The Umbrella Online Journal, January 2003 TUG Tidbits

NEXT MEETING: First, let me clear up the confusing part. Our general meeting, at the Virginia Beach Central Library, will be held JANUARY 18th. That is the third Saturday of the month. The SIG meeting will be, as usual, at the MacArthur Memorial on January 11th. That is the second Saturday of the month. I will be doing the presentation that was originally scheduled for December. The topic is Computer Speed and Specifications. It is about the latest specifications for home PC’s like bus speeds, latest processor’s, and throughput of peripherals. It is also about compatibility and what components work with other components.

Near the top of the hit parade was a discussion about the club purchasing a projection unit to connect to the PC. Doing a presentation, either at the general meeting or SIG, is difficult without being able to display the monitor on a large screen. Getting the library’s projector has become increasingly difficult and is, at best, a hit-and-miss proposition. Anyway, the end result of the discussion is that we are going to purchase a projector. The same committee designated to research projectors has been delegated to purchase one. All we have to do is find the right one at the right price. So if you are reading this, own an audio/visual sales company, and are filled with the spirit of Christmas (or even partially full), feel free to give us a call.

Tied to the topic of buying a projector was the topic of an auction. At our January meeting we will have an auction with the proceeds going directly toward the purchase of a projector. Ann Harney brought the good stuff for auction. Included among the items are a bobble-head doll (how can you live without something like this), a copy of Microsoft’s Digital Image Pro (a picture editing software package), and a copy of Microsoft's Front Page 2002 , a WEB page design software package. This is some good stuff. Additionally, we will auction our old display unit. It is a display panel that is placed on top of an overhead viewer. The panel will display up to 640 X 480 resolution. The overhead projector will also be auctioned.

The next topic to be discussed was next year’s schedule of presentations and presenters. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t all that difficult to put together the entire year's schedule. People brought up topics they would like to hear about and then we put names and dates to those topics. And in MOST cases, the person assigned to a topic was even present at the meeting. Here is what we are looking at in 2003:

January	John Newenstyn	Computer speed and specifications
February	Mark Johnson	Tax preparation software
March	Mike Rapp	Desktop publishing
April	Joe Towell	Personal digital assistants / Palm Pilots
May	Mark Johnson	Self Installation of Cox Internet
June	Ann Harney	Web page design
July	Dick Bagby	Graphics cards
August	Gene Strommen	Transferring video to DVD and CDR disks
September	John Newenstyn	USB and USB 2 peripherals including solid state drives
October	Gene Strommen	Transferring audio records to CD and hard disks
November	Charles Prohaska	Photo editing software
December	Ian Howard	Operating system installation and specifications

The last topic of discussion (before Q&A) was one that many eagerly look forward to each year. No, not Christmas gifts, it’s elections. After an exhaustive screening process of the hoards of volunteers for office, a single slate of officers was put together and voted on. Triumphant over the arduous election process are the following fine, kind-hearted people:

IMPORTANT NOTE ON MEETING TIMES AND PLACES: The first few months in 2003 will be a little confusing so make note of the following information.

JANUARY-We do not have the library until Jan. 18th. The SIG will be unchanged. It will be the second Saturday at MacArthur Center. TUG’s general meeting will be at the Virginia Beach Central Library on JANUARY 18TH.

FEBRUARY-We are unable to get the Central Library for our general meeting. Meeting place is still to be determined. SIG will be as normal.

APRIL-The April meeting time and place is still up in the air. Stand by for more information.

SIG MEETING: The primary focus of this month’s SIG meeting was to take some pictures around MacArthur Center, download them, and discuss them. Before we went outside, Gene Strommen gave us an idea of what the well-dressed digital photographer might be sporting these days. It started with a camera bag. And that makes sense because you can’t very well have stuff if you don’t have a thing to put the stuff in.

Then Gene talked about filters, including neutral density (ND) filters, polarizing filters, UV filters, and a couple others. A lens cleaning kit was next. Hopefully, you have a UV filter on your camera so the filter will get dirty and not the lens itself. Either way, a lens cleaning kit is important. Gene also mentioned to make sure you use an appropriate lens cleaning solution and not something like glass cleaner. Camera lenses have a special coating on them and using the wrong solution to clean them can ruin the coating and therefore ruin the lens.

Gene then discussed the benefits of carrying extra memory cards and spare battery (batteries). Even if you have a notebook computer or device like a digital wallet with you, it can be beneficial to have spare memory cards. The idea would be to download your pictures to an external storage device and also keep the pictures on the memory card. That way you have backup copies. If you do have several memory cards for your digital camera, then this next tip Gene had should be pretty helpful. Gene numbers his memory cards. That way, as he fills one up he will know exactly which memory card to take next. That’s a lot handier than trying to figure out if your next memory card has pictures already on it or not.

And what camera kit would be complete with out an extra lens or two. For many digital cameras you can get a telephoto or wide-angle attachment. Typically, these will screw into the filter threads of your camera. Gene also mentioned a tripod. A somewhat clumsy thing to carry around, but a very useful thing to have.

And if you want to complete your digital photography kit with everything you need to take, AND LOOK at pictures, consider a little portable printer. Gene had his HP Photo Smart 100 printer with him. To me, it looks more like a little “printerette”. It is very small and specially built to print 4” X 6" pictures. The cool thing is that you don’t even need a computer to use it. Just insert the memory card into the printer and go from there. It can also print an index page of all the pictures on the memory card. All this, of course, is divided into two groups. The stuff you want to take out on site with you when you take pictures, and the stuff you would leave in the hotel room, house, or wherever.

Is all this too much stuff? It might be, but then if you are the photo equivalent of a geek, it may not be enough. Who’s to say? Personally, I believe you can never have too many toys. Especially when they are as useful as everything Gene talked about.

Next on the agenda was to go out and take pictures. Those of us that had our cameras went outside and started taking pictures on the grounds of the MacArthur Center. During the picture taking, some discussion ensued regarding various photo techniques like lighting and composition. We even had a squirrel pose for us. No, I’m not being rude; I mean a real squirrel.

And theeeeennn, came the true realization of the wonders of modern science! Oops, sorry, got carried away. But we did get to see how the photography world interacts with the computer world. Gene inserted the memory cards from the cameras into his notebook computer and downloaded the pictures. He then displayed the pictures in a slideshow. And we use to think the one-hour photo lab was quick.

These are examples of John Newenstyn's photography. I asked him his thoughts on photography. "A lot of thinking goes on when taking pictures. I like to look for contrast in lighting. I like to look for unusual angles. Sometimes I like to look for textures, which is why I took the pictures of the cobblestone and ivy. And the other thing is: every object has the perfect angle from which to take a picture, the photographer simply has to find it." Good job, John! He uses a Sony DSC-F707 digital camera with a 5x lens and five (5) megapixels! It is the first "Night Vision" digicam. See some additional photos from this day. [Editor]

President	Ann Harney
Vice President	Joe Tanory
Treasurer	Mike Rapp
Secretary	Robert Cruse