Low light digicamanother_old_guyJanuary 20 2007, 14:16:36 UTC
Most digicams fail miserably in low light-- but the Fuji F30 is the exception, famous for actually being able to get good indoor shots. It even has a lamp for autofocus in very low light (like, in a bar). Camera + xD memory card about $300.
Re: Low light digicamdojothemouseJanuary 20 2007, 18:30:54 UTC
Any camera that uses their "super CCD" is pretty great in low light, so the Fuji F10, F11, F20, F30, and F31fd are all pretty great. Those are just the models I can think of off the top of my head.
You're right, though, in that the F30 and F31fd are the only ones that go all the way up to 3200 iso.
I think the problem is that you are trying to use stuff you can essentially buy at Best Buy to do too much. A more specialized low light video cameral like http://www.pelikancam.com/cgi-bin/pelikancam/mpelcocam.htm or http://www.globalspec.com/FeaturedProducts/Detail/DVCCompany/DVCs_Intensicam/39820/0?fromSpotlight=1 might be more functional. Hook it up to a video capture card and sample the stream as needed for your purposes. Of course, this might be a problem because the way this works when you hit the subject with a flash you'll overexpose the subject. Adn trying to use this for stills would probably confuse the hell out of the users (what? no flash? did it take a picture? etc etc etc
( ... )
Actually photoboof only does still images, no video. Also, I would think how good photoboof looks is really going to depend on the camera - which is much more of a factor than the OS controling it.
"Most other digital photobooths use video cameras, which have horrible color tone and no flash. Photoboof uses high quality digital stills cameras so it takes infinitely better pictures, and lets you use a flash for a traditional photobooth feel."
If you stick just with still images you've solved your problem. So, did you deal with the printing yet? If not I expect to see a few more "Dear Lazywebs"...
Seems like if you want the exposure so low that it will work great in low light (i.e. pre-capture, no flash) then you're going to have problems when you flood the subject with a flash, unless you deliberately plan for it and have a camera you can order it to drop the resolution on.
The idea is that if the app doesn't have a "take a picture and save it" AppleScript command, you can tell the capture button "pretend that you've just been clicked." If it's a menu item, and there's a keyboard equivalent, it's even simpler: you just tell the app "Pretend that the user has just hit Command-Shift-L" or whatever.
It's a bit messy -- you have to use a little Apple utility to sniff through the app's UI and identify the button you want to press -- but it pretty much means that there's no user action that you can't automate.
Their UI opens two windows, and one of them has an embedded postage-stamp sized view that has the actual video in it. I seriously doubt there's a way to re-parent that view and make it be full screen and still have anything work. It's not just a matter of faking button clicks: I'd have to make 99% of their UI completely go away.
This camera has an NTSC/PAL video output, you can get a PCI TV-tuner (or USB, if you're using a laptop) and wire the output to the video-in. Hacky, but I think it'd get the job done.
Comments 37
Reply
You're right, though, in that the F30 and F31fd are the only ones that go all the way up to 3200 iso.
Reply
Reply
* but if you comb your hair differently it might not show.
Reply
"Most other digital photobooths use video cameras, which have horrible color tone and no flash. Photoboof uses high quality digital stills cameras so it takes infinitely better pictures, and lets you use a flash for a traditional photobooth feel."
If you stick just with still images you've solved your problem. So, did you deal with the printing yet? If not I expect to see a few more "Dear Lazywebs"...
Reply
Reply
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=SDKHomePageAct&keycode=Sdk_Lic&fcategoryid=215&modelid=11154&id=3464
Reply
Reply
http://www.apple.com/applescript/uiscripting/
The idea is that if the app doesn't have a "take a picture and save it" AppleScript command, you can tell the capture button "pretend that you've just been clicked." If it's a menu item, and there's a keyboard equivalent, it's even simpler: you just tell the app "Pretend that the user has just hit Command-Shift-L" or whatever.
It's a bit messy -- you have to use a little Apple utility to sniff through the app's UI and identify the button you want to press -- but it pretty much means that there's no user action that you can't automate.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment