New Observer Onboard

I'd like to introduce everyone to my new lab assistant. This is NIO short for Naive Impressionist Observer. NIO will be doing most of the observing from now on and will be handling a lot of the record keeping tasks.

NIO could not transfer images directly to my computer either through the cable link or the SDHC flash memory so I had to purchase a Dynex card reader to act as translator. NIO is a Kodak digital camera designed in Japan and made in Vietnam. It appears to be an updated version of the Sony Cybershot with better aperature control.

The Kodak Easyshare Z981 is a PASM Auto Exposure camera with program mode, aperature priority, shutter priority and a manual mode. The manual mode allows one to control the exposure by independently setting the f-stop, shutter speed and ISO speed. In the image above one can see the spot meter reading (bottom row center) which helps in the selection of the exposure settings. I had to consult the online Extended User Guide in order to find out how to change the settings. There is also an optical zoom for distance shots.