Easy Digital Cameras

Easy Digital Cameras is part of Que Publishing’s Easy series. This series features full-color photographs and screen captures to help provide a "you are there" reading experience. This book is unusual for the primarily-software oriented series in that it deals primarily with digital camera hardware.

The book uses hands-on experience with a trio of point-and-shoot digital cameras from Kodak, Nikon, and Olympus to demonstrate typical camera setup issues such as

• date/time
• camera MP resolution/quality

Basic camera features such as

• optical and digital zoom
• exposure and focus lock
• LCD menu display and picture playback
• mode selection
• flash
• video shooting

Advanced camera features such as

• EV adjustment
• metering modes
• aperture and shutter priority
• burst mode
• white balance
• macro and scenery photography
• fill flash
• white balance
• supplementary lighting
• avoiding glare and red-eye
• ISO adjustment
• self-timer and tripod use
• night shooting
• creating a panorama

Transferring pictures via

• Windows’ Scanner and Camera Wizard
• USB flash card reader
• Direct camera connection
• Camera vendor’s software
• Camera dock

Viewing and Sharing Pictures

• Windows’ My Pictures Folder
• Windows Slideshow
• Photoshop Elements PDF Slideshow
• PowerPoint Slideshow
• Resizing pictures for emailing
• Using online photo services
• Embedding photos in a Word document
• Creating a PowerPoint slideshow

Simple Photo Repairs with Adobe Photoshop Elements

• Crop
• Edit
• Rotate
• Adjust exposure
• Remove color casts
• repairing red-eye

Photo Printing

• Printer setup (resolution, paper type)
• Windows Photo Printing Wizard
• Making Contact Sheets and Picture Packages with Adobe Photoshop Elements
• Using roll paper
• Direct printing from flash memory cards
• Printing with a printer dock

Photo Storage and Organization

• Creating folders with Scanner and Camera Wizard and Windows Explorer
• Using Windows XP and third-party CD Writing applications
• Using drag and drop
• Renaming groups of files

Other features

• Tour of typical digital camera features
• Using a scanner for scanning prints, negatives, and slides

CD includes sample photos, trial version of Adobe Photoshop Elements v2.0 (still bundled with some scanners) and bonus chapters from Easy Photoshop Elements (for v2.0)

Anecdotes, Experiences, Opinions, Comments

• Mark Edward Soper: I took most of the photos in this book in and around Evansville, Indiana. A few were contributed by Russell Shaw (http://www.russellshaw.net/).