Silicon ChipLow-cost digital cameras no match for 35mm equivalents - July 2005 SILICON CHIP
  1. Outer Front Cover
  2. Contents
  3. Publisher's Letter: Low-cost digital cameras no match for 35mm equivalents
  4. Feature: Getting Into WiFi, Pt.3 by Ross Tester
  5. Feature: CeBIT Sydney 2005 by Ross Tester
  6. Feature: Unleashing Unwired by Ross Tester
  7. Project: Remote-Controlled Automatic Table Lamp Dimmer by John Clarke
  8. Salvage It: Salvaging & using common thermostats by Julian Edgar
  9. Project: Lead-Acid Battery Zapper by Jim Rowe
  10. Project: Serial Stepper Motor Controller by Greg Radion
  11. Feature: PICAXE In Schools, Pt.3 by Clive Seager
  12. Review: Altronics 250W Aussie-Made PA Amplifier by Ross Tester
  13. Project: AVR200 Single Board Computer, Pt.2 by Ed Schoell
  14. Vintage Radio: The 1951 AWA 433MCZ 4-Valve Battery Receiver by Rodney Champness
  15. Book Store
  16. Advertising Index
  17. Outer Back Cover

This is only a preview of the July 2005 issue of Silicon Chip.

You can view 37 of the 104 pages in the full issue, including the advertisments.

For full access, purchase the issue for $10.00 or subscribe for access to the latest issues.

Articles in this series:
  • Getting into Wi-Fi (May 2005)
  • Getting into Wi-Fi (May 2005)
  • Getting Into WiFi, Pt.2 (June 2005)
  • Getting Into WiFi, Pt.2 (June 2005)
  • Getting Into WiFi, Pt.3 (July 2005)
  • Getting Into WiFi, Pt.3 (July 2005)
Items relevant to "Remote-Controlled Automatic Table Lamp Dimmer":
  • PIC16F628A-I/P programmed for the Remote-Controlled Automatic Table Lamp Dimmer [autolamp.hex] (Programmed Microcontroller, AUD $10.00)
  • PIC16F628A firmware and source code for the Remote-Controlled Automatic Table Lamp Dimmer [autolamp.hex] (Software, Free)
  • Remote-Controlled Automatic Table Lamp Dimmer PCB pattern (PDF download) [10107051] (Free)
Items relevant to "Lead-Acid Battery Zapper":
  • Lead-Acid Battery Zapper PCB pattern (PDF download) [14107051] (Free)
  • Lead-Acid Battery Zapper front panel artwork (PDF download) (Free)
Items relevant to "PICAXE In Schools, Pt.3":
  • PICAXE-08M BASIC source code for "PICAXE in Schools", part 3 (Software, Free)
Articles in this series:
  • What’s this? Free PC Boards for Schools? (May 2005)
  • What’s this? Free PC Boards for Schools? (May 2005)
  • PICAXE In Schools, Pt.2 (June 2005)
  • PICAXE In Schools, Pt.2 (June 2005)
  • PICAXE In Schools, Pt.3 (July 2005)
  • PICAXE In Schools, Pt.3 (July 2005)
  • PICAXE In Schools, Pt.4 (September 2005)
  • PICAXE In Schools, Pt.4 (September 2005)
  • PICAXE In Schools; Pt.5 (November 2005)
  • PICAXE In Schools; Pt.5 (November 2005)
Articles in this series:
  • AVR200 Single Board Computer, Pt.1 (June 2005)
  • AVR200 Single Board Computer, Pt.1 (June 2005)
  • AVR200 Single Board Computer, Pt.2 (July 2005)
  • AVR200 Single Board Computer, Pt.2 (July 2005)

Purchase a printed copy of this issue for $10.00.

SILICON CHIP www.siliconchip.com.au Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Leo Simpson, B.Bus., FAICD Production Manager Greg Swain, B.Sc.(Hons.) Technical Editor Peter Smith Technical Staff John Clarke, B.E.(Elec.) Ross Tester Jim Rowe, B.A., B.Sc, VK2ZLO Reader Services Ann Jenkinson Advertising Enquiries Lawrence Smith Benedictus Smith Pty Ltd Phone (02) 9211 8035 Fax: (02) 9211 0068 lawrence<at>benedictus-smith.com Regular Contributors Brendan Akhurst Rodney Champness, VK3UG Julian Edgar, Dip.T.(Sec.), B.Ed, Grad.Dip.Jnl Mike Sheriff, B.Sc, VK2YFK Stan Swan SILICON CHIP is published 12 times a year by Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd. ACN 003 205 490. ABN 49 003 205 490 All material copyright ©. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Printing: Hannanprint, Noble Park, Victoria. Distribution: Network Distribution Company. Subscription rates: $83.00 per year in Australia. For overseas rates, see the subscription page in this issue. Editorial office: Unit 8, 101 Darley St, Mona Vale, NSW 2103. Postal address: PO Box 139, Collaroy Beach, NSW 2097. Phone (02) 9979 5644. Fax (02) 9979 6503. E-mail: silchip<at>siliconchip.com.au ISSN 1030-2662 * Recommended and maximum price only. 2  Silicon Chip Publisher’s Letter Low-cost digital cameras no match for 35mm equivalents Have you been considering a change to a digital camera? You’ve seen all the hype, everybody’s doing it and perhaps you are getting the strong message that your old faithful 35mm camera is just “old hat” and nobody who is anybody would be seen dead with that old clunker!” That is how it was with me and my techno-savvy daughters who thought it was time I “got with it”. Of course, at SILICON CHIP we have been using a high-end Nikon digital camera for some time now, so I do know the capabilities of digital cameras, or so I thought. And since I was about to depart on a world trip, I was seriously thinking about getting a compact digital camera to substitute for my old favourite SLR camera which is rather heavy and not one you can “point and shoot”. So I did a quick survey and it quickly came down to a choice between a Fuji Finepix S3500 and an Olympus C725. I wanted something I would be reasonably happy with and that my wife could operate easily without a long and tedious study of an instruction book. Both cameras look like miniature 35mm SLR cameras but they’re not. They are both reasonably compact and do not have buttons and controls which are so small that a mature (!) male has difficulty using them. And they both have good optical zoom ranges which is important when you’re taking photos as a tourist. In the metal, the Fuji proved to be a lot bulkier than the Olympus although it is probably the better unit. So since I was travelling, I chose the Olympus. Unfortunately, you cannot try them in the store and that is a trap. And I had to buy bigger memory cards because the supplied 16MB is only good for about 20 shots. So I got it home and put it all together, spent an hour with the instructions and turned it on to take some shots. First problem is the LCD screen and viewfinder. The LCD screen is fine but try to use it outdoors for picture composition and it becomes very difficult, especially in bright sun when you need to use sunglasses. Alternatively, you try to use the LCD viewfinder but its pixels are so coarse that it is really not possible to tell whether the image is sharply in focus or not. In practice, the viewfinder needs to be optical (most are) rather than LCD. In fact, focus is a problem, because in the normal automatic mode, it has aperture priority which means that the aperture is normally wide open at f2.8 (with shutter speed setting the exposure). That means that depth of field is always poor. Minimum aperture is f7, by the way. And then I found that I could not focus manually! Other than that, digital cameras require so much paraphernalia that you need to carry when on an overseas trip: extra memory cards, battery charger, USB cable, memory card reader, extra batteries, etc. Ultimately, I decided that the almost $500 I had spent was not a good photographic package and certainly nothing like equivalent to a 35mm SLR camera purchased for the same money. So what to do? I took the Olympus back and instead purchased a small automatic 35mm camera with a good zoom and automatic focus, for just over $100. It’s a simple “point and shoot” camera. And for under $25, I purchased enough film for 200 photos. My wife loves it. I will buy a digital camera, eventually. But not yet. By the way, it now looks as though a much better choice, for not much more money, would have been a Fuji E550. So there you go. Leo Simpson siliconchip.com.au