Be a Spy

If a copier isn’t handy, use your digital camera’s close-up option to record documents you can’t take with you.

Pocket-sized, digital cameras, an essential tool for signmakers, have proved handy for sales and survey photographs, as well as completed installation shots – but some of you may not have realized their document-copying capability. Many of today’s pocket-sized digital cameras offer options for shooting close-ups (Macro Mode) photos that are easily downloaded into computer programs.

Cellphone cameras, although digital, don’t have close-up lenses, nor do they record enough pixels to make useful enlargements.

You can also use a digital camera to record logos or other material and details your shop’s designer may need. If you shoot a logo straight on, your shop’s designer can import it into Adobe Photoshop®, Illustrator® or CorelDRAW® software, and then, using the software’s convert-to-vector command, coupled with some digital cleanup, apply the image to sales and presentation drawings. Once this is accomplished, a designer may be able to import the logo directly into a CAD-type drawing.

As with scanning, clean, flat, high-contrast images copy best.

Many new cameras have a “Text” selection system that switches the camera’s capture system to Macro and either turns off (or reduces) the flash. It also boosts the image saturation and contrast. Some camera models favorably adjust the overall hue by automatically tweaking the system’s white balance.

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Canon, Fujifilm, Kodak, Panasonic, Pentax, Olympus, Ricoh and Samsung produce cameras with text-only alternatives. I own several cameras with Macro settings, but not the text option; therefore, I researched and examined the Olympus FE-350, 8.0MP camera at Best Buy. It has the text option, a 4X optical zoom and image stabilization. It’s an excellent, small camera with an F2.7 lens aperture, a 3-in.-LCD viewing screen and an in-camera help guide. The “Text” selection is in the camera’s menu (not the mode dial), which makes it slightly more difficult to access, but clicking on it quickly sets the camera up for copying text and drawings.

My only complaint: The FE-350 uses a Li-ion rechargeable battery, which, in most instances, is desirable, but not when you’re travelling and can’t access a 120V electrical outlet for the required recharge time. There, a camera that accepts drugstore-available batteries is your only hope.

Still, the Olympus FE-350 fits niftily into your pocket and allows you to take quick pictures of almost anything.

When photographing other’s documents or designs, here are 10 important things to remember:

1. Ask for permission to photograph or copy. With today’s security measures, it’s best to ask first.
2. Comply with copyright laws.
3. Be sure the camera is set on Macro or Text.
4. Make the subject document as flat as possible.
5. Shoot straight on (to minimize distortion).
6. Don’t use flash for close-ups (it whites out the shot). Instead, move the subject to an area that has more light.
7. Every book tells you to use a tripod (but most of us don’t).
8. Examine the photo in your camera’s viewing screen (use the zoom-up feature) to see that it’s sufficiently exposed and in focus. If not, try again.
9. If steadiness is a problem, brace yourself against something and exhale slowly as you shoot. If all else fails, prop the camera on a few books or a briefcase, and use its self-timing system.
10. Take several shots. Even though the first one looks fine, take several. One is always sharper than the others.

If you need a surefire, portable scanning – not photo – method, Planon (Mississauga, ON, Canada) produces its DocuPen RC800 color, handheld scanner that achieves full-color, 24-bit scanning as you roll it across a page. Once you’ve done this, you can instantly download the file, via a USB connector, to your computer. Planon makes several versions, including a professional or black-and-white one. The RC800 copies any page – photographs, text and charts. The company said it scans a page in four seconds and stores 100 pages of memory at up to 400 dpi. See it at www.planon.com.

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The Olympus FE-350, 8.0MP digital camera’s text option automatically adjusts the camera to improve document-copying shots. The camera’s image-stabilization feature and F2.7 lens facilitate copying in low light.