Digital Help

Digital Help is designed to aid you in getting the most from your digital photography, printing, scanning, and image creation. Each month, David Brooks provides solutions to problems you might encounter with matters such as color calibration and management, digital printer and scanner settings, and working with digital photographic images with many different kinds of cameras and software. All questions sent to him will be answered with the most appropriate information he can access and provide. However, not all questions and answers will appear in this department. Readers can send questions to David Brooks addressed to Shutterbug magazine, through the Shutterbug website (www.shutterbug.com), directly via e-mail to: editorial@shutterbug.com or fotografx@mindspring.com or by US Mail to: David Brooks, PO Box 2830, Lompoc, CA 93438.

Digital Camera Viewing, Framing, And Focusing
Q. I am an amateur photographer and shoot with a Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D and haven't quite had it a year yet. I somehow have turned off the LCD display and can only shoot using the viewfinder. I've read the manual, checked the Internet, and checked with Ritz Camera where the camera was purchased and I still cannot get an answer on how to get it reset to use the LCD when shooting. Can you help?
Joan Coggins

A. Most digital SLR cameras like the Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D, unlike point-and-shoot compact digital cameras, do not support the use of the rear LCD panel as a viewfinder. A digital SLR like your Maxxum 5D is only intended to be used by viewing directly through the lens with its eye-level viewfinder. Then, once an exposure is made, the photo taken can be displayed and reviewed by the LCD screen. Some digital SLR cameras, like the latest models from Olympus, do support a "Live View" by containing two sensors, one for taking and one for viewing, and we will wait to see if this feature is eventually incorporated in the next crop of digital SLRs from other makers as well.

Shutterbug Reader Photo Gallery
Q. Can you please tell me how I can have my own photo gallery like the ones on your website? I would love to put some of my photos on the Internet for people to see and comment on.
Deborah Boyle
Brampton, Ontario
Canada

A. To join the Shutterbug Forum, go to the URL: http://forum.shutterbug.com/forum/ubbthreads.php, and click on the "Photo Art Shows" section. Then make a post with your request for help with your gallery and address it to Larry Berman, the moderator of that section. I am sure you'll get a conversation going that will result in learning how to set up your own gallery on the Internet. Or you can simply go to the Shutterbug site and after signing up post your images in our Galleries section.

Digital LCD Projectors Do Not Support Photo Slide Shows
Q. I resisted going digital for years until my SLR manufacturer made a digital body to accept my collection of lens. However, I am still frustrated by having to print slides in order for my travelogs to give equal treatment to my many vertical- or portrait-oriented images. Surely the lens does not care which is the long axis. Why doesn't one of the manufacturers of electronic projectors make a model that caters to the photographer rather than the computer? Why can't the electronic aspects be "equi-axised" like the optics? It seems, however, that very little real modification (except for the "equi-axised" dimension of the display chip) would be needed.
Pat Gallagher

A. The answer is that almost all of the sales of LCD digital projectors actually go to the business market and are used for PowerPoint-type presentations. The photographers using these projectors are so few that there is not enough of a market to justify designing and making an LCD projector that would accommodate images in Portrait mode. However, there might be an exception in the future. That said, because it is a relatively small market the individual units would be expensive.
What you refer to as "equi-axised dimension of the display chip" is in reality a micro high-resolution LCD display screen. It is the heart of an LCD projector, as well as being a major part of the cost in producing such a device. The LCD projector's LCD display screen would have to be redesigned and made larger by increasing its vertical dimension to make it square, which would greatly increase the cost. Considering only photographers and a few others would make up a potential market for such a projector, I would seriously doubt that any one of the few prime manufacturers would be interested in investing in its production.

ANNOUNCEMENT
I am pleased to announce a new Bonus Edition adding five chapters to my eBook DIGITAL DARKROOM RESOURCE CD. The CD now contains 21 chapters totaling 266 pages in Adobe Acrobat .PDF format, providing easy-to-read text and large high-quality illustration. The CD is available for $20 plus $2 shipping and handling (US Mail if available). Ordering is as simple as sending a check or money order for $22 made out to me, David B. Brooks, and mailed to PO Box 2830, Lompoc, CA 93438.