Digital Photography

Polaroid PhotoMAX PDC 1100

Lens: 6.7mm (equivalent to a 43mm lens on a 35mm camera)
Aperture - f2.8/8.0
Shutter speed - 1/30 - 1/700 second
ISO - 100
EV compensation - Automatic or manual settings: +4 to -4
1 megapixel
Digital Zoom (2x)
1.8'' Active Matrix TFT monitor/viewfinder
White balance - Automatic
Autofocus with 2 lens settings: Normal (12" - infinity) & Macro (6 - 12")
4mg memory card - maximum 128 MB
color or b & w
flash range of 3' - 10'
10 second self-timer
Tripod mountable
4 AA alkaline batteries or AC adapter
USB or Serial connection

Image quality settings:
1152 x 854 (super & high compression)
1024 x 768 (medium compression)
640 x 480 (low compression)

Focusing Distance
Auto Focus (2 feet to infinity)
Macro (8 inches to 2 feet)
1m (3 feet)
2m (7 feet)
5m (16 feet)
Infinity (more than 16 feet)

Topic this week is EXPOSURE

My camera is prettybasic:
Lens settings are Auto-Focus, Macro, Infinity, and fixed focus of 3, 7, 16 feet.
Exposure settings are Normal or EV settings of +4 to -4.
ISO = 100
I do not have spot metering. I did try this: got up close to the subject (using Auto-Focus) then press shutter button down half way to get a light reading, then step back to take the picture, but the camera readjusted automatically to the change in lighting - so, didn't work like I thought it might. :-(

I resized my photos by 50% and used PSP's export function - no other adjustments.

This is a dramatic difference. I was pleased with the pic below.

I was inside and he was out - so I used my zoom and was surprised at the results.
The auto exposure did a pretty good job, but it was cloudy out there. I think the results would have been quite different if it were sunny & bright -- auto exposure would have produced an over-exposed pic and EV -3 or -4 closer to the above pic ... do you agree?

I was trimming this Red Bud tree and couldn't pass up this froggy foto!

I think I am getting a feel for making adjustments to my shots before pressing the shutter button. I didn't realize I had EV settings - or what they were. Now that I know they're available, I will experiment further and try to understand what I can do to improve each shot. I think you have taught an old dog some new tricks!