Guidelines for the Use of the
Kodak DC240 Zoom 
Digital Camera

1. As a minimum, all users must read the Quick Tips pamphlet to learn the basics for proper use of the camera. Copies of the Quick Tips are available to all users from the Medical Staff Secretary.


2. Users are also strongly advised to read the Kodak DC240 Zoom Digital Camera User's Guide to be able to make use of all the available functions of the camera and to get optimum utility from the camera. Users may borrow a copy of the manual from the Medical Staff Secretary.


3. Some Tips on the use of the Kodak DC240 Zoom Digital Camera.
• Suggested Uses
• Close-ups
• Uploading Images to a Computer
• Use of Batteries
• Viewing and Editing Images
• Making use of Your Digital Photographs
4. URL's for documents available on the Web/Internet..
5. Users should also be aware of the Rules and Regulations pertaining to the use of this camera.
6. Get more support here.

Tips on the Use of the Kodak DC240 Zoom Digital Camera

Suggested Uses

Common uses for the digital camera

Use	Suggested Picture Resolution	Suggested Picture Quality
Presentations: Slides (see below)	High	Best
Presentations: On-Screen	Standard	Better
e-mail: Minutest details essential	High	Best
e-mail: Detail unimportant	Standard	Good
Web-pages	Standard	Better or Good Depending on use

Some points to note

1. For creation of slides, the digital camera is not the ideal format to use.

A 35-mm camera using normal slide film

• gives much better quality,
• costs less for each slide,
• is easy to develop at any photo shop, and
• the turn-around time is probably mcuh shorter as well.

2. As users become familiar with the camera, they should be able to deviate from the above recommendations to improve their utility of the camera.
3. If you need to electronically manipulate the image considerably, it is probably best to start off with a High resolution picture at the Best quality setting to compensate for the inevitable loss of quality of the image that occurs with the editing.

Before Starting on Your Photography Session

Close-Ups 

Uploading the Images from the Camera to the Computer

1. Methods of uploading.
1. The easiest is to pass the camera to the Medical Staff Secretary and to tell her which format you prefer and to let her do the hard work.
2. If you prefer, you may upload the images on your own. Users may do this either using
1. The new Dell computer, currently placed in the medical staff library, to download the files from the camera or
2. Their own home computer or notebook. This latter technique is only recommended for the inveterate masochist.
2. Formats available
1. Floppy disk.

Users will have to provide their own floppy disks.
2. Zip disks.

This is much more practical than floppies as the 100 MB capacity means that 1 Zip disk is almost always sufficient while, multiple floppies will be needed to store all the images from a full 8 MB CompactFlash Memory Card.
Again, users will have to provide their own Zip disks.
 
 
3. On hard-disk in computer.

If you stroe your images on the Medical Staff computer, please ensure that you
1. Create a sub-folder under the C:\My Documents folder using your own name e.g.C:\My Documents\NgunKW, and store all your personal files in your own sub-folder.
2. Transfer the images to your own computer when practical and delete them from the Medical Staff computer.
3. For now, each staff may store up to 50 MB of files on the Medical Staff computer. If there is insufficient space on the hard-disk, any files above the 50 MB limit will be deleted without warning. Also, any image files older than 1 month may also deleted even if the 50 MB limit is not exceeded. The hard-disk space available to each member will be reviewed as the need arises to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to use the computer. Members are asked to cooperate by transferring their files to their own computer at the earliest opportunity to reduce the demands on the Medical Staff Computer.

Optimal Use of Batteries Provided 

Viewing the Images Dowloaded into the Computer

Photo/Image Editing Software

1. Adobe PhotoDeluxe Business Edition 1.0 which was bundled with the Kodak camera and which has been installed into the Medical Staff computer. Members are free to edit their images using this program.
2. Microsoft Photo Editor which is part of Microsoft Office Small Business Edition, and
3. Kodak Picture Easy 3.1.

Some points to consider,

1. Remember that the images are stored in JPEG format which is a "lossy" compression technique. Therefore, each time the images are saved, there will be a drop in quality of the image. This is true even if you save the file in the highest quality setting available.
2. If you expect to edit the image, start with the best image possible by capturing the photo using High resolution and Best quality setting.
3. Always make a duplicate of the original image and edit only the copy. If you make a mistake or need to make another image based on the same image, make another copy of the original and work on the new copy. If you are prone to make boo-boos, consider setting the original image file to read-only status to prevent any possibility of corrupting the original image file.
4. Try to minimise the manipulation of the images to reduce the loss in image quality.
5. Do not save the image until you are completely satisfied with the image. If you repeatedly save the image to reduce the chance of losing the image, remember that each time you save in JPEG format, you will be conitinuing your work on an image with a reduced quality. The loss in quality is cumulative.

Image Browser or Viewer

Making Use of Your Digital Photographs

1. Presentations

You can create slides with presentation software or, as is becoming more and more common nowadays, you can run your presentation straight off a desktoop or notebook computer. The latter option is much better as it means you can make changes to your presentation right up to the last minute, jazz up the presentation by using interesting transition effects between slides and even animate images or add audio effects. In other words, you'll be creating your very own multimedia presentation.
Unfortunately, at present, there is no presentation software on the Dell Computer and you'll have to either use Freelance Graphics on the HP Vectra computer in the Medical Staff Conference Room or Internet Room as we call it, or else your own presentation software in your own computer. However, we are in the process of acquiring suitable software for the Dell computer.
2. Publishing

If you want to create some small booklets, handouts or other simple documents, you can do so right on the computer. Microsoft Publisher is available on the Dell computer and you are free to use it to create any publications you like. However, if you need colour you'll have to print it out elsewhere. Members are also requested to be reasonable in their usage of the laser printer as the toner is fairly expensive at about $300 a pop.
3. Web-Publishing

This is another great use for digital photographs. You can use either Microsoft FrontPage Express (FPXpress) or Adobe PageMill 3.0 on the Dell computer. FPXpress is the "lite" version of FrontPage and may not meet the needs of the power user who should probably stick with PageMill.

Don't forget, all the main Microsoft Office applications are also web-aware. They can be used to create and edit web-pages using HTML. Just open the document you want to edit or open a new document and edit it as normal. When you want to save the file, just make sure that the document is saved in HTML format. To do that, choose File, Save As and in the Save as type drop-down box, select HTML Document.
 

4. e-mail

If you need to get a picture over to a colleague in United Kingdom to get his opinion, just take a digital photograph and send it as an attachment by e-mail. To reduce file size, capture the image at Standard Resolution at Good Quality but if the best picture quality is needed, then use High Resolution at Best Quality. Almost any recent e-mail program will handle attachments, including Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express available on the Dell computer.

Documents Available on the Web

The Rules and Regulations are also available at,

Support

• Their web-site at

    http://www.kodak.com
    (click on Service and Support, or something similar)
• Free Technical Suport line at

	Number
Free Technical Support (Malaysia)	60-3-7957 2722
Free Technical Support (Australia)	1-800-803 300
Fax	60-3-7955 5919