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Hazardous Waste Days open to Bergen County, New Jersey Residents Only

BCUA Hazardous Waste Days Flyer.  No business waste and ID is required. Also please do not bring computers, electronics, batteries, latex paint or tires to these collections. If you have questions please call the Bergen County Hazardous Waste Hotline 201-807-5825. Information for other New Jersey Counties can be found at the NJ Hazardous Waste Co-ordinators website. 

Next Hazardous Waste Day: Campgaw Reservation May 15, 2010

Campgaw Mountain Reservation 9 a – 3 p

200 Campgaw Road, Mahwah, NJ

May 15

September 11

November 20

Bergen Community College 9 a – 3 p

400 Paramus Road, Paramus, NJ

June 13

October 17

Bergen County Utilities Authority 9 a – 3 p

Foot of Empire Boulevard, Moonachie, NJ

July 17

Ever take a picture and have it look like this? We hope not. This is an extreme case of sensor dust — probably as bad as you’ll ever see. Dust is a part of everyday life and getting it on a digital SLR’s imaging sensor is a problem every photographer has to deal with.

We offer a full service sensor cleaning available for $49.99 (DX sized sensors and smaller) or $79.99 (full frame sensors). We’ll take a picture before and after the cleaning, so you can see the results first hand.  We also can show you how to do it on your own, and sell you all of the supplies you’ll need. Either way, sensor cleaning is a regular and expected part of normal maintance on most all digital SLRs.

A DSLR’s sensor carries an electronic charge and it loves dust, just like a tube television. Changing lenses, zooming, even something as minute as focusing can bring dust into the camera. We find the best way to determine exactly how much dust is on your sensor is to take a photo of the sky at f16 or higher. Make sure your camera is set to manual focus – otherwise the lens will keep seeking a focus point. Next, load up your image in Photoshop and enlarge it to 100%. That’ll give you the ability to see every tiny bit of dust that’s plaguing your sensor. Don’t worry if there’s a Boeing 767 on your sensor – it’s most likely just in the sky.

So now that you see the dust, what do you do with it? There’s always the option of cloning out all the dust in Photoshop, but that’s an hour’s worth of time better spent behind the camera. If you have the courage, you can clean the sensor yourself with the right equipment and supplies.

If you decide to try it yourself, check to see if your camera has a “clean sensor” option in the set-up menu. Many DSLRs require you to have a fully charged battery in order to clean the sensor. If the “clean sensor” option is greyed out, a low battery is most likely the reason. Charge your battery fully and give it another go. If you have an older dSLR, it’s possible that it does not have a “clean sensor” option. At that point, in order to access the sensor yourself, your only option is to put the shutter on bulb and clean it that way — but it’s a very risky method. If you accidentally release that shutter while cleaning, it’s going to be a costly repair. Also, the sensor will be activated, increasing the chances of even more dust appearing.

Okay, so now you have access to the sensor. What now? Whatever you do, DO NOT use compressed air to clean your sensor. Many types of compressed air emit tiny particles of liquid propellant which can damage your sensor. Always use products meant specifically for sensor cleaning, such as Sensor Swabs and E2 solution available from BCC. Bulb blowers are a great way to do a quick cleaning; never do a wet cleaning unless it is absolutely necessary. You can even buy small, travel-friendly bulb blowers for cleaning on the go.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to try it yourself, but beware – some camera manufacturers’ warranties become void if you clean the sensor yourself.

If you’re having dust problems please feel free to stop by one of our stores. If you’d like to purchase the cleaning products and try it yourself we’ll be happy to walk you through the process. If you’re more of the butterfingers type and don’t want to risk it, bring your camera into the store and we can clean it for you.

Visit the complete gallery of entries into this year’s Thanksgiving Card Contest. Thanks again to everyone who participated in this year’s contest. We certainly had a tough job choosing a winner from all the great entries. All entry fees were donated to Table to Table of Englewood Cliffs - “delivering food to those who need it the most.” This years contest was won by Jim Nooney.

Here is Nikon’s latest flyer, which will be distributed via The Record on Saturday, May 30th. A little advance notice never hurts, eh?

Part 1
Part 2
Both flyers are .pdf file format.

All specials start today, May 28th, and are one week only.

Almost 90 years after the United States’ women’s suffrage movement, there’s finally a camera bag for women.

No more bland black and tan colors or trying not to be seen in public with your camera bag and equipment.

Prices range from $149.99 to $249.99, most available in either leather or nylon, and are also available in many colors.

The medium sized bag can fit one camera body with two to three medium sized lenses or one large telephoto lens, while the small bag can fit one camera body and one medium sized lens. Both have adequate space for your standard photographic accessories.

Within the past few years high definition has become more commonplace than ever before. HD televisions are constantly dropping in price as well as getting better in terms of image quality and design. The same is occuring within the consumer camcorder market.

The obvious advantage of a high definition camcorder is that it is able to record and display video at more than double the resolution of a standard definition camcorder – depending on the camcorder, of course. SD (standard definition) video displays 480 horizontal lines of resolution at any given time. HD video can display up to 1080 horizontal lines of resolution at any point.

Within the consumer camcorder market there are two types of resolution currently available – 720p and 1080i. 1080i sounds better, right? Not really. If we were talking still photo resolution that would be the case but with video it’s a different story. The “i” and “p” come into play when we start talking about motion. The “i” stands for interlaced. When recording or playing video that’s interlaced the display (or camcorder) assigns each alternating line of resolution into odds and evens. It first displays the odd lines and then the even lines – each line being refreshed 30 times per second. This is occuring so fast that the human eye is not able to percieve the lag time. If you pause interlaced video you’ll see what the video industry justly calls “jaggies”*.

The “p” stands for progressive. Progressive video refreshes the entire picture 30 times a second. This type of video will alway produce smoother motion.

Many of the newer LCD and plasma televisions will display at 1080p but, as of this writing, there aren’t many consumer camcorders on the market that can record at that resolution.

Now let’s get into the fun stuff. Depending on what type of high def camcorder you purchase there are different types or “formats” of video that it might record in. A HD MiniDV camcorder will record in a format called HDV. HDV is the eldest of the HD crowd and is widely compatible with different types of editing software.

AVCHD is the most popular of the compression formats and is used in almost all non-cassette format camcorders. Though AVCHD may be the future of high-def video there are still many improvements that need to be made. It is still very unfriendly when it comes to editing software and certain types of computer systems. Always double check your software and system specifications before investing in this type of high-def camcorder.

MPEG-2 Transport Stream is a format that is currently used exclusively in JVC camcorders. The image quality is somewhat poor comparted to it’s AVCHD competition.

AVC/H.264 MPEG-4 is only used in certain Samsung and Sanyo brand cameras. Image quality is decent but it records solely in 720p resolution. I wouldn’t be surprised if this format becomes obsolete when the popularity of 1080 resolution rises. I also can’t see marketing execs falling in love with it’s oh-so-catchy title.

High-def video is the way of the future. It’s actually more like “the way of the now” but who’s counting? Depending on what type of video you’re looking to record (and of course what you’re looking to do with it afterwards) going high-def will ensure your video future will not be behind the times.

* Yes, that’s a technical term – as is “jagginess”.

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Flash Memory and HDD (Hard Disk Drive) are the most recent video formats to be introduced into the consumer camcorder market and each have their own strengths and weaknesses.

Flash memory (also known as solid state memory) camcorders record video information onto a small removeable memory card. If you own a digital still photo camera you’re likely to be very familiar with what a memory card is and how it works.

The main advantage of a solid state memory device is the simple fact that there are no moving parts – hence the name “solid state”. Unlike a hard drive which writes information mechanically, solid state memory electronically writes information onto the card, thereby making it more stable than mechanically written information. The other great benefit to flash memory is that it has the ability to read/write information much faster than a standard hard drive. A solid state drive on average can read/write information at approximately 40 megabytes per second whereas a good quality hard disk drive can read/write information at about 7 – 10 megabytes per second.

Of course like anything else there are disadvantages to flash memory. The first is that flash memory is more expensive per gigabyte when compared to a standard hard disk. A camcorder with 60gb of hard disk memory is generally around the same price as a camcorder that takes solid state – not including a memory card. A high capacity, reliable, class based SD memory card can cost as much as $200. That’s a significant amount of money to spend on top of the cost of the camcorder itself.

Hard disk drive camcorders are the modern alternative to flash memory. Hard drives will usually have more storage space than flash memory at a similar price. The first and most pronounced advantage to using a hard drive is obviously cost. At a specific price point you can get much more storage on a hard drive than flash memory though you will be sacrificing a small amount of reliability and speed.

In terms of reliability you shouldn’t be concerned with the camcorder suddenly up and failing on you. It has more to do with if the camera is dropped or takes a significant hit – by having more mechanical parts there is more of a chance of a component breaking upon impact. Take care of your equipment and I wouldn’t be overly concered with reliability. Certain models of hard drive camcorders can make a slight amount of noise which can be heard in the video’s audio if you’re recording in a very quiet environment. Most major manufacterer’s models don’t suffer from hard drive noise so again I wouldn’t be hugely concerned with it. The final drawback to hard drive camcorders is that they’re somewhat larger and heavier than their flash memory counterparts.

I have found that most people go with flash memory camcorders based solely on size itself. If you’re looking for a high quality, pocket sized camcorder then flash memory is the way to go. If you’re looking for a budget alternative and size is of no concern then hard drive is the way to go.

Come visit again next Wednesday for Intro to Video Formats: Part 4 – High Definition.

In our last installment we spoke somewhat briefly about the MiniDV format of camcorders. This time around we’re going to go into the DVD format. DVD was first introduced in the computer industry in 1995, the same year MiniDV made it’s introduction into the video market, but it was not available for video or consumer use until early 1998. DVD camcorders did not gain popularity until the year 2000. At first the image quality on DVD camcorders was lacking at best. The quality has gotten much better over time but is still not on par with either the current tape formats or the solid state/hard drive formats. This might not sound like the most compelling argument for DVD. I mean, who wants to spend money on a format in which the quality is less than it’s competing formats? Read on and you will discover.

The biggest advantage to DVD format is that it’s the simplest of the video formats. It has two basic fuctions – to record and to play back. If you don’t want to fuss around with connecting the camcorder to your television DVD is the way to go. Pop the DVD into your DVD player and you’re ready to go. There can be compatability issues with playing DVD’s, though that is of minimal concern. Almost any modern DVD player (from the last 2 to 5 years) will be able to play recordable DVD’s.

Other than quality the other main disadvantage is that standard DVD’s for these camcorders can only hold up to 30 minutes per disc. The discs aren’t expensive (around $15 for a 10 pack) but it can be a nuisance when recording an event that’s longer than the disc’s capacity.

There is something that needs to be mentioned when it comes to different types of recordable DVD discs. There are three types of discs on the market. DVD-R (know as either “minus R” or “dash R”) will work in any DVD camcorder and is readable in almost any DVD player. DVD+R is a format that was introduced by Sony to compete with the already popularly available -R discs. +R discs hold slightly less information than -Rs but the trade-off being that the +R discs are more stable when writing information at higher speeds. You need to make sure your camcorder/DVD player are able to write/read +R discs. Both -R and +R discs also come in -/+RW formats. RW stands for re-writeable. They give you the ability to delete and re-record scenes on the DVD itself. I don’t recommend RW discs for camcorders due to the fact that they’re less reliable than standard R discs. The last and least popular of the formats is DVD-RAM. RAM discs (which stands for Random Access Memory) are also re-writeable but are more stable than their RW counterparts. RAM discs are great but just like the +R discs you need to make sure your equipment is compatible with that format.

Overall I can fully recommend DVD camcorders for those looking for simplicity above all else. The image quality issue (if you would even call it that) isn’t of huge concern. To the untrained eye the image quality differences are negligible.

Check back here next Wednesday for the third installment of our Intro to Video Formats column – HDD/Flash Memory.