Question for the technically gifted. . .

[GoldenRod]

How do you post pictures on a bulletin board forum like this one? Please explain to me from scratch, because I have never done this.

* What kind of digital camera?
* How do you connect the camera to the computer?
* How do you load images onto the computer?
* Where do you file the images at?
* How do you get the images to the web site?

My computer:

Mac PowerBook G4 Titanium model 800MHz/Airport/DVI/15.2" 1280x854 LCD
Operating system: Mac OSX 10.4.1 Tiger

Ports:

1. FireWire
2. Ethernet
3. USB (two)
4. DVI
5. S-vidio out
6. Audio line-in
7. 56K modem

 

[moribundman]

* What kind of digital camera?
I use currently a FUJIFILM FINEPIX S9000, but still use an old Nikon COOLPIX 950. I also scan negatives, transparancies and prints.

* How do you connect the camera to the computer?
I use Firwire for the Fuji, a card reader for the Nikon. If you buy a digital camera, it comes with software that will allow image transfer between camera and computer. Make sure system compatibility is given (Mac OSX support). It is possible that your computer will be able to download images without the included software.

* How do you load images onto the computer?
I connect the camera with a Firewire to the Mac. My iMac has a untility that allows downloading all or selected images from the camera directly into a folder of my choosing. I have also a Lexar card reader (ca $30) that can read a multitude of memory cards and sticks. The card reader comes with software that allows downloading of all or selected images into any folder on the computer.

* Where do you file the images at?
I just keep them in folders that are labeled with the shooting location and date, or for example a folder name like "A4 brake" and "Yosemite 5/04."

* How do you get the images to the web site?
Remember, you need a place that will host your images. You can use webspace that you own (your own site). You will need a file uploader program like Fetch that allows you to upload images to your own webspace.
Alternatively and more conveniently, you can get free webspace for your images. I recommend http://photobucket.com/ photobucket.com. Whichever host you choose, make sure to pick one that allows "remote loading." Some places do not allow direct linking (displaying) of images on sites other than the free one. photobucket allows remote loading.

A bit more info:

How do you get images from your computer (or any image already online!) on the free site? It is very simple, because sites like photobucket.com come with a file uploader. You can simply browse files on your computer with this utility and upload to the site. The site also offers a free and very convenient photo album, which makes finding images easy. In addition, you can easily link your images, because URL, HTML and UBB code are displayed for each image.

You should sign up with photobucket and try out their service. You can upload any jpg and gif images. If they are large (file size, not dimension), photobucket will automatically resize (dimensions and file size) to 250 kb, I believe. Just play around with photobucket and see if you like them. There are similar free hosts like http://imageshack.us/ imageshack or http://www.imagecabin.com/ . I find photobucket to be the most reliable of the litter -- which is important, for example if you use a hosted image in an ebay auction.

I hope this helps a little.

PS: In case you are in the market for a digital camera, you may want to compare cameras on this very helpful site.

 

[GoldenRod]

THANGQ mori

 

[Matt_S]

For those PC users that aren't familiar with a digital camera, you don't need any special software to get the images from it. Just hook it to the PC with a USB cable and it'll show up as a "Removable Disk" in My Computer or Windows Explorer. You can just drag and drop the images to your hard disk from there. I usually open up anything I'm going to post and resize it down to 800x600 max.

 

[moribundman]

Regarding the size of images, for heaven's sake, people, size your images. That means size them in terms of dimensions and file size. If you have imaging software, save your images "for web" as optimized JPGs (quality setting 60-70 is fine for web). That saves a lot of webspace and shortens loading times considerably, especially for those on dial-up.

 

[AndyH]

quote:

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Originally posted by Matt_S:
For those PC users that aren't familiar with a digital camera, you don't need any special software to get the images from it. Just hook it to the PC with a USB cable and it'll show up as a "Removable Disk" in My Computer or Windows Explorer. You can just drag and drop the images to your hard disk from there.

---

Sadly this isn't always true. For instance my Nikon CoolPix 990 was not recognized by my WinXP laptop until I installed the software that came with the camera. However, it was recognized by my Mac G3 without installing a thing.

On the other hand, a slightly newer Olympus digital camera that we have here in the office didn't require any software to be loaded on the same laptop...it just shows up in My Computer as another drive. I think the difference is that some digicams are "mass storage" compliant, while older ones may or may not be.

 

[sxg6]

How do you post pictures on a bulletin board forum like this one? Please explain to me from scratch, because I have never done this.

* nikon coolpix 5400
* i dont connect my camera to my computer. i take the compactflash drive out and plug it into a card reader, which is plugged into one of my usb ports
* i find the drive the computer assigned the compactflash card to, open the folder, and just drag and drop the folder of images onto my desktop
* anywhere, my desktop is where i do it.
* i either use the webspace given to me by comcast, or i use the webspace i have for my own personal web site. many isp's give you a little bit of webspace, so id check with that before going to a free hosting service, because isp webspace will be much more reliable and faster to load.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Pretty much any digicam that you buy will have instructions on how to do all of the things you asked, except for the last point which mori explained well. You just have to RTFM.

 

[The Critic]

quote:

---

Originally posted by moribundman:
How do you get images from your computer (or any image already online!) on the free site? It is very simple, because sites like photobucket.com come with a file uploader. You can simply browse files on your computer with this utility and upload to the site. The site also offers a free and very convenient photo album, which makes finding images easy. In addition, you can easily link your images, because URL, HTML and UBB code are displayed for each image.

You should sign up with photobucket and try out their service. You can upload any jpg and gif images. If they are large (file size, not dimension), photobucket will automatically resize (dimensions and file size) to 250 kb, I believe. Just play around with photobucket and see if you like them. There are similar free hosts like http://imageshack.us/ imageshack or http://www.imagecabin.com/ . I find photobucket to be the most reliable of the litter -- which is important, for example if you use a hosted image in an ebay auction.

---

I disagree with the photobucket recommendation and would instead recommend using Flickr, which is a beta photo hosting service by Yahoo. Instaed of an actual storage capacity limit, it goes by the amount of bandwith you use monthly.

It also gives you the option of uploading by e-mail instead of having to use the website. With Flickr, upon uploading your image, you'll automatically be given the options of four different sizes of the photos. For example, you can upload a full sized version of a photo, and it'll give you five different sizes: thumbnail, small, medium, and large. That way, you can use the one with the appropriate size...ex: thumbnail for avatar, medium for BITOG, etc.

Also, if you're looking for a digital camera, the Canon SD300 is excellent.

 

[moribundman]

Michael, I'm not familiar with the image hosting site you mention. There are now so many of them. The option of having automatically four image sizes available is surely great for people who don't have or don't want to use imaging software. Anything that helps people post reasonably-sized images is good in my book!

As for bandwith, I'm sure all free hosts set a monthly bandwidth limit. Again, sizing your images smartly comes into play! photobucket.com has never caused a problem for me.

quote:

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Also, if you're looking for a digital camera, the Canon SD300 is excellent.

---

Without knowing his needs, it's not possible to make a good recommendation. We don't even know what sort of subject he favors. The SD300 is one of a number of decent point&shoot cameras that are tiny enough to always carry along.

 

[michaelc80]

Mori,
Really, we like those full, life-sized images! I enjoy scrolling back and forth to read the text. Plus, I like to see acres of background that has nothing to do with the subject matter of the photo.