"Fake ID" wrote in message
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In article ,
Robert Green wrote:
"Fake ID" wrote in message
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I got the autofucos issues worked out on my PointOrShoot camera and
took some pictures of the aftermath. The macro mode images of the
blown
DIP look even more dramatic than with the naked eye.
Some rudimentary html and the images can be found at:

http://www.sonic.net/~mball/CFL/

What kind of Nikon?

Coolpix SQ--last of the swivel bodies, AFAIK.

I think you're right. I own quite a few Coolpic 950's and one or two of the
later models. Great cameras except for a fatal flaw with the battery door.
After years of battling Nikon with the issue, I finally proved (to my
satisfaction at least) that they used inferior materials. I bought a brand
new, never been opened model, loaded it with batteries for the first time
ever and watched the door slowly open itself because the plastic tabs
holding the door in place had just broken off from being put under stress.
The plastic latches should have been made out of metal or at least out of a
plastic that didn't weaken and fail just because of age.

People with CPD can get a good blast of very nasty fumes when a CFL dies.
She removes all bulbs in her sewing/office areas when they either show
blackening or start humming (that's a few, now) to avoid breathing that
stuff in during yet-another smoky CFL bulb failure. I'm hoping "death by
stinkout" is something they really get squared away in the future. The
worst an incandescent bulb has done around here is flare out.

The room did stink like it was still burning for about a day.
It's definitely a "this might be toxic" odor.

Fortunately, they seem to only fail like that when they're running so most
people won't be inhaling a lung or two full of that poison while they're
sleeping. As you note, the smell definitely lingers and for someone who's
sensitive to those sorts of things, like my wife, it's unpleasant.

Anyway, your "PointOrShoot" seems to have done a remarkable job. Some
cameras can't get close without resorting to tricks (my favorite is
holding
a large magnifying glass in front of the camera lens). I've bought a lot
of
digicams - not one of them is a do-it-all camera. I go back to using my
Sony TRV video-tape cam because the smaller, higher-res cams have
hard-to-work menus in place of the discrete buttons on the Sony.

The SQ has no means to manual focus--auto only. The autofocus will hunt
around, passing through what is clearly in focus, before giving up out
of focus. ****es me off to no end.

The 950 does something quite similar. Last week I was trying to photograph
the bruised mess that a phlebotomist made of my arm, but the camera wouldn't
lock focus because there wasn't anything contrasty enough in the image. I
finally had to stick a kid's Band-aid with printing on it to get it to lock.
I do believe, however, that buried deep in the shooting menu is an AF/MF
option. Might be one on yours because I think many of their swivel head
cameras use a lot of the same chips. I think I might even have a junk SQ in
my parts bin. It's actually a remarkable little camera.

Once you get used to the swivel head it makes other cameras seem antiquated.
Nikon point and shoot cameras have always been a cut above the rest,
especially when it comes to white balance and macro photography. The swivel
head is great for getting photos that aren't the typical eye-level creation.
The Nikon point and shoot I really like the best (not a swivel-head) was the
model they put a small LED projector in. Got it at some half-price sale at
Amazon.

With just 3x optical zoom I sometimes achieve "telephoto" by shooting
through binoculars. Camera construction helps with this since all lens
movement is internal, but, again, the autofocus...

Hmm - just looked up the specs and they say "no manual focus." That's odd.
I know that on the 950's there's also a lot of focus hunting so I usually
depress the shutter halfway to lock the focus and then focus in by moving
the camera. There aren't many cameras that can focus as close as the Nikon
swivel-heads.

--
Bobby G.