All advice documents, training courses and blog entries tagged 'cameras'
Still images advice tagged 'cameras'
Introduction to digitising bound volumes
Bound volumes such as books need to be digitised with care to avoid poor quality capture or damage to the book. This document looks at the specific problems posed when capturing bound documents and compares commonly used digitisation devices.
Read full advice document...The Book Scanner
While it is possible to digitise books and bound volumes using scanners or copystands the most efficient and least harmful device is the dedicated book scanner. For the purpose of this document we have tested a Zeutschel OS1200HQ which scans open books with a total area of A2+ at 400ppi book scanner and compared it to a copystand mounted Nikon D3 camera which captures at 4256 x 2832 pixels camera and an A4 Epson Perfection 4990 flatbed scanner with a maximum resolution of 4800ppi.
Read full advice document...The Copystand
The copystand is a commonly used device that securely supports a stills camera above a two-dimensional original object. Copystands might be used in libraries, archives or anywhere where there is a need to digitise large 2D objects. This document is an introduction to the copystand and how to use it.
Read full advice document...Tethered Camera Operation
As technology has improved digital cameras have become more and more portable. Smaller and more ergonomic cameras have made digital photography more practical - however, there are times when it is preferable to use a more static system with camera and computer connected. This is known as tethered camera operation. This document is aimed at anyone who might need to operate their camera from a distance, in an awkward position or wants to preview the image on a high quality computer screen.
Read full advice document...How Do I Digitise Difficult Objects?
Scanners and digital cameras are the most commonly used devices for capturing still images; the digital files they create fit seamlessly into the modern workflow. This document looks at scanners and digital cameras and how they can be used to capture non-typical objects. In this document we look at a range of different objects and how we can capture them with a camera or scanner and a few accessories.
Read full advice document...Taking Pictures under Available Light
Most modern digital stills cameras have built in flashes, however these do not always produce a pleasing light, have a limited range and the flash can be distracting in some situations. Professional photographers normally like to have complete control over lighting in order to produce the highest quality images. It is however possible to produce high quality images without the cameras built in flash or in situations where you do not have total control over the lighting. Available or ambient light is the light in the scene before the photographer starts work and this FAQ document looks at common problems associated with available light and how to overcome them. You may also be interested in our Light Sources for Still and Moving Images advice document.
Read full advice document...Digital Cameras
Digital cameras come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, this document details the different technologies used to capture a digital image. This paper also covers the features that a user should consider before choosing a digital camera.
Read full advice document...Which Digital Camera File Formats Should I Use?
Our camera offers so many file formats, which one should we use?
Read full advice document...Which Digital Camera Do You Recommend?
Unfortunately we are not able to recommend specific brands or models of camera. However, we can provide pointers to help you decide if a particular camera will suit your needs.
Read full advice document...Still Image Capture: Hardware and Software
This document is an introduction to digital cameras and scanners and their role in digitisation. This document also looks at the features found in software used to edit images captured by cameras and scanners.
Read full advice document...Using a Budget Digital Camera for Teaching, Learning and Research
Over recent years the price of digital cameras has tumbled while there has been a corresponding improvement in image quality. Compact digital cameras are compact flexible devices that work well in the modern workflow. This document provides an introduction to the compact camera and how to get the most from it.
Read full advice document...The Digital SLR Camera for Teaching, Learning and Digitisation
Digital SLR cameras have improved dramatically over recent years, they have also become much cheaper. Consumers can now buy an entry level digital SLR for around the same price as a top of the range compact. This paper explains the difference between a digital compact and digital SLR and shows how to get the most out of this type of camera.
Read full advice document...The Camera Raw File Format
The Raw file format is the native format offered by most digital SLR cameras. The format can offer greater levels of control over the conversion of capture data to more widely accepted formats such as TIFF or JPEG formats. This document is an introduction to the format and how to make use of it.
Read full advice document...Taking Care of Your Digital Camera
It is almost impossible to avoid dust and airborne particles from entering your camera, but if a few precautions are taken, specialist cleaning can be postponed.
Read full advice document...Photographic Guidelines
There are many factors that need to be considered before and during a photographic session, this document provides a set of guidelines which will assist in planning a photographic project.
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Cross-media advice tagged 'cameras'
The Video Enabled Digital SLR
Until very recently if you needed to shoot video you purchased a video camera and if you needed to shoot stills you bought a stills camera. However, over the last couple of years manufacturers have started to release stills SLR cameras that can also capture video. With many of the middle and higher range camera models now offering video capture we should look at this new feature and try to identify its strengths and weaknesses. This document is aimed at anyone who has or is about to purchase an SLR camera and needs to know if the video option is of use to them.
Read full advice document...Stands and Supports for Still and Moving Images
One of the easiest ways to improve the quality of still or moving images is by using a support. Supports and stands can reduce or eliminate vibration or movement which otherwise would degrade the quality of the captured media. Supports come in all shapes and sizes: this document looks at a variety of support types including tripods, copy-stands, clamps and brackets as well as improvised solutions.
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Training courses tagged
BTEC Professional Certificate in Digital Imaging: 3 days
The following units are the BTEC accredited assessment components of our still image professional development certificate and award.
Read course description...Video Production 1: Lectures and Interviews 2-day course
The use of video in education has ceased to be an occasional occurrence, but the quality of videos has not kept pace with their popularity. This course is intended to instil basic competence in the many areas of knowledge that are needed to produce good video work. A hands-on approach is taken, such that during the two days of learning about video techniques the participants will actually produce two short videos. All equipment and facilities will be supplied.
PLEASE NOTE: This is a two-day course. Course fees are as follows:
- £275 for participants from UK Higher or Further Education
- £325 for participants from government, charities, libraries, galleries or museums
- Prices for all other participants are available on request
JISC Advance - Digital Media and Copyright Seminar
Bringing together experts in digital media and copyright law this seminar created by the JISC Advance services, JISC Digital Media and JISC Legal, uses common real-world scenarios to focus on how copyright impacts on the use of digital media. The seminar will allow participants to gain an understanding of the common issues and challenges facing institutions in the current copyright landscape.
Seminar fees: £100 per participant. Includes lunch and refreshments. There will be a pre-seminar online exercise attendees are requested to complete. This is merely to provide some background knowledge prior to the seminar.
Objectives
- To increase confidence in dealing with multi-layer intellectual property rights in digital media
- To identify appropriate approaches to dealing with the uncertainties of copyright law in relation to digital media
- To share experiences of both issues and solutions to IPR challenges in relation to digital media
Building Effective Screencasts
Screencasts - videos of on-screen computer activity, accompanied by voice-over, and possibly other media (webcam video, Powerpoint slides etc) - have in recent times increased massively in popularity, scope and acceptance, and can now provide a sophisticated learning experience, incorporating slides, images, video, audio, screen annotation, subtitles, interactive quizzes and more.. Whether you want to narrate a presentation, demonstrate the use of software, or record and share your screen for any other reason, a screencast may well be the answer.
This practical one-day workshop provides an opportunity to learn how to maximise the value of screencasting in presentation, demonstration and digital storytelling for teaching and learning, in the context of the whole workflow from planning your own short screencast to rendering it as a video. We've even had some delegates posting finished screencasts to YouTube by the end of the day!
Read course description...Digital Media Restoration (Audio-Visual only)
Analogue media deteriorates at an alarming rate and few digitisation projects can hope to retrieve great signals from aged collections. In order to archive maximum usefulness some basic digital remastering is often required. Fortunately, today's digital tools mean we can easily remove unwanted 'defects' whether hisses and scratches from shellac discs or the distorted colours of old videotapes
N.B. This course covers digital restoration of audio-visual resources only. It does not cover restoration of still images
Read course description...Advanced Techniques in Digital Image Capture
This course looks at the technical background behind, and procedures for, image capture and optimisation delivered through hands-on activities. This workshop will teach you how to produce the correct end product for your intended purpose and teach you the easy 'science' of scanning to remove the guesswork from your image capture.
Read course description...Digital Photography - Taking Control of your SLR
This action packed course looks in depth at using a digital SLR's creative controls to put you in charge of your photography. You will also have plenty of hands-on practice with the camera and be shown how to effectively illuminate 2D and 3D objects using tungsten and fluorescent studio lighting.
Read course description...Digital Photography - Getting Started with your SLR
This entry level course will provide you with an understanding of the techniques and skills needed to produce great quality images from a digital SLR camera with ease. Some illuminating background theory will be supported by hands-on practical exercises in photography.
Read course description...Colour Management
Effective colour management is vital within the digital workflow and anyone working with digital images should understand and be employing the core principles. This training course introduces colour management theory and 'good practice' to ensure that you understand how to achieve consistent and accurate colour between applications, platforms, and devices.
Read course description...Audio Production: Recording Lectures, Seminars, Interviews and Podcasts
This course will provide you with the knowledge and skills to record and produce recordings of spoken word audio, with specific emphasis being placed upon the recording of lectures, seminars and events. You will learn the basic concepts of recording technologies and through practical exercises you will learn how to confidently apply these to practical situations. The workshop will also introduce you to ideas for delivering new media such as podcasting, and suggest methods for managing your digital recordings.
Read course description...Introduction to Image Metadata
This course is designed specifically to help you consider how to effectively incorporate metadata into the fabric of your image collection, through explanation, discussion and practical activities.
Read course description...Digitising Analogue Video Recordings
Over the past fifty years the videotape has grown from an obscure television production tool into a vibrant and vital social document. But videotape has proved to be a fragile long-term medium and its contents are at risk. This risk can only be mitigated through careful planning. This workshop will investigate the challenges associated with the preservation of videotapes. Through practical exercises, we will look at how digitising materials to archival standards can both safeguard and help develop a collection. We will also look at the challenge of creating a sustainable digital collection. Quality assurance procedures and best practice will be referred to throughout.
Read course description...Essential Techniques in Digital Image Capture
This entry level course provides an easy to understand theoretical overview of digital images and image capture combined with practical exercises using both a scanner and digital SLR camera for those getting started with creating digital images.
Read course description...Using Digital Media in VLEs
This one day workshop focuses on the effective use of digital media online including the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). During the workshop attendees will discover how to improve their presentation resources, know when and how digital media can be used to enhance learning materials and be able to successfully embed their new knowledge in their VLE and online services.
Read course description...Finding Free-to-Use Images, Video and Audio
If you've ever needed to find images, video or audio you can use in your work materials then this course is for you. It will guide you to all the best places to locate free-to-use, copyright-cleared digital media resources for use in teaching and learning. You'll never use Google to find digital media again!
Read course description...Essential Photoshop Skills
This course will get you up and running with Adobe Photoshop. You will learn key concepts and skills to enable you to understand and start using this exciting application with confidence.
Read course description...Managing Digital Media Collections
Now that many important materials are in a digital form, building an accessible online media collection which successfully delivers images, sounds, video and other media is a goal of many institutions.
Until recently, expensive Digital Asset Management systems where the most viable option, but now open source server applications such as Dspace, Omeka and Drupal hold the promise of truly interoperable and standards-based collection management.
This one day course will offer a model of digital collection management, based upon open source solutions. Attendees will gain hands-on experience of planning, building, managing and delivering a digital media collection.
Read course description...Image Optimisation for Print and Web
This course covers the essential skills you need in order to maximise the quality and visual appeal of digital images from both scanners and digital cameras. You will learn the tips and tricks necessary to transform your images quickly and easily.
Read course description...Building a Departmental Image Collection
This course will provide you with a hands-on experience of creating, managing and delivering a departmental image collection. You will acquire the foundation knowledge required to make well informed decisions about building an image library. You will also have the opportunity to discuss and share information with people from the HE/FE/Cultural sector facing similar issues in order to help you develop practical solutions.
Read course description...Copyright and Digital Media
This informative and stimulating course is run by a leading expert in copyright. It looks in-depth at how copyright and other legal issues impact upon digital media and it will enable you to develop practical approaches to clearing and managing those rights within your own collections.
Read course description...Digitising Analogue Audio
To meet the skills required by libraries, archives and institutions to digitise their existing analogue collections, this course aims to provide a complete introduction to the theory and practicalities of successfully digitising analogue audio resources. The workshop will provide hands-on tuition alongside presenting theoretical knowledge with group discussions of topics surrounding the digital lifecycle, in a digitisation project based context. The workshop has been designed as a precursor for our more technical, media specific training modules. The practical elements will involve digitising audiocassette tapes as example media.
Read course description...Scanning with the CLA Licence
This course provides a thorough practical overview of how to digitise images and text from print-based materials. You will use a desktop scanner and related technology to effectively enable you to leverage the rights granted to you by the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) scanning licence.
Read course description...Digitising Grooved Discs and Open Reel Audio
This course is designed to meet the requirements of staff in libraries, archives and other related institutions needing to digitise existing analogue collections. The course builds on our Digitising Analogue Audio workshop, by introducing a range of legacy audio media and examining them in more detail.
The workshop will provide the opportunity to both handle these media and configure the equipment needed for their successful playback. A recommended, pragmatic workflow will be followed.
Essential theoretical and interesting historical information is included which together contribute to understanding: the development of audio recording technologies; how to handle and best reproduce each medium; how to digitise each medium to archival standard.
Read course description...
Blog entries tagged 'cameras'
Exposure compensation - making your snow white
The lightmeters built into today's cameras are quite capable of delivering well exposed images of most types of subject. However there are times when the meter gets it wrong.
Read blog entry...High-end iPhone photography?
Photojojo has just released a new product: a mount which enables you to use standard SLR lenses on an iPhone 4.
Read blog entry...Refocus a picture after it has been taken!
A newcomer to the photography market is close to launching an impressive new camera which allows the user to refocus the picture after it has been taken.
Read blog entry...An antidote to the digital zoom
The cameras built into most portable devices use fixed focal length lenses, to alter the framing the user normally has to move closer or further away from the subject or use the dreaded digital zoom. The digital zoom simply crops into the original frame to give a closer look. The zoomed image has no more image detail than the un-zoomed shot and so digital zoom should be avoided whenever possible.
Read blog entry...Camera phones come of age
As a photographer I have never found the camera stuffed into most mobile phones to be a deal breaker. Whenever I have bought a new phone I have tested the camera, but have always found it lacking. After a recent phone upgrade I thought I should repeat my usual test on the camera, this was mainly to confirm my firmly entrenched prejudices.
Read blog entry...Not seeing the forest for the beautifully out of focus trees
It sounds like the DSLR honeymoon may finally be coming to an end.
Read blog entry...The 12 Days of JISC Digital Media Christmas
Tuesday the 7th of December 2010 sees JISC Digital Media launch the 12 Days of JISC Digital Media Christmas, a very lighthearted and tongue-in-cheek series of videos.
Read blog entry...HD Video on the Touch
Latest iPod Touch adds microphone and cameras
Read blog entry...New advice on the video enabled digital SLR
Video capture is an increasingly common feature in today's digital SLR cameras. While the controls are crude compared to those of a dedicated camcorder the video output has a cinematic look popular with many filmmakers.
Read blog entry...Playing with the Zumi
I recently purchased a Zumi, properly known as the Digital Harinezumi 2++ and have been getting a lot of enjoyment out of it.
Read blog entry...Introduction to the copystand
Digital SLRs are increasingly being used to capture 2D objects which until recently would have been digitised using a scanner. Recognising the increasing use of the copystand we have just published a new document which explains what it is and how to use it is used: The Copystand.
Read blog entry...Operating your camera remotely
We have just published a new advice document on Tethered Camera Operation.
Read blog entry...Side-by-side comparison of Kodak Zi8, Sony Z5 and Flip
Here at JISC Digital Media we've made a very brief (79 second) video to compare the Kodak Zi8 and Flip Ultra pocket camcorders with the considerably more sophisticated (and considerably more expensive) Sony Z5.
Read blog entry...Time to unplug
Eye-fi have recently released their new (and the first ever) range of memory cards fitted with wireless technology that allows you to upload photos and videos directly to your computer or the web.
Read blog entry...Instant film makes a comeback
In 2008 the Polaroid Corporation stopped manufacturing their instant film products.
Read blog entry...Using a digital SLR for video
There's a very interesting article in Creative COW about the Canon 5D Mk II, a very advanced digital SLR (or HDSLR) that the author has been using to shoot video with.
Read blog entry...How to photograph or scan those tricky objects
We have just published a new advice document on scanning and photography.
Read blog entry...New digital restoration course among autumn training dates
The keen-eyed among you will have already noticed we have just released details of our new training programme for September to December.
Read blog entry...Zoom with a view - video with an audio bias
The new Zoom Q3 audio/video recorder offers simple video, combined with high quality stereo audio capture.
Read blog entry...Updated digital camera document
To reflect recent developments in digital camera technology we have updated the Digital Camera paper.
Read blog entry...Flip launches an HD camera
Flip has just announced the UK release of the MinoHD which, as you might guess, is an HD version of the Flip video camera.
Read blog entry...Promo film for the Red camera
Here's a nice little promo with a few effects shots that lets you see the Red being used on a real shoot.
Read blog entry...Red’s new cameras
In November, Red Digital Cinema announced their new range of cameras which are expected to be available between this spring and the summer of 2010. "Range of cameras" isn't quite accurate, as Red have adopted a completely modular approach. It includes two of what Red refers to as Brains, the sensing and capturing core of the system. These are called Scarlet and Epic and are accompanied by an almost mind-boggling list of performance specs.
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Training courses
- Building Effective Screencasts 12 June 2012
- Managing Digital Media Collections 14 June 2012
- Digitising Analogue Video Recordings 20 June 2012
- Introduction to Image Metadata 05 July 2012
- BTEC Professional Certificate in Digital Imaging: 3 days 09 July 2012
- Video Production 1: Lectures and Interviews 2-day course 25 July 2012
