Digital cameras and Death Valley
PMA07, one of the biggest trade shows for the digital camera and imaging industry, ended recently. And Consumer Reports' Tech Editor, Jeff Fox, blogged daily from the show floor in Las Vegas to keep us up-to-date with developments and news of new cameras. (You can find his — and our all our PMA show-related posts — by clicking on this link.)
But for a different take on what happened at PMA (and in nearby Death Valley), Helen Popkin and I are joined in this 20-minute podcast by Senior Project Leader Kerry Allen and his team. Kerry, Artur Pietruch and Maria Grimaldi are the Consumer Reports technicians who test all of the digital cameras that we buy and report on for the magazine and Web site. But more than just "lab rats," they're also pro photographers who really know how to put a camera through its paces — in real world situations. (More on that below.)
You can listen to the podcast while you're reading this blog, or you can download the 9.6-megabyte file (ElecPod-0704.mp3) to your computer and/or MP3 player by right-clicking on this link.
In the first half of this podcast, Kerry and Artur reflect on some of the big news from PMA. Most notable were the Olympus 18X "super zoom" camera and those that had "facial recognition" features. But we also discuss how cameras (including digital SLRs) are becoming more "idiot-proof," smaller and more "stylish."
In the second half of the show (at just about 10-minutes into the podcast), we get to what Kerry calls "the highlight" of their trip out to Las Vegas — an excursion out to nearby Death Valley. Their purpose: To test digital cameras with a new feature — GPS, or Global Positioning System.
As we mentioned in our last podcast, these cameras can capture images as well as actual map coordinates from space-based GPS satellites, typically used for navigation. Maria and Artur explain in this segment of the podcast how such location data can be used with Web sites such as Google Earth. You can see screen shots of what Maria was talking about during the podcast below:
(Click on each image for a more detailed look.)
As you can see, this kind of capability would be really handy if you want to share your pictures with others, so they can see — and be envious of — where you've been on vacation. Or as Artur and Helen mentioned, it's also a good high-tech way to help you remember where exactly you were for that once-in-a-lifetime moment.
But how well did they work? Kerry gave us some hints in the podcast, but a full report on these cameras will be in Consumer Reports magazine and on the Web site soon.
In the meantime, Kerry, Artur, and Maria were more than happy to close the podcast by sharing with us some of the pictures they took during their 10 hours in Death Valley. We've posted thumbnails of some of them here. To see them in all their glory, click on them for the full-size version. (BUT be warned: Each image is at least 2.5-megabytes in size, so you'll need a fast Net connection.)
The image on the right (a 2.7-megabyte file) is one of the four photos that were taken using a camera with GPS. By clicking on the first thumbnail image on the left above, you can see that this hollow shell of a building is located about 5-kilometers west of the junction of Nevada's state route 374 and U.S. Interstate 95.
In the full-size version, you'll see photo details the erosion of the building's bricks even though there's not a lot of light. Speaking of which, how about that sky as a backdrop, huh? Marvelous!
I love this image that Kerry took on the left. Take note of the subtle shades of colors of the sand dunes in the foreground. And that black "blotch" on the right? If you download the larger version (Warning: It's an 8.5+ megabyte file!), you'll see that it's a bird.
Kerry says that bird was the only living thing (aside from his fellow humans from the tour bus) he saw out there. (Umm, hence the name "Death Valley," Kerry?)
On the right is another great photo captured by our crew while out desert trekking. I'm not sure how that railroad caboose car on the right got to where it was in the middle of the Death Valley desert. (And there are no obvious train tracks around.) But its faded red color is a nice visual contrast to the bleak scrub brush around it.
If you download the full version (4.2 MB), you'll see the photo has good depth of field, meaning there's good range of focus. You can read the lettering on the caboose (and almost the sign near its door) as well as the sign on the foreground.
Our last photo shows just how impressive a digital SLR camera can be in the right hands. Open up the larger, nearly 8.5-megabyte version of the image on the left and you'll see there's a good amount of detail captured, despite the lack of light from a setting desert sun.
And as we mentioned in the podcast, this image was printed out on a 13- by 19-inch sheet of photo paper that just looked absolutely stunning to me and Helen.
If you're interested in knowing more about these photos — how they were composed, what settings to use, what resolution, etc. — drop us note using the "Comment" link below. Or, you can check out our Web site for photography tips for winter and summer settings. (Please note, the summer photography guide is available to ConsumerReports.org subscribers only.)
We hope you enjoyed the podcast. As always, if there's a topic you'd like to hear our experts discuss, of if you have suggestions or questions, leave us a note below or send us an e-mail: podcaster "at" cro.consumer.org.
If you want to find and listen to all our previous podcasts on Electronics, click on this link.
— Paul Eng
This is a special edition of the Consumer Reports Electronics podcast, covering the coming 
