3 posts tagged “photography”

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Gorilla pod

Dec 23, 2007
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I recently ordered a gorilla pod from Amazon. Its a lot smaller than I thought it would be. It doesn't seem very stable or secure. But I think I can have a lot of fun using this thing.

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Due to the lack of a camera mount, I use a universal tripod for my Nokia N95. The one you see here is from my Sunpak Versipod (Amazon) It worked great with my N90, I could mount it vertically and have no problems. With my N95, I have to mount it horizontally.

The gorilla pod is very adjustable and can attach to just about anything. It makes a great combination with the head of the Versipod and my N95. With the horizontal nature of how they work with each other, this system can be attached to poles and provide a great mounted experience. This set up is a little flimsy though. The N95 carries a lot of weight and can wobble easily if there's enough wind.

With my recent interest in HDR photography, this set up will come in handy.

Guide to N-Series HDR photography

Dec 8, 2007
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Los Angeles River

Originally uploaded by DrTran

High Dynamic Range imaging, better known as HDR, is a great way to make your digital photos look awesome. Normally when you take pictures of subjects with a sky background, the sky will have lots of color and the subject goes dull. Alternatively, you might get a good picture of your subject, but the sky will just be a white mess. With HDR imaging, everything in your picture have more color.

HDR imaging uses multiple pictures with different exposure settings and combines them with Tone Mapping to make awesome pictures. Check out the HDR wikipedia entry here for more info.

Normally, you need a DSLR camera and equipment to pull off such great pictures. I will show you how to pull off such pictures with an N-Series phone.

You need equipment beyond your N-Series phone. Let's start with the tripod. You can get the Nokia Tripod DT-22. It costs about $30 and looks great with the N93 or N95 8GB. Alternatively, you can get a Sunpak Versipod off Amazon for about $15. A great thing about the Sunpak tripod is that you can twist off the head and attach it to a full sized tripod or the very flexible Gorillapod.

The next piece of equipment you will need is a bluetooth keyboard. The key to HDR photos is to keep your camera steady. With a bluetooth keyboard, you can operate the camera menu's without touching your phone, keeping your phone very steady. The Nokia SU-8W or Think Outside Stowaway Keyboard are recommended. Check out the reviews at MobileBurn to help you make a choice.

Now that you have your equipment, let's take some pictures!

First set up your N-Series phone with your tripod.
Next, activate the camera.
Adjust your phone set up your shot on the screen. This should be the last time you touch the phone.
Using your keyboard, go into scene modes and select Landscape.
Next, go down the menu and set the white balance.
Now set the Exposure compensation to +2
Go up the menu to Self timer. Set the timer to 10 seconds.
Activate the timer.
You will now have you first shot. Now press back.
Now set the Exposure compensation to 0 and take another picture using the Self timer.
Next, take a third picture with the Exposure compensation set to -2.
And now you're done. Pack up your stuff and go home.
After you have finished taking pictures, upload them to your computer.

The last thing you need for HDR photography is computer software. You can get Adobe Photoshop, but that is really expensive as well as complicated.

I recommend getting Photomatix from HDRsoft. It costs $99 and has a great tutorial on how to make HDR images.
Simply follow the directions and you can get great pictures like mine.

The Nokia N82 is here

Nov 14, 2007
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Finally, the phone I have waited 5 years for is here. A real combination of a camera and phone and a whole lot more than I could have dreamed for back in 2002.

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The tech specs from Forum Nokia can be found here
Mobile Diva Darla Mack has the press release
James Burland posted amazing image samples on his Nokia Creative blog
And an excellent review of a prototype model

There's a 5MP camera with a xenon flash. Instant uploads to Flickr or Vox. There's the S60 OS to run N-Gage games. The S60 browser built on webkit that can surf the web over wifi. There are no boundaries for this puppy.

I love that there are speakers along the right side of the device. When you view videos in landscape mode, the sound is presented in stereo. With the headphone jack on top, it makes an excellent and unobtrusive mp3 player. There's a lens protector to keep the camera scratch free.

There's an accelerometer in there too. When you take a picture with the phone oriented in a vertical fashion, the picture you get will be in portrait rather than horizontal. There will be a UI option so that menus and applications also rotate according to how you hold the phone. People are already cooking up applications to take advantage of the accelerometer, such as a light saber or Wii-like d-pad emulator.

The N82 has an MSRP of 450 euros and is already available in select markets. I guess that means its only available in Lichtenstein. (wow, I spelled that right on the first try)

I really want one for Christmas.