Miami Herald, Mon, Nov. 18, 2002   
 
Digital Cameras May Be Big Gift Item
LARRY BLASKO
Associated Press

Retailers predict sales like ski resorts predict snow, but the current buzz says digital cameras are going to be a hot gift item this holiday season.

But buying the right digital camera is a task loaded with choices, and failing to make the right ones for your particular need will generate either a disappointment or a bill higher than it needs to be.

Which is why you should first visit www.acpress.com and download John Stewart's e-book, "Finding the Picture Perfect Digital Camera." Now in its third incarnation, the 4.5-megabyte download is a $10 shareware venture.

Stewart's gift is taking highly technical considerations and explaining them well in simple, declarative sentences.

He covers the basics of buying and using a digital camera in general, endorsing no particular brand or configuration, allowing you to make an informed choice.

Consider the issue of megapixels. A pixel is a picture element, one of the tiny tiles in a mosaic that our eyes identify as an image. And a megapixel is a million of them. Here's how Stewart navigates you through the various camera resolutions:

_640x480, the so-called VGA resolution. "A 4 x 6 print is a stretch, and a 5 x 7 is a disaster."

_One megapixel cameras are "like 110 cartridge film cameras."

_Two megapixel cameras deliver great 4 x 6 prints, very good 5 x 7 prints, and can squeeze out an 8 x 10 if the subject isn't too detailed.

_Three megapixels will do anything up to 8 x 10 and sometimes larger.

That's not exactly a high-tech explanation, but it's what you need to know, and that tone runs throughout the book.

Faced with a choice between a two-megapixel with a zoom, or a three-megapixel without, which do you pick? Go with the three, Stewart advises, because you can always crop and enlarge the much-more-detailed image with your editing software.

The book is laced with other matter-of-fact tips. LCD screens that allow you to compose and preview your photos are sexy, but they suck battery power quicker than Dracula drains damsels. Go with a glass viewfinder.

There are all sorts of novelty digital cameras available, often for less than $100, and in funny shapes. Stewart is up front about saying that the picture quality is going to be awful in most cases, and that if saving money is the main concern, you're better off with last year's hot item, which will still outperform the novelty stuff.

This is Stewart's latest effort in a technology-explaining career that started in 1991 with audio tapes, and mellowed into CDs and now, e-books. He's also been a broadcaster and an author of magazine articles.

Stewart does this from Spring Grove, Minn., which hides in the extreme southeastern corner of the state. From there, at 18040 Gap Drive, 55974, Stewart will mail you a CD with the book for $18.95, including postage. As shareware, you download first online and pay later.

Of course, there are those who download shareware, use it and don't pay. They will spend eternity on a barbecue spit being basted with pureed camel dung - and they're getting off easy at that.