using my cellphone

I’m guessing that many of the older picture takers among us have a mountain of slides sitting their closet in a proverbial shoebox. Hopefully they’re not collecting dust.

I was introduced to digital images in the late 1990s and since then I’ve been scanning thousands of my slides and transparencies. I started by using a reasonably priced flatbed scanner since I couldn’t justify a more expensive piece of equipment. The flatbed produced quite good results but at the expense of time and patience.

About a year ago I started using a simpler method to digitize the slides. The slides aren’t scanned. Instead I photograph each of them with a cellphone. The results are quite acceptable- image resolution and sharpness – since my goal is to archive all of these “forgotten” photos.

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Here’s how I “scanned” a slew of slides in a very short while:

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Afterward the cellphone images are transferred to my desktop or laptop. From there I can work with them using my usual editing software.

I’ve digitized hundreds of slides using the cellphone and most of them are more than acceptable for archiving my huge collection of memories and events. As a bonus for my efforts wading through these slides, I was pleasantly surprised to run across people, places and things that I haven’t thought about in many years.

Please keep in mind that if the resulting images using the cellphone do not meet your quality requirements you still can scan the originals using a more traditional scanning method.

Give this technique a try to see if the results meet your requirements.

Written by:

Arnie Lee

Hohem smartphone gimbals

For sometime now the cell phone camera has taken over as the prime means of picture taking. The same is true for taking movies. The quality of both still photos and videos are literally amazing considering that they are a secondary feature of the cell phone.

At the recent Consumer Electronics Show I stopped at the booth of Hohem. They are the makers of accessories that are attractive to users who are serious about making quality videos with their cellphone. These accessories are camera gimbals.

Gimbals are not new. A gimbal is a device that keeps the cellphone level as you pan to follow the subject resulting in smooth video. Without the gimbal the resulting video would appear jumpy from the shaking and vibration of your movement. Here’s what I learned about their accessories.

Hohem makes several other models of gimbals including one conventional (large) cameras. For more information please contact Hohem.

Written by:

Arnie Lee

Kodak branded products

Just a few booths away from a previous Kodak booth I found another with the familiar yellow Kodak background. This was an exhibit by Maxtalent a third party that produces digital products under license from Kodak.

As you can see the company has many attractive digital frames. Costs start at about $60. For more information please contact Kodak.

Written by:

Arnie Lee

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