digital photography

Digital Photography

These are some Kodak DC220 photos. An aftermarket lens adapter, macro lens set, and a few Tiffen filters added to the camera's versatility. It has been replaced by a Canon A70. I anticipate removing this page in the future as the information is very outdated.

The camera does take some getting used to. I find that nearly all my outdoor shots are on the dark side. I've found that sometimes overriding the default exposure value to +1.0 helps out considerably. My indoor shots haven't needed any changes from the default values.

Macro photography

Silver dollar Silver Dollar
Flower Flower
Another flower Flower

Filter and exposure experiments

Test conditions:

  • Date: 13-APR-1999
  • Time: 1500 PDST (partially cloudy sky)
  • Location: Hilltop in San Diego, CA (eastward view)
  • Camera: Kodak DC220 with firmware 1.0.6
  • Camera resolution: 640 x 480
  • Quality: Best
  • White balance: Daylight
  • Tiffen Sky 1A filter
  • Tiffen Haze 1 filter
  • Tiffen Neutral Density 0.6 filter
  • Tiffen Linear Polarizer filter
  • 49mm lens adapter
  • 49mm rubber hood
  • Tripod
    Pictures were reduced in size 50% with Paint Shop Pro using the Smart Size method. 2 photos of each setting were taken with the results being visibly consistent, therefore, only one photo of each setting is presented here. All sixteen 320 x 240 photos (46 to 62 kb each) will load in the table below. This takes a long time but picture comparisons are easier this way.

    Sharpness comparisons

    Unscientific conclusions:

  • Rubber hood is too long (it was attached to the lens adapter)
  • Neutral Density 0.6 filter with EV at +2.0 takes sharper images (apparent at 640 x 480)
  • Linear polarizer exposure compensation of +1.5 to +2.0 is ideal
  • Sky 1A filter creates 'warmer' looking images
  • Haze 1 filter creates 'cooler' looking images than the Sky 1A filter
  • Sky 1A & Haze 1 filters may require some exposure compensation (+0.5 to +1.0)
  • Optical zoom at 2X requires slight exposure compensation
  • As mentioned before, no compensation required for indoor fluorescent photos
  • Lock the exposure settings by pressing the shutter halfway before snapping the camera.
  • Avoid aiming towards the Sun. This is probably causing my 'dark' outside photos.