So we bought a Digital Camera!

Mrs Kendall · Post by **Mrs Kendall** » 2005-11-22 04:48pm

Well, The Kendalls are now into the times and we have a real Digital Camera

We had a Palm Pilot with digital photo taking capabilities before but the quality sucked and it wasn't real practical since we couldn't zoom in on anything. So we bought a

Kodak Easyshare Z700 Camera.

Once we get some good photos taken and uploaded I'll post them

Thanks to everyone who recommended cameras when I asked for advice

We just saw the deal in the flyer for our grocery/electronics/clothes/pharmacy store

We bought a Digital Camera at a 'No Frills' grocery store

No annoying salesmen pushing certain cameras on us, no trouble getting answers to our questions, we have the warranty and return benefits as well. It was a very good buying experience. We paid a good price for what we got too

$287.48!! The store had a deal where if you bought a Digital Camera over the $100.00 price range you got a free case, tripod and lens brush (a $50 value!!) So we even got some good extras, some free goodies

I'm so happy with it so far, but it's nice to know that if it doesn't meet our expectations we can take it back for a full refund, even though it was bought at a grocery store

Aren't you all so happy for us

Stay tuned for pictures in the very near future

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2005-11-22 06:16pm

Just remember to write your photos onto a CD-R and to keep your CD-Rs safe; they're like negatives. I've known people who would make prints and then delete the files

Mrs Kendall · Post by **Mrs Kendall** » 2005-11-22 09:09pm

OMG

Thanks Mike

We shall take good care of our shots and we'll buy tonnes of cd's cause I'm sure we'll be taking tonnes of pictures

I promised photos for those of you who care

So here they are.

Our kitten got into the dishwasher while we were loading it

Cpl Kendall (picture has been edited to remove red eye)

Our Son John

Again, but edited to remove red eye

Our Daughter Madison (edited to remove red eye)

Again, edited to remove red eye.

Madison again, she's a real attention seeker when the camera comes out

Plus she was with us when we were shopping for it so she was really excited when we brought one home

Picture of me but I played around with the features of the program and came up with this by choosing 'cartoon' I thought it was cool so I want to share

I cropped these so they would take up less space. So hopefully they're not too big

Edit; they don't break formatting for me so I'll leave them like this

Post by **Dalton** » 2005-11-22 09:19pm

Haha, Madison's a very popular name these days. Cute kids. Can't say as much for the husband though

Mrs Kendall · Post by **Mrs Kendall** » 2005-11-22 09:43pm

Haha, thanks Dalton, but I don't think Cpl Kendall cares what you think of his looks

after all you two are both straight guys

They're good quality pictures though, aren't they?

Edit; Oh and we named her Madison not because it was popular but because of the meaning... it means 'son or daughter of a soldier' and at the time she was born my husband was a soldier

We knew he was gonna be released from the ARMY soon after so we wanted something that was going to remind us of his service and tie it into that time in our lives together. That is why we named her Madison

Zor · Post by **Zor** » 2005-11-22 10:19pm

Oh, it's the Bear Seal Girl. Your kids are still cute.

Zor

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2005-11-22 10:21pm

Cool camera and cool pictures. I love the cartoon feature. It's very comicbook-y.

Remember though, there is a minimum focus range for all cameras (nature of the beast, it's optical) so if you want the nice close ups, take advantage of the digital zoom features rather than putting the camera close to the subject. You'll get more in-focus shots.

Mrs Kendall · Post by **Mrs Kendall** » 2005-11-23 10:15am

Yeah I know

These pictures were close to the subject cause the kids were so excited about getting their pictures taken and they were trying to get as many taken as possible so that explains why they were so close. I tried playing around with the zoom as well, I just haven't posted any of those pictures

Thanks though Gil

Oh and Zor, WTF are you talking about, Bear Seal Girl???

Post by **Dalton** » 2005-11-23 10:24am

Mrs Kendall wrote:Haha, thanks Dalton, but I don't think Cpl Kendall cares what you think of his looks after all you two are both straight guys

He needs a shave!

Mrs Kendall wrote:They're good quality pictures though, aren't they?

A little overexposed, but that's because of the proximity and the lack of backlighting.

Mrs Kendall wrote:Edit; Oh and we named her Madison not because it was popular but because of the meaning... it means 'son or daughter of a soldier' and at the time she was born my husband was a soldier We knew he was gonna be released from the ARMY soon after so we wanted something that was going to remind us of his service and tie it into that time in our lives together. That is why we named her Madison

A noble reason

My niece was named that because it was the popular name at the time. Strangely enough that's also the name of the street I live on.

Mrs Kendall · Post by **Mrs Kendall** » 2005-11-23 10:58am

Dalton wrote: He needs a shave!

Hahahahaha!! Thank YOU!! That is hilarious

A little overexposed, but that's because of the proximity and the lack of backlighting.

Yeah we have to play around with the settings a little more

A noble reason My niece was named that because it was the popular name at the time. Strangely enough that's also the name of the street I live on.

Yes, thanks

I recall us having this conversation before through the pm's we exchanged a while back.

You can tell we're not the type to pick popular names cause our son's name is John, how many kids named John do you know? We named him after my father in law.

Post by **Dalton** » 2005-11-23 11:02am

Mrs Kendall wrote:You can tell we're not the type to pick popular names cause our son's name is John, how many kids named John do you know? We named him after my father in law.

In this day and age, very few, given all the trendy names floating around these days. Not so with my nephew though, his name is Ferdinand Marcus.

Mrs Kendall · Post by **Mrs Kendall** » 2005-11-23 11:09am

See what I mean

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2005-11-23 11:19am

Great pictures, MrsKendall! Now I just need to get one of my own LOL!

Mrs Kendall · Post by **Mrs Kendall** » 2005-11-23 11:26am

Well take care of your car first

I'm sure you know that though. They have some really nice ones out there for a little over $100.00. We just bought the one we did cause we don't like to have small lightweight things as we tend to drop them or lose them cause they're so small

Also because we felt we deserved it after all this time and we got that nice chunk of money.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2005-11-23 12:09pm

If you haven't discovered it already

, you'll find out soon that nothing eats batteries like a digital camera.
A set of NiMH rechargeables will pay for itself very quickly if you use the camera much at all.

And now I know how cat owners keep them clean.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2005-11-23 12:20pm

Dalton wrote:
Mrs Kendall wrote:You can tell we're not the type to pick popular names cause our son's name is John, how many kids named John do you know? We named him after my father in law.
In this day and age, very few, given all the trendy names floating around these days. Not so with my nephew though, his name is Ferdinand Marcus.

Based solely on our names, a lot of people could very well think that my own family is a pack of fundies: Michael, Rebecca, David, and Matthew. You can't get much more Biblical than that.

Post by **Dalton** » 2005-11-23 12:41pm

Darth Wong wrote:Based solely on our names, a lot of people could very well think that my own family is a pack of fundies: Michael, Rebecca, David, and Matthew. You can't get much more Biblical than that.

I'm glad my parents aren't fundies, because Jebediah Dalton sounds funny.

But then again, my mother originally wanted to name me Umberto Pascuale.

Mrs Kendall · Post by **Mrs Kendall** » 2005-11-23 12:54pm

Glocksman we plan to get those, we've been told that they eat batteries alot by my parents too

they bought 4 NiMH batteries and they keep recharging those 4, they've had their camera and those battereis for 5 years now and they've only lost use of one of those rechargable batteries so far. Mom's keeping an eye out for batteries and charger deals in our town for me, cause she knows what to look for

Thanks for the advice though

Mike That is funny, and you're family is far from being fundies which is what makes it all that much more funny

Dalton That name sounds funny.. my mom wanted to call me Joan, thankgod I went 5 days without a name cause I much prefer Valerie over Joan

Post by **Dalton** » 2005-11-23 12:59pm

Mrs Kendall wrote:Dalton That name sounds funny..

My grandfather and great uncle's names. Yes, they were Italian...old world Italian

Mrs Kendall wrote:my mom wanted to call me Joan, thankgod I went 5 days without a name cause I much prefer Valerie over Joan

My sister is named Valerie. Isn't that odd? Two mothers named Valerie, with daughters named Madison.

Mrs Kendall · Post by **Mrs Kendall** » 2005-11-23 02:48pm

That's cool

I've never met another Valerie in my life

That's why I love my name

darthdavid · Post by **darthdavid** » 2005-11-23 03:45pm

My dad wanted to name me Doctor so that people would always have to call me Doctor even if I became a janitor or some shit ....

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2005-11-23 05:17pm

If either Uts or myself were born a girl, our mother wanted to name us Crissa.

Crissa, for God's sake.

Braedley · Post by **Braedley** » 2005-11-23 11:23pm

If I were born a girl, I would have been named Elizabeth. Actually no, I would have been Katherine and my twin sister would have been Elizabeth. My parents learned quite quickly after my brothers (also twins) were born that having 8 names would be necessary (4 girls and 4 guys names, der).

Back on topic

Gil Hamilton wrote:Cool camera and cool pictures. I love the cartoon feature. It's very comicbook-y.

Remember though, there is a minimum focus range for all cameras (nature of the beast, it's optical) so if you want the nice close ups, take advantage of the digital zoom features rather than putting the camera close to the subject. You'll get more in-focus shots.

Actually Gil, (and Mrs. Kendall), digital zoom is only to be used when needed. Digital zooms use recursive (or sometimes just looping) algorithms to fill in as many as 3/4s of the pixels. This means that conceivably 75% of the picture is an approximation of what is really there. This leads to decreases in sharpness, which in turn leads to blurry edges. However, with optical zoom, no pixel is approximated, and as long as the lenses are in focus, the image remains as sharp as a tack.
If, Gil, you are not refering to digital zoom, but instead auto focus (which you don't seem to be), then by all means, take advantage of it (you usually don't have a choice, as looks like the case for this camera).

BTW: Your kids are cute.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2005-11-24 12:07am

I never understood the point of digital zoom. What's the difference between digital zoom and simply blowing up the middle of the picture?

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2005-11-24 12:33am

Braedley wrote:Actually Gil, (and Mrs. Kendall), digital zoom is only to be used when needed. Digital zooms use recursive (or sometimes just looping) algorithms to fill in as many as 3/4s of the pixels. This means that conceivably 75% of the picture is an approximation of what is really there. This leads to decreases in sharpness, which in turn leads to blurry edges. However, with optical zoom, no pixel is approximated, and as long as the lenses are in focus, the image remains as sharp as a tack.
If, Gil, you are not refering to digital zoom, but instead auto focus (which you don't seem to be), then by all means, take advantage of it (you usually don't have a choice, as looks like the case for this camera).

It depends on how much you use the digital zoom. The trick is to make up the difference in a close up that is lost due to not being able to get within 45 cm or whatever the minimum focal length of the camera lense is, because if used judiciously, the amount of approximation is more acceptable than the effects of being within the minimum focal length. Those digicams don't tend to go over the equivlent of 105mm - you can't get a close up without that little boost, since sticking a telephoto lense on the front of them isn't an option.