Meeting Preview May 4, 2009
Program Preview:
Gary Spring, Ritz Camera—Digital Cameras

by Richard Corzo

We are pleased to have local camera expert Gary Spring, from Ritz Camera (http://www.ritzcamera.com) in the Plumtrees Plaza in Danbury, return to DACS, this time as the headliner for May. Last July, he was the warm up act for Lesa Snider King in a well received session on digital photography. Lesa will be coming back in July to show us her tips and tricks on using Photoshop. But, first things first, we need to talk about the tools and techniques for shooting photos. This month, Gary will have the full session to devote to the subject of digital cameras and how to take great pictures.

There are many choices when looking for digital cameras. Gary will explain how cameras seem to fall into three broad categories: point and shoot, then bridge cameras which have more manual settings, and full-bore digital SLRs with removable lenses. Find out which one is the right camera for you. He’ll explain how many megapixels we need, and what we should know about things like aspect ratio, vibration reduction, optical versus digital zoom, and the view finder.

I’ll also be interested to hear what new features are being added to digital cameras. For instance, I think built-in GPS would be interesting with photo sites like Flickr (http://www.flickr.com), that allow you to organize and search for photos by location, and with the new “Places” feature of Apple’s iPhoto ’09 (http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/).

Gary is one of the photography class trainers at Ritz, so the second part of his presentation will be to share with us some of his top tips on how to take better photos. Even if our cameras allow for some manual settings, many of us are reluctant to get off the automatic setting on the camera. There are usually settings for special situations like portraits, night shooting, and bright backgrounds such as a beach or snow. For even more control, advanced cameras will allow you to set the aperture and shutter speed.

This would be a great time to invite your friends, colleagues, and neighbors, and join us Monday, May 4 for our next general meeting.

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DACS meetings are held at the Danbury Hospital auditorium. (Click here for directions.) Activities begin at 6:30 p.m. with registration and casual networking. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. with annual members meeting and other regular features. The main presentation begins approximately at 8:00 p.m. The meeting is scheduled to adjourn at 9:30 p.m.

DACS General Meetings are free and open to the public. Members and prior attendees are encouraged to extend invitations to anyone interested in this topic.

Danbury Area Computer Society (DACS) is a registered nonprofit and has been serving the region since 1990. Members receive an award-winning newsletter, members-only workshops and events, and access to volunteer phone support.