Fifer Photography Blog

In 1994, Apple launched the camera pictured above. Given the name Apple Quicktake and built by Fujifilm, it boasted a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels at a maximum of 0.3 Megapixels. Models 100 and 200 were only compatible with the Apple Macintosh, while the 150 was compatible with both the Macintosh and Microsoft Windows.

The QuickTake 100 was released as an easy-to-use digital camera that connected to any Macintosh computer by way of an Apple serial cable. The camera had a built-in flash, but no focus or zoom controls. The QuickTake 150 kit included a separate close-up lens that allowed focusing at approximately 30 cm. Other than downloading the photos to a computer, there was no way to preview them on the camera, nor was there any way to delete individual photos from the camera (though there was a recessed ‘trash’ button which would delete the entire contents of the camera).

The QuickTake 100 and 150 stored images internally, not on cards, so they had to be used with an Apple serial cable and the QuickTake driver software.

The introductory prices for the cameras are as follows (prices U.S.),
Model 100: $749
Model 150: $700
Model 200: $600

Wikipedia has the full specs here.

If they knew where we’d be in 15 short years! Makes you wonder what is in store for the next 15.

This may be one of the very few times I deviate from my usual blog entries about camera related ’stuffs’, but if anything deserves being deviated to, this is it…

As you can see from the image above, we are no longer in Kansas. No talking about Nikon vs. Canon, f-stops, how to light your subject, etc…. No, I am going to talk about talent. More so, how society pre-judges people to assess talent based solely on looks. How your age is a determining factor of the worthiness of your contribution.

Shows like American Idol (man, it even hurts to type that name) have always been lower on my list of to-do’s than running a cheese grater between my toes. The last couple of days, I have seen floating on CNN a story about a woman on the show Britain’s Got Talent. Up until a couple of days ago, I blissfully ignored the story.

Then, I clicked on that story. What I found was astounding and saddening at the same time. A Scottish woman named Susan Boyle; 47 years old got up on stage and embarrassed hundreds, if not thousands of people by proving it is not what is on the outside that counts, but the inside.

As I sat there listening to her amazing voice, I couldn’t help but think of her 47 years of life. Of how people/society didn’t give this woman a second look, because she was not “beautiful”. As if beautiful can sing, or take a good photograph. And not just regarding her singing talent. What about the other aspects of her life? 47 yeas old and she has not had a kiss (something that usually happens in your teens). How many times had she been teased as a youngster? How long did it take before she started believing what she was hearing in those muffled whispers? How long would she have stayed hidden, burdened by societies cruelty? By the grace of God, somebody convinced her she was worthy… and the rest of the world benefited from it.

We can all learn from this. Don’t be so quick to judge others abilities based on their looks or their age. You could be slighting a Susan Boyle. Most importantly, don’t listen to others opinions on what you can or can’t do. Don’t ever let someone else define your happiness. You and you alone know in your heart what you enjoy and are capable of.

I now know there is a reason for why shows like American Idol (shit… I can’t get away from that name!) or Britain’s Got Talent are on the air.. For without them, the world may have never found out about Susan. I have the highest hopes that she will finally realize her dream of singing professionally and start to unwind the many injustices she has had to bare in her life…. And that many can find inspiration from Ms. Boyle and break free of their chains. God speed, Susan Boyle… God speed.

It has been a while, huh? I didn’t forget though. In this entry, we are going to cover the 3 areas of exposure. These will be flash power, flash to subject distance and ISO.

You didn’t come here, so I could rattle on like someone who’s most important decision of the day is apple sauce, or prunes (although there are some days where that looks like a good alternative).

Flash Power
A flashes power setting, refers to the amount of light it will produce. So, at 1/1 power, or full power, it will give you the brightest flash that unit is capable of. If you drop that power down to 1/2, it means that you have reduced the power of the flash to 1/2 of full power.
Flash power settings follow this model:
• 1/1
• 1/2
•1/4
•1/8
•1/16
•1/32
•1/64
•1/128

For each of the settings you go down, you reduce the flash output by one stop. So, by going from 1/1 to 1/2, you have dropped one stop. If you go to 1/8, you have dropped three stops.

Flash power directly relates to aperture. Let’s say to get proper exposure at full power; you need to set your aperture to f16. If you drop your flash power to 1/2 (dropping it by one stop), you will need to lower your aperture setting to f11 (one stop) to get the same exposure. The big advantages of using lower flash power is that it will recycle faster and not drain your batteries as quickly.

Well, I had the intention of combining the last three elements into one post, but I think I’ll break them up into separate posts. Each one will give you enough to chew on for a while.

The next part in this series will be Flash to Subject Distance (you will see why I decided to break them up).