It's Will Crockett here and thanks for tuning into the Steve & Johnnie show.

WE ARE MOVING THIS PAGE TO FACEBOOK! PLEASE JOIN US HERE:

make BETTER digital pictures with Will Crockett

February, 2010
Picasa, free software that's GREAT!
The Picasa software from the folks at Google is terrific. You download it for your PC or your Mac and it will organize your photos for you, let you group them as needed, edit them, modify them and even share them online as easy as can be. We will discuss it and take your questions about it as well the the vast array of photo questions that pile in. Thanks!

January, 2010
The Photo of the Year!
Here it is... after a whole year of monthly photo contests, the winner is chosen and will receive a GREAT camera as first prize. Listen in as we take your camera question calls and pick the best photo of the year.

December, 2009
Holiday Camera Recommendations
This is the best year ever for great cameras at terrific prices. With so many to choose from I've had a hard time narrowing it down to only five, but here they are on an easy to print out PDF file for you to either view or download.
to VIEW the page, click here.
or to DOWNLOAD the page to print out, click here.

November, 2009
Holiday Photo Gift Idea...
Ready to take LOTS of great photos this Holiday season? Well, download your pictures from your camera to your computer wirelessly using one of my all-time favorite photo products. The Eye-fi is only $70 for the "Home" version (which is just fine) actually an sD card that replaces the one in your camera and also includes an small antenna that will move your files through your home wireless network. Hop onto their website and click on the video demo in the upper right corner for more info?

October, 2009
Moms, Grams, Daughters - the ultimate ChickCam!
I have found a crazy fun little camera in my testing that EVERY female in my family coos over. Guys, well, you'll most likely not fall in love with it but will find it acceptable (besides the pink one!) for your family pictures. The Sony CyberShot W220 is a pocket / purse sized digicam with all the usual features I tend to recommend like image stabilization, decent low light shooting quality and an easy menu. But this little camera has a few more features that are pretty, well cute.
For $170, you can get this camera in pink, blue, silver or black and use it's EASY mode which will figure out if you are indoors or out, shooting people or landscapes, and auto adjust accordingly. And do a darned good job at it too. But, ...wait for it... here's the chick magnet: the Smile Shutter mode. Oh boy. Set the cam to the smiley face on the menu dial and press the shutter one time. It will not snap the picture until it detects a smile on the persons face. LOL!! No kidding! It works GREAT for getting smiles out of ole grouches like Steve King.
It's lightweight, 12MP, not too expensive, has a decent 4X zoom, makes cute sounds when you are using it, comes in cool colors, has a bright screen, and is easy to use. Oh, the pictures it makes, are just fine for a less-than-$200 camera.
The downside is that it uses the stupid Sony Memory Stick memory cards. I hate 'em. Why won't Sony follow Fuji's lead and drop the porprietary memory card in favor of the typical sD ones found everywhere? Who knows. But don't let it stop you from buying this ChickCam for yourself or the gals in your life - they will LOVE it.

September, 2009
Budget Busters! GREAT cameras for less than $150!
I am shocked at how much digital camera you can buy for under $150. Wow! Here's my list of best picks for low bux:

SAMSUNG SL30 $90 (10MP, 3X zoom) info here is a pocket sized wonder that is very simple to use, has a nice screen on the back and has a decent image stabilization system to reduce blurry photos. The flash is not so terrific, and it does seem to use the battery a little fast, but the rest of the camera is great.

Will's rating: 6.5 out of 10 clicks.
Need a good spot to buy one? Beach Camera for $89 here.

CASIO EXILIM EX-S5 $150 (10MP, 3X zoom) info here is a cool looking pocket sized camera that comes in some hip colors (as well as black and silver) that offers LOTS of great features in a small size that is easy to use. I LOVE Casio's menu and face detection way of autofocussing, and it's greatly improved low-light picture quality. It's quick to respond, even with the flash on making is good choice for snapshots at the last second. Not a super-durable case and the colors are scuffed easily.
Will's rating: 7 out of 10 clicks.
Need a good spot to buy one? B&H Camera for $149 here.

FUJIFILM J20 $120 (10MP, 3X zoom) info here is a "plain jane" kind of pocket sized camera that offers a handful of good, useable features in a rugged case and makes amazing images. The clear, colorful photos out of this little camera with a BIG bright viewing screen are impressive - even in low light and using flash. Fuji does have some "issues" with getting your camera repaired, so use it carefully?
Will's rating: 7 out of 10 clicks.
Need a good spot to buy one? B&H Camera for $110 here.

Here's a shot I took last week with the Fuji J20 that was REALLY impressive:

August, 2009
Questions and answers from Will (and one camera review too!)
Please call or email in your questions tonite and we will do are best to get to as many as we can.
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3 ($400) is a very good to excellent camera in the pocket-sized category but as much as we had hoped for it to be the same amazing picture quality as the Lumix LX3, it's not. That does not mean it's bad, so let's try not to compare it. The LX3 is a "super premium" camera with the price tag to match. This ZS3 is a camera that can stand up to it's competitors with a 10 MP sensor (more than most folks will ever need) a really good 12X optical zoom with image stabilization, and easy to use controls.
I've shot this camera on 2 trips now and used it under all kids of outdoor and indoor conditions with very good results. I'm happy with the results overall but it's low-light picture quality was the disappointing part. I think a $400 camera should do better under low light picture quality, but other than that - it's all good. I like the lens, the speed that it shoots and stores images, I love the menus, it's good with battery power - all the usual bug-A-boos are no problem. However, I would not recommend this camera to many folks because the value for the dollar is just not there. If it were $280, I would be all over it and it would be a top choice.
If you can spare the bux and want a superb pocket sized camera, then go with the Lumix LX3 or the slightly large in size and complexity Canon G10. And if you want a terrific camera for a good value, jump on the Canon SX110 below. : )
WC

July, 2009
Portable (and easy) photo and video backup from your camera or card... or computer.
You say you are on a vacation, or at the zoo and you are shooting tons of pictures or digital video footage that you want to "backup" or make a spare digital copy of? Well have I got the answer for you!
The NEXTO eXtreme is a cool little 3x5 inch box that is only 1 inch thick that houses a hard drive, rechargeable battery, camera memory card slots, USB port, and small computer screen for making fast and simple backups of your picture files and or video footage in seconds. You simply connect your still camera or video camera to the Nexto with the USB cable that came with your camera, or you can slide out the sD or CF card that is inside your camera (or pinch the great shots off of your pals camera) and make a duplicate of the file right on the Nexto. No computer needed. Speaking of computers, this will attach to your computer (Mac or PC) via USB and act as an external hard drive so re-copying the files from the Nexto to your computer is a snap.
It comes with a small (very portable) AC power cord to charge the Nextos internal (non-removable) battery and as you can see it has only one button that's used to power up, move through a super simple menu, and power down.
Cost is less than you would expect at about $240 for 160G hard drive capacity (40,000 10MP jpeg photos!) to $340 for the 500G (125,000 BIG photo files!) model I have put through the paces in my testing. It's light weight, metal case and simple design make it ideal for point-and-shooters thru pros alike.
Here's an excellent source to buy them from.

.

June, 2009
Photo contest winner, camera suggestion for summer vacation, FIREWORKS TIPS!
Looking for a terrific summer fun / vacation camera? I have just the ticket. Canon's PowerShot SX110 IS is about to be replaced by a very different camera and it's a shame because this 10X zoom lens is excellent, it's controls are typical Canon simple yet powerful, the images it takes under all kinds of conditions are great, AND it's a bargain at $240 is about $100 less than what it's worth. It's a mid-sized camera, but will fit in a bigger pocket without trouble.
So if you are looking for a travel camera that will be as durable as it is great at taking snaps, here's your deal of this summer. Expect it to be available in stored through August but I don't expect the price to drop much more.

Fireworks Tips!
Let's make some great summer photos with fireworks! The "pro" fireworks shows are much easier to photograph than the illegal displays found out on on North Avenue over this upcoming weekend, but these tips will work well for both!:

TIP ONE: Use a Tripod to keep your camera still. Simply point your camera at the spot you expect the best fireworks to pop up at, and place it so it's out of the way of others sightlines, as well as not having to shoot through any fences to get the best shots.

TIP TWO: Use MANUAL or SHUTTER ("S" or "T") Priority exposure on the camera - not program mode. Then set the camera to make 4 second to 8 second exposures (after it gets good and dark) and test a few shots. If you camera has a custom function FIREWORKS mode - use it! It's terrific!

TIP THREE: Set your ISO to 50 or 100 and if you have a color control menu item, choose the VIVID or COLOR SATURATION item to boost the colors.

TIP FOUR: Fresh batteries (and backups too!) and extra cards. Long exposures will EAT batteries and plan on shooting LOTS of pics to get just a few good ones. A memory card of 2G is the smallest I would try, a 4G card should do it - or 2, 2G cards.

TIP FIVE: Practice the night before! : )

May, 2009
Photo contest winner, new contest, and software picks for better photos.
What a terrific response from our first photo contest! We will pick a winner tonite to win the really cool Manfrotto tripod from our good friends at Bogen Imaging.

PHOTO SOFTWARE PICKS - ORGANIZING:
For ORGANIZING your photos into a manageable system with the ability to make color and cropping changes too:
PC Computers running Windows XP or Vista:
Ulead Photo Explorer 8.5, $29,
Easy to learn and use, low cost, fast, and offers plenty of flexibility. More info, and download a trial for free here.
ACDSee Photo Manager 2009, $49.
My favorite for PC, it's got plenty of organizing power, extremely fast, allows excellent photo repairs of highlights (very bright areas) and shadows from poor exposures. Adds custom borders and text too. More info a free download trial here.

FOR PC OR MAC COMPUTERS:
Picasa 3, free,
and really terrific. What an easy way to store and share your photos. For the price, it's tough to beat, but you will find our other choices to be a little more flexible, refined, and faster too. More info and downloads here.

FOR MAC COMPUTERS:
iPhoto, free version installed on any Mac, upgrade to iLife version for $79.
Wow, what a wonderful piece of software. It organizes your photos easily into albums or groups, makes sweet slide shows and even recognizes faces for puling your photos together by the person IN the picture. I LOVE it. More info here.

PHOTO SOFTWARE PICKS - EDITING:
If you are a bit more adventurous and want to get into EDITING or ALTERING your photos with a more powerful set of tools that will make major color, contrast, cropping changes to your photos for professional quality images and prints, here's two to check out:

FOR PC OR MAC COMPUTERS:
Adobe Photoshop Elements 7, $89.
Here's the "photo enthusiasts" version of the high -end pro program that is the standard of every photo studio. It's got some friendly actions (aka wizards) in it to help you make great photos as well as scrapbook pages and photo books. For more info and to download a free trial, hop on here.

FOR PC ONLY:
Corel Paint Shop Pro X2, $69.
What a bargain! Here's an extremely powerful photo editing tool for your PC that offers better import and organizing features than Photoshop elements, a GREAT "autopreserve" for your original files, and automated "repair" functions too. For more info and to download a free trial, visit here.

April, 2009
New Photo Contest and two GREAT Cameras.
How cool is the new photo contest page from WGN Radio? VERY COOL! Hop on here and add your "Signs of Spring" images for this months contest. One lucky photographer will get a great Manfrotto tripod courtesy of Bogen Imaging.

Looking for a terrific new digital point and shoot?
Steve's LOVING his new Panasonic Lumix LX3, see below from last months review of that camera. It's nothing short of amazing... but it's pricey.
On a budget and need a superb "all-around" pocket-sized camera? Take a look at the Canon SD880 IS camera ($250) with easy to use controls, small metal case, retracting lens with image stabilization. This is the camera I bought for my favorite Mother-in-law Muriel (so it's easy to use too!). Very good low light shooting and well worth the pricetag. Here's a shot below I just did in the cavern which is the WGN Radio shipping dock at 11pm! The top of the image is from the cameras flash, then bottom is the low light exposure - pretty neato!

March, 2009
Is there a new Polaroid?
Do you miss your old "Polaroid" type instant cameras where the photo pops out? They are still around, but just barely. Here's two that we have purchased and reviewed due to the unusually high requests for info on the from my This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it email box.
So if you want the ability to snap a picture and have the camera spit out a print that you can watch develop right infront of your eyes, you have 2 good choices right now and here they are:

The Fujifilm Instax 200 $48.
Here's a tough, kinda big camera with a durable plastic "shell" that makes it great for kids as well as folks who need instant pictures for their work. Simply press the power button and snap a picture that is about 2 1/2 x 4 inches and wait for the fun. These are a blast!
The ISO 800 instant film comes in "packs" of 10 prints each and a box that includes 2 packs (20 total pictures) is only $20. This is a GREAT fun camera and built for abuse so don't panic if the kids drop it on the driveway.

The Polaroid Mio $30.
Some movie has shown this camera in use and drove my email box nuts from gals wanting to know if it's real and where to get it. Well, it's a small, cute little Polaroid called a Mio that is only sold in the USA as an import item so you can buy it online from a few foreign resellers. It snaps a cute little "polaroid" type print that is about 2 1/2 x 1 3/4 inches in size. I bought mine here with zero trouble and received it in less than a week.
Film packs are not the same as the Instax 200 above - this camera needs the Instax MINI film which you can get on eBay for less than .70 per picture.

Premium point and shoot cameras around $500:
Are they worth the bux?
I have tested the top 3 most popular cameras in this group and have some mixed thoughts. They may be a good choice for some, but a waste of money for others. Here's the scoop!
THE THREE BEST OF THIS BREED:

#1 the Panasonic Lumix LX3 $499
I have to say that I LOVE this camera! The lens is a real peach - nice and sharp with wonderful performance in low light and bright sun. It's a really short zoom though, 2.5X is all, so if you need to zoom in for longer shots often, this may not be a good choice for you. But, if you want STUNNING images from a pocket-sized camera that also shoots decent HD video, this is a real winner.

#2 the Canon Powershot G10 $500.
Here's one popular camera that I am just not convinced is worth the money. As a pro photographer I like the easy access of all the manual and automate photo controls. The knobs and dials are correctly placed to adjust things like shutter speed to stop motion or aperture settings for deep or shallow depth of field. If you are never concerned about things like this - skip this camera as it's got a lot a settings that non-pros may not need. The lens performance is excellent, but the low-light noise is a little more than I expected and shooting at ISO 800 or higher is a little troublesome for creating sharp prints. The camera is a little bulky and "kinda" fits into my pocket (I have big pockets!) but is just a touch too big for some. I think you can save $125 on Canons PowerShot SX10 IS camera and get better pictures. ; )

#3 the Nikon Coolpix P6000 $450
The funny thing is that in my pro shooting business, I shoot only Nikon DSLRs (D700's) and love them. But when it comes to point and shoots, they leave me cold. This one is no exception. It's clearly an attempt to copy the popular Canon G9 / G10 cameras with the same look, feel, controls and features with a little lower pricetag. This camera is a very good camera, and has plenty of scene modes that I really like, and it's lens is excellent, but the typical Nikon "sluggish" performance of changing menu options and shooting and playing back images leaves this camera a distant thrid on this group and I would not recommend it. The Canon and Lumix are much better choices in my opinion.

February, 2009
Tonite we explore the best ways to share your photos online, and to improve them on your computer before you share them or print them. Here's some of my favorite picks:

FOR SHARING YOUR PHOTOS from PC or Mac:
Photobucket.com is TOPS for photo sharing. It let’s you share your photos and videos for free and allows you to make photo pages, slideshows, even cell-phone friendly slideshows (so cool!). It even offers a photo editor so you can adjust the color and brightness of your own images - but it's best for sharing images, not for editing them.
Here’s my sample Photobucket page for you:
http://s565.photobucket.com/albums/ss94/willcrockett/

PHOTOBUCKET RATINGS FROM WILL:
LEARNING TIME - 16 MINUTES AVERAGE
EASE OF USE - 7 OUT OF 10
FINAL QUALITY - 7 OUT OF 10


FOR PHOTO EDITING AND SHARING from PC or Mac
It's tough to beat Picasa. Google bought this company last year and has done a GREAT job in making it mainstream. You do have to download either a PC or a Mac version and install it onto your computer but it is loaded with features, has plenty of great video tutorials to help you, and offers a very nice editor to make your pictures brighter, more colorful, and cropped / rotated to perfection and it's all free. Here's a look at the sweet editing features of Picasa:

PICASA RATINGS FROM WILL:
LEARNING TIME - 45 MINUTES AVERAGE
EASE OF USE - 7 OUT OF 10
FINAL QUALITY - 8 OUT OF 10

FOR PHOTO EDITING AND SHARING from Mac Only
iPhoto from Apple, part of the iLife package, costs $75 and is worth the money for sure. You can sort, edit, improve the photos and post them up in minutes online to share. Here's a sample share page from me:
http://web.me.com/willcrockett/Site/TwinsPictures.html
Here's a peek at the "semi-pro" level editing tools in iPhoto that are unusually easy to learn and use:

iPHOTO RATINGS FROM WILL:
LEARNING TIME - 22 MINUTES AVERAGE
EASE OF USE - 8 OUT OF 10
FINAL QUALITY - 9 OUT OF 10



Windows LIVE Photo Gallery.
There's a lot of press on Windows Photo Sharing with some really cute commercials on TV. Well, the Windows LIVE system is free, it will work from PC or Mac, and does offer some neat funtions. But.. (and there's always a but with Windows) it's not too good nor easy. : (
Here's my Windows LIVE test page for you.
If you would like to give it a shot, please do, by clicking here.

WINDOWS LIVE RATINGS FROM WILL:
LEARNING TIME - 26 MINUTES AVERAGE
EASE OF USE - 5 OUT OF 10
FINAL QUALITY - 4 OUT OF 10



Professional Photo Sharing.
As a working pro photographer, we need to get image up online looking nice and we typically need it done quickly too. Here's where a very powerful application called Lightroom allows us to get the images edited quickly and at a superior quality level, then up online before we either leave the location shoot or before the customer gets back to their office or home. Here's a peek at how we like to post up our shoots from the photo studio:
http://crockettco.com/gallery/NOLA0901/
LIGHTROOM RATINGS FROM WILL:
LEARNING TIME - 120 MINUTES AVERAGE
EASE OF USE - 8 OUT OF 10
FINAL QUALITY - 9 OUT OF 10

January of 2009:
What are we going to do with the cameras we got for Holiday gifts?
LOTS!!!
First up, let's take a look at what one of the CUSTOM FUNCTIONS built inside most digital cameras will do. Here's a few snapshots taken with my favorite pocket-sized camera the Fuji F60fd that shows the snowy scene taken in AUTO mode, then again in the SNOW customer function mode. What a difference! I have 8x10 prints from these for Steve and Johnnie to see.
This is the image in standard AUTO mode...

and here's the same shot taken in SNOW mode

Picasa!
There's a ton of free photo sharing sites around, but some are hard to use, slow, or have evil intentions of making you pay for things you can get for free other places. My favorite is Picasa test page I put up for you with some recent images of mine. Give it a try? Here's the really easy interface for Picasa v3: which is now owned by Google. You can download the basic application for Mac or PC for free, install it in a few minutes and organize all your images like a pro. My favorite feature is the FREE online websharing that is SO COOL. Here's a

New Waterproof Camera, does it cut the Mustard?
The Pentax Optio W60, a new 10MP pocket sized camera that is waterproof and offer up a pricetag of around $250. It's a 5X optical zoom little guy that takes a pretty darned good photo, offers easy to use menu items, and yes, can get soaked. I'm not really fond of it though as it feels a little "cheap" and does not give me the confidence to take it on a long trip. Instead, I would spend the extra bux and go with the Olympus Stylus 1030SW if you need a water and freeze proof camera? Here's a shot I just snapped tonite from the Pentax...