|
|
(jessica)
This question was submitted by a reader:
Okay, here goes: What is your opinion about rechargeable batteries? My camera takes four AA batteries, so when I bought it I also bought several sets of Powerex rechargeables. My thinking was that I wouldn’t be putting so many batteries into the landfill. But they are holding their charge for a much shorter time now, so I have to get either alkalines or more rechargeables. Which kind is better, considering the costs and convenience? If you like rechargeables, is one brand better than another, or are they all alike?
I think the answer to that is entirely environmental. My main cameras now all have lithium batteries, so recharging is what I do.
I have had cameras that run on two or four AA batteries and did the same thing you did and bought rechargeables. But any rechargeable battery has a certain number of times it can be recharged. That is why yours are not holding the charge as well as they should.
In my experience, rechargeable AA batteries last in the camera longer than regular ones. I would carry a set of regular AAs in the field in case I ran out of rechargeables, but the regulars seemed very short lived.
So for the sake of the environment and your expected battery life in the camera, I would suggest buying new rechargeables. Over the long haul, it is a much more economical approach as well.
number of view: 106
 (jessica)
This is my favorite printer – ever!
This model is on sale now, which could mean a newer model is coming out, but I have been loving this model, so I am doing the review anyway.
Why do I love it? Let me count the ways:
It is wireless. That means I can print to it from anywhere on the premises – from my laptop – or my desktop – with no cords involved. It also has the usual connections vis USB if you don’t have wireless. Setting up the wireless took about a minute and pushing two buttons on the printer itself. I carry this printer back and forth to the gallery and can easily switch it to that wireless signal.
The ink is CHEAP. The printer uses a black cartridge and a 5 Color Cartridge. The price for the two of them is around $23 (as compared to $70-$100+ for other printers). And I get just as much life (pages) out of the cartridges as I did with other brand printers.
The ink is waterproof, archival, pigment ink. This means you can paint over prints or collage them without the ink running. It means you can do Sheer Heaven Transfers that do not bleed through even thin papers and are also waterproof so you can paint over them.
The photo printing is Kodak great. Yes, Kodak does know how photos should look. These prints have none of the off color of Epson pigment ink prints.
The printhead is a replaceable part!!! The reason I had to discard my Epson printers in less than a year each, was that pigment inks are thicker and can clog printheads. The printhead on this printer is a replaceable, snap-in part. I have not had to replace the printhead on the 5250, but when I owned the very first Kodak printer, I had to replace it twice, and Kodak sent me the replacement free. They still do that, but obviously, they have improved something because I have had no nozzle problem that the cleaning function did not resolve.
Great paper feeding. I print on a lot of stuff and some is thick. My own waterproof inkjet canvas that I sell on Cre8it.com is thick. On many other printers, you have to attach a lead sheet which is a pain. The Kodak 5250 just pulls it through as if it is copy paper.
It’s also a scanner and copier. I have not used the scanner because I have two others, but I use the 5250 for waterproof color copies all the time – and borderless, no less! No computer is involved in that process – you make your choices on the nice big LCD screen menu on the printer. You can also use that menu to print directly from most memory cards without going through the computer.
And maybe most exciting of all . . .
There’s an APP for that! Only one thing drives me crazy about my wonderful iPhone. You can’t print photos directly from it. And the same is true, at the moment, of the iPad. Well, this printer has an App (free download from iTunes) that will allow you to print wirelessly from your iPhone or iPad!
The best price I have found currently is $109 at Amazon.
You will see only mediocre reviews there. I can’t speak to the complaints some of these people have, but I have had all three models of the Kodak all-in-one printers. The first was problematic. I had to replace the printhead twice and it was slow with Mac, but it still lasted 2 years before I recycyled it. The second generation was fine (ESP-5) and I still have it as a back-up in the garden room. The wireless 5250, I adore, and I will never switch back to another brand.
number of view: 143
HI Jessica
Am enjoying your blog, and espec. the help on Technical Tissie, and related
topics on Photoshop Elements. Because I do calligraphy, I have wondered how
to change b/w calligraphy to a color. I have scanned the b/w image, and
reversed the color……ie. black lettering now becomes white lettering w/a
black background. I think I have to play with the magic lasso to highlight,
and somehow change the color to something else with the paint bucket fill.
Also your opinion on saving. Jpeg or something else? All this I would like
to know. Please edit my comments above so your other readers understand. I
await your answer. marg
Here is a question I received from Marg Lammerts:
Am enjoying your blog, and especially the help on Technical Tizzie, and related
topics on Photoshop Elements. Because I do calligraphy, I have wondered how to change b/w calligraphy to a color. I have scanned the b/w image, and
reversed the color – ie. black lettering now becomes white lettering with a black background. I think I have to play with the magic lasso to highlight,
and somehow change the color to something else with the paint bucket fill.
Because this question has such a simple answer, I can address it here in the confines of the blog.
This example is shown in PhotoShop. It is important to understand that PhotoShop and Elements are the same in almost all operations. The Tool placement might be different, but the operation is the same.
So with the scan of the black and white calligraphy open in PS or PSE, you want to do these things:
Choose the Paint Bucket Tool and look at the settings in the Tool Options Bar above your window. Leave everything as is except uncheck the Contiguous box. The Anti-Alias box should remain checked.
Under your Windows menu, open Swatches, and choose a color you want for your lettering.
Click with the Paint Bucket inside any black letter.
How about that?!
Some things are just simple and isn’t that nice for a change?
number of view: 206
(Tizzie) These tiny, retractable mice can be found at Best Buy, other electronic stores, and online.
The mouse itself is under 3 inches long, under 2 inches wide, and little over an inch high.
The cord is retractable and stretches to about 30 inches when extended.
The cost is around $18 – $20.
This is the only type of mouse I have used for ten+ years, and even with the colossal number of computer hours accrued, I do not have any trouble with my tendons in my hand. These mice are so small that you can basically close your hand over them in a number of restful positions, and avoid the weird, stretched-out hand position that a regular size mouse demands.
That’s the greatest benefit, but the fact they are so lightweight and portable is another. They can tuck into a pocket and go anywhere with you and your laptop.
I am constantly surprised when people see my mini-mouse and fall in love at “first-sight”. Another one of those things I thought everybody already knew about.
I have several different brands and models and they have all been good – Kensington, Targus, etc. The models change all the time, so I will just suggest that you Google “mini-mice” and see what you find.
number of view: 220
(Technical Tizzie)
It never ceases to amaze me how often I casually mention something I thought *everybody* in the universe knew all about, and someone will jump up and down all excited because they never heard of it before.
So, Technical Tizzie is going to share those things when they come up – just to be absolutely sure nobody in the Universe is missing out.
The word Google is synonymous with Search. Everybody uses Google all the time – each in their own way.
I met someone who had no idea what the address box on her browser was for – or that there even was one. She did everything through Google – had never typed in a web address and didn’t know what they were!
And my friend, Sue, types her questions into Google as if she were having a leisurely conversation over lunch – long, complicated questions, and somehow, Google finds answers for her.
Most folks are used to their search results being a page of links to Web Pages. But at the top of the Google page, you see this . . .
 If you click on Images instead of Web, you get this . . .
 This adds a whole new dimension to your search, and depending on what you are trying to find out, the Images mode can get you answers much more quickly.
Suppose you are trying to identify a bird you see in your garden. You wonder if it might be a Juniper Titmouse. So you Google Juniper Titmouse, and here are the results in Web mode . . .
These websites would certainly be worth going through to learn about this bird, but if you search Images . . .
 How much easier it is to tell if the bird in your yard might be a Juniper Titmouse (my favorite bird, by the way).
So the next time you are searching, switch back and forth between the Web and Image search for a much richer result.
number of view: 241
Technical Tizzie . . .
The subject of photo resolution and sizing is probably one of the most confusing subjects in computer graphics, and if you don’t think it is, you probably don’t really know very much about it.
When we are talking about printed images, the subject is still complicated and needs careful consideration.
However, most of us, most of the time, are using our images on the web, where there is just one useful resolution – screen resolution of 72ppi, and our major concern is the dimensional size of the photo – since many of them come from the cameras at billboard size.
For this resizing, there are some very simple, online solutions and this is one of my favorites – a website called ShrinkPictures.com
The interface is elegant in its simplicity:
 1. You click “Choose File” to go to your computer to choose the photo you want to resize.
2. Choose your desired width in pixels. 800 pixels wide is usually the absolute maximum you would want, and 400-600 is better for most uses.
3. You could make the photo B&W or Sepia if you wanted to for some reason.
4. Choose a quality.
5. Click the Resize red button.
Some buzzing and whirring occurs and you are presented with your resized photo.
You can Right-Click on it to Save it back to your computer with a new name or just hit the provided Download link, in which case it is saved to your computer with one of those numeric gobble-de-goop names.
You can then delete the online version – or it will be automatically deleted after 2 hours.
I love this site. It should remove a lot of resizing angst for everyone working with online images.
number of view: 598
Lots of people are loving putting words on their walls, and here’s a way to make them at home – in any size you want.
It’s a great font created by Tobias Sommer that is free for personal use.
His photo explains it all. You might want to paint them over when you are done to hide the lines and dashes, but this looks like fun for both sides of your brain!
Here is the link to Tobias’s Download:
http://www.dafont.com/punched-out.font
The Page even allows you to test a word or phrase of your own – to see what the letters would look like. If anybody does this, we would love to see it!
number of view: 246
Technical Tizzie has been shaking the nuts and bolts in her head a bit, trying to figure out what she wants this blog to be. Answering questions and giving tips is part of it, but when she conceived this blog, she was thinking mostly of sharing the magic that high-tech brings to our creative lifestyle.
That thought really came home as she was helping The Art Garden put some music together for the holiday. In the “old” daze, that job would have taken days. We would have had to buy a CD/Tape player, and make a mix by recording cuts from a pile of CDs or tapes onto a single tape or CD, and then whoever was in the gallery would still have to switch the CD or tape everytime it finished.
But, no more of that! This time, we used an iPod and iTunes to compile a fascinating mix of old classics and new renditions. Odd combos like Bob Seger singing “Oh Holy Night”. Melissa Etheridge with new compositions entirely. And such.
Tizzie made a Playlist, set the iPod to play it in Shuffle mode, plugged it into one of those iPod speaker sets, and hit Play. All done – the same set of music played in different sequences for two weeks and nobody had to spend another thought or moment on it!
The only mystery for some folks might be to get your Playlist to Shuffle. Seems if you choose Shuffle Songs, and then go on to choose a Playlist, the iPod just plays the Playlist in sequence.
So, here’s the tip:
See where it says “Settings” above? That is where you set your iPod to Shuffle mode. Then you can proceed to Music and choose your Playlist. You should see the little Shuffle icon displayed. Hit Play and your Playlist will Shuffle. And that will hold true even after you turn the iPod off and on again – until you go back to Settings and turn the Shuffle off.
Now Tizzie is off to create a new, non-holiday playlist for January!
number of view: 187
Watch on YouTube
If you have not seen this before, here is almost 5 minutes of fascinating creativity. Talk about an art journal!!
number of view: 277
 As a photographer for all these years, I have used blowers and lens papers and lens cleaner until I am blue in the face, had many little bottles of lens cleaner leak in the camera bag, etc.
When I found this, in a local wild bird store of all places, I fell in love instantly. Talk about convenient!
 A Brush is recessed into one end and you extend it with the yellow slide. The brush stays clean between uses.
If you remove the cap from the other end, you have a cleaning disc that is revolutionary.
 The disc is rubber with a microfiber face that is infused with carbon – which absorbs the oils of fingerprints.
Dust and fingerprints are the worst type of dirt on our lenses, and if you wipe away finger prints with a len tissue, you smear it instead of making it disappear – even using lens cleaning fluid. Worse still, if there is a piece of grit on the lens, wiping can scratch it.
So with the lens pen, you first use the brush to get rid of any dust or grit, and then wipe any fingerprints away with the cleaning disc.
The disc is self-cleaning as well because the inside of the cap has a sponge infused with carbon, so a turn of the cap cleans the disc.
Best of all, you will find this for $9.95 in camera stores – and only $7.52 at Amazon:
Nikon Lens Pen
(Lens pens are made by one company. Nikon and other manufacturers can have them made with their own brand on them.)
Here is a 5 minute video on how this pen works.
Technical Tizzie has not forgotten about answering your questions. She has just been speeding around some serious learning curves of her own!
number of view: 217
|
|