMzV8nKlkeCjr46v6lVGIMA3ch-go_PAEjEaaRVrDOyEqm_uR2uxc/" width="261" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJ33gI_gVoWhpFMb6vP0Y4KpA8gf-BBXXbdShOMlaaSiLdp3zc91Q5BCgV-GXGgi500l9oNZdus4axqjQxIJncd73fmcD9cfB76CrogMe2OkWGfpKW24zbmNKpJq8Q-HmpDOC2mhBYV4/"><img alt="Photoshop curves" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAJ33gI_gVoWhpFMb6vP0Y4KpA8gf-BBXXbdShOMlaaSiLdp3zc91Q5BCgV-GXGgi500l9oNZdus4axqjQxIJncd73fmcD9cfB76CrogMe2OkWGfpKW24zbmNKpJq8Q-HmpDOC2mhBYV4/" width="237" /></a><br />
The resulting images look a bit more promising(save them somewhere on your hard drive):<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw0l_Q9_b3ImNyVGApuR3A151FjEMp6BZ-Akon4w54QgKg__FderOiie8YTdFyRunpJqa3EVLuyoRQ3eZoa6k_xf9hwyK_n9JjvKyYy7KcjcTVRoBHyx_rTcY6a0UGyWIRTx_64LJAe-A/s512/example1-1.jpg"><img height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw0l_Q9_b3ImNyVGApuR3A151FjEMp6BZ-Akon4w54QgKg__FderOiie8YTdFyRunpJqa3EVLuyoRQ3eZoa6k_xf9hwyK_n9JjvKyYy7KcjcTVRoBHyx_rTcY6a0UGyWIRTx_64LJAe-A/s512/example1-1.jpg" width="171" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9hWkD2iRjOmo1kUyIF60QEj4NPXZ3_UPunrSGdV7BMFohmiU9hLq9Z2R962MD87nAnHEM-YkR6TAaHy5zZCCtboMxRLAtbKEi18eFp_OD_7lxndSxOK22QiGa33tnwbgoEm1LfLJfRxc/s512/example2-1.jpg"><img height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9hWkD2iRjOmo1kUyIF60QEj4NPXZ3_UPunrSGdV7BMFohmiU9hLq9Z2R962MD87nAnHEM-YkR6TAaHy5zZCCtboMxRLAtbKEi18eFp_OD_7lxndSxOK22QiGa33tnwbgoEm1LfLJfRxc/s512/example2-1.jpg" width="171" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3j_ZiDPwD5LMGstjOVYTSCXUjIDUZpViTKvNTvwV6Vg-_5YZxeMYcTTA7cdvDUlxb4VZtQuUOvVI4XttsU3Ioxpv81A7aM8hecAf9FxjOBBlxSXqQ_3HwPjJDefGQXAag4YX3l4MbBQg/s512/example3-1.jpg"><img height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3j_ZiDPwD5LMGstjOVYTSCXUjIDUZpViTKvNTvwV6Vg-_5YZxeMYcTTA7cdvDUlxb4VZtQuUOvVI4XttsU3Ioxpv81A7aM8hecAf9FxjOBBlxSXqQ_3HwPjJDefGQXAag4YX3l4MbBQg/s512/example3-1.jpg" width="171" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoOiRTuW76u5fBX_R5Cj62uITGq9U5s2zwSo82ise8LbXKrZ9g7T5vEuwhu1UI_C2qbRXCU3OfxBtCA3996_nGR7ExzL1xThSyoZxf91ypek6zJ9zIoLUbVj5LtCmRLP6pNViP15M2FtI/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoOiRTuW76u5fBX_R5Cj62uITGq9U5s2zwSo82ise8LbXKrZ9g7T5vEuwhu1UI_C2qbRXCU3OfxBtCA3996_nGR7ExzL1xThSyoZxf91ypek6zJ9zIoLUbVj5LtCmRLP6pNViP15M2FtI/" width="200" /></a></div><br />
Now go to <b>File>Automate>Merge to HDR..</b>. Then select your files (either unmodified files on your hard drive or click "Add open files") and click ok.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA3snkfRM65PUKrn23DwvXPUxGvSaGPXx3KT3bm6gyj0Ek4nZ9Nm2Y56ghrc5my7Xu1GThdquIetCKDmuDIizSdyiP6Trg_l9rGOx44WlMAVDfwp3khEaZ_e4Q119RWIDWYlTPfLPqx54/s1600/HDR8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA3snkfRM65PUKrn23DwvXPUxGvSaGPXx3KT3bm6gyj0Ek4nZ9Nm2Y56ghrc5my7Xu1GThdquIetCKDmuDIizSdyiP6Trg_l9rGOx44WlMAVDfwp3khEaZ_e4Q119RWIDWYlTPfLPqx54/s200/HDR8.jpg" /></a></div>Then you will be shown a new preview of your new HDR. This Photoshop feature doesn't do any cool effects, it just basically takes the highest colour information from each picture, e.g. it takes blue skies from the underexposed picture and so on. Set the white point preview, until the detail you interested on the picture is balancely exposed (I aimed for slightly bluer skies) and then click ok. <span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Note: in some situations this manipulation on its own is very useful, as it brought together blue skies (which were very washed out) and dark building (which was very underexposed together). If this is what you aiming for, you just need to convert this image to 16bit one; read below about conversion)</b></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1HCw-cCpPMTk1qkXPW_-HpJ8CJMLaU6aErrODiVwjFBf6wYWfq9YaEFKlU7A687GLWCkfGvrudTTn2_pblvLJfBFFOj8-Q06bT0ekB-rCwTscbUCbQblmJ1a-6aCspJojcSHZw5hSEHo/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1HCw-cCpPMTk1qkXPW_-HpJ8CJMLaU6aErrODiVwjFBf6wYWfq9YaEFKlU7A687GLWCkfGvrudTTn2_pblvLJfBFFOj8-Q06bT0ekB-rCwTscbUCbQblmJ1a-6aCspJojcSHZw5hSEHo/" width="200" /></a></div>The image has 32bit colour depth, i.e. millions of colour tones per pixel is stored, but most displays can't even output those shades, so we need to convert this image to what it is in standard 16 bit colour depth. To do that go to<b> Image>Mode>16bit/Channel...<br />
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A new windows will pop-up asking how you want to do the conversion from 32bit to 16bit, the most commonly used one is Local Adaptation, so select it from the drop-down list. The picture preview will suddenly start to look very different, move the bottom left slider of the diagonal line to the very bottom point of the histogram (grey curved area) and the top-right end of the line a bit down until you get naturally looking contrast in that image (there are of course other ways to convert the image, it's best to play around with this setting and select the one that you like, you can create new point on the line and drag them up or down).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfTUf8-OF7Awrt7pqJ1SM0PndmAaLaqCkZfUm2HeZD1IKMpr76QvA8yLj8h82wHRpjTk_1dcjTgK3GkVwv4VSTGD_NXN1Fb5RpGOiQRpE5OVzV8TXlUJnuCdYtLoxqE8-slQxpBhd68G8/s512/HDR10.jpg"><img alt="32bit to 16bit conversion" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfTUf8-OF7Awrt7pqJ1SM0PndmAaLaqCkZfUm2HeZD1IKMpr76QvA8yLj8h82wHRpjTk_1dcjTgK3GkVwv4VSTGD_NXN1Fb5RpGOiQRpE5OVzV8TXlUJnuCdYtLoxqE8-slQxpBhd68G8/s512/HDR10.jpg" width="264" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQbT_ImVzwr1q9zVmaftiskFRcGBy3lmT0AWkrtuXv-8HK2kpFoDrwqUksA2LqAb7VS73VlUdgfr0PMMgmN_7DoZ4hDpsm-M7lnBuE6RCIg49iMkH_vz0IbfzOPEjBtpLKyX2kSWqMAgE/s576/HDR11.jpg"><img alt="HDR " height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQbT_ImVzwr1q9zVmaftiskFRcGBy3lmT0AWkrtuXv-8HK2kpFoDrwqUksA2LqAb7VS73VlUdgfr0PMMgmN_7DoZ4hDpsm-M7lnBuE6RCIg49iMkH_vz0IbfzOPEjBtpLKyX2kSWqMAgE/s576/HDR11.jpg" width="295" /></a><br />
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The resulting image starts to look a bit better now, similar to the one I have in the slideshow above. At this point HDR creation is now finished. The following is just standard Photoshop image manipulation: now I want to apply Grudge Effect to this HDR, by doing the following: go to<b> Layer > Duplicate layer > click ok </b>to create a copy of your background layer, go to <b>Filter > Other > High Pass Filter.</b> Then,<b> Image > Adjustments > Desaturate</b> , then <b>Filter > Blur > Surface Blur</b> (can be omitted sometimes) and set the blending mode in layers palette to Overlay (or try other blending modes) and also change the opacity to about 80% or whichever looks good.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqWCcg3mP5M1RzN51PCt_mW_1LjkhyphenhyphenMrXGVr9UZBuGWNRCvf6Mlxi4jGLD8I9lJEQNGb4EjibQ7T-c8qMtF0Nou5Cz_zwkc72Rnft6jplvXvppqXDMom-U4bOzH9dvTJHM38refm78_1g/s640/HDR12.jpg"><img height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqWCcg3mP5M1RzN51PCt_mW_1LjkhyphenhyphenMrXGVr9UZBuGWNRCvf6Mlxi4jGLD8I9lJEQNGb4EjibQ7T-c8qMtF0Nou5Cz_zwkc72Rnft6jplvXvppqXDMom-U4bOzH9dvTJHM38refm78_1g/s640/HDR12.jpg" width="225" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvI53ePLPcNRNjKzQhp_Ia1EC68tn0kjFllCwE76wyOpfBtW_ihnGe0rhUsfCBIJC3TmQdl5JdLrWk2F9Hd6nn5TCvVSUYlW2dEWgW7SneYj_m5YGEUgWg4wvJOY-vmqKP8pURvYHrAcs/s640/HDR13.jpg"><img height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvI53ePLPcNRNjKzQhp_Ia1EC68tn0kjFllCwE76wyOpfBtW_ihnGe0rhUsfCBIJC3TmQdl5JdLrWk2F9Hd6nn5TCvVSUYlW2dEWgW7SneYj_m5YGEUgWg4wvJOY-vmqKP8pURvYHrAcs/s640/HDR13.jpg" width="250" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaZJBsnll0oDQn5l8Tj0CQjnYQTo2ODiEFRFKs0ZA7eDtUvI2AdzpbyHwAR6ZGy1kzJI7v5ioKDb250APhzR6trHEEnMp16ryIeSEkxe7XP9bWxeBhvRQ2QCvV39-a58A_Q3qSVFAiVFs/s640/HDR14.jpg"><img height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaZJBsnll0oDQn5l8Tj0CQjnYQTo2ODiEFRFKs0ZA7eDtUvI2AdzpbyHwAR6ZGy1kzJI7v5ioKDb250APhzR6trHEEnMp16ryIeSEkxe7XP9bWxeBhvRQ2QCvV39-a58A_Q3qSVFAiVFs/s640/HDR14.jpg" width="232" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDLj8Fbv96AhWSpF-b4fPC0vBRvppb9V8dl3wi97LfVLMUrsFaRRoPWfRWy337G64tEIVMJrDXFjGrITobY_pLJw0OukaKMcyzx6cAW5BUMRTNNVNjUrqthncOATN9N2Dd6eG6190QJow/"><img height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDLj8Fbv96AhWSpF-b4fPC0vBRvppb9V8dl3wi97LfVLMUrsFaRRoPWfRWy337G64tEIVMJrDXFjGrITobY_pLJw0OukaKMcyzx6cAW5BUMRTNNVNjUrqthncOATN9N2Dd6eG6190QJow/" width="217" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Z6MaHiLzMP_2_hK_mi7pCcdCKNICXvwFqJTYPMO5K8-yBOevSUjVHOVbqlxVdLalMKdVx_k-u-09SmnLFQDkdM0x5oIehXWuK3I9-LsfA-S73J9g_xFwRF0D9PApYPvnqfBGaPZHbSQ/s1600/Photoshop_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Z6MaHiLzMP_2_hK_mi7pCcdCKNICXvwFqJTYPMO5K8-yBOevSUjVHOVbqlxVdLalMKdVx_k-u-09SmnLFQDkdM0x5oIehXWuK3I9-LsfA-S73J9g_xFwRF0D9PApYPvnqfBGaPZHbSQ/s320/Photoshop_HDR.jpg" /></a></div>The final image created with Photoshop is this:<br />
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Of course there is almost unlimited variety of other effect that can be applied in Photoshop to achieve even better results. It's best to play around with settings until you achieve something that looks nice.<br />
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<b>Other HDR software</b><br />
I think currently, Photomatix Pro is the most popular software that allows to create HDRs, as you have seen, with Photoshop it takes a while to create colour-enhanced HDRs, but with Photomatix Pro is can be done almost in seconds . When you start the program, a list of options appear, click <b>Generate HDR image</b>, a short wizzard will appear with the following dialogs:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz_g84Hv005voh5gWQ_hIkFqU9ndHVpX5vGJZ7cgqhtndVxd06_yuslu-0DgeG_tcobNJpfvH2chjIJ0nmBFv9EeRC-bdey9wI_qB6bICFbh0kII8gDj3VsX4P1iedDbAeROmn-Q3fkfQ/"><img alt="Photomatix" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz_g84Hv005voh5gWQ_hIkFqU9ndHVpX5vGJZ7cgqhtndVxd06_yuslu-0DgeG_tcobNJpfvH2chjIJ0nmBFv9EeRC-bdey9wI_qB6bICFbh0kII8gDj3VsX4P1iedDbAeROmn-Q3fkfQ/" width="150" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbvDVmTCS-_5IIiGr4YtitzRmH3T6N-yU89Ho8B9GbswclwMwPlvrhhzXWqBq4g20Vqhl4h1ZeMVTJ_pOc5mnPRLhiyIG9GurUZtJYdkise-6Ge8c1ltC4l-nIUqEm8jMwBizlbCTvQO4/"><img height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbvDVmTCS-_5IIiGr4YtitzRmH3T6N-yU89Ho8B9GbswclwMwPlvrhhzXWqBq4g20Vqhl4h1ZeMVTJ_pOc5mnPRLhiyIG9GurUZtJYdkise-6Ge8c1ltC4l-nIUqEm8jMwBizlbCTvQO4/" width="245" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6E_wEnKw0FNqMvRqKlnF2MbdSszMHCs6Gwmcoy-7zfiVuz7FzLhGuUCFIGH4R3-qbBruMzyAhaLsKiIFJkn97yh5VnEy8tWyXTKmJWH1WeKvWkoM0r3ejz8CIQncU6eskb3vo-Qj1UY0/"><img height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6E_wEnKw0FNqMvRqKlnF2MbdSszMHCs6Gwmcoy-7zfiVuz7FzLhGuUCFIGH4R3-qbBruMzyAhaLsKiIFJkn97yh5VnEy8tWyXTKmJWH1WeKvWkoM0r3ejz8CIQncU6eskb3vo-Qj1UY0/" width="154" /></a><br />
When you click ok in the last dialog, a preview is generated, which generally doesn't look very good, so click Tone mapping to access a rich set of setting and in particular a drop-down list at the bottom on the left side, that has a couple of presets. I usually select the Grudge preset and then modify the setting from there.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiofeN7-x-fsoi3Ts1zpC804hJZwMfK7DjDK22tNDbteONjutNWuXsZ8ft8wYJprXHZWI6RNlfjRxxFRcss13iqh_UHHT4SVJ-ei3jYF_O6RNEjGVGYeD8sXPvnfMcB9WjogB80c-hq7mo/s512/Photomatrix4.jpg"><img height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiofeN7-x-fsoi3Ts1zpC804hJZwMfK7DjDK22tNDbteONjutNWuXsZ8ft8wYJprXHZWI6RNlfjRxxFRcss13iqh_UHHT4SVJ-ei3jYF_O6RNEjGVGYeD8sXPvnfMcB9WjogB80c-hq7mo/s512/Photomatrix4.jpg" width="239" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpLeMk3W6G3Bnx1aOQNmjGAg3NGLGBVRuEOwf_1iebs8x-n0Lw0fmsCLx1uTVGsvuMSHL3ujjqfdFnTUY8BKkfkOseRoJvwd6BPMuOOBA8TPjuMndTSPJ0IMeG_fZeu4Gl3Nf3z7elYH0/s640/Photomatrix5.jpg"><img height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpLeMk3W6G3Bnx1aOQNmjGAg3NGLGBVRuEOwf_1iebs8x-n0Lw0fmsCLx1uTVGsvuMSHL3ujjqfdFnTUY8BKkfkOseRoJvwd6BPMuOOBA8TPjuMndTSPJ0IMeG_fZeu4Gl3Nf3z7elYH0/s640/Photomatrix5.jpg" width="323" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPObujpAfryLnjtgiw4YHwOgxSi6sfgIINh60DzHw5EPqlGMtPHW3Pgiw56EA0dZBh7A5t4_ybxtawh8iXzGinNfSDZIRcTfc-MWKR3dB8bWFVTcfHA0I1cjGYwCRtZOtMOcjXlUrOgVo/s1600/example1-1_2-1_3-1_tonemapped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPObujpAfryLnjtgiw4YHwOgxSi6sfgIINh60DzHw5EPqlGMtPHW3Pgiw56EA0dZBh7A5t4_ybxtawh8iXzGinNfSDZIRcTfc-MWKR3dB8bWFVTcfHA0I1cjGYwCRtZOtMOcjXlUrOgVo/s320/example1-1_2-1_3-1_tonemapped.jpg" /></a></div>The final image that was generated with Photomatix Pro looks like this: <br />
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Which I find a little bit better looking than the one generated with Photoshop. I'll tell you the truth as well, all the images in the slideshow above were generated with Photomatix, because it's just time saving :)<br />
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<b>HDR Cheat</b>ing<br />
There is a small cheat if you want to create an HDR. If you take a picture in RAW format, you can process it at different exposures later on a computer, creating, over-, norma-l, and under- exposed images. And then processing them with either Photoshop or Photomatix, and the result will look a lot like an HDR, although not as good as it would have been if you used three separate images. But in some situations, this is the only option really, if you are using slow shutter speeds, or have wind or other quickly changing scenery.<br />
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<div style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">This concludes what I wanted to say about HDRs. If you have any questions, comments, or want to share a link to your HDR image or website, leave a comment with them, I will reply asap</span>.</i></span></div><div style="color: #741b47;"><br />
</div><a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a><br />
<div style="color: #741b47;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!!</i></span></div>p.s. It's not actually needed to have symmetric aperture settings, you can have -1 0 +2 if you wish and able do it practically without shaking your camera. Other settings like shutter speed or ISO need not be the same, you just basically need one dark, one bright and one normal picture.Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-39860672449514594332009-12-18T00:55:00.064+00:002018-02-15T21:54:47.596+00:00Beginner's guide to photoraphyEvery photographer must know the things that I list below, and understand what they do and what kind of effect they produce when changed to particular values:<br />
<ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSy58NUVZOXY11X1v-nQ01hqxfXJJgE229kenGoQDUkJvwdkneRljJ7BKxXtYiXwrbfG0OpzWOvkRNE0l1FOUpcPQbDgwIc5DsiMi_BhftS-WqdzYtYXVaMgopTVmt_sBF7HqPauYAG8c/s1600-h/shutter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin- margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSy58NUVZOXY11X1v-nQ01hqxfXJJgE229kenGoQDUkJvwdkneRljJ7BKxXtYiXwrbfG0OpzWOvkRNE0l1FOUpcPQbDgwIc5DsiMi_BhftS-WqdzYtYXVaMgopTVmt_sBF7HqPauYAG8c/s200/shutter.jpg" /></a></div><li><b>The Shutter speed: </b>this is the time that the camera sensor is exposed to light. So, if you set <b>slow </b>shutter speed, the sensor will be exposed to light for longer time than if you set it to <b>fast </b>shutter speed. Fast shutter speed is usually used for fast-moving objects, because in a very short time interval, that object is almost stationary (like a snapshot), and it comes out sharp and clear. <b>Slow </b>shutter speed is used when you want to achieve motion blur on a stationary background: e.g. a light trail/shadow of a moving car on a stationary background of a city or "ghost" shadows, or other creative techniques like light drawing. On Canon 400D this is done by going to manual mode and then rotating the wheel near the shutter button. Common shutter speeds are: 1/800 (one 8 hundreds of a second: very fast) is used for sports/racing, 1/200 is used for general photography/macro, 1/50 is used for portraits sometimes, 1/10 (slow) is used to get some motion blur, 1 second is used to get even more motion blur, 20/unlimited seconds is often used for light painting.</li>
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<ul><li><b>The Aperture or F-stop</b>: this setting allows you to set the size of the hole in the lens, allowing more or less light to go through to the sensor. Obviously bigger aperture (but <b>lower </b>F-stop) makes it possible to use faster shutter speeds (because less time is needed to properly expose the sensor to light) and vice-versa for smaller aperture. But this setting has another effect, called the depth of field (see below). Again, bigger aperture makes the depth of field more shallow, and smaller aperture makes it greater. Common values of this are: F22: very small aperture, needs very long exposure time (very slow shutter) and is used in e.g. light drawing; F12:small aperture, also needs slow shutter speed, but can be used for bright situations, F8, F6, F4.5, F4: very common general shooting apertures, require standard shutter speeds, and F4 is usually the maximum aperture on budget lenses; F2.8: is a very big aperture lens, these lenses are usually very expensive, but allow very fast shutter speeds/low light photography.<br />
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</ul><ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHIDHE91BoKu89CPvX1i9V-aBmP7DJUJS7CYdLT_cUUeCKMaMcg1OTvPxPUk_gSukBMfe9tqfxpogFb4Ns8dpUzYckhNizS7PoDpHkSwR70svuCszEKq8voR5SLm0q_OYLEmBYCeA2FsI/s1600-h/DOF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHIDHE91BoKu89CPvX1i9V-aBmP7DJUJS7CYdLT_cUUeCKMaMcg1OTvPxPUk_gSukBMfe9tqfxpogFb4Ns8dpUzYckhNizS7PoDpHkSwR70svuCszEKq8voR5SLm0q_OYLEmBYCeA2FsI/s200/DOF.jpg" /></a></div><li><b>The Depth of Field</b>: this is not actually a setting, but more an effect you can easily change (and you need to think what kind of depth of field you want when taking any picture). As I mentioned before, this is achieved by varying the aperture and conversely the shutter speed (shutter speed is just to achieve the correct exposure, but the DOP is mostly set by the aperture setting). Some cameras (e.g. Canon 400D has a button that shows DOF preview)</li>
</ul><ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3nSnwb3Y3iNI97zJw4cXGYrOrBaoAYxzRfYVc4-l6IKA7UU6qJJ2V8RFA3Z8rhCNcaDeezA_w1z4A-ZKBc-RJZxb_GQib8MaOgYBFFB17FOxzTHRQ_5OYZFyEugIOdt_RtaoQa4D4abw/s1600-h/noise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3nSnwb3Y3iNI97zJw4cXGYrOrBaoAYxzRfYVc4-l6IKA7UU6qJJ2V8RFA3Z8rhCNcaDeezA_w1z4A-ZKBc-RJZxb_GQib8MaOgYBFFB17FOxzTHRQ_5OYZFyEugIOdt_RtaoQa4D4abw/s200/noise.jpg" /></a></div><li><b>Sensor sensitivity or ISO</b>: this setting let's you change the sensor sensitivity, and therefore adjust it for bright/low light situations. ISO of 100 is a common lowest sensitivity setting, that needs longest shutter speed for proper exposure (or/and higher aperture), it's good for day-light photos. Other common ISO settings are 200, 400, 800, 1600. That last one obviously is the most sensitive, low-light oriented setting. But generally you should aim for the lowest ISO possible, because the higher the sensitivity, the more <b>noise </b>you get. Noise is multi-coloured dot's on you image.</li>
</ul><br />
<ul><li><b>Colour balance</b>: your camera takes analog visible light and maps it to a digital representation of colours (i.e. from infinite variety of analog colours to a map of many millions of colours, also know as a colour space). But how obviously different screens or printers display colours differently, so this setting allows you to slightly vary the colours of this colourspace, to match your device. Automatic setting usually gives good results, but sometimes you can set it to other custom values if you think it doesn't look very natural, e.g.: 7000k setting is used when you have a lot of shadow, 3200k , slightly bluish tint.. etc (it usually says in the camera manual).</li>
</ul><ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIKByACShJw2vfXs2BJn1S_ZfnRFmc-nADkM5moW4fysBR8nVmPYih1m-AZKY_Y8uZ7x8D9ySEx-K41rD1xXLwLNdAyBF_98dIfTvcGlOmidMSAgrhB4Lvw246J0bmGrDWj7Wq8AUn8qI/s1600-h/light-meter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIKByACShJw2vfXs2BJn1S_ZfnRFmc-nADkM5moW4fysBR8nVmPYih1m-AZKY_Y8uZ7x8D9ySEx-K41rD1xXLwLNdAyBF_98dIfTvcGlOmidMSAgrhB4Lvw246J0bmGrDWj7Wq8AUn8qI/s200/light-meter.jpg" /></a></div><li><b>The light-meter, exposure</b>: every DSLR camera has a light-meter that you can see if you look through the view-finder or on the LCD screen before taking a picture. It usually is just a line with a small indicator. For balanced exposure you want the indicator to be exactly in the middle. Otherwise if the indicator it shifted to the right, you'll get overexposed images and vice versa if it's to the left. In manual mode, you just change the aperture and shutter speed, until the indicator goes to the middle, you cannon move the indicator itself. But in semi-automatic modes on Canon cameras (e.g. 400D), the indicator in always in the middle, because all other setting are selected automatically to make it stay there, but, if you don't like it and want your image darker or brighter, but still stay in semi-automatic mode, you can set "Exposure compensation" setting, by moving the indicator to the left or right (see your manual).</li>
</ul><a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a><br />
<ul><li><b>Lens focal length:</b> I have already mentioned in my previous posts what types of lenses exits (in 1.6x format): 7-12mm: fisheye lenses, that give distorter images but extremely wide angle, 12-24mm: wide angle lenses, 24-70mm: standard lenses (no magnification), 70-500mm: telephoto lenses, dedicated macro lenses. It's quite easy to use lenses once you have them, especially with autofocus and multiple focus, but a word of caution: when using macro lenses or 100-500mm lenses, you definitely need a tripod, because every small hand movement adds a lot of blur, the higher the magnification, the bigger the effect. And also, maximum lens aperture decreases when you increase the focal length, so you need to be aware of that.<br />
</li>
</ul>Next I will be publishing slightly more advanced techniques, which require proper understanding of what I wrote above.<br />
If you have any questions, leave a comment. Thanks.<br />
Happy Hippo<br />
<ul></ul>Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-7436232391404711632009-12-15T02:19:00.192+00:002018-02-15T21:55:34.757+00:00Canon 400D overview and accessories guide<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKK75nd8fZO5wNTv6daOGJXo30yhfRF3vfKevvJcKm8f8tyl3tagvti1j03JvRaJWZ2m6gAK3O8RMBpUsQwSMoMBIa_mnQQpCgfJReifYjpfB-ePamoi4dQv7EnqC6WO-2DXZN6dfu0kg/s1600-h/400d-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKK75nd8fZO5wNTv6daOGJXo30yhfRF3vfKevvJcKm8f8tyl3tagvti1j03JvRaJWZ2m6gAK3O8RMBpUsQwSMoMBIa_mnQQpCgfJReifYjpfB-ePamoi4dQv7EnqC6WO-2DXZN6dfu0kg/s200/400d-1.jpg" /></a></div>I wrote a guide how to choose a digital camera that is right for you in <a href="http://read-stuff-here.blogspot.com/2009/08/digital-compact-and-d-slr-camera-guide.html" target="_blank">this article</a>. My choice was an APS-type digital SLR camera: Canon 400D, and I want to describe my experience when working with it.<br />
First of all, the<a href="http://files.canon-europe.com/files/soft31300/manual/CUG_EOS400D_EN_Flat.zip"> manual</a> that comes with this camera is very handy, not only it has all the instructions how to operate the camera, but also basic photography explanations and tips.<br />
Manufacturer specifications can be found <a href="http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_SLR/EOS_400D/index.asp?specs=1">here</a>, but it's a very long list, so I'll put the main specifications only:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>APS-C sensor (22.2 x 14.8mm), click <a href="http://read-stuff-here.blogspot.com/2009/08/digital-compact-and-d-slr-camera-guide.html">here </a>for explanation of different sensors.</li>
<li>10 Megapixels </li>
<li>1.6x focal length multiplier </li>
<li>9 point auto-focusing system</li>
<li>2.5" LCD screen</li>
<li>Compact-flash memory card <br />
</li>
<li>RAW format</li>
<li>3 frames per second continuous shooting</li>
<li>Built-in sensor cleaning system</li>
<li>ISO range: 100-1600</li>
<li>6 auto-modes, 3 semi-auto modes, 1manual mode</li>
<li>10 seconds timer, and built-in infrared receiver for wireless remotes</li>
<li>auto/custom white balance </li>
<li>Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) in 3 steps (useful for High-Dynamic Range or HDR pictures)</li>
<li>shutter speed range: 1/4000s - 30s/unlimited (and 1/200 min when using built-in flash)</li>
<li>rechargeable Lithium-ion batteries (charger is included)</li>
<li>PC-sync lead</li>
</ul><br />
Canon 400D is considered to be a budget camera, when it was first released it cost around 400 pounds ( or $750) for the body &18-55mm lens, now it can be bought for about 330 pounds or even less on ebay or used. Of course with many newer models available, you may consider buying something else, but don't forget, that accessories play a huge role for photographers, while personally I find that many new "features" are completely useless, for example cameras with more than 10 megapixels resolution, unless you want to print larger than A3 (or crop a lot), new models that have larger LCD screens with "live preview" feature that allows to see the picture on the LCD screen before you take it: first, it's useless in bright sunlight, and second the LCD screen "eats" so much battery power, if you keep looking at it, your battery will be exhausted in no-time etc ( a longer list of important and not-important features/specifications is <a href="http://read-stuff-here.blogspot.com/2009/08/digital-compact-and-d-slr-camera-guide.html">here </a>in the table at the bottom of the page). And so investing in e.g. second lens or more accessories rather than in features that you'll never use sounds like a reasonable thing to do.<br />
Canon 400D feels quite light, is not heavy to carry around, it's easy to use and it produces very good quality pictures. But as with every DSLR, you need to know a bit more about photography, because you have a lot more control how you want to take your picture.<br />
<br />
It's quite easy to learn basic photography jargon and acquire necessary skills to take good picture (which I intend to publish shortly), and it is also quite easy to remember how to set those settings in the camera. I will not write how to do it here, because it is very well described in the manual.<br />
<br />
An extremely long and thorough review of Canon 400D with sample pictures can be found <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOS400D/">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Now I'm going to write a list of accessories that you might want to consider, this is particularly useful for people doing maybe A-level courseworks and stuff, because almost every one of these accessories gives you a lot of photography techniques to explore and describe in your sketchbook. <br />
<br />
Other accessories that I bought over the years were: <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsnkw4hXDGSt7p4JznGMudimGKy_0pVfMb0n9fckgKBecKQ0vHN9UTQHnUGsMFBfD4tuayw5SR2EHgrin6ZvEu3aDZeBAddjidvX1U-ItekHc8n-M133YMsaAjQx1iXqMQViWbplpUmxg/s1600-h/sigma+70-300+apo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsnkw4hXDGSt7p4JznGMudimGKy_0pVfMb0n9fckgKBecKQ0vHN9UTQHnUGsMFBfD4tuayw5SR2EHgrin6ZvEu3aDZeBAddjidvX1U-ItekHc8n-M133YMsaAjQx1iXqMQViWbplpUmxg/s200/sigma+70-300+apo.jpg" /></a></div><ul><li><b>70-300mm</b> Sigma APO <b>Macro lens</b>. I actually bought a cheap lens on ebay that had exactly the same specifications for £50, but it turned out to be an old film-SLR lens, and because Sigma reverse engineer Canon lenses, their older lenses became incompatible when new Canon Digital SLRs were released (although most older film SLR Canon lenses are still compatible with Digital SLRs). But the seller on ebay refused to refund the money , so I phoned Sigma and they offered to trade it for £128, so it cost me £178 to get this lens, which is a bit more than if I just bought it at a shop. So, if you decide to buy on ebay, be very careful with what you buy. But it's a good lens, it gives about 12x magnification on 300mm and also macro can be useful, although it's not a dedicated macro lens. In general you may consider other lenses: for example: (1) <b>18-200mm</b> general lens, which is useful because it gives you both wide angle lens and telephoto lens in one, so you don't have to waste time changing lenses if you go from one scenery to another. (2) <b>Dedicated macro</b> lenses: give beautiful pictures of plants/insects.. etc (3) <b>Wide-angle lenses 12-24mm</b> are used for landscape photography, interiors etc (4) <b>Fish-eye lenses, 7-12mm</b> , these lenses give a lot of distortion to the picture (making it spherical), but can also give very artistic effect and a lot of detail in a picture (5) <b>Fast lenses</b>: lenses with F-stop(aperture) of <b>F2.8</b>, they are usually very expensive , but allow to use fast shutter speeds, and very shallow depth of field, i.e. blurred background (resulting in "professional looking photos") for portraits etc<br />
</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1VMyZFvDw5Ha5yel-osk-jVmQo85786xKDEoutcxKUCZ5XZ6uh2zsH_xdpuEUravHx-J8NbwoNE1oR9WT002-5dDlKDAot5P3vSf5Pkb0kQwYG9NR4fX1LEr_5o2jlPej7Id1S90GxhE/s1600-h/400d-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1VMyZFvDw5Ha5yel-osk-jVmQo85786xKDEoutcxKUCZ5XZ6uh2zsH_xdpuEUravHx-J8NbwoNE1oR9WT002-5dDlKDAot5P3vSf5Pkb0kQwYG9NR4fX1LEr_5o2jlPej7Id1S90GxhE/s200/400d-2.jpg" /></a></div><li><b>Macro Extension tubes</b> (£5): the cheap version does not have any electrical connections to the lens, so you loose autofocus ability, but with these tubes on, you can go a lot closer to your object. And for macro, autofocus is not the most important element. Alternatively you can get a lot more expensive extension tubes (about £60) which will make your lens a macro lens, keeping autofocus functionality and aperture controls.<br />
</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-h0pfJAFZEzL9z0sPiS-X6P7t5U65kLE2_9sJnqAIersMYEbNYMvkI5i6e-htx-OxUMt__bQI0Z6OoZykQY_iaNMF9sqI-QDDMPLbBWZNon9a688CUWqGpzjC5mHbge7dYu4KegJlj98/s1600-h/400d-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-h0pfJAFZEzL9z0sPiS-X6P7t5U65kLE2_9sJnqAIersMYEbNYMvkI5i6e-htx-OxUMt__bQI0Z6OoZykQY_iaNMF9sqI-QDDMPLbBWZNon9a688CUWqGpzjC5mHbge7dYu4KegJlj98/s200/400d-3.jpg" /></a></div><ul><li>A <b>tripod </b>is a must-have accessory for any photographer, you'll need it for macro, portraits, general shots, slow-shutter speed, HDRs light-painting etc. I went for a cheap (£10), light and portable tripod, because my Canon 400D is not very heavy, so this tripod is just fine for me. But if you have a very heavy lens, or camera, you may need a more professional (and expensive tripod).</li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoedkyHE0TbSAtBemivCMhiR85HSG5q54wZymzL3aW6A2bDE7HGjZT6NSDFJOLM8W3qRPhINMKnMZ7Ie3KpAXwct8VZafvbxLpiSI_59gEgYuDKuZ5SuhxqHZ1rsd_aiAtrTS_Y-LurEE/s1600-h/400d-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoedkyHE0TbSAtBemivCMhiR85HSG5q54wZymzL3aW6A2bDE7HGjZT6NSDFJOLM8W3qRPhINMKnMZ7Ie3KpAXwct8VZafvbxLpiSI_59gEgYuDKuZ5SuhxqHZ1rsd_aiAtrTS_Y-LurEE/s200/400d-4.jpg" /></a></div><ul><li>A <b>bag</b>, you'll need a bag, once you start getting different equipment for your camera, the best DSLR bags I've seen so far are made by <a href="http://www.lowepro.com/">LowePro</a>. I went for Lowepro Slingshot 100AW on ebay that costs around £30. But it has padded walls that protect the camera and lenses, microfiber LCD protector, lost of different partitions for memory cards etc, and all-weather cover to protect against rain, snow etc.</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtWoeWXur0DG3wwPxDyZua6wx5SSXnYYppsSeCO4dTCdSNOWpmymM8xZWB77Hx-momwVzQN9HUQmcdjaSHbH_g4Y2_KBkDp3hfEPg45q8WdnjolRsdxaVFYEZ2ofyYUwDmx5v6osqBKpk/s1600-h/400d-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtWoeWXur0DG3wwPxDyZua6wx5SSXnYYppsSeCO4dTCdSNOWpmymM8xZWB77Hx-momwVzQN9HUQmcdjaSHbH_g4Y2_KBkDp3hfEPg45q8WdnjolRsdxaVFYEZ2ofyYUwDmx5v6osqBKpk/s200/400d-9.jpg" /></a></div><ul><li>Spare <b>batteries</b>: the original Canon battery that comes with 400D is 720mAh capacity, and again, brand new Canon batteries cost a lot, but on ebay I bought two 1300mAh batteries (high capacity) from Hong Kong for 7 pounds, and they have been working fine for over 2 years now. I usually use up two batteries during a photoshoot (there is also an accessory called battery grip, which is attached to the bottom of your camera and is simply a container for three batteries, so there is no need to replace them, also gives shutter button at the bottom the the camera).<br />
</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP6v2XY3hPeE-hNevzr1afQE8F_D8uXzBv94ZKBIZEhjImnDJ-X4dl85RTxFKQRr34EOi4D2M-7yNfz4XaKQjMilzhobKHU2MO6n2bQ7XmjBJEBWrrKNvzyu02Yt7CbF7h7q6ScrYNfqA/s1600-h/400D-8.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP6v2XY3hPeE-hNevzr1afQE8F_D8uXzBv94ZKBIZEhjImnDJ-X4dl85RTxFKQRr34EOi4D2M-7yNfz4XaKQjMilzhobKHU2MO6n2bQ7XmjBJEBWrrKNvzyu02Yt7CbF7h7q6ScrYNfqA/s200/400D-8.png" /></a></div><ul><li>Spare <b>memory cards</b>, if you plan to experiment with RAW format or want to take loads of picture at a time, you might need to consider buying a spare compact flash memory card, I would recommend at least 2Gb high speed memory card (e.g. Sandisk extreme III CF 2gb ), they are quite cheap on play.com. You need a high speed memory card, because if you do continuous shooting (e.g. 3 frames per second), than you camera will stop after a few shots and you'll have to wait until this shots are written to the memory card, but with a fast memory card that is not a problem (but it will stop anyway briefly after about 27 shots).</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBPKDyUU7F-XeGmA70qg_CBBJKtgUb28kq5YlDGfzTFqVBYsTtTKNfdoECUVsGmUlaAoibHRHkddvpQQ0H-TXUjylEn1xbat3OzMBLl7lSeezmuYk3Fea8Q3XPPIAG3tVAjbb2LyOmk50/s1600-h/400d-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBPKDyUU7F-XeGmA70qg_CBBJKtgUb28kq5YlDGfzTFqVBYsTtTKNfdoECUVsGmUlaAoibHRHkddvpQQ0H-TXUjylEn1xbat3OzMBLl7lSeezmuYk3Fea8Q3XPPIAG3tVAjbb2LyOmk50/s200/400d-5.jpg" /></a></div><ul><li><b>Flash-gun</b>, I only bought this recently, but I found that it's a must-have accessory, because it gives a lot better results than if you use a built-in flash. I went for a budget flash gun as well, but I did a lot of research and chose Jessops 360AFD for Canon. It's quite a powerful flashgun and has a lot of useful features, like a built-in diffuser, focus-assistant light, swivel, rotate, manual controls, e-ttl technology etc. There were some articles that claimed it has 30 recycle time, which is nonsense. It can fire two times almost instantaneously, and then recycle in 2-5 seconds. (50pounds on ebay)<br />
</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS_Y1qW3yvv6OYtgJSsE-SsbgDeVaxQNuF4sfIy4BqfGu79XXJEeNrCUH6ymTuws8z69MBhrI5H1IpWI27CMmjpqg41UlE53EznKKzVZR17r1B8GUak0av_2CXqA3rS9N6iEkLh5xYzzI/s1600-h/400d-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS_Y1qW3yvv6OYtgJSsE-SsbgDeVaxQNuF4sfIy4BqfGu79XXJEeNrCUH6ymTuws8z69MBhrI5H1IpWI27CMmjpqg41UlE53EznKKzVZR17r1B8GUak0av_2CXqA3rS9N6iEkLh5xYzzI/s200/400d-6.jpg" /></a></div><ul><li> <b>Filters </b>: these are circular pieces of glass, that can be attached to the front of the lens and give it some useful or artistic properties. Filters vary in size, according to the lens aperture (which is displayed on the front of the lens, e.g. Ѳ58, or Ѳ55..). You can read about different types of filters on the internet, but I bought some <b>neutral density filters</b> and a <b>circular polarizer</b> filter on ebay. I used the former to increase the F-stop of my lens and so to make very slow shutter possible for light-painting, and the latter was used to get rid of water reflection, which is really fun. Other quite nice filters exist that give a lot of creativity for your camera: (1) <b>Skylight</b> filters: increase the contrast of the sky (2) <b>infra-red</b> filters: allow to take pictures of infra-red light together with visible light, if used properly this can give very nice effects (3) <b>UV (ultraviolet)</b> filter: remove UV light, which results in glare , etc, but this doesn't really do much, so it is often used to protect the more expensive lenses. <br />
</li>
</ul><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_usjcYvw4S4KfJrdVS-R7tci-g1gGpINqmAAQJDMja22iF9xdIKvnJiVO_We3SwA0zq21hKoI-lCnYoEU9WmpiXSpHJkMy3KK1Gdgi1khzaQF7_2iVdCIPVXosBq11IpEYQQE5SVWXmM/s1600-h/400d-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_usjcYvw4S4KfJrdVS-R7tci-g1gGpINqmAAQJDMja22iF9xdIKvnJiVO_We3SwA0zq21hKoI-lCnYoEU9WmpiXSpHJkMy3KK1Gdgi1khzaQF7_2iVdCIPVXosBq11IpEYQQE5SVWXmM/s200/400d-7.jpg" /></a></div><ul><li> <b>Camera armor</b>: this is used to protect the camera from light damage, scratches, in particular the LCD screen. But also, I bought a silver Canon 400D, so later I realized it doesn't look very professional, so it also helps to hide unprofessional silver colour :)( the armor also comes in red colour). Costs around £30 (but it accumulates dust over time unfortunately)</li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtIhN5aeMUGtz2zE05K0QQl7CaxAncwUy275aegWviOnNfMU-4cMxG-Q52ERD-_I5NrINkDUZrQDKeEhO2MBJfTlX3BG1uEIYA_TqGgU5vgeU3SOJOGeVpOItmnfyTNAhL6917vHsDyBQ/s1600-h/400d-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtIhN5aeMUGtz2zE05K0QQl7CaxAncwUy275aegWviOnNfMU-4cMxG-Q52ERD-_I5NrINkDUZrQDKeEhO2MBJfTlX3BG1uEIYA_TqGgU5vgeU3SOJOGeVpOItmnfyTNAhL6917vHsDyBQ/s200/400d-8.jpg" /></a></div><ul><li>remote control: I went for a cheap remote control on ebay, which works fine. And it's very useful for macro, or shots that require very steady camera hold. Canon 400D remotes usually have two buttons: 2 seconds delay and normal shutter button.<br />
</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<ul><a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a>
<li>lens cleaning kit, you need a special cleaning kit for the lenses, if you don't want to damage them. Even a cheap microfiber cloth and lens cleaning liquid will do the job.</li>
</ul><br />
So as you can see, over a few years, accessories/equipment turned out to cost more than the camera itself, and I went for budget solutions all the time. But without them I think my photography experience would have been quite limited. It's true that any DSLR camera gives a lot of settings and effects to play with, but combined with proper accessories, this can produce very professionally looking pictures and unlimited creativity.<br />
<ul></ul><br />
<br />
If you have any questions about the camera or accessories listed, just leave a comment, and I'll reply asap.<br />
Thanks<br />
Happy Hippo<br />
Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-72595071721425719222009-10-06T16:31:00.085+01:002018-02-15T21:55:30.396+00:00Windows 7 64 bit review / guide (tested on a tablet PC and Desktop PC)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdb1-IKYOecbMrCoumrDkrX56kDtxJPnuYMNtMIqFhkZ5heeuGrVvaZL0cqs1Va68XlcJ2y7rgiiPOHkIT8myfqDqA9Xr4pb60dRlmyxmN9HmGwq_OI0jbtGu1BpeLTSOF0u1SDcYsP30/s1600-h/microsoft_vista-logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdb1-IKYOecbMrCoumrDkrX56kDtxJPnuYMNtMIqFhkZ5heeuGrVvaZL0cqs1Va68XlcJ2y7rgiiPOHkIT8myfqDqA9Xr4pb60dRlmyxmN9HmGwq_OI0jbtGu1BpeLTSOF0u1SDcYsP30/s320/microsoft_vista-logo.png" /></a><br />
</div><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;"><b>64 bit vs 32 bit</b></span><br />
<br />
Windows 7 is a new operating system from Microsoft that seems to be getting very good reviews and after testing it for about two months now, I like it A LOT, even though I installed a 64 bit version (64bit Windows Vista caused a lot of driver compatibility issues, but it's no longer a problem because most manufacturer's have released drivers for 64 Windows Vista, which are compatible with windows 7 64bit). If you don't know the difference between 32bit and 64bit versions, here is the list of advantages and disadvantages of one over another:<br />
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<br />
<ul><li><span style="font-size: x-small;">64bit operating systems support more than 4 Gigabytes of memory (RAM), while 32bit operating systems "see" only up to 4Gb of RAM. So, for example, if you have 6Gb memory on your Computer, you will need a 64bit operating systems to use it all.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">64bit operating systems address RAM in a different way to 32bit operating systems, and basically saving you up to 0.5Gb of RAM. For example, if you have 4Gb of memory and windows XP 32bit, it will "eat" 0.5Gb of memory for its own use (to store DLLs in memory , etc) and show that you have only 3.5Gb of RAM.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: x-small;">64bit systems work faster, especially if you work with large files. For example,as bigger chunks of large files can be mapped in RAM, and it also improves number crunching programs.</span></li>
</ul><br />
<div style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Installation:</b></span><br />
</div><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7XsbDG90TBcfxGY3S5AWcGWopwFOwbnLPSv2Bl-tNRPsIODgMR8uXIY1oeDPLV1lsp8IVY1Yq1JanGve-Deg0f0HhokzEZym_2aJUf0f-Sh20a_Y13nORBDSR7b8AtoskI-LziIttldQ/s1600/windows-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7XsbDG90TBcfxGY3S5AWcGWopwFOwbnLPSv2Bl-tNRPsIODgMR8uXIY1oeDPLV1lsp8IVY1Yq1JanGve-Deg0f0HhokzEZym_2aJUf0f-Sh20a_Y13nORBDSR7b8AtoskI-LziIttldQ/s320/windows-7.jpg" /></a>I was very happy about the way the installation went, very clear instructions on what to do, a bit faster than Windows Vista (maybe because I was installing 64 bit version of Windows 7). And I was surprised to see that every single driver was properly installed with most available functions (although later on I installed the manufacturers driver software for better functionality).<br />
Also, I recommend to buy a 4Gb USB stick and copy the contents of your Windows 7 DVD on it (just select all files on the DVD and copy them to the USB stick), and wow! you have a USB-copy of windows 7 , which I successfully installed on my laptop (that doesn't have a DVD driver and it installed even faster from a USB stick).<br />
Screenshots and Virtual Machine installation instructions can be found <a href="http://www.techtalkz.com/windows-7/514412-windows-7-installation-guide-tutorial.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<div style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Interface:</b></span><br />
<br />
</div>The main interface change that I noticed is obviously the taskbar:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid7gE8HvDpNOPnIAcB9UF1Cnu3avJonW_YsVyDA4p-kevB87J7yOXM20Knki0Ll5rsVxLci2oPQBDJyCojaxA3JZdE29nlXK98IhUZNHUVdnrKlqTmS7e84rK_eDneoWcQ311UmAk0d9w/s1600-h/win7-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid7gE8HvDpNOPnIAcB9UF1Cnu3avJonW_YsVyDA4p-kevB87J7yOXM20Knki0Ll5rsVxLci2oPQBDJyCojaxA3JZdE29nlXK98IhUZNHUVdnrKlqTmS7e84rK_eDneoWcQ311UmAk0d9w/s400/win7-1.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As you see, they combined the quick launch area with the main taskbar area, making it slightly higher and if you open an application, only its icon is displayed there, if the application is minimised the application icon stands out, so you always know what is open and what is just a shortcut in the taskbar.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The start menu is almost identical to Windows Vista.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When you roll over one of those open applications in the taskbar, it shows a small thumbnail of what that application is doing and if you hover over that thumbnail, all other windows become transparent, and you can see what you application is doing in real time, without minimising the rest of your open windows.<br />
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</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFnBDRsqA5SiMTPzSrDTqSNFRQmNZVnafuOEX7F30qE5LDkmTMP7dgokIGzs__ydn89Bopggj8bqF8_QwMHEfsWV5YOifzd2OyDxbAU-mp7xpfBh1jaoKEBblIh27SJjFj0IgVPHNWqaA/s1600-h/windows7-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFnBDRsqA5SiMTPzSrDTqSNFRQmNZVnafuOEX7F30qE5LDkmTMP7dgokIGzs__ydn89Bopggj8bqF8_QwMHEfsWV5YOifzd2OyDxbAU-mp7xpfBh1jaoKEBblIh27SJjFj0IgVPHNWqaA/s320/windows7-10.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Windows explorer was changed a bit by adding: "libraries" and "recent places" shortcuts, which are quite similar to iTunes interface, Libraries contain your files, which you can access from any explorer window and you can create new libraries. And recent places changes all the time depending which folder you accessed recently, so you don't have to look for it again.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNfZrd32ncGRyCGHSuz4FpWeXx2FbnDTgAO4vuFonUm8nF9GRtnZumBCCcgMYVT34WT3o22B505G4aAwI6li0TL7v8BRbdPzsjfKXtHoEXco3oGCR8F9TiFXqRbfY2WoOkb2MqlknwLkA/s1600-h/windows7-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNfZrd32ncGRyCGHSuz4FpWeXx2FbnDTgAO4vuFonUm8nF9GRtnZumBCCcgMYVT34WT3o22B505G4aAwI6li0TL7v8BRbdPzsjfKXtHoEXco3oGCR8F9TiFXqRbfY2WoOkb2MqlknwLkA/s400/windows7-2.jpg" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Network connectivity and device management has also been improved: for example, if you want to connect to a wireless network:click Internet access icon in system tray, find your wireless network and click connect:<br />
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</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZx5vQ5W7semt7bkkJ53I8dbZi00aWPuR27rPNK0TVN_vw28f1QvYedhCDzTvhYeDdHe_953r04ET5rwnO3JQErfzNy0tSCRNj2Ta7GHT6y66Nn6uJHW9SrA-jiwRXYJDk1C7Jg7B57Fw/s1600-h/windows7-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZx5vQ5W7semt7bkkJ53I8dbZi00aWPuR27rPNK0TVN_vw28f1QvYedhCDzTvhYeDdHe_953r04ET5rwnO3JQErfzNy0tSCRNj2Ta7GHT6y66Nn6uJHW9SrA-jiwRXYJDk1C7Jg7B57Fw/s200/windows7-3.jpg" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">New "Devices and Printers" shortcut in the control panel shows every device you have connected to your system and lets you change it's properties (and all of that out-of-the box, without downloading drivers).<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyphenhyphenBKYYElsgdQowQlZ7HNOc_5SKbPwMxSKPzUm8o923TRDkXmi3agtk-r_wQFw_kPkGdDg2lEVJFA42HoBB53GAhOlt1zoLmvfPEvnvvOf5j9Miqfijncn9xjHGW2oBcDekHzzNIg29XU/s1600-h/windows7-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyphenhyphenBKYYElsgdQowQlZ7HNOc_5SKbPwMxSKPzUm8o923TRDkXmi3agtk-r_wQFw_kPkGdDg2lEVJFA42HoBB53GAhOlt1zoLmvfPEvnvvOf5j9Miqfijncn9xjHGW2oBcDekHzzNIg29XU/s320/windows7-4.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In this operating system, for the first time, Microsoft has added a few backgrounds, system sounds, themes, colour customisations etc.. which makes it look a lot better than other Microsoft operating systems out-of-the-box, they even added an option to play a slideshow of pictures on your desktop or video.<br />
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</div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ny-iYcC8W0J9uezKlar1iUA7PLvELhpTuQtBdCn6397b8yOdBhhIwhHFmmbYxvOxz1w4X23fotUH6jn_0T9VAhuBzdMlDjFY87V9Lkbl7v-NZ8_ys05TQUbwG1jVqrs0U2AZTcaEOsY/s1600-h/windows7-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ny-iYcC8W0J9uezKlar1iUA7PLvELhpTuQtBdCn6397b8yOdBhhIwhHFmmbYxvOxz1w4X23fotUH6jn_0T9VAhuBzdMlDjFY87V9Lkbl7v-NZ8_ys05TQUbwG1jVqrs0U2AZTcaEOsY/s320/windows7-5.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhctKeVWg1-5wbFdtTxl61kEUVJJTuZ-jZ48scpP4nRqVpm5cFRr_1VT93LXfkPwJAoresryjRiLFgO0DZIDbj0MOxpb4HUUUUjMx7LdsKC78nATKMDZACNcAd7b-WGXmsFbxXJakFQ1aw/s1600-h/windows7-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhctKeVWg1-5wbFdtTxl61kEUVJJTuZ-jZ48scpP4nRqVpm5cFRr_1VT93LXfkPwJAoresryjRiLFgO0DZIDbj0MOxpb4HUUUUjMx7LdsKC78nATKMDZACNcAd7b-WGXmsFbxXJakFQ1aw/s320/windows7-6.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIjTE8eKy2lsLptIquXasgM4PNJVrmTaun2kP9FLQzkeP-sQe0fK9JU6w0-qrvZaAzTXcXNNYf30ZqjyiTjvYfc7wIBIHPijNcg8suqw4zkm1UtEWQKz7dR0oPcuC-_SAh4M0o29y0t_E/s1600-h/windows7-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIjTE8eKy2lsLptIquXasgM4PNJVrmTaun2kP9FLQzkeP-sQe0fK9JU6w0-qrvZaAzTXcXNNYf30ZqjyiTjvYfc7wIBIHPijNcg8suqw4zkm1UtEWQKz7dR0oPcuC-_SAh4M0o29y0t_E/s200/windows7-7.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Sidebar gadgets can now be placed anywhere on your desktop, and there is not actual sidebar anymore, just small gadgets. <br />
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<div style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Media:</b></span><br />
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</div>The sound system and video drivers were automatically and correctly installed on windows 7, the volume control and "playback/recording devices" is very similar to Windows Vista.<br />
Windows Media player was changed a bit: it now has libraries as well, and better playlist management.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJbQe-hQuT_xJqkdXaQlPAS3JpRFr916ilGCrToZJFIi0HY77FPFN4ELNYcsowrWZDrH6YW5OXnJrZz4j7-0pBZR1pIWj65r_kwhahyphenhyphen99K-d3qlZcLhMxAaWSFmhGgt179J_mEl6ZgRBk/s1600-h/windows7-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJbQe-hQuT_xJqkdXaQlPAS3JpRFr916ilGCrToZJFIi0HY77FPFN4ELNYcsowrWZDrH6YW5OXnJrZz4j7-0pBZR1pIWj65r_kwhahyphenhyphen99K-d3qlZcLhMxAaWSFmhGgt179J_mEl6ZgRBk/s320/windows7-8.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihIYSf0gEbwp-Z4B1-Dyd1SlxASB7crlHbdxNNmGczEakNG1CIudWoeZlT9wNPTbj-Yl33dEqxTQCNIdP7HK7k0JcTBJFU1YzmszvH0FjwYGaEvfpovyiyOqm7was-FTzZbhRdCM55U-Y/s1600-h/windows7-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihIYSf0gEbwp-Z4B1-Dyd1SlxASB7crlHbdxNNmGczEakNG1CIudWoeZlT9wNPTbj-Yl33dEqxTQCNIdP7HK7k0JcTBJFU1YzmszvH0FjwYGaEvfpovyiyOqm7was-FTzZbhRdCM55U-Y/s320/windows7-9.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
It can be changed to "skin mode" by clicking the small button in the lower right-hand side corner.<br />
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Similar to Windows Vista, Windows Media player can play photos and videos.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMGxXjN6l11ML6sAPHD7860eokpBray4WILWdmjKMIRQwN5ESzrgNyBkFxdukCjO_rQPWUxZCnYL2Yth43mUses0MZ9tGLdb9hn39PzbEScda5R1Hsxn90vTwqgqo4uYmYJXAw35WhY74/s1600-h/windows7-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMGxXjN6l11ML6sAPHD7860eokpBray4WILWdmjKMIRQwN5ESzrgNyBkFxdukCjO_rQPWUxZCnYL2Yth43mUses0MZ9tGLdb9hn39PzbEScda5R1Hsxn90vTwqgqo4uYmYJXAw35WhY74/s320/windows7-11.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Also, windows media player may be controlled from taskbar pop-up window, when you hover over WMP ison.<br />
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<div style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Stability and reliability:</b></span><br />
</div><br />
Since installing this version of windows, I have experienced a few problems, in particular: blue screens when installing some older applications: like old versions of shrew VPN, NCP vpn, some drivers, incompatible fingerprint software, blue screens when using windows built-in VPN.. but they were caused because those applications were NOT designed for windows 7, nowadays I have all of those installed without problems, because a lot of updated applications for windows 7 have been released already. But anyway, I'm actually glad they didn't work, because I had a chance to try windows 7 backup/restore features.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwgV1bNmYybQICQ0z1dAadMFPpnJaXfNiTXMY5tN5RjDRQpJgfK0o0WR_smP2S_SvyUhvRA-_DmUuEH9udCvoESHm9lmrtpLGnM0bq-7Go0FTcNcWz3Xyr1Lrxgkha_YX2QHEn3zHVl0s/s1600-h/windows7-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwgV1bNmYybQICQ0z1dAadMFPpnJaXfNiTXMY5tN5RjDRQpJgfK0o0WR_smP2S_SvyUhvRA-_DmUuEH9udCvoESHm9lmrtpLGnM0bq-7Go0FTcNcWz3Xyr1Lrxgkha_YX2QHEn3zHVl0s/s200/windows7-12.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
<br />
First of all, Windows Backup feature is extremely useful, it saves copies of your documents and many other files at specific time intervals (usually every day), so if you accidently delete something and empty the recycle bin, you can always restore a previous version of your files/folders (I know this is an old feature in Windows, but it's still worth mentioning):<br />
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<br />
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I have also used Windows System Restore application numerous time to: fix bluescreen problems with incompatible drivers, to completely remove non-working applications, to remove of some settings I changed etc... And I feel otherwise I would have had to reinstall windows 7 completely, so make sure you have this enabled, if you don't want to reinstall everything if something goes wrong. More about Windows 7 system restore can be found <a href="http://www.blogsdna.com/2039/exploring-windows-7-system-restore-restore-previous-versions.htm" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<div style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Security:</b></span><br />
<br />
</div>Windows 7 is based on Windows Vista, so the security is quite similar : User Account Control feature (which I disabled as I find it annoying), Windows Defender: basic anyspyware program, Windows Firewall: basic firewall solution, Windows Automatic Updates, Security Centre: notifies about possible security threats/weaknesses. Microsoft has also released a free antivirus called: Microsoft Security Essentials, which is now available for <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/" target="_blank">download</a>, I have not tried it, but it's better to have an anti-virus on any system (also read about other useful programs <a href="http://read-stuff-here.blogspot.com/2009/08/my-favourite-application-list.html" target="_blank">here</a>).<br />
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<div style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Tablet PC functionality:</b></span><br />
</div><br />
A lot of users have tablet PCs nowadays or some sort of digital pen that is used to draw or write on the screen. Personally I use a tablet pc to record all lecture notes, and Windows 7 is extremely useful at this: it has built in handwriting recognition and many applications like Microsoft Office can use this, as well as improved touch-screen functionality.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwvVKnwRCoQdYy6TvZ5NJ6s1Qx44DJMLeWQoXFdMqDa3dCbw0uVI1rDV76v29WwMXqkgrSfOjEOaVOANEa24zBhuwW0iQldkdDQFZ6iI7H5Bqz-gLm6UdB534wq3icc1Ujk19hiFGlDBE/s1600-h/windows7-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwvVKnwRCoQdYy6TvZ5NJ6s1Qx44DJMLeWQoXFdMqDa3dCbw0uVI1rDV76v29WwMXqkgrSfOjEOaVOANEa24zBhuwW0iQldkdDQFZ6iI7H5Bqz-gLm6UdB534wq3icc1Ujk19hiFGlDBE/s320/windows7-13.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
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Conclusion: I will definitely upgrade to Windows 7, but not going to spend huge amount of money for it. Better wait for some sort of sale or student offer, or maybe free upgrade offers, which some manufacturers do nowadays.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: #990000;">If you have a question about this Windows 7 operating system, just leave a comment, and I reply asap. Thanks </span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: small;">A list of useful links if you want to know more about Windows 7:</span></b><br />
<ul><li><b><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.activewin.com/reviews/software/operating-sys/windows7/index.shtml" target="_blank">70 page review of Windows 7</a><br />
</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/11/how-to-install-windows-7-and-live-to-tell-about-it/" target="_blank">Full Windows 7 Installation guide</a></span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/features/videos.aspx" target="_blank">Official Microsoft Windows 7 guide videos/tutorials</a> </span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/operating-systems/microsoft-windows-7-622923/review?artc_pg=1" target="_blank">Longer and more technical review of Windows 7</a> </span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/12/windows-7-review/" target="_blank">Another good Windows 7 review</a></span></b><br />
</li>
</ul>Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-38044212085246575992009-09-30T21:28:00.003+01:002018-02-15T21:54:57.960+00:00Google wave !<span style="color: #990000;">Update: google has cancelled this project, because not many people were actually using it.</span> <br />
<br />
If you haven't heard about google wave yet, then you must live in some very remote place! This is a new idea from google that promises to replace e-mail and the way we communicate with each other. I watched the video about this technology , which you can find here:<br />
<br />
<object height="340" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/p6pgxLaDdQw&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/p6pgxLaDdQw&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br />
<a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a><br />
If you like it, you can request an invitation here: <a href="https://services.google.com/fb/forms/wavesignup">https://services.google.com/fb/forms/wavesignup</a> , because currently it is invite-only. Personally I quite like the idea and have signed up for it, but I guess they don't have any invites yet :(Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-78023809385557903822009-09-12T13:48:00.010+01:002018-02-15T21:55:01.580+00:00Creating high quality EAN-13 barcodes for free with Microsoft Excel, Word<span style="color: red;">Update: a very good free website that generates high quality barcodes for you:<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1455962928"> </a><a href="http://www.terryburton.co.uk/barcodewriter/generator/">http://www.terryburton.co.uk/barcodewriter/generator/</a></span><a href="http://www.terryburton.co.uk/barcodewriter/generator/"> </a><br />
<span style="color: red;">Update: if you require some sort of Windows automatization (e.g. in Excel), check out Auto It programming language for writing scripts : </span><a href="http://www.autoitscript.com/site/autoit/">http://www.autoitscript.com/site/autoit/</a><br />
<br />
The EAN-13 barcodes are used worldwide for marking products often sold at retail point of sale (for example books, etc). I recently found this free EAN-13 barcode making way (requires Microsoft Excel or similar), which I want to show below. First you need to <b><a href="http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/8/22/2551358/EAN13.zip">download this archive</a></b> that contains two files: EAN13.xls and ean13.ttf.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ahfhDpPBrz5X6f1qISIISUYKs23Lb9Z2-dyN2fV5668v-lMYtjrHEijyf3_JdM5EIXVK0ZFz4k-eOYRI2Bwv-lp-SVk2gOXnEMmJXiwXtagkMnr_kQB9aTyi_SYsvdxGh_KvXCf09M0/s1600-h/ean13-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ahfhDpPBrz5X6f1qISIISUYKs23Lb9Z2-dyN2fV5668v-lMYtjrHEijyf3_JdM5EIXVK0ZFz4k-eOYRI2Bwv-lp-SVk2gOXnEMmJXiwXtagkMnr_kQB9aTyi_SYsvdxGh_KvXCf09M0/s320/ean13-1.jpg" /></a></div>After you have downloaded and unzipped these files, right click on the ean13.ttf and click <b>Install</b>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrRq3Ok6efpR19SLuQ_lnnbEPQHldITgFkSrFz0TepCMSR8roFYj1p-CrRL4-kQfcuaAYLBMFSn19pAzHt2P5a2iLV8CirdsnVdtFFMuTE7qdKbfWAGA8odKwGIkfwaBgzjiAAydv8x6Y/s1600-h/ean13-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrRq3Ok6efpR19SLuQ_lnnbEPQHldITgFkSrFz0TepCMSR8roFYj1p-CrRL4-kQfcuaAYLBMFSn19pAzHt2P5a2iLV8CirdsnVdtFFMuTE7qdKbfWAGA8odKwGIkfwaBgzjiAAydv8x6Y/s200/ean13-3.jpg" /></a></div>Then open EAN13.xls file in Microsoft Excel, and click Enable Macros (it will not work if macros are disabled!).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI_wLLEmyIU7uqKu2m5bF0-h6e04GBOmUfv2xTdWtSASEMyk9HKQf-K2oUtVirDimjrODBO86TBCFcaTqOJayRAY2O2GU_L78QGwsYbEe3evl68p2w_-1nyZkt79xbdsk9F9jiut62YwI/s1600-h/ean13-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI_wLLEmyIU7uqKu2m5bF0-h6e04GBOmUfv2xTdWtSASEMyk9HKQf-K2oUtVirDimjrODBO86TBCFcaTqOJayRAY2O2GU_L78QGwsYbEe3evl68p2w_-1nyZkt79xbdsk9F9jiut62YwI/s200/ean13-4.jpg" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Now you can create your own barcodes, just by replacing the numbers with yours. Remember, you only need to enter first 11 digits of your code, the last one is a check digit and is calculated automatically. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw5p8wgBJMw3APOaxuGm_EGIAl3S8fBSwG6-anNMm0DUF2stRkKukDr6ifDjIwT5qrdxwSu-n-Nepwoo4-SedjLyJGQtHOv6kl7XZ6zjZqK7hc2cYHGa8aCq9Jzqz7rQ5iCuaZfPTSFOM/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw5p8wgBJMw3APOaxuGm_EGIAl3S8fBSwG6-anNMm0DUF2stRkKukDr6ifDjIwT5qrdxwSu-n-Nepwoo4-SedjLyJGQtHOv6kl7XZ6zjZqK7hc2cYHGa8aCq9Jzqz7rQ5iCuaZfPTSFOM/" width="189" /></a>If you want to paste this code directly into a word processing program, just right click the cell with the barcode, and copy it, open your word processor and paste it there. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjza4UgqdDUrX6uvtoMn7NarlqjiGK-YzBqhKXFa27omTTqD2ordqv7dWfw1gOiK_ff7oa5IfW2jSdhp53XUha9fIPw0vg_MJg3_3Du7CABCOi7Nf8FGDzZAQYxieSr76B7PzdMHc7Rb0/s1600-h/ean13-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjza4UgqdDUrX6uvtoMn7NarlqjiGK-YzBqhKXFa27omTTqD2ordqv7dWfw1gOiK_ff7oa5IfW2jSdhp53XUha9fIPw0vg_MJg3_3Du7CABCOi7Nf8FGDzZAQYxieSr76B7PzdMHc7Rb0/s320/ean13-6.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Or alternatively, zoom in on the cell with barcode in excel, and press Print Screen button on your keyboard. And then crop the screenshot in any image editor. This will give you a high-resolution picture of you barcode.<br />
<a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixWL26pOSy374oFzXgWR8ag2vqfsXgUF0gpGULU_NMGXb0-aosYuYM4peDj2G2nJya-9d5vkxUo7WvBYcunz6qeBDrVaTp6bdlu7LE92FH5xm_21rCjOLce5bNC3P9Kp6T-2oNhU0Q8D8/s1600-h/ean13-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixWL26pOSy374oFzXgWR8ag2vqfsXgUF0gpGULU_NMGXb0-aosYuYM4peDj2G2nJya-9d5vkxUo7WvBYcunz6qeBDrVaTp6bdlu7LE92FH5xm_21rCjOLce5bNC3P9Kp6T-2oNhU0Q8D8/s200/ean13-7.jpg" /></a></div>Alternatively you can use <a href="http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/8/22/2551358/134984-ean13gen.rar">this program</a> to generate the barcode for you.Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-40427800291367317922009-09-10T14:35:00.019+01:002018-02-15T21:53:49.018+00:00Shrew Soft VPN tutorial on Windows 64 bit with IPsec<div style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Note: if you tried installing older version of Shrew VPN (e.g. alpha version), and you keep getting blue screen, I recommend doing System Restore to get rid of it (it might also affect other programs you installed after Shrew VPN). Otherwise it's very difficult to stop BSODs.</span></div><br />
I published the NCP-e VPN configuration tutorial not so long ago, which was the first 64bit IPSec VPN client that worked for me, it's not free (probably that's why), most other clients gave me blue screens while installing drivers. But now it seems, as we are getting closer to Windows 7 64bit release date, there soon be a choice of even free IPSec VPN clients working on 64bit Windows 7. It's for you to decide whether you want a commercial VPN client with more support and extra features or just a free VPN client. I only intend to publish my personal experience when testing them. Now it's time for Shrew VPN client, which only recently (3rd of Sept) released it's RC3 version, that worked on my computer.<br />
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<b>Installation:</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQA6fIkWl1XzpE3vnI22jEz9waBwT-pnfZjDdL4hfSUAP4nFCv2-AMjPn741I8c7EozoAVMfbJDcoJmTo1zx3Iq3kCySIz1z7v2-ImG6Eg_M3EveILRntsG8LN53b5_qyXrzBinbP7sQE/s1600-h/shrew2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQA6fIkWl1XzpE3vnI22jEz9waBwT-pnfZjDdL4hfSUAP4nFCv2-AMjPn741I8c7EozoAVMfbJDcoJmTo1zx3Iq3kCySIz1z7v2-ImG6Eg_M3EveILRntsG8LN53b5_qyXrzBinbP7sQE/s200/shrew2.jpg" /></a></div>After <a href="http://www.shrew.net/download/vpn">downloading</a> the <b>2.1.5</b>(rc3) version of Shrew VPN, start installing it, a message or two maybe pop-up asking to confirm driver installation, which may hide behind the installation window (press ALT+TAB if your installation doesn't seem to be doing much to check if it's hiding somewhere), click yes (install) to it. <span style="color: red;">Update: version 2.1.5 is no longer in beta or RC version, so you can download the stable 2.1.5 version of 05 Dec 2009 (or newer betas if you fancy testing new releases).</span><br />
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<b>C</b><b>onfiguration:</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9Z7msjfn9DbRC75E7KGQZmZaHsLaXjPvjaW7JebrD2nJbsFowIgRwAji1uS9H5eNNuOy7qC1md3dGcvrBYTKyW5xz5y2v8Ss4SYfZspVID4fZmDVk0Hj82W4F8vxNGUCIDb8rY8KBnE/s1600-h/shrew3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK9Z7msjfn9DbRC75E7KGQZmZaHsLaXjPvjaW7JebrD2nJbsFowIgRwAji1uS9H5eNNuOy7qC1md3dGcvrBYTKyW5xz5y2v8Ss4SYfZspVID4fZmDVk0Hj82W4F8vxNGUCIDb8rY8KBnE/s200/shrew3.jpg" /></a></div>If you have a <b>.pcf</b> file from your older CISCO VPN client, then open Shrew Soft VPN, go to<b> File>Import>Select .pcf file extension from the filter>Select your file>click open</b>. Try connecting now, if it works then great (it didn't for me at this point). <strike>If it doesn't then click <b>Modify>select "client" tab>Navigate to NAT traversal>Select "force-rfc" </b></strike><span style="color: red;">Update:</span><span style="color: red;"> force rfc is probably not required in most configurations, only in very particular cases. If it's still not connecting, check the configuration as described below.</span><strike><b><br />
</b></strike><br />
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<br />
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If you <b>don't have a configuration file</b> from your old Cisco client, then make sure that you have these common settings:<br />
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<ul><li><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">IPSec gateway (e.g. vpn.blahblah.com or 129.123.000.000)</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">IPSec ID, also known as group ID (usually just a word)</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">IPSec secret. also known as group password (also a word)</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">remote access personal username (xauth username)</span></b></li>
<li><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">remote access personal password (xauth password) </span></b></li>
</ul><span style="font-size: x-small;"> (and maybe other advanced settings as well, if you were given those)</span><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></b><br />
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqwhNR7K_IOER77vBAp25S5cC72mlO6g_IJuOqFeJiQA2LM_bO6VVDNfbFvAldRF2gj9dEYhz8l3TTN6VmGiBrSmKT0EWRx1SQT1lnESfRkACmIt8gMEItqSb4udxD5CJVjEeOhw6ufcs/s1600-h/shrew4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqwhNR7K_IOER77vBAp25S5cC72mlO6g_IJuOqFeJiQA2LM_bO6VVDNfbFvAldRF2gj9dEYhz8l3TTN6VmGiBrSmKT0EWRx1SQT1lnESfRkACmIt8gMEItqSb4udxD5CJVjEeOhw6ufcs/s200/shrew4.jpg" /></a></div><b>1)</b> First add a new connection profile, by clicking <b>ADD</b> button, you will see <b>General </b>VPN settings tab, enter your IPSec gateway in "<b>Host Name or IP address</b>" field (and port settings if you were given them).<br />
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<b>2)</b> <strike>Navigate to <b>client </b>tab, and select <b>force-rfc</b> under <b>NAT traversal</b> (leave other settings on default, unless you were given different ones). (see the first image for the screenshot). </strike><span style="color: red;">Update: this is probably not required for most connection types</span><strike><br />
</strike><br />
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<b>3)</b> Navigate to <b>Name Resolution</b> tab, and leave all automatic settings (unless you were given specific WINS, DNS servers etc.., but try automatic first).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirx7zPtrptXHABClf9PgmvHTFxpM4IryuB8GlqLp-XhF8nhD0UYPWRGb5TXIc2j1RSIs9cuWlaYgXJYPwRx2AFbgRhaOrnlMCkxEmtd5GMzv-PFeLtIvSufGpdg1zBx5P26jeAs6HhrB8/s1600-h/shrew5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirx7zPtrptXHABClf9PgmvHTFxpM4IryuB8GlqLp-XhF8nhD0UYPWRGb5TXIc2j1RSIs9cuWlaYgXJYPwRx2AFbgRhaOrnlMCkxEmtd5GMzv-PFeLtIvSufGpdg1zBx5P26jeAs6HhrB8/s200/shrew5.jpg" /></a></div><b>4)</b> Navigate to <b>Authentication </b>tab, select <b>Mutual PSK+Xauth </b>under <b>Authentication method</b> (if you method of authentication is IPSec group ID and pre-shared key, select a different one if you are using a certificate, etc..).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_AOX6m4PXG_m5tMVx9ZR-_K9aKeLfLUO6mCrHb0B6mkeoH2nHxcA-tukmq3o5HcX6fTWxlu0UwkXD8QgmxkOMDB-029VjrCqhNK5xrTdCfKBJOwTbLE7FrlJiQUxLLnUzc6Kh2_WIwR4/s1600-h/shrew6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_AOX6m4PXG_m5tMVx9ZR-_K9aKeLfLUO6mCrHb0B6mkeoH2nHxcA-tukmq3o5HcX6fTWxlu0UwkXD8QgmxkOMDB-029VjrCqhNK5xrTdCfKBJOwTbLE7FrlJiQUxLLnUzc6Kh2_WIwR4/s200/shrew6.jpg" /></a></div><ul><li>Navigate to <b>Local Identity</b> sub-tab, select <b>Key Identifier </b>under <b>Identification Type</b> and enter your <b>IPSec group ID</b> in the "<b>Key ID String</b>" field.</li>
<li>Navigate to Remote Identity sub-tab and leave it on Any Identification type.</li>
<li>Navigate to <b>Credentials</b> sub-tab and enter your <b>IPSec Group Password</b> in "<b>Pre Shared Key</b>" field. If you are using a certificate as your authentication method then select your certificate in this tab.</li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqKg37Q-VMU7d21s4ssGNFmvO6WF9XKXJP_Cb1TnpYpTF0T3nGxNjVbzttpKor9eAGj10_vD5BIuVp9nx1ula3G4ZvAVUQxoHwfZUOhWdv6vtF6kASv0wZXiTwVE9aRaoImEKI1MCe38g/s1600-h/connected.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqKg37Q-VMU7d21s4ssGNFmvO6WF9XKXJP_Cb1TnpYpTF0T3nGxNjVbzttpKor9eAGj10_vD5BIuVp9nx1ula3G4ZvAVUQxoHwfZUOhWdv6vtF6kASv0wZXiTwVE9aRaoImEKI1MCe38g/s200/connected.jpg" /></a></div><b>5) </b><b>Phase 1</b> <b>tab</b>, <b>Phase 2</b> <b>tab</b> and <b>Policy tab</b> usually don't need any changes, unless you were given particular settings that you need to enter, like main exchange type if you are using a certificate, encryption algorithms supported by your server, PFS exchange, etc ..<br />
<br />
<b>Click save</b>, and then in the main program windows click connect. You will be asked for your Xauth username and password. Enter them and if your connection is successful, you can check your IP address on <a href="http://www.whatismyipaddress.com/">www.whatismyipaddress.com</a> .<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIGd3tZ5TmCfurg_ejRr_E3D24e4i_3pzsbtTOjPY1opQNTLW3AtQupByrP7mn2NdRFmxUMXhVnDyMxjcPKfH00Lz6ZekEr290TgV3DEzobuf8Ge902CoHv1BJvbRsFVjhP7cmu9QBT90/s1600-h/shrew8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIGd3tZ5TmCfurg_ejRr_E3D24e4i_3pzsbtTOjPY1opQNTLW3AtQupByrP7mn2NdRFmxUMXhVnDyMxjcPKfH00Lz6ZekEr290TgV3DEzobuf8Ge902CoHv1BJvbRsFVjhP7cmu9QBT90/s200/shrew8.jpg" /></a></div>There are also two things that I recommend, go to <b>File>Preferences>Tick Minimize when connection succeeds</b> and <b>Tick remember the connection username</b>. And select <b>Visible in system tray only</b> for both drop-down lists, because it's very annoying to see those two windows in taskbar all the time.<br />
<br />
Main VPN window (aka Access Manager can be closed now , or minimized if you want it to stay in system tray, it allows you to edit VPN connections, but otherwise is not needed to be open).<br />
And I have not found a way to remember Xauth password yet, you'll have to enter it everytime you want to connect to your vpn.<br />
<br />
That's it!<br />
If you need any help or think something in this tutorial is wrong or misleading, leave a comment or contact me via message box on the right =><br />
Sign up for updates from this blog as well!! there will be more interesting <b><span style="color: #a64d79;">STUFF</span></b>!<br />
<br />
<div style="color: #351c75;"><b>Useful Tip: </b></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><b><br />
To run Shrew VPN automatically or from command line (or remember password), create a text file in Notepad and add this line:</b></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><i><b>cd C:\Program Files\ShrewSoft\VPN Client\<br />
start ipsecc.exe -r "configuration name" -u "user name" -p "password" -a</b></i></div><div style="color: #351c75;"><b><br />
</b></div><b style="color: #351c75;">(without quotes), and save this file as 1.bat. Now when you run it, Shrew VPN will pop-up, connect and disappear automatically!! It's magic!!!</b><br />
<a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a>Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com156tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-50858830619431840182009-09-01T12:14:00.002+01:002018-02-15T21:53:57.880+00:00The Story of StuffI recently found this website :<a href="http://www.storyofstuff.com/"><b><span style="font-size: large;"> http://www.storyofstuff.com/ </span></b></a>which is about a study of where the stuff comes from, and where it goes. Please watch it!<br />
<a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a><br />
<div class="whatis" style="color: #999999;"><h2> <i>What is the Story of Stuff?</i></h2></div><div style="color: #999999;"><i>From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. <b>The Story of Stuff</b> is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. <b>The Story of Stuff</b> exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever. *</i></div><div style="color: #999999;"><i><br />
</i></div><div style="color: #999999;"><i>taken from http://www.storyofstuff.com/<br />
</i></div>Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-85720672964133948512009-08-30T16:27:00.200+01:002018-02-15T21:54:07.131+00:00My Favourite Applications list<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtkDNMl-fivio8M6no0l4dCI39k_WJRWLF0VoLzMInv1rr0GI7b0RsxC-bEx2qvvKWHY2FDASfBnZ4MMQTzXQgiFHATeAlrTt2H0GMlaTeDenE5QRO3CUMYzdAfNIdu2dKvCy4IoiA9GY/s1600-h/firefox_icon1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtkDNMl-fivio8M6no0l4dCI39k_WJRWLF0VoLzMInv1rr0GI7b0RsxC-bEx2qvvKWHY2FDASfBnZ4MMQTzXQgiFHATeAlrTt2H0GMlaTeDenE5QRO3CUMYzdAfNIdu2dKvCy4IoiA9GY/s200/firefox_icon1.gif" /></a></div><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/personal.html">Firefox</a></span></b>: this is a web browser, that I think is the most reliable, most customizable and fastest out there. There are numerous Firefox "<a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/">extensions</a>" or "<a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/">add-ons</a>" that give additional functionality to this browser. The <b>extensions</b> I recommend to install are:<br />
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<ul style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865">Adblock Plus</a>: blocks ads, banners, etc on webpages, making them load faster.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/433">Flashblock</a>: disables flash animation on webpages (but still showing flash placeholders, which play flash on click). This again allows web-pages to load faster and more importantly reduces the processor load by all those flash animations.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/201">Downthemall</a>: a built in download accelerator, that creates many connections to the file you are trying to download and effectively increases the speed of your download and reducing the download time. Also allows to save multiple files from a webpage, e.g. download all pdf files or other specified extension files.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/684">Fireftp</a>: allows you to connect to ftp servers with your username and password and upload/delete/manage files or webpages. Alternative ftp programs usually cost money. This one is free and can do almost everything that commercial programs do.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/12878">Fasterfox</a>: a tweak for firefox, that speeds up web page load times.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1368">Colourful tabs</a>: firefox tabs look better, and are easier to navigate.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2109">FEBE</a>: allows you to backup all firefox extensions and data with 1 click, and save it as a single backup file.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1419">IE tab</a>: if you want to see how a webpage look in the internet explorer, it's possible now inside firefox window, just click 1 button and it switches to internet explorer page rendering, also you can set it to remember which pages to view in IE-format.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1455">Tiny menu</a>: allows you to hide the main menu toolbar:"file, edit, view..." , replacing it with one button, which also allows you to drag the address bar in the freed space and therefore increase the firefox web-page space.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4490">WebMail Notifier</a>: adds a small button to the status bar, that can check if you have mail on hotmail, gmail, yahoo, aol... very handy </span></li>
</ul><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT9-SQh35rpTD_G4OZRpu1oSgBGX7iiQVcLBDlouot3wzBpXk5vWkqRKNbugozO-NCbaaFxUyY4SFX1YtAPR9uOzwkmeGjL76IZU-QIduL_2hGsLCtJ2VX6NdbADDwTzKQXAk9HMh54Ic/s1600-h/irfanview1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT9-SQh35rpTD_G4OZRpu1oSgBGX7iiQVcLBDlouot3wzBpXk5vWkqRKNbugozO-NCbaaFxUyY4SFX1YtAPR9uOzwkmeGjL76IZU-QIduL_2hGsLCtJ2VX6NdbADDwTzKQXAk9HMh54Ic/s200/irfanview1.png" /></a></div><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.irfanview.com/">Irfanview</a></span></b>: a free image editor, that has a LOT more features than many free standard picture editors, including batch processing(e.g. resizing/renaming a lot of images etc). It can also open other file formats, like mp3, swf, png, ico, gif.. very very many, especially if you download a set of <a href="http://www.irfanview.com/plugins.htm">plugins</a>. Although, I only use it for pictures, in particular to make icons (ico) files from JPEGs (these are used in application development, programming), or to make pictures with transparent colour, like the ones I use in this page near each program title.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG9A5LZxCm0Dwt_DVkotboE_C3VNNujqp91sKOP592pur3yNvZtbq0w5sf330fgCdplTQnbawXcGVap15xy52iNt9TRzbQzN4ZSR27_nnIfEJ3PfBHynENJPjUqwgU8mUosU3JhfVb5vI/s1600-h/imgburn.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG9A5LZxCm0Dwt_DVkotboE_C3VNNujqp91sKOP592pur3yNvZtbq0w5sf330fgCdplTQnbawXcGVap15xy52iNt9TRzbQzN4ZSR27_nnIfEJ3PfBHynENJPjUqwgU8mUosU3JhfVb5vI/s320/imgburn.png" /></a></div><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.imgburn.com/">Imgburn</a>:</span></b> this free application is the best for burning CDs, DVDs, saving images of disks (ISO) etc.. Very easy to use, and has a lot of features that commercials burning solutions have. Whatever CD\DVD program you use, remember<span style="font-size: small;"><b> NEVER use windows built-in dvd burning</b></span>. I learnt this the hard way: after many disks became unusable when the burning process suddenly interrupts, or even worse, if you burn a disk successfully, and think that your data is backed-up, but in fact, the disk becomes unreadable later. So, better download Imgburn and use it, I've never had any problems with it.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERCflJQTV7wC9MYm_yQb_NVwWYqXSqr4fmHoRNXE7tD6Gp2uU74w7nFKqi8KahS_duD6pDn3JZmLC0ZqNbVGcrFOVhGlq_cYTcTKemBJZspaVzm7ZP5r-oFvEEsyJOgZpgEfEOTKt4o4/s1600-h/comodo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgERCflJQTV7wC9MYm_yQb_NVwWYqXSqr4fmHoRNXE7tD6Gp2uU74w7nFKqi8KahS_duD6pDn3JZmLC0ZqNbVGcrFOVhGlq_cYTcTKemBJZspaVzm7ZP5r-oFvEEsyJOgZpgEfEOTKt4o4/s320/comodo.png" /></a></div><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/">Comodo firewall</a>:</span></b> a free firewall, that is not eating a lot of resources, but is VERY effective. I've been using it for a long long time now. Although now you need to download it as a package with an antivirus, with an option to <b>install ONLY firewall</b>. I haven't tired that antivirus, as I already have another one (which I'll describe later). I also recommend when installing it, not install anything else other than the firewall: don't sign up your email, don't install defense&security (bloatware), don't install browser toolbar etc.. just install the firewall, and it's very very good! (set it to "training mode" for the first 2-3 days, and then set to "custom security mode", and don't allow any suspicious applications to connect to the internet).<br />
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<a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIn4dXbdtC81iy2cd1skSwSaLIFKJVvdFGTJGMlMEgVqqsrpBARhGt4rg2Jq7BnAD2mzInrZYud0FxcnJYgOUIZ8lQPQu8mm4ay05YwuuoKuLap6FZPzckAP5Z7Kx6yfJTREK1vsNzu2I/s1600-h/sophos.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIn4dXbdtC81iy2cd1skSwSaLIFKJVvdFGTJGMlMEgVqqsrpBARhGt4rg2Jq7BnAD2mzInrZYud0FxcnJYgOUIZ8lQPQu8mm4ay05YwuuoKuLap6FZPzckAP5Z7Kx6yfJTREK1vsNzu2I/s200/sophos.png" /></a></div><a href="http://www.uk.sophos.com/products/"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Sophos Antivirus:</b></span></a> this antivirus is usually given to students by their high schools/colleges/universities and by some companies to their employees. I am lucky enough to get this software free from my university, which detects viruses, spyware, trojans... etc. With the firewall above, this gives protection against all major threats online. So, contact your employer/check your college, university website to see if they provide this software for you. Alternatively use AVG security, which is also free (see below).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs6zzIrNJWH9C7gpsBhdVwHOlusiluU2B0ol0gpH1cAjduko0UbUbXgWInEJ9Dnc64z11ZBGx2uqEI4QD1zcxTommvYXy0Mz6dF0P4Fp9qdpuuYTL6yoEXMrWgclNmdRlu_uEI9n6U_0g/s1600-h/avg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs6zzIrNJWH9C7gpsBhdVwHOlusiluU2B0ol0gpH1cAjduko0UbUbXgWInEJ9Dnc64z11ZBGx2uqEI4QD1zcxTommvYXy0Mz6dF0P4Fp9qdpuuYTL6yoEXMrWgclNmdRlu_uEI9n6U_0g/s320/avg.png" /></a></div><a href="http://free.avg.com/download?prd=afe"><b><span style="font-size: large;">AVG anti-virus:</span></b></a> I think this is the best free antivirus+antispyware available at the moment. It doesn't use a lot resources and still detect most threats.<br />
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; float: left; text-align: center;"><a href="http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/click?lid=41000000028794988"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/banner?lid=41000000028794988" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red;"> <a href="http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/click?lid=41000000028794988">Zone Alarm firewall and security</a></span></b></span>: this is also a very good free firewall, that does not use a lot of system resources. I also used the total security suite (including antivirus and antispyware) and it's also very good, but is not free. Check the link for more information.<br />
<div style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span> </div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZ8aAZRXvpb7skTjKBfl0GO56YxqF2Q6jOpXGJeXGyxARzEUVRuOE2K1YeZDeaSPXMiD7Rab7K05Trpm6Alk-kTdYXZIMGNm2o4lsnqyJZxwAzrTusdavKGNoRq1MtpSuUVI6IYXZ_eg/s1600-h/manycam.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqZ8aAZRXvpb7skTjKBfl0GO56YxqF2Q6jOpXGJeXGyxARzEUVRuOE2K1YeZDeaSPXMiD7Rab7K05Trpm6Alk-kTdYXZIMGNm2o4lsnqyJZxwAzrTusdavKGNoRq1MtpSuUVI6IYXZ_eg/s320/manycam.gif" /></a></div><a href="http://www.manycam.com/"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Manycam</span></b></a>: a free webcam enhancing program, that automatically detects your webcamera and allows you to add different cool effects, like snow or animated background or face accessories etc. You can also stream video/pictures instead of your camera video.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6mHHdgSrk5zqJeq6aPGW7m32fmcniKcMRfnXG1YMVrKoB5O0LRB1EfQAI4Ucclq7EFQiegthMaCjPOBMJsAwCIhyphenhyphennZC5_flIjVvod_pHs820lklX9qisIgtE9UpXUK8tKs2lNlON8XM/s1600-h/truecrypt.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6mHHdgSrk5zqJeq6aPGW7m32fmcniKcMRfnXG1YMVrKoB5O0LRB1EfQAI4Ucclq7EFQiegthMaCjPOBMJsAwCIhyphenhyphennZC5_flIjVvod_pHs820lklX9qisIgtE9UpXUK8tKs2lNlON8XM/s320/truecrypt.png" /></a></div><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.truecrypt.org/">Truecrypt</a>: </span></b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">this is the best free encryption program. If you have an external hard drive, or even a USB stick, it's a must-have. It very easy to use: 1) start a wizard and create a new encrypted volume (on your hard drive, this will look just like a big file with your chosen file name). 2) select your password (preferable a very long one). 3) Open truecrypt and click: Mount a volume>select your file>enter your password. And a new drive will appear in "My Computer", you can save everything there, then open truecrypt again and click dismount (the hard-drive in "my computer" disappears now). No-one would be able to see your files, unless they know your password.</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOEVLEiAuiEDz3AXT2yDmVfJyGzMxlw9Y8asF7V-LVs3zvZvfSV5Glyq8Hr4hLZeGeOqlSNSFJKmpBe1nSQgz7hBW2NF3eUpuHZ1C-xXzeFzsda6jFM_27W7lyK9Akfqf-4RqqV_nb_SI/s1600-h/VLC.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOEVLEiAuiEDz3AXT2yDmVfJyGzMxlw9Y8asF7V-LVs3zvZvfSV5Glyq8Hr4hLZeGeOqlSNSFJKmpBe1nSQgz7hBW2NF3eUpuHZ1C-xXzeFzsda6jFM_27W7lyK9Akfqf-4RqqV_nb_SI/s320/VLC.png" /></a></div><a href="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Videolan media player: </b></span></a>this free media player plays almost every video format without the need to install any codecs etc.. It can also repair some videos and play videos that are still being downloaded. It is also an excellent DVD player, because it allows to change different video settings: brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness etc.. As well as the number of audio channels to output : mono, stereo, 4.1, 5.1 etc.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhld5sIKxtKHx2WAc8o62Xqux37vqlEaHiY7VzPP_G-hfNwn1QjAeQslC3tbTJ4xIeMbopLcQVJoqzLFmQoGLwNOfZq5ji5RWbxBpQimoGPPQgEPAmSl9mxjIeScwvsl6MtE6k1pnUaaxU/s1600-h/winrar.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhld5sIKxtKHx2WAc8o62Xqux37vqlEaHiY7VzPP_G-hfNwn1QjAeQslC3tbTJ4xIeMbopLcQVJoqzLFmQoGLwNOfZq5ji5RWbxBpQimoGPPQgEPAmSl9mxjIeScwvsl6MtE6k1pnUaaxU/s320/winrar.png" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm">WinRAR archiver</a>: </b></span>this a very good archiver, supports most archive formats, and can repair some of them, as well as split big files into small archive files, or compress multiple files into a single archive and protect it with a password. After 30 days a message starts to appear asking to buy winrar, but it can be closed, so no problem there.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4MhR9MBWfSnlNuSueTfFYVzq1bP7BNHTPOy1R-w2rvp-zDPRPhmv1_wRYNAprCM5c7ZIbqHpFUA8smwCfUYs3ihlPk0kcr1xHtS6dQsPW3LB5xRmn4qKVFYpHmqgIZobRe5KRbacMo2U/s1600-h/fdm.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4MhR9MBWfSnlNuSueTfFYVzq1bP7BNHTPOy1R-w2rvp-zDPRPhmv1_wRYNAprCM5c7ZIbqHpFUA8smwCfUYs3ihlPk0kcr1xHtS6dQsPW3LB5xRmn4qKVFYpHmqgIZobRe5KRbacMo2U/s320/fdm.png" /></a></div><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/">Free Download Manager</a>: </span></b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">free download manager, ftp explorer, that support torrent protocol and can download multiple files on a page with one click. </span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWXkJmIVI3MEAVqGbgR06zbWWGGFSQFUMYNQYAbJlzHWO614B3qrDsE5O3j7DA2QELTZG7OqdEBBp11RVXrdM9x35MPe9mRjQ4OtZJuT1aKAix4iSZBK5wE_BielSKvkURkX1iATdtIx8/s1600-h/daemon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWXkJmIVI3MEAVqGbgR06zbWWGGFSQFUMYNQYAbJlzHWO614B3qrDsE5O3j7DA2QELTZG7OqdEBBp11RVXrdM9x35MPe9mRjQ4OtZJuT1aKAix4iSZBK5wE_BielSKvkURkX1iATdtIx8/s320/daemon.png" /></a></div><a href="http://www.daemon-tools.cc/eng/downloads"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Daemon Tools</b></span>: </a>free CD/DVD emulator, that allows you to emulate ISO images (and other formats), so you don't have to burn it to CDs or DVDs. Download the light version, and restrict its access to the internet, because it'll be asking you to register or something otherwise.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAduoSzqcIWQ5NzzfRrrMwFOQWFl8jHT44r2hT-xA7kL0kFIOYddD_XihxR1kb1Rl_916Gknm8AVkSUhwSLWRWD2Awl4OYeiG57KTPTwz9Xy46RpKLBUQsjkkbOPdC-wkY0Ct1aQFU8lQ/s1600-h/skype.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAduoSzqcIWQ5NzzfRrrMwFOQWFl8jHT44r2hT-xA7kL0kFIOYddD_XihxR1kb1Rl_916Gknm8AVkSUhwSLWRWD2Awl4OYeiG57KTPTwz9Xy46RpKLBUQsjkkbOPdC-wkY0Ct1aQFU8lQ/s320/skype.png" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.skype.com/">Skype</a>:</b></span> free video/audio calls/chat. Now supports High Definition webcams!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVeUPQE_zVNxWTsMgl11SejWZ5GDTZ2cbLkcwaPhillldAub_Rrhxkmh91AJO7G_syUZriv5XwGO0qfVZxMKzekjF22ZodOj957hjMacmkZ97PSj6CpwgtJrhAHmEtEkLUlr1NF6Y45hY/s1600-h/devc.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVeUPQE_zVNxWTsMgl11SejWZ5GDTZ2cbLkcwaPhillldAub_Rrhxkmh91AJO7G_syUZriv5XwGO0qfVZxMKzekjF22ZodOj957hjMacmkZ97PSj6CpwgtJrhAHmEtEkLUlr1NF6Y45hY/s320/devc.png" /></a></div><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html">Bloodshed Dev-C++</a></span></b>: a good C++ development environment (if you want to write programs yourself, but previous experience would be very very important, because writing programs can be very time consuming). Go for the beta one, it's better. Also works on windows 7 and 64 bit systems.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE9NEDE8OY8zper97BO7HlOC3zY23ntbMSWgxnatgfyrvmLyLVL4LOUHl0EG1KWhBnGd1qxfuiQSosC2jl3aBJtBndAwIEDZ7NMTHVgQxV5YKnTutSghAdoXwwm_PT692QgNFeuJ4CC6M/s1600-h/meebo.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE9NEDE8OY8zper97BO7HlOC3zY23ntbMSWgxnatgfyrvmLyLVL4LOUHl0EG1KWhBnGd1qxfuiQSosC2jl3aBJtBndAwIEDZ7NMTHVgQxV5YKnTutSghAdoXwwm_PT692QgNFeuJ4CC6M/s320/meebo.gif" /></a></div> <a href="http://www.meebo.com/"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Meebo:</span></b></a> this is actually a webpage, but I decided to include it because it's my favourite. This website allows you to log on all of your msn, yahoo, icq, google talk ...... accounts at the same time! You need to register, log in and add your IM accounts, after that, when you log on meebo, you log on all of your IM accounts. Meebo also has video/audio chat, games, smiles, file transfer etc...<br />
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<b style="color: purple;">Commercial software I use (students!! you can get these very cheap! at <a href="http://www.software4students.co.uk/">www.software4students.co.uk</a> , <a href="http://www.theultimatesteal.com/">www.theultimatesteal.com</a> , <a href="http://www.adobe.com/">www.adobe.com</a> (<a href="https://store1.adobe.com/cfusion/store/html/index.cfm?store=OLS-EDU&event=displayCatalog&catalogOID=2386539&fpr=true">80% discount</a>) or look at numerous other websites for students) :</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw9DnQUvtN_bwaTZUVJeT9koyu26idpNEyRsmAn8tatpGHLBVpHBHmdm0iZTv8QkbuadqJRottcVibjwhJCTaM25lOjIQZXSIk4R1nLqGLOx2o3wn4fbTaUaoU-RzzTnr5UDWDKaZpnmU/s1600-h/microsoft_office.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw9DnQUvtN_bwaTZUVJeT9koyu26idpNEyRsmAn8tatpGHLBVpHBHmdm0iZTv8QkbuadqJRottcVibjwhJCTaM25lOjIQZXSIk4R1nLqGLOx2o3wn4fbTaUaoU-RzzTnr5UDWDKaZpnmU/s320/microsoft_office.gif" /></a></div><a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Microsoft Office</b></span></a>: a must have for anyone who wishes to create professional documents. I'm sure most of you already know this application. (btw, Microsoft Office 2010 is coming out soon, so maybe it's worth waiting to see what it will be like, or at least ask if you qualify for a free upgrade if you buy office 2007 now, although MS office 2007 is very very good I think)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNsSpdO2WOmbqSX3TuoEfrKl-9e5Ev_eQw6pg0YcqNycdaW9Q8fOUqlaVMt5A1tK8T36_TVQlxjcX0YhyphenhyphenbANVkpZKVVsG2W0IO5l7ikHxFXpUpOyPpc4NwfsoDDrMGLUksGk34tE47lqQ/s1600-h/Adobe.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNsSpdO2WOmbqSX3TuoEfrKl-9e5Ev_eQw6pg0YcqNycdaW9Q8fOUqlaVMt5A1tK8T36_TVQlxjcX0YhyphenhyphenbANVkpZKVVsG2W0IO5l7ikHxFXpUpOyPpc4NwfsoDDrMGLUksGk34tE47lqQ/s320/Adobe.png" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/">Adobe Photoshop and other Adobe products</a></b></span>: this software suite is orientated for professionals in photography, design, webpages, animation, video processing etc.. And it is very expensive (although students can get it with huge discounts). Read the info on <a href="http://www.adobe.com/">adobe website</a>, as there are too many products to describe here.<br />
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And of course if you have any other programs you like, add them in comments, or contact me via meebo gadget on the right <span style="font-size: x-small;">(you may need to scroll up or down to see it)</span> if your think I made a mistake somewhere or even if you need help with these applications, I've used them for a long time now. <br />
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Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-53972275788408726892009-08-26T21:28:00.098+01:002018-02-15T21:54:17.188+00:00Digital compact and D-SLR camera guide.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMWEg_fJCZ0JGvNMUMy_rPJFhSh_vFsrs5CQnyvr17WWL-krbtYzmZ-C5a9OTERjswRsVZBJnuYQEBXieUFpPxbScgXsDdAeRp5xKPgNl2XzKI-EqguAST5iCMIgBUXhqJ__zXnoIwltI/s1600-h/cam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMWEg_fJCZ0JGvNMUMy_rPJFhSh_vFsrs5CQnyvr17WWL-krbtYzmZ-C5a9OTERjswRsVZBJnuYQEBXieUFpPxbScgXsDdAeRp5xKPgNl2XzKI-EqguAST5iCMIgBUXhqJ__zXnoIwltI/s320/cam.jpg" /></a></div>Almost everyone likes photography, but I think every second, there is a person in the world, who gets disappointed with the pictures they took :( The most obvious problem sometimes is the equipment they use. But nowadays, the technology is getting more and more advanced, and cheaper, so more people can afford professional or semi-professional equipment, which can give better results when taking pictures and even getting creative with them. I did an AS-level in photography, which I really liked and I decided to purchase an entry-level D-SLR (Canon 400D) camera, which stands for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_single-lens_reflex_camera">Digital Single-lens reflex camera</a>. The main advantage of these over portable cameras is the quality of the pictures they take due to a larger sensor, and they also allow continuous shooting (usually at least 3 frames per second). After doing that course, I worked at Jessops (UK photo-developer and camera retailer), and Currys (UK electrical shop), and I've seen and tried many other cameras. I actually wanted to write a review for my Canon 400D, with a short introduction to Digital cameras, but I it turned out to be not so short :) So I decided to make it a separate article.<br />
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First of all, after seeing many digital cameras I divide them into <b>5 groups</b>:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxkIPzFpziS4vmgZFR8Fq06Ha9vtagk8EvZynxZBlyPhs3clGZsDgY7sgSI2m8KOE3fX2GTOqZ98Sg1zdiTICyilQGHVkfT8kvIBD4uM9GFJ61lW2S3hJ4P2C-ttg4GLKh2TYXB3CLF2c/s1600-h/full-frame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxkIPzFpziS4vmgZFR8Fq06Ha9vtagk8EvZynxZBlyPhs3clGZsDgY7sgSI2m8KOE3fX2GTOqZ98Sg1zdiTICyilQGHVkfT8kvIBD4uM9GFJ61lW2S3hJ4P2C-ttg4GLKh2TYXB3CLF2c/s200/full-frame.jpg" /></a></div><b><span style="font-size: large;"> •</span> <span style="font-size: large;">Full-frame DSLR cameras</span></b>: if you remember now-not-so-popular film cameras and the actual film they use, it has 27 or 36 <b>negatives</b>, and full-frame cameras have <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_sensor">sensors</a> about the same size as those negatives (also called 35 mm cameras). These cameras are the most expensive, the heaviest, professional-orientated, high-tech, wide-angle, highest image quality cameras. I would say only professional photographers would go for that type of camera. Also, the lenses for them are extremely expensive. Why? Look at the picture below:<br />
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<ul></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqR_SIuX6UXOklNSgiv5hwX_9pZR__f7OXKlwolHQz21V2VXJWgwDXbDZAru-ufZ4QACV8ghlOQC3q50b5wsOJzItsmJoItbySE8qzRx-A0Qo9v98tY7RHRaAMq-X8dYCcjvmcIhbUq5U/s1600-h/dslr1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqR_SIuX6UXOklNSgiv5hwX_9pZR__f7OXKlwolHQz21V2VXJWgwDXbDZAru-ufZ4QACV8ghlOQC3q50b5wsOJzItsmJoItbySE8qzRx-A0Qo9v98tY7RHRaAMq-X8dYCcjvmcIhbUq5U/s400/dslr1.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Bigger sensors mean bigger area of light is needed after it goes through the lens, this has many consequences: the lens has to be bigger to let more light in/bigger aperture (to achieve the same magnification), more glass is needed to make it, it's a lot heavier and therefore expensive. Although APS-lenses (see below) will also work on full-frame cameras, their specifications will be very very different.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Another price consideration would be memory card capacities, because these cameras produce 20+<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megapixel#Megapixel">Megapixel </a>resolution, which would take a lot of space (especially in a very popular with professional photographers RAW format, which allows almost every setting of the camera to be corrected later on a computer). This surely can produce printed images to cover a small house, but most people probably wouldn't want that. A couple of examples of these cameras are: <a href="http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_SLR/EOS-1Ds_Mark_III/index.asp">Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III</a>, <a href="http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_SLR/EOS_5D/index.asp">Canon EOS 5D Mark II</a>, <a href="http://www.europe-nikon.com/product/en_GB/products/broad/1726/overview.html">Nikon D3x</a>, <a href="http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/dslr/block/2/subblock/2">Sony Alpha 900</a> (prices range from £2000-£5000, + lenses~ £1000, +accessories).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjzlD5N1Ca8D0C0T7ympK3KfL03wFU1QhR6e8qQZrkpLS2_Y2FtesFO6S06mM3Rb1HcP33rVh-v3bhlzM7uHYQAuM8cQjWwl-wEGqIhanZthf_HrR_Dm-ycXp_igfpSZ2k7Ez7tSH07qo/s1600-h/aps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjzlD5N1Ca8D0C0T7ympK3KfL03wFU1QhR6e8qQZrkpLS2_Y2FtesFO6S06mM3Rb1HcP33rVh-v3bhlzM7uHYQAuM8cQjWwl-wEGqIhanZthf_HrR_Dm-ycXp_igfpSZ2k7Ez7tSH07qo/s200/aps.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>•</b></span> <b><span style="font-size: large;">APS-type D-SLR cameras</span>:</b> these cameras have sensors about <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Sensor_sizes_overlaid_inside.svg">half in size</a> compared to the full-frame ones, this reduces the quality of the images, but it also cuts the price by A LOT on both the camera, it's lenses and memory cards. Personally I think the quality they give is excellent for most things one would ever need. 10Megapixels or higher resolution allows to print A2 size photos or larger. The lenses also give higher magnification, for example 300mm lens gives about 12 times magnification, but if put on a full-frame camera, this lens will give 185mm (also called <a href="http://www.panoramafactory.com/equiv35/equiv35.html">35mm equivalent focal length</a>), resulting in about 8 times magnification. These cameras have most manual settings that full-frame cameras have, which is ideal to get creative with your pictures ( I will also publish a few photography tutorials about different creative techniques). Most popular APS DSLRs are: <a href="http://www.canon.co.uk/for_home/product_finder/cameras/digital_slr/EOS_400D/index.asp">Canon 400D</a>, <a href="http://www.canon.co.uk/for_home/product_finder/cameras/Digital_SLR/index.asp">Canon 1000D, Canon 500D, Canon 40D</a>.., <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_%CE%B1">Sony Alpha 300, Alpha 350, Alpha 700</a>.., <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_D40">Nikon D40</a>, D40X, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_D60">D60</a>, D60X (these 4 models use AF-S lenses, which basically means that the lenses don't have a motor inside them, instead it is in the camera body, which makes the lenses cheaper, but there's a limited range of them as far as I know), <a href="http://www.europe-nikon.com/product/en_GB/products/broad/1821/specifications.html">Nikon D3000</a>... Pentax K10, K20..<br />
<div style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Note: different manufacturers have different lens mounts and lens designs, so you can't interchange lenses between e.g. Nikon and Canon DSLRs.</span></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi80v-UUY-MKFSaMuRKMszyxC7LasqmcbGPnE8eYd9sHAKw7BA9zxh4BFuaTl32pt_OrT-qoqYqenOzV-bAE4zaz-_gVChXV7dFw1c-wMxurg88pDBjw2Pje55-7W05YM7iRU_wMCM6ZxY/s1600-h/MicroFourThirdsDiag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi80v-UUY-MKFSaMuRKMszyxC7LasqmcbGPnE8eYd9sHAKw7BA9zxh4BFuaTl32pt_OrT-qoqYqenOzV-bAE4zaz-_gVChXV7dFw1c-wMxurg88pDBjw2Pje55-7W05YM7iRU_wMCM6ZxY/s320/MicroFourThirdsDiag.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><b> • "Four Thirds" cameras :</b></span><b> </b>this is a relatively new <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Thirds_system">technology</a> developed by Olympus, Kodak and Panasonic ("Micro four thirds"), that uses a <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Sensor_sizes_overlaid_inside.svg">30 to 40% smaller</a> sensor than APS DSLRs, reducing the image quality a bit, but this technology was developed specifically for digital cameras, so it has a couple of advantages, which many people would like. I quite like some of these, but only because they are very small, and still produce a LOT higher image quality than compact cameras, have many manual settings and allow interchangeable lenses. Some examples of these are:<a href="http://www.olympus.co.uk/consumer/dslr_6749.htm"> Olympus E-420, Olympus E-520, Olympus E-30, Olympus E-3</a>(look very similar to APS cameras, and are considered the world's lightest DSLR).<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf8qckRY9vamzsFzuYr7_hDTqP7UthJmnv_OpStjAgFzq47wH-6VcgUL6BqWaXKoIsUxWYuIa-sFGjYBHjRVF3eaH0ogEma1cl0UgdotlY4iVVPiu3j1VJxmV1X53NztBF2bnsvN6zasI/s1600-h/micro-four-thirds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf8qckRY9vamzsFzuYr7_hDTqP7UthJmnv_OpStjAgFzq47wH-6VcgUL6BqWaXKoIsUxWYuIa-sFGjYBHjRVF3eaH0ogEma1cl0UgdotlY4iVVPiu3j1VJxmV1X53NztBF2bnsvN6zasI/s200/micro-four-thirds.jpg" /></a></div> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Four_Thirds_system">Micro four thirds</a> cameras are slightly different because they don't have a mirror inside and a pentaprism. And the latest E-P1 from Olympus, that looks very very nice indeed, you can read its review <a href="http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2009/07/25/Olympus-Pen-E-P1/p1">here</a>. Other manufacturers have also released micro 4/3 cameras like: <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicdmcg1/">Panasonic LUMIX G1</a>. High zoom lenses are not usually available due to the large sensor size. And when you see these, they look like compacts cameras, but the price tag is A LOT bigger.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0bVI_jF-oGaK6sbzxIQVr7J3yTgaUU0yxiQrMjxrr24PH0VoRy98ryXVLMt69inTG1mKIEwcXHyFe-I-tMGyTdtJz-2B9vGVEhGl6SH7z8jMdFsph1POCH4UkqCyJ9XpduQ7O_HiJHGI/s1600-h/bridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0bVI_jF-oGaK6sbzxIQVr7J3yTgaUU0yxiQrMjxrr24PH0VoRy98ryXVLMt69inTG1mKIEwcXHyFe-I-tMGyTdtJz-2B9vGVEhGl6SH7z8jMdFsph1POCH4UkqCyJ9XpduQ7O_HiJHGI/s200/bridge.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><b> • </b></span><b><span style="font-size: large;">Bridge Cameras or high-end compacts (fixed lens)</span>: </b>these are usually light cameras with higher than normal specifications or new technologies that make them quite unique in their kind. I think it's best if I just give you a few examples of these:<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> - <a href="http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Nikon-Coolpix-P80-8739">Nikon P80</a>, <a href="http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2009/04/30/Nikon-Coolpix-P90/p1">P90</a>, <a href="http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2008/04/22/Fujifilm-FinePix-S1000fd/p1">Fujifilm S1000fd</a>, <a href="http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/FujifilmS100fs/">Fujifilm S100FS</a>, <a href="http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2007/08/21/Panasonic-Lumix-DMC-FZ18/p1">Panasonic FZ18</a>, FZ28, FZ38 : these 7 are typical examples of Bridge cameras, they are quite bulky, but still very light compared to DSLR cameras, they have a fixed lens that can be quite big at highest zoom, but they give amazing magnification, usually 10x, 18x or 24x, this is A LOT more than even high zoom DSLR lenses can give. Although the sensor on these bridge cameras in usually the same as on small compacts, so the image quality is not very good (compared to DSLRs).<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> - <a href="http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Finder/Cameras/Digital_Camera/powershot/index.asp">Canon Powershot G9, G10, G11</a>: these have quite a large sensor (1/1.7") in a quite small camera body, with optical image stabilisation and most manual settings.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> - <a href="http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/410842/module/general/compare/productsCategory.html">Panasonic Lumix TZ3, TZ4, TZ5, TZ6, TZ7</a>: good quality compact cameras with 10-12x optical zoom and high quality LEICA lenses.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> - <a href="http://www.europe-nikon.com/product/en_GB/products/broad/1635/overview.html">Nikon Coolpix P6000</a>: this one has a GPS (satnav) built-in :D Maybe someone would want that.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> - <a href="http://www.olympus.co.uk/consumer/mju_tough_special_site.htm#/mju-tough">Olympus Mju 6010, 8000</a>: waterproof, shockproof and freeze-proof cameras. Bear in mind: they are not designed to be thrown around, but they might be fine if you accidentally drop them from 1-2 meters height. Also, they are usually 2-10 meter waterproof, if you want to dive deeper, you can buy special underwater housing (about 150-300 pounds for a compact camera housing).</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuPStPuXYM1p4KzhbV9FPyoaTM8_mM432LJKkFIJC7q93Si75t3GjJBS-HOiGbuaOp0eXjWIrTHEMVp9xRO-UsnCyPOtM3DkNuQaVcJXGXQPiDgo-siQDK5H1L69cKyut1kHuY99Z4s6w/s1600-h/compact.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuPStPuXYM1p4KzhbV9FPyoaTM8_mM432LJKkFIJC7q93Si75t3GjJBS-HOiGbuaOp0eXjWIrTHEMVp9xRO-UsnCyPOtM3DkNuQaVcJXGXQPiDgo-siQDK5H1L69cKyut1kHuY99Z4s6w/s200/compact.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><b> • </b><b>Compact cameras or point-and-shoot cameras:</b></span> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-and-shoot_camera">these </a>are the smallest, lightest, cheapest, usually fully automatic portable cameras, which are easy to use. Most of them nowadays don't have a viewfinder. They are good for everyday photography, giving lowest image quality compared to other digital cameras due to the small sensor size (about 14 times smaller than APS sensor). I'm sure you've seen many of these in any camera shot, and probably already own one :) Very good for parties as well, if you break it, it's not a big deal and the images are good for facebook and other social networks.<br />
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<i>T</i><i>here are many many different specifications for different cameras, which many be confusing for some people, or very familiar to others due to loads of adverts promoting them, but sometimes it's not clear which ones are important, and which ones are not. I decided to write a table and short explanations why I think they are importance or not (some people may have different opinion, which you are welcome to share in comments).</i><br />
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<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: medium none; width: 610px;"><tbody>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(118, 146, 60) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Specification<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(118, 146, 60) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: solid solid solid none; border-width: 1pt 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: black;">Important or not?<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(118, 146, 60) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color; border-style: solid solid solid none; border-width: 1pt 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Explanation<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Resolution<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Not very<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">If the resolution is above 10M, it’s enough to print A2 size pictures (the size of four A4 sheets together) in high quality. Bigger resolution is useful if you want to crop it later (you never know) and still be able to print large-size photos.<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Optical zoom<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Very important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">This determines the magnification you can achieve without losing any quality. But optical zoom is actually a vague term, because if your camera has a wide angle lens, and the advertisement say 5x optical zoom, this actually means that if you start from wide angle, you can magnify it 5 times. One would expect to see 5 times magnification starting from no-zoom, so check this as well (or rely on lens properties in mm).<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Focal length (DSLR jargon)<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Very important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="color: black;">This basically determines the zooming properties of the lens:<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 17.85pt; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;"></span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Wide angle (10mm-24mm)</span></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> in APS equivalent, or 16-38mm for 35mm (full-frame) equivalent cameras)<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 17.85pt; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;"></span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 7pt;"> </span><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Standard zoom (25-105mm APS)</span></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">, doesn’t give a lot of magnification or wideness. <u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 17.85pt; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt;"></span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 7pt;"> </span><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Telephoto zoom (105-500mm APS), <span style="font-weight: normal;">gives</span></span></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> you good magnification. 300mm is about 12x optical zoom.<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Sensitivity of the sensor (ISO range)<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Quite important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">ISO is another quite technical specification that tells you how sensitive your sensor is in low light. On my DSLR the range is 100-1600, which is quite standard I think. You probably don’t need more than that (the higher the number, the more sensitive it is to light, BUT on high ISO you start to get <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_noise">NOISE</a>) <u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Rechargeable lithium batter<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Very important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">You definitely want a rechargeable lithium battery in your camera. And maybe should consider buying a spare one (they are cheap on ebay)<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">LCD Screen size<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Not important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">This takes most of the batter power, the bigger the screen, the lower the battery life. And if you have an optical viewfinder, you’ll only need it to review your pictures. Unless your vision is not great and you can’t see anything on a small screen.</span><u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Optical viewfinder<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">This can save a lot of battery power, and allows you to take better pictures in bright sunlight, when you can’t see the LCD screen. Most DSLR cameras use this as the only way to see your picture before you take it. Compact cameras use “live preview”, meaning that the <b>LCD screen</b> shows your picture before you take it.<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Weight<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Extremely important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">If you are a newbie in digital camera world, let me just give you some examples of the weight of some professional cameras (<b>without the lens</b>): Canon 1Ds :1.3kg , Canon 5D: 0.8kg, Canon 400D, 450D, 500D : about 0.5kg, Nikon D3x: 1.2kg, Nikon D300: 820g etc. And some lenses: Canon EF 28-300 f/3.5-5.6L IS USM: <b>1.7kg</b>, <a href="http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/74266/Show.html?cm_mmc=GoogleBase-_-Lenses-_-all-_-all&ovc=">Sigma 200-500mm f2.8 APO EX DG: 15.7kg</a> !!!!(and costing 24 thousand pounds)</span><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<u1:p></u1:p>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Size<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Quite important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">The size is usually related to weight, although for example bridge cameras are quite light, but still quite bulky, because they were designed for extremely high zoom.<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Continuous Shooting (FPS or frames per second)<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Very important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">I think every photograph uses this feature quite a lot, whether it’s sports or wildlife or something moving fast, sometimes you want to take a few pictures of this brief moment.<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Video recording<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Not important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">Most DSLRs don’t record video, although many portable cameras do, but it’s usually low quality, not good for anything, except social networks. I’d recommend getting a camcorder with high definition format (even cheap 720p <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=sanyo%20xacti%20hd2&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=if">Sanyo Xacti HD2</a> is excellent)<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">RAW format support<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Can be important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">RAW format is the raw information received from the sensor, without any compression. It occupies about 6 times more space on your memory card than JPEGs, but allows almost any setting to be edited with special software (e.g. Photoshop) on your computer later. For example, if you overexpose an image, and save it as a JPEG, and later just change the brightness, overexposed areas will just look like white blobs, but If saved in RAW format, you can get back all the detail in overexposed area. (and loads of other tweaks)<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Leica</span></b><b><span style="color: black;">/Carl Zeiss lens (portable cameras)<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">These two makes are very well known for their quality lenses, which improve the picture quality quite a bit, making the pictures sharper and the colours are more saturated. Read more<b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatic_aberration"> here.</a> </b>Of course other manufacturers also produce high quality lenses, you need to look on the internet and read reviews about different models of cameras before buying it.<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Sensor cleaning system (DSLR)<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Very important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">It’s inevitable that dust and small particles go into the camera body when you change lenses, and in older days cameras had to be cleaned by professionals, but nowadays with built-in sensor cleaning system, a camera can last for years without any cleaning<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Noise (sound)<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Not very important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">DSLR cameras produce a characteristic noise when taking pictures, because the mirror moves inside the camera, also when the lens autofocuses the motor produces a lot of noise, which can be an issue for some people, or if you want to creep up on a bird or something. Go to a shop and test a particular camera or lens (or read reviews) if you want to make sure it suits your needs.<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Digital zoom<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Absolutely not important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">This is basically cropping your picture inside your camera, you can do it on any computer.<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Design<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">Some people may want a cool-looking camera, and other want a camera that feels good in their big hands, you just need to go to a shop and try it (don’t listen to the friendly salesman though, and don't buy 1st camera you see, a shop across the street may have it at a lower price for example )<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color: black;">Image stabilization<u1:p></u1:p></span></b><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;">Very important<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(242, 239, 246) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black;">Almost in every situation, where you don’t use a tripod, image stabilization will be useful, because your hands always shake a little bit, even if you don’t notice it. For low magnification, this is not hugely important, but if you go over 5x zoom, every small camera movement adds A LOT of blur, it’s even worse on 10x+ magnification. In some DSLRs the image stabilizer is built in the lens (Canon), so you have to look for specific “IS” lenses (“OS” on sigma), and some like Olympus have the image stabilizer in the camera body, this is worth checking before you buy your camera. Because for example there is no way to get image stabilization on Olympus E-410 (it’s not built in the body, and Olympus doesn’t produce ”IS” lenses)<u1:p></u1:p>. Bear in mind, some cameras offer “<b>digital image stabilization</b>” (or other names), which is nothing </span><span style="color: black;"> :( the camera just digitally sharpens your image, but does not stabilize the actual camera shake (so it's ot important, and usually found on cheap cameras, that seem to have everything: stabilisation, digital zoom etc, which is just digital manipulation available on any computer).</span><o:p></o:p></div></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; color: black; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Memory card format<o:p></o:p></b></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; color: black; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Important<o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; color: black; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div class="MsoNormal">It seems that most manufacturers are switching to very popular SD or SDHC (secure digital high capacity) memory cards. So they are getting cheaper, and smaller. I’d go for one of those.<o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; color: black; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Face detection/Smile detection<o:p></o:p></b></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; color: black; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Can be important<o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; color: black; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div class="MsoNormal">If you want a camera that automatically focuses on peoples’ faces or takes a picture when someone smiles, then you may want this technology.<o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
<tr> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(214, 227, 188) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext; border-style: none solid solid; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt; color: black; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 83.4pt;" valign="top" width="111"><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Picture Bridge technology<o:p></o:p></b></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; color: black; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 92.1pt;" valign="top" width="123"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Can be important<o:p></o:p></div></td> <td style="-moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous; -moz-background-origin: padding; background: rgb(229, 223, 236) none repeat scroll 0% 0%; border-color: -moz-use-text-color windowtext windowtext -moz-use-text-color; border-style: none solid solid none; border-width: medium 1pt 1pt medium; color: black; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 304.8pt;" valign="top" width="406"><div class="MsoNormal">This technology allows you to print picture by connecting your camera directly to a “picture bridge” compatible printer, without a computer. Some cameras also allow the pictures to be edited in the camera. <o:p></o:p></div></td> </tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><i>Of course this article does not cover all aspects of how to choose a digital camera, and in general describes my <b>personal opinion</b>, you may have a different opinion on some stuff :) Which you can express in comments. Also, if you have any questions or think something is wrong or misleading, you can add a comment, or contact me via message box on the right => (you may need to scroll up or down to see it). Thanks for reading! If you like this article, sign up for updates from this blog! there will be many more!</i><br />
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<i>P.S. A longer DSLR guide is here: http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-buy-a-dslr-camera/comment-page-2<br />
</i></div><ul></ul>Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-35981158252607319632009-08-25T01:28:00.010+01:002018-02-15T21:55:18.233+00:00400th anniversary of Galileo's telescope on google! (with a twist)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRu-EAWTQSo6utGPApoQiswTZy6ZU7JxZbCy3fXUtEQoSXBJCUfNr1GyevFOe9DJ4VLl0E0jXYJhWYSqo-tevZzQB1A626uE99rdMCWdX-Q7_jRsZbTB9P1uhKIVJr-denEklg22mVqw/s1600-h/Clipboard01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRu-EAWTQSo6utGPApoQiswTZy6ZU7JxZbCy3fXUtEQoSXBJCUfNr1GyevFOe9DJ4VLl0E0jXYJhWYSqo-tevZzQB1A626uE99rdMCWdX-Q7_jRsZbTB9P1uhKIVJr-denEklg22mVqw/s320/Clipboard01.jpg" /></a></div> Today I went on Google to search for something as usual, and saw a new picture, after reading a bit on the internet about it, I discovered this is because of the 400th anniversary of Galileo's telescope. As a Physicist, I am very excited about this occasion, which allowed people all over the world to study the outer space far away from the Earth in greater depth and precision. Before this amazing invention, as far as I'm aware, the astronomers had quite limited means to study extraterrestrial bodies, like pointing at the stars by hand and recording this on a big big ruler.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSov3K8JTy2oh2qmxmk6qCXwFzC_21u9gVkxcxT6vE5FLrPOKHY8Am5Kdt7CRkxapGW8HHZib9Zu4-5hjGtCR0zmWJqEg9LPEAtShqGSRD8B-27g2UVr1MvKKM0NfFlWZkJP12l9TcnzU/s1600-h/Mauerquadrant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSov3K8JTy2oh2qmxmk6qCXwFzC_21u9gVkxcxT6vE5FLrPOKHY8Am5Kdt7CRkxapGW8HHZib9Zu4-5hjGtCR0zmWJqEg9LPEAtShqGSRD8B-27g2UVr1MvKKM0NfFlWZkJP12l9TcnzU/s400/Mauerquadrant.jpg" /></a></div>For example, in the 16th century, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_Brahe">Tycho Brahe</a> built an observatory and founded "precision astronomy" using this method. Nevertheless they discovered a few important scientific facts about comets and recorded a supernovae in 1572.<br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: x-small;"><br />
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Mauerquadrant.jpg">High resolution image</a></span><br />
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<a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/52/752-004-6FE60E05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/52/752-004-6FE60E05.jpg" width="140" /></a></div><br />
Although the word telescope is commonly associated with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei">Galileo Galilei</a>, he was not the inventor of this wonderful device. In fact <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Lippershey">Hans Lippershey</a>, also knows as Jan or Hans Lippersheim invented it in 1608. But it was Galileo who build his own telescope in 1609 and made improvements to the telescope, used it for practical and scientific observations. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/USA.NM.VeryLargeArray.02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/USA.NM.VeryLargeArray.02.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Nowadays, after centuries of research and development, telescopes are far more sophisticated pieces of equipment, ranging from lens/mirror telescopes to radio/high energy particle telescopes, positioned on the Earth and in space, some optical telescopes from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_optical_reflecting_telescopes">5 to 11 metres</a> in size or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_radio_telescopes">26m dish</a> for radio telescopes, some costing millions of dollars. And of course most of you have heard of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope">Hubble telescope</a> that costed 2.5 billion dollars to construct.<br />
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Most of the <a href="http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=hubble+telescope+images&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=pi6TSpWgIte6jAeZ9oHxDQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1">beautiful images</a> (although most of them have enhanced colours) we see today were achieved with telescopes, and allowed the humanity to peek into the furthest corners of the universe, millions of light years away from us, revolutionizing the way we see the world around us.Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-21717575412266048202009-08-22T23:42:00.102+01:002018-02-15T21:55:15.074+00:00IPsec VPN on windows 64 bit with NCP universal VPN client (NCP secure entry client configuration)<b><span style="color: red;">Update 15/Dec/2009: today I was contacted by NCP-E saying that "people blindly follow the advice on this website" and that it's "frustrating for them to correct mistakes that this thread generates, which frustrates both them and their customers", so before you follow the guide, I want to clarify some points: this thread is a bit out-of-date already, a newer client has been released. Also, this is only a guide how to set-up a particular connection, which I think is very common with universities and workplaces, that allows to access particular resources. For which you need an IPSec group ID, IPSec group password and your Xauth username and password, as this is the only IPSec connection type I have access to. All other situations are not included in this guide. Please don't refer to this website as your configuration guide when contacting NCP-e support, this is not in any way a technical or support resource, it's more an example what the software is like when working with it. Thank you<br />
</span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red;">Update 10/Sept/2009 (a free solution) :A free VPN client worked </span><span style="color: red;">successfully for this IPSec connection type ! Its overview is <a href="http://read-stuff-here.blogspot.com/2009/09/shrew-vpn-tutorial-on-windows-64-bit.html" style="color: #351c75;">here </a>! </span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red;"> </span></b> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0zddP5NdRiRD28IqaRBpfaeKvbBS7nyQUOO5x7xYWFBfEjbOY0pSeDkgerDjlt3z42iSW2ZrQ9Ek2xFxpIj_Tz2Wl2c5liEvFdpJL5xKS6aUOUQkrytcKPRoO0hYgxhLQ8j945IXkk6g/s1600-h/197-Advanced-File-Lock.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0zddP5NdRiRD28IqaRBpfaeKvbBS7nyQUOO5x7xYWFBfEjbOY0pSeDkgerDjlt3z42iSW2ZrQ9Ek2xFxpIj_Tz2Wl2c5liEvFdpJL5xKS6aUOUQkrytcKPRoO0hYgxhLQ8j945IXkk6g/s320/197-Advanced-File-Lock.png" /></a></div>Many companies or institutions use some sort of VPN (Virtual Private Networking) solution to protect their resources and stuff... I used Cisco VPN client to connect to my university intranet, which uses IPsec technology. But apparently Cisco VPN client does not support 64 bit operating systems!<br />
The Cisco Systems company doesn't want to support 64bit operating systems and the old Cisco VPN client, from what I've read it seems that they are pushing their new AnyConnect VPN client, which apparently doesn't support IPsec, companies would have to upgrade a lot of stuff to use VPN with this new software (information gathered from the internet). I think this will be even a bigger issue now, that Windows 7 is coming out soon. After 3 days of looking on the internet, trying different things such as Cisco Anyconnect, Windows built-in VPN client, Shrew client, Ovenvpn client, VPNC client, the only thing that worked for me was "universal NCP secure entry" client, so I intend to write a tutorial how to configure it, because it has A LOT more settings than Cisco VPN client and is very tricky to configure.<br />
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You can download evaluation copy of the software on: <a href="http://www.ncp-e.com/en/downloads/software.html">http://www.ncp-e.com/en/downloads/software.html</a> <strike>(<b>go for the beta one!!</b>! the other one gave me blue screens ).</strike> <span style="color: red;">Update: as advised by NCP-e, "</span><i style="color: red;">it's not a good idea to have multiple VPN clients on the same platform, as the mechanisms (filter drivers) used may conflict and cause unreliable results or even system instability" </i><span style="color: red;">and it is strongly recommended to remove other VPN clients before installing NPC-e client.</span><i style="color: red;"><br />
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Make sure you have these settings from your old IPsec VPN client:<br />
<ul><li>IPSec gateway (e.g. vpn.blahblah.com or 129.123.000.000)</li>
<li>IPSec ID, also known as group ID (usually just a word)</li>
<li>IPSec secret. also known as group password (also a word)</li>
<li>remote access personal username (xauth username)</li>
<li>remote access personal password (xauth password)</li>
</ul><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">And maybe some other settings like </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">"enable transparent tunelling"<br />
"Allow IPSec over UDP (NAT/PAT)"<br />
"ForceKeepAlives"</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">"EnableNAT"</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">"TunnelingMode"</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">IKE Authmode psk </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> TcpTunnelingPort=10000/4500 </span> <br />
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Also, if you have your old Cisco VPN client configuration file (*.pcf), most of the work will be done for you automatically: install NCP client and to Configuration>Profile Import>Browse for your **.pcf file and import the settings. Usually this should work straight away, if it's not working, check the settings as described below <strike>(probably tick UDP encapsulation, port 4500 in your "advanced IPSec options")</strike>, but instead of creating a new profile, click edit your imported profile. <span style="color: red;">Update: as advised by NCP-e, MOST configurations do not require UDP encapsulation, <i>"</i></span><i style="color: red;">this field should only be used in very specific cases, and the vast majority of situations (read: almost ALL) do not require this, and will in fact will only thwart any connection attempts"</i><span style="color: red;">.</span><br />
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Manual configuration:<br />
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</div>1) Go to Configuration>Profiles<br />
Then click "add" to create a new profile.<br />
On the next tab select "Link to corporate network using IPSec" and click next. Choose a name for your VPN connection (anything)>Next, select you communication media > <b>Choose LAN (over IP)</b> for broadband or wireless networks (or other media that you use to connect to the internet). <b>DON'T use WLAN</b> it can screw up your wireless drivers! <br />
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</div>On the next page enter your <b>IPSec gateway</b> in the "Gateway (Tunel Point)" field and enter your <b>xauth username (IKE username)</b> and <b>password(IKE password)</b>.<br />
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</div>Next select "<b>aggressive mode</b>" as your exchange mode and set <b>PFS</b> group to "<b>None</b>".<br />
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</div>Click "Next" and enter <b>IPSec secret</b> (also known as <b>group password</b>) in the <b>"Shared Secret"</b> field, then select <b>"Free string used to identify groups"</b> in <b>"IKE ID type</b>", and enter your <b>Group ID</b> (also known as <b>IPSec ID</b>) in <b>IKE ID</b> field.<br />
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On the next page select<b> IKE config mode</b>, as IP address assignment method and click next. And then on the next page make sure that statefull inspection is off and Netbios over IP is enabled and click finish.<br />
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</div><strike>You will be returned to the main window, go to Configuration> Profiles again, and click edit your profile. Navigate to<b> "Advanced IPSec Options"</b> on the left and<b> tick UDP encapsulation</b>, change the port to <b>4500 </b>(or which ever port you were given). Click OK and this configuration should work. </strike><span style="color: red;">Update: as advised by NCP-e, MOST configurations do not require UDP encapsulation, <i>"</i></span><i style="color: red;">this field should only be used in very specific cases, and the vast majority of situations (read: almost ALL) do not require this, and will in fact will only thwart any connection attempts"</i><span style="color: red;">.</span><br />
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<a href="http://marcomanzini.com" ><img alt="Marco Manzini Landscape and Nature Photography" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheIU_SuMfGurgZD2fb2UY7DN2RM_EQXRaZoOCatlUFGUtUlqLsRwOzyT8Sb9SU9O3us626YDSVylPPevmKlfyMzqOk_xYeHiVs2fG5pnUhlU6-MbEGxB6fjZ5ql3w7IhnyA0lIcfc-zgM/s1600/Manzini.png" /></a><br />
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If you are having troubles connecting, you can see where the problem is using LOGs. To do that go to <b>Log>Logbook </b><br />
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You will see a new window, that shows log text. Now try to connect to your profile, and check what error you get. I tried to identify some common error codes, although I'm not very good at advanced configurations.<br />
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<b style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-size: large;">Troubleshooting guide: </span></b> <br />
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<b>1)</b> <b>No connection to the internet</b>>incorrect communication medium chosen. Usually these will be displayed in red in the actual NCP window (not in log): e.g.: ISDN error, COM error: Modem not responding, Could not resolve gateway IP (this is either if you LAN/wireless LAN not working or your entered incorrect gateway address or it's down, or your firewall is blocking NCP), RAS not found.<br />
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<b>Solution:</b> check your internet connection, gateway address, and check communication medium settings in "Basic Settings" tab.<br />
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</div><b>2) Phase1 errors</b>: IPSec general settings tab has incorrect settings. <br />
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</div><b>Solution:</b> check IPSec general and Advanced settings:<br />
Also some security data maybe wrong, like: group ID, group password (if this is the case, the log will display this in red: e.g. wrong preshared key, or a window will pop-up to enter xauth password/username again).<br />
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</div><b>3) Phase 2 errors</b>: Incorrect IPSec address assignment. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX1hyphenhyphenqdA1n02U6Dn5agy0U0rAvtyUsOWv7tmpQOczxAYEqCrcUweT5PCJjckw0h_nztrdduFCcn_6X1EMTJo5jJ7y2r5t1eym2pi6Ig44pji_GPFIUJGrEV7ss_Z-AT00oB_cR3bvQYEw/s1600-h/ncp11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX1hyphenhyphenqdA1n02U6Dn5agy0U0rAvtyUsOWv7tmpQOczxAYEqCrcUweT5PCJjckw0h_nztrdduFCcn_6X1EMTJo5jJ7y2r5t1eym2pi6Ig44pji_GPFIUJGrEV7ss_Z-AT00oB_cR3bvQYEw/s200/ncp11.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><b>Solution</b>: check IPSec Address assignment page:<br />
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</div>This should solve most common problems, just<b> try different settings</b> depending on the phase of your problem. Also you can contact me via Message Box on the right (scroll up or down to find it) =><br />
Enjoy!<br />
P.S. It would be great if you could leave any <b>comments </b>about this guide or click "<b>reactions</b>" below (funny, interesting, informative...) , thanks :)<br />
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<b><br style="color: #351c75;" /><br style="color: #351c75;" /><br style="color: #351c75;" /><br style="color: #351c75;" /><br style="color: #351c75;" /><br style="color: #351c75;" /><span style="color: #351c75;">Update: there seem to be another program that can be used on 64bit systems: VPNC Front End, which is free and can be downloaded here:</span></b><span style="color: #660000;"> </span><b style="color: #660000;"><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/vpncfe/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/vpncfe/</a></b><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/vpncfe/" style="color: #660000;"> </a><b><span style="color: #351c75;">I could not connect to my VPN server though, but try it anyway, if you want something free.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #351c75;">Also, there is Shrew VPN: </span><a href="http://www.shrew.net/download/vpn">http://www.shrew.net/download/vpn</a></b><b><span style="color: #351c75;"> which is also free, <strike>but it gave me blue screen :( Try alpha version (and again, I did not succeed in connection to my vpn), </strike>and I wrote the tutorial <a href="http://read-stuff-here.blogspot.com/2009/09/shrew-vpn-tutorial-on-windows-64-bit.html">here </a>.<br />
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Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2190289916776391483.post-37834147917274189582009-08-22T16:18:00.010+01:002012-06-28T15:24:51.478+01:00How to add meebo widget (gadget) to your blogspot. Web-based IM.<div style="color: #cc0000;">
UPDATE: unfortunately Google purchased Meebo (reported $100 million) and closed it down. That's the way to do business these days ! It stops working from July/2012</div>
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Google gadgets are .xml files that allow you do to stuff, preview pages, chat, etc..<br />
I use a website called www.meebo.com , which allows to log on all IM accounts at the same time!! E.g. msn messenger, yahoo, google talk, icq and many more. It works on all operating systems: windows, mac, linux.. because you only need a web browser to use it, it also provides many features like audio /video calling, games.<br />
Not only that, but it's possible to create small web-based "widgets", that can be embedded into any webpage, and anyone who logs onto your webpage can send you a message, if you are online on meebo, you can reply instantly!!<br />
Today I decided to post a tutorial on how to do that. You need to register on meebo, and add you IM account there if you wish to use it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTbLkK369bq0N-IKuI4ZQo39NqGzsMDVZJxFm8DJ5pHBfQ4yAmquPqSY_Gcov2RMN-L2GgKcfgd6V-TFx0nJFCWRkaDHRR5Jw_9A2N5t31hJ6ApQmvt6eDw_X6Ho7jEatTgsPYV7dxxDc/s1600-h/meebo1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTbLkK369bq0N-IKuI4ZQo39NqGzsMDVZJxFm8DJ5pHBfQ4yAmquPqSY_Gcov2RMN-L2GgKcfgd6V-TFx0nJFCWRkaDHRR5Jw_9A2N5t31hJ6ApQmvt6eDw_X6Ho7jEatTgsPYV7dxxDc/s400/meebo1.jpg" /></a></div>
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First of all log into meebo:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsGBm59YpvZPe8som8WJL0FrDanvLrZpJQVoi5uVbMM7PAeIjNau7wzvUqeyBEpj1laO-UfKjNLxT6nZJQovYR8Y03Tr_SmnVCJj_Zpq_0G51TtpCeEBMfFu_KG21nhiqHHTiCs_Y2gMA/s1600-h/meebo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsGBm59YpvZPe8som8WJL0FrDanvLrZpJQVoi5uVbMM7PAeIjNau7wzvUqeyBEpj1laO-UfKjNLxT6nZJQovYR8Y03Tr_SmnVCJj_Zpq_0G51TtpCeEBMfFu_KG21nhiqHHTiCs_Y2gMA/s320/meebo2.jpg" /></a></div>
Then go to Preferences > "meebo me widgets"<br />
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Click "Add A New Widget", choose a name for it and click "Create A New Widget! " , and after that click modify (this way it gives you more control over it's appearance").<br />
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A new page will open, allowing you to customize the widget. Click "done" after you finished customizing it. This window will close and you will be back to meebo main page with the list of your widgets. <b>Click "Save" at this point </b>or you will loose your customizations.<br />
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To the left from the "Modify" button there is some code, navigate through this code until you find <b>http://widget.meebo.com/mm.swf?**********</b> where *** is some random letters. Take a note of these letters, you will need them later.<br />
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Now open notepad, then copy and paste the code below:<br />
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<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><module><content type="html"><?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?><br /><Module><ModulePrefs author="Happy Hippo" author_affiliation="None" author_email="None" author_location="UK" description="Meebo Widget" height="<span style="background-color: lime;">250</span>" render_inline="optional" scrolling="false" title="Meebo Widget" title_url="http://read-stuff-here.blogspot.com" width="<span style="background-color: lime;">250</span>"></ModulePrefs><Content type="html">&lt;html&gt; &lt;head&gt; &lt;style type="text/css"&gt;&lt;!--body { background-color: #<span style="background-color: yellow;">FFC</span>;}--&gt;&lt;/style&gt; &lt;/head&gt; &lt;body&gt; &lt;object width="<span style="background-color: lime;">250</span>" height="<span style="background-color: lime;">250</span>" &gt; &lt;param name="movie" value="http://widget.meebo.com/mm.swf?<span style="background-color: red; font-size: small;">**********</span>"/&gt; &lt;embed src="http://widget.meebo.com/mm.swf?<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: red; color: #351c75;">**********</span></span>" width="<span style="background-color: lime;">250</span>" height="<span style="background-color: lime;">250</span>" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;/body&gt;&lt;/html&gt;</Content></Module></content></module></span></div>
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Replacing the stars with letters from your meebo widget (you can also change it's height and width or background HEX colour). Save this text file as gadget.xml . And this is your google gadget. You need to upload it somewhere (that supports direct linking), for example www.fileden.com (free sign up required).<br />
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<b style="color: #990000;">Alternatively</b>, you can copy the xml code between <b><span style="font-size: small;"><Content type="html"> <span style="background-color: lime;">..... </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"></Content> </span></b>and paste <span style="font-size: small;">directly into your HTML layout, </span><span style="font-size: small;">in between one of the</span><b><span style="font-size: small;"> <div>... </div> </span></b><span style="font-size: small;">tags of the sidebar on your blog.</span><b><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></b><br />
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Now go to your blogspot page and click customise button>"add a gadget>"add your own" and paste the direct link to your xml file.<br />
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That's it! Now anyone can contact you directly from your webpage, or send offline messages to you.<br />
Enjoy!Happy Hippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12967042991152718904noreply@blogger.com4