- The rapidly changing features and specifications of digital cameras makes it difficult to recommend any particular camera model or brand from one month to the next.
The information on this page provides a brief overview of some of the options in the "point & shoot" category. Specialist magazines and online reviews provide an up-to-date comparison of the features of different models.
Reviews & comparisons
- DC Resource Page
Steve's DigiCams
Digital Photography Review
Photozone - Lens Reviews
The Digital Picture (Canon Reviews)
- Retailers (Australia)
- Teds
Digital City
Digital House
Camera House
Camera Store
Digital Camera Warehouse
eBay
Storage devices (Australia) - Zytech
Harris Technology
Manufacturers- Canon, Epson, Fuji, HP, Kodak, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Ricoh, Sony, etc
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- Panorama Stitching
- Joining photos to form a panorama:
Hugin (Mac, Win, Lin)
Open-source stitcher.
AutoStitch (Win)
Trial available.
AutoPano (Mac)
Demo version available.
Microsoft ICE (Win)
Free
Photo Organisation- Downloading, organising, cataloguing and printing photos from digital cameras:
Adobe PhotoAlbum Starter (Win)
Free PhotoAlbum starter edition. Also organises video clips!
iPhoto (Mac)
Brilliant software for organising and sharing digital photos. Part of iLife.
iPhoto Library Manager (Mac)
Provides access to multiple photo libraries, and allows multiple users to share a common photo library - such as on a school photo server.
Picasa (Mac & Win)
Organise, view & print photos in albums. Free.
Movie Montage (Mac & Win)
- Cataloguing application, similar to iPhoto, but just for QT movies (from your digital photo camera). Note - iPhoto will also display video from your camera.
Thumbnailers/Web Albums - Automatically create a web page of thumbnail-sized photographs, linked to the full-size item:
iPhoto (OS X) - provides a neat "built-in" thumbnail export option.
Galerie (OS X)
Very neat Web Album generator, for photos and QT movies, with a range of templates. Free.
TalaPhoto (Mac)
Create web galleries, slide shows, contact sheets, etc. Free option.
BetterHTML Export (OS X)
A plug-in to enhance iPhoto's web export function. Shareware.
Web Album Generator (Win)
Free Web Album generator with templates, etc.
Other Web Album software
PhotoPage Free. (OS9, OSX)
Softdd (Win)
Smaller Animals (Win)
Easy Thumbnails (Win)
Photo Editing Software
Commercial Software- Adobe (Mac & Win)
PhotoShop, Elements and LightRoom.
Macromedia (Mac & Win)
Fireworks provides similar features to PhotoShop, though is aimed more at Web publishing. (Adobe has purchsed the Macromedia company and their product range may soon be rationalised.)
Aperture (Mac)
Designed for professional photographers, Aperture is an all-in-one post-production tool.
iPhoto (Mac)
Provides full range of basic editing functions. Part of iLife.
Freeware/shareware- GraphicConverter (Mac)
The Swiss Army knife of Mac graphics programs. Reads & saves in a huge variety of formats. Shareware.
Image Tricks (Mac)
Apply a wide variety of effects to photos. Free.
iResize (Mac)
Batch resize and compress images.
Irfan View (Win)
Useful for screen captures and general graphics editing. Free.
LiveQuartz (Mac)
Powerful image editor with a range of tools and layers. Donation.
Photofiltre (Win)
Full featured graphics editing. Free.
PicSizer (Win)
Resize an entire folder of photos with one click. Free.
Resize (Mac, Win)
Resize an entire folder of photos with one click. Free.
Seashore (Mac)
- A full-featured image editor. Includes textures, gradients, anti-aliasing, etc.
SmallImage (Mac)
Batch process JPEG files, resize, recompress, etc.
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- Wazza's Notes
- Digital Photos in OS X (pdf - 450k)
The basics of downloading, organising, printing and editing digital photos using iPhoto.
Digital Photos in Win XP (pdf - 400k)
The basics of downloading, viewing and printing digital photos using Windows XP wizards.
iPhoto Web Albums (pdf - 980k)
How to share your iPhoto Albums on a school intranet, using iPhoto's Web Export option.
iWeb Web Albums (pdf - 1.4Mb)
Use iWeb to create and publish photo albums on a school intranet site.
Googlepages Album (pdf - 655k)
How to include your photos in a free Googlepages website.
iPhoto Sharing (pdf - 601k)
How to share your iPhoto albums on a school network using iPhoto's built-in sharing option.
Photo Resizing (pdf - 846k)
How to resize your hi-res digital photos to a smaller size for inclusion in web pages and presentations (using iPhoto on Mac and Picacsa on Win).
Adobe Digital Kids Club - Digital photography tips, lesson activities, showcase and tutorials.
Apple LearningInterchange- Includes some ideas for classroom application.
Claymation- Claymation how-tos, software, and a showcase.
O'Reilly's Top Ten- 10 tips for taking better photos with your digital camera.
The Digital Picture- Reviews and tips - Canon related.
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- When shopping for a point 'n' shoot photo camera, the features you should consider are:
- - picture quality;
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storage capacity;
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optical zoom;
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battery type and life;
- physical size;
- shutter delay.
- How you prioritise each of the above depends on how you plan to use your camera.
Picture Quality
- How many mega-pixels do you need?
This criteria is becoming less of an issue as even lowest cost cameras now have resolutions of 7Mp. (A bigger issue influencing picture quality is now the quality of the lens.)
For school newsletters, web pages etc, cameras with even 2 Mp resolution will be just fine (if you can still buy any of these!), but may look "grainy" if printed at "photo quality".
If you want to extensively crop your photos, or print them at A4 size, then you will need a camera in the 7+ Mp range.
The higher the resolution of your images (more Mp), the more capacity you need for storage.
Storage Capacity- The standard 16Mb supplied with most cameras is completely inadequate.
You will need to purchase an additional memory card, at least 1Gb, or more if you buy a high-resolution camera. Fortunately memory cards are now relatively inexpensive.
The "speed" of your memory card affects the time that it takes to write data to the card. "Pro" cards are usually a better buy for a better quality camera.
Zoom- Ignore any advertised claims about digital zoom. It is useless!
3x optical zoom is pretty much the entry-level standard, and is OK for "happy snaps". 6x optical zoom will allow you to "frame" photos, as well as get some close-ups at kids' sport events. There are quite a few cameras now with 10x optical zoom, and some with 18x, and while these cameras are relatively expensive, they can be paricularly useful if you have the need for this facility.
Battery Type & Life- You will definitely need rechargeable batteries. Digital cameras consume battery charge very quickly.
If you choose a camera which uses "standard" sized batteries (such as "AA") you can buy some temporary replacements when you get caught short in between charges.
Compact cameras often use proprietry batteries - so check how many photos you can take with one charge, compare this to how many photos you can store on your memory card, and maybe think about buying an additional battery.
Physical size- This may or may not be important. If you want a "small" pocket or purse-sized camera you may have to compromise on some of the other features. Many of the new compact cameras pack most of the regular features into their small enclosure - but you pay a premium price for this.
Shutter delay- Largly an issue in days gone by, but when you press the shutter on cheaper digital cameras check the length of the delay while the camera auto-focuses, etc.
If you plan to take any "action" photos, then check that any delay is acceptable.
More recent cameras are reducing this delay considerably.
Digital Single Lens Reflex (SLR)- While compact point 'n' shoot digital cameras are great for general use, DSLR cameras are the preferred choice of the camera enthusiast, giving more control over exposure settings, and accepting a wide range of accessories. DSLR cameras are gradually becoming much more affordable - but many of the DSLR features are also becoming available in non-DSLR cameras.
For School...- Smaller isn't always better for school use.
While all the above info is relevant for schools, if you can find an old Sony Mavica (with it's floppy disk drive!) buried away in a storeroom, it still takes some beating for use in a school environment. (And is a real novelty for students!)
The Mavica was a sturdy unit, and stored photos on 20c floppy disks, rather than $50 memory cards. Every student could have their own disk, then pass the camera on to the next student or class, without downloading their photos to a computer.
The earlier Mavicas' picture quality was only 1 Mp, (more recent Mavicas were 2 Mp) which is perfect for on-screen viewing, and fine for most school documents printed for mass-distribution.
And because they are "old" and bulky , they are less likely to be stolen!
While you may not be able to purchase these cameras now, think about durability, battery charging (on excursions), photo storage and distribution to multiple users when choosing a camera for use at school.
There are heaps of individual camera reviews at DC Resource Page, or in magazines at the local newsagent.
Most manufactuers have a low-cost camera suitable for use in classrooms, and retailers such as Dick Smith often have bulk-buy or runout specials for these type of cameras.
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- Taking your digital photos to the local photo shop is probably the most cost-effective way to print your photos.
Top-quality glossy prints are not always necessary for school use. However, most entry-level inkjet printers with the word "photo" in their name can produce very good results.
Always remember that on-screen presentations, newsletter photos, project reports, etc, don't need "photo quality" output.
However, it is sometimes useful to be able to print "one-offs" in-house, for school or personal use.
Epson, Canon, Lexmark and HP have some very good printers starting at around $AU200.
More printer info at:
Steve's Photo Printer Reviews
PC World's Inkjet Printer Review
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- See Wazza's Page Layout info for links to stock image libraries.
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- WebCam software takes a snapshot from a video camera and uploads it to a web server at a pre-set interval.
See wazza's WebCam software links at Wazza's Video page.
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