LM_NET: Library Media Networking
- Subject: Hit on Quick Take camera (long)
- From: Pat Wang <patw@UMD5.UMD.EDU>
- Date: Sat, 9 Sep 1995 07:52:54 -0400
A couple of weeks ago, I posted the following note. Below are the
responses. *Many * thanks for all your ideas and input.
__________________________________________
Subject: Gen: Quick Take camera: To buy or not to buy
Hi All,
We are considering buying a Quick Take camera, but need more
info. We would like to hear about:
1. ease of use - especially with elementary age students
2. technical problems or unexpected problems
3. nifty projects your school has done with them
4. advice in general - anything else we might need to know
5. who uses it - any special areas that lend themselves to this
sort of project.
6. your opinions, thoughts, and anything not covered by the above.
I will post a hit if there is an interest.
Many thanks - Pat
Pat Wang patw@umd5.umd.edu Media Specialist Lisbon Elem. Howard Co. MD
---------------
aedler@yorick.umd.edu
Pat, the Apple Quick Take camera is absolutely great for the
classroom. Go and buy it. The latest version is the 150 vice the 100. The
150 has a closeup lens which I have not used, but sounds great. The
beauty of the machine is that you can take the photo and have it up the
next day. For example, a low-achiever gave a great speech one day. And
poof, there was a photo of him on the "Esteem Board" the next class.
Once, a week later, when he was goofing around, I told him to shape up or
I would burn his photo! This was "kinda-in-jest, but it worked. So, the
camera and its use can be a positive as well as a negative sanction. I
had many contests between factions of the class, and the reward was a
photo of the winners. Ha, it cost nothing really, but the kids would
bring in their friends to see their photo. Kids love photos and 'phood'
as motivational tools. We teachers need to use everything now days. Also,
the Superintendent of P.G.Co. observed my "special" class one day. It
took me about 45 seconds to get a photo of him, the principal, and a girl
that had just given a dynamic speech. Guess what, the principal was
elated as no other photo was taken. The point being that the camera is
quick, just like its name. Its there, ready to go. No complications.
Open the lens, point, and zap. Then at lunch time the picture takes
about 5 min. to "develop" and print and it is back in the classroom to
view. I use Aldus Pagemaker 5.0 to do newsletters and newspapers for the
kids. The trusty Quicktake's photos are quite acceptable for these type
of documents. Some came out so dark I had to use Photoshop to lighten
them, but the result is the same. You get photos you would normally not
get. They cannot be enlarged much as they get computer grainy, but
remember to get in close for faces and you will be OK. I almost always
use flash, even outdoors as it fills shadows. The only negative I know is
the fact it is valuable and can be lost or stolen. I had that happen, but
a month later found it in back and under my desk drawer. Now, a hint to
get it. Don't try to get the $650 camera for one class. The whole school
can use it-this lowers the cost per class and seems cheaper. Or, go to
the next PTSA mtg and beg the parents to chip in as a group. BUT, get
one for the sake of the kids. I teach/taught 9th graders for the past 11
years. I have a lot of other tricks about the camera if you are
interested. Hope today was special and you dazzled the new students.
----------------
From: Thomas_C_O'HAVER@umail.umd.edu (to2)
We have a QuickTake camera, and it has been a disappointment. Main
problem is short battery life and too few pictures. No way to "put in
new film" while out in the field. I feel a better investment is a small
camcorder and a lab-based video digitizer (Video Spigot or Mac AV) to
digitize pictures afterwards. You tape in the field, then digitize from
the tape back in the lab or classroom. A camcorder usually has zoom,
focus, allows an infinite number of pictures, and you
can capture either still or motion video clips, none of which the
QuickTake can do. Many kids are familiar with camcorders because their
folks have one at home.
----------------------------
From: Diane Barr <dbarr@macomb.lib.mi.us>
QuickTake Cameras are used in our school (high school). If an adult with
no training can use it, imagine what a child can do with one.
If teachers send newsletters home, it is a nice way to focus on
particular students accomplishments; activities and/or projects done in
class; holiday celebrations in class; etc.. It is a great way for a
teacher to have a photo of class done individually or collectively for
a substitute teacher to easily put names to faces.
Once the use and possibilities are made evident, you will
probably find that one is not enough.
If you have an Open House, it is a great way for a running picture
show in your cafeteria or gym, for parents to see what is going on day in
and day out. (May have pictures of students in particular classes,
during lunch, outside playing, in the halls.) If you have guest
speakers, great pr tool. The possibilities are endless!!
----------------------
From: Mary Ellen Verona <mverona@goober.mbhs.edu>
I have used it several times. I think its very easy to use except for the
fact that you need to download every 8 images so there's room for more.
So I always take a powerbook with me. It also helps to see how your
pictures came out so you can take additional pictures. I was able to
learn how to do everything even without documentation. Older elementary
kids should be able to handle it - certainly almost anyone who can hold
the camera steady can take pictures. Downloading would take a bit more
expertise.
If you can use netscape, see http://www.mbhs.edu/mvhsproj/allpicts.html
I'm just working on getting pictures I took at a student-teacher
campout put up. I'm not a great photographer but it's really lots of fun!
--------------------
From: bnelson@infi.net (bonnie nelson)
Multi usable. Very easy. Wonderful projects. Not as much of a
memory hog as earlier camera. I almost don't know how to respond -- sort
of like--someone asking how would you use a camera in projects.
Let children make a story of their class or their day and write
the dialog that goes along with the pictures they take (Elementary
Parents love this). Take camera along on a field trip for use in reports
and presentations later. Great in individual science projects and
observation data.
For children with disabilities use with Intellipics software.
Have pictures of all class members. When clicking on a child's picture
the clicker can make child jump, bounce, shrink, swing, sneak, and do all
sorts of zany things with accompanying sound effects. Students LOVE this
(3 to 9 years old). From Intellitools (800 899 6687).
Have each child make a Slide show (Kid Pix II or Kid Pix
Studio--Broderbund) and use camera shots in these. Parents are VERY
impressed with this. I've used on parent nights and at other meetings.
Take a serious picture of the principal or teacher with quick
take. Show a before (serious picture) and an edited after of the same
picture --showing how the student has edited the picture to show some
student perspective or zaniness (principal with mustache or one ear
missing or enlarged forehead, etc. etc.).
---------------
"Holli" Kaye M. Hollifield Mhollifiel@aol.com
VERY easy to use. Kids should be able to handle with little trouble.
If you don't have a color printer you'll be disappointed at seeing color
on screen and only being able to printB&W. The other down side is that
graphics inhale memory. That may frustrate your users. I just set up a
mobile color print station and am upgrading the LCIII from 4M to 16M. I
am also going to put a scanner on that station. Will install Print Shop
and Type Twister at the very least. This will not be on the network.
--------------------
Don Wessel dwessel@macbeth.umd.edu
I use the quick take with high school students. We then use the images
within the science program using NIH Image. This has a high degree of
interest for the students. I know of one teacher in Maine who uses the
combination with children as young as 3rd grade. I have a free CD
containing the NIH Image and several math and science lessons for high
school. If you are interested in this CD, let me know the school
address. This CD has been produced by the Center for Image Processing in
ZEducation, Tuscon, AZ. It demonstrates the use of image processing and
is an introduction to the course work that they offer. NIH Image itself
is freeware.
------------------
From: "Faith W. Van Putte 904 243 0207" <VANPUTF@mail.firn.edu>
Hit, Pat. Faith Van Putte here. We bought a QuickTake camera this time
last year. They are great! Our kids use them to do reports, interviews,
newsletter articles, and on and on and on. It's a little tedious having
to download every eight pictures (I haven't tried low resolution photos
yet) but they don't care. What are you thinking about doing with it? I'd
love to know!
------------------
Linda Graves Curriculum Coordinator
Putnam County Office of Education Ottawa, Ohio 45875
Phone 419-523-5951
I think the kind of camera that you want to buy is like a zap shot
that all the school in our county use. I am a curriculum coordinator so
I just observe students using the technology. But I know that all
students use this including the teachers. It is very simple and the
technology specialist does the actual processing of the pictures with the
computers.
They use the zap shot for basketball & football newsletters and for
school district newsletters. I told my first grade teachers it would be
great to use with students to make a school or classroom book at the
beginning of the year and then again at the end. It also helps with
teachers budgets and the buying and developing of film is no longer a
problem. Also the school allows community groups , organizations, and
clubs to use the camera. It is good public relations as long as it would
not be abused. Hope this helps.
-----------------
From: "Janet L. Alward" <jlalward@umd5.umd.edu>
I am the User Support Specialist at E. Brooke Lee Middle School. We
own two QuickTake Cameras 100's (there is a new 150 model.) They are
very easy to use - you just point and click. Both students and teachers
use ours. The output can be excellent - if imported to a computer file.
Printed output for us isn't great because of the quality of our printers.
This summer one of our Social Studies teachers used the camera on a
day trip of the underground railroad. She has created a hypercard
presentation stack for her classes.
In another QuickTake project, a student teacher asked students to
research one of several historic periods and then to write a fictional
story from the point of view of one of a character in that period. In
addition to the story, students created background scenery and costumes
for the character and fellow students took QT pictures that were imported
into the Microsoft works document. Another teacher had student writing
plays for a puppet theater performance and they illustrated the script
with "photos' of the staged puppets.
One of our creative Instructional Assistants improved group
photographs by using a paint program to paste the best photo of
individual students from one picture into another one - thus one picture
was created with everyone's eyes open.
Our students have found the chance to use the QuickTake very
motivating. The camera can be taken on trips and the shots downloaded to
a Powerbook (with 8 mgs.of RAM). Therefore you can take lots and lots of
photo's without worrying about film. You can even be sure that you got
that very important shot before leaving the scene
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the QuickTake.
----------------------
From: ghewitt@globalone.net (Ginger Hewitt)
As a K-12 Librarian who was given a QuickTake camera to use with the
students this year, I'm happy to share my "expertise". The directions for
configuring the computer to accept the quick take pictures were easy to
follow. The camera itself takes excellent quality photos (the color
reproduces quite well on the computer). After a couple of days of
fooling around with it, I showed the second grade teacher how to use it.
She it turn gave it to the students to take pictures at random. The end
result is now a second grade newsletter produced by the students themselves.
Students and parents love to see day to day happenings in the classroom
and the kids got valuable writing experience as they had to come up with
captions. My experience has been that the quick take is practically
foolproof and a good investment. Feel free to ask any more questions.
---------------
From: Jean Townes <townesj@PEAK.ORG>
I just spent six weeks in classes using technology in the schools.
We have a Quick-Take camera at school but no scanner. If I had to make a
choice from this perspective and could only afford one I would definitely
choose the scanner. With a Polaroid camera and a scanner you can do
almost the same things as you can with a Quick-Take and you have the
versatility to digitize images from many other sources as well--including
students own artwork.
----------
From: schlmdayscH5@pop.nm.org (Bill Wallace)
We have used the QuickTake for two years now and it is
outstanding, easy to use, and durable. I use the QuickTake in the Library
to take pictures of all the students and then print out their picture and
barcode together. It works great and four year olds check out their own
books.
Both students and teacher have used without difficulty.
The one drawback is the lens only takes pictures of scenes at a
distance or people at 4-8 feet. It is a typical fixed lens found many
point and shoot cameras. The good news is that the new Quicktakes have an
option for additional lens. Also Apple will for a short time upgrade your
existing model with new lens for $200.
The software is easy to use.
The four year class last year used the camera to take picture of
adults who work at the school as part of their social studies project.
They then put the pictures into a Hyperstudio stack. It turn out real slick.
----------
From: edaum@marin.k12.ca.us (Eddie van Rossum Daum)
We don't have the Quick Take camera at our school (too
expensive), but have borrowed one from our county office of ed. If you
can borrow one, try it out before buying. I've used one and it isn't
difficult, but sometimes there are glitches. Batteries are one of
those. You'll probably hear more about those from others.
A cheap substitution if you have time in your project: Have a
roll of film of whatever you want developed at one of those drugstores
that give you the pictures on a 3.5 floppy for an additional $4.99 or
so. They may not be quite as good as the Quick Take, but you can get
lots of film developed for $698! You can also scan photos if you have a
color scanner, giving you a scanner and still a way of getting
photographs into your work.
-------------------
From: Janie Halaiko NL_JHALAIKO@SEOVEC.OHIO.GOV
We have five Quick Take Cameras in our district. They are great. You
can use the pictures to import into newsletters, on portfolios etc. It
is relatively easy to use. We have had no problems to date. They are
well worth the money. It's a good investment.
----------------
From: Paula Galland <paula@freenet.scri.fsu.edu>
-Greetings, I'm a MLS student at the University of South Florida,
Tampa and I teach art in an elementary school k-5. My school went with
the Canon Zap Shot and use it quite often on our "morning Show" via our
closed circuit TV channel. The "morning Show" crew (5th graders) are
responsible for taking pictures with the Zap Shot of the next day
birthday students. They attach the camera to our switcher box and send
the pictures out to the rest of the school.
Another art teacher at one of our elementary technology magnet
schools uses the Quick Take. A great project involved the students
taking each others picture. These were loaded into the computer (I think
she was usi38 Mac ANS 880) placed in a file. The students then
carefully cut around themselves, eliminating the background and then
"pasted" their portrait on a background they had created on the computer
or had scanned in. She then printed out the finished product with a
color laser printer.
With her equipment, everything loads fast. With my Mac LCII and
"Computer eyes" software it does take some time to digitize the analog
image from the Zap Shot to the computer.
I understand that it is now Quick Time 150 and it comes in a Windows
version, also.
The art teacher uses rechargeable batteries and works in the higher
resolution setting.
-----------
From: David Lindsey <dlindsey@eagle.esd189.wednet.edu>
In this part of the woods we use the Connectix QuickCam with the
Macintosh; elem students have made the pix--still & movie, b&w--part of
multi-media presentations. send email to amoll@eagle.esd189.wednet.edu
for more details.
----------
From: "Pamela J. Tinker" <pjtinker@mailbox.syr.edu>
Buy it! We have so much fun with the one in our elementary
school. We have only had it a year and have mostly used it to compile
yearbooks and newsletters. It is easy for the kids to use (you just
point and shoot!) and easy to download.
Advice:1) The batteries don't hold a charge for as long as I'd
like so either buy several sets or consider buying the AC adapter for
in-school use. 2) To get the best resolution for printing pictures, the
camera needs to be set for high resolution pictures. This setting only
allows for 8 pictures before you download. The other setting allows you
to take 32 pictures before you download but they can be a bit fuzzy if
you print them. 3) You will need a high quality ink-jet or laser
printer. Dot matrix just doesn't do it. Color is nice but we tend
toward black and white since we usually photocopy the end product (we
haven't had much luck using our risograph for these).
If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to try and answer them.
---------------------
-From: Eileen Woodworth Sexton <ews@tenet.edu>
We have a Quick Take camera at our school. It has been used by both
students (all ninth graders) and teachers of various subjects. We have
mostly used it for slide shows on the computer for open house or to
illustrate projects. The students love to see themselves in these slide
shows. I would think that elementary students could very easily use the
camera. It has to be charged every so often, but I can't think of any
drawbacks. We love it!
-----------------
From: "John W. Wisor" <jwisor@umd5.umd.edu>
Pat: Hello from Glenwood. (My wife Jane is one of the art specialists
at Bushey Park & my daughter attended K at Lisbon.
I am a psychologist in MCPS and borrowed a Quick Take Camera from
one of my schools this summer. See the Fairland Elementary School Web
Page for a picture taken with their Quick Take camera. (I think). They
just got it this past year and some fifth graders used it to take
pictures on a history oriented field trip and then put the pictures in
either a hypercard stack or a Kid Pix slide show (Mary O'Haver
mohaver@umd5.umd.edu could give you details)
>From my personal experience:
ease of set up: fine
picture quality: fine with high resolution marginal with low
resolution (This is a major disadvantage as only 8 high resolution
pictures can be taken before the memory is used up and they must be
downloaded into the Mac). This limits extended field trip use to eight
pictures at best.
my second grade son & fifth grade daughter took the pictures with
ease. Just turn it on and press the button. Although I did not try it,
my daughter could easily learn to download and manipulate the pictures
easily with the associated software. I guess, from my limited
perspective, go for it if you have the money. john
----------------
From: "St Andre, Linda" <lstandre@low.bham.wednet.edu>
We purchased the AQT last winter. At first only two teachers with a
lot of confidence and expertise used it. I had one do a 1 hr workshop
with teachers and most could see how easy it was. By the end of the year
it was being checked out by classrooms around the building and some of
our 4th & 5th grade students were downloading, cropping and saving or
printing pictures for their projects on their own. I taught a couple and
they became guides for their class.
1. It is easy. Almost too easy. Teachers suspiciously look for the
catch and can't find it.
2. Batteries are the biggest problem. We bought the battery pack, but
really ended up using two sets of rechargeable batteries, which we
rotated. Sometimes we had trouble keeping up with the use.
3. We are on a network. Apple gives permission to load the quick take
software on only one computer per site. Teachers would have preferred to
do their work in their classrooms, but used one station in the lab instead.
They saved the selected photos to one the public access drive on our
file server. Then others could view the pictures and get ideas. ( A
librarian at another building was contacting Apple regarding permission
to load on more than one computer. I think their response was to go
ahead and load on one per wing or floor of a building. You'd better
check with Apple before you proceed with that, however.)
4. Uses: Right away one teacher began selecting a picture to print on
his weekly newsletter to parents. Another took pictures of each student
and put them on the About The Author page of each students published books.
We used a few photos on our school's www site. (visit at
http://www.low.bham.wednet.edu/)
One class created student magazines and used the quick take for their
photo images.
5. I recommend purchase. Some of our larger elementaries in Bellingham
have purchased more than one.
-------------------
From: charon@charleston.k12.sc.us (Craig)
> 1. ease of use - especially with elementary age students
Taking pictures is little more than 'wait for the light.....and CLICK.'
Transfer from camera to computer involves connecting one wire to the
computer, opening the QuickTake control panel, and clicking the "Connect
to Camera" option. Once that is done, a window opens displaying the
contents of the camera which you can then drag and drop where ever you like.
> 2. technical problems or unexpected problems
I've never had it fail on me. Our QuickTake 150 is supposed to be easier
on batteries than the 100 was but I've never had any problem with that
either (we also have the AC converter).
> 3. nifty projects your school has done with them
At present, we are constructing our Internet Web pages (The Admin
building and each of the schools) using a graphic image of the front of
each building obtained using the QuickTake.
> 4. advice in general - anything else we might need to know
I believe KODAK also makes a hand held digital camera for the PC but it
runs somewhere between $900 and $800.
> 5. who uses it - any special areas that lend themselves to this
sort of project.
That really depends on who you have with Desk-Top editing skills and what
the limits of your imagination are. If you are producing a school news
paper, a QuickTake allows extreme easy in importing pictures.....No
scanners, no format conversions, etc.
> 6. your opinions, thoughts, and anything not covered by the above.
They're light, portable, easy to use, easy to steal, and easy to loose.
If you shell out $600 for one of these, you might want to limit who uses
it. It has been my experience that there can be surprisingly little
difference in the abilities of faculty to loose what is loaned them as
there is to
students.
------------------
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ Evelyn L. Mauldin
Supervisor, Library Media Services
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Craig's supervisor, above, sent a copy of his message to me also. Assume
it was meant to reflect her positive input also.
---------------
From: "Stephen E. Collins" <lm_net@sec.micro.umn.edu>
I just saw a brand new Casio camera someone had at a conference. It holds
96 pictures, it has a serial port to download to a computer and a video
port to connect to a TV or VCR. There is an LCD view panel on the back
of the camera so you can look at all the pictures you've taken. It
appeared to be a better camera, but I don't know what the price.
----------------
From: HCgraves@aol.com
Westside Elementary here in Hood River has made good use of the Quick
Cam. Students from 1-5 have used it -- after all, if a shot doesn't come
out right, you can just do it again! No cost except the learning time.
Pictures of the students who have produced a slide show or other
multimedia production are added to the credits page.
Students take pictures when on a field trip, and add them to their
reports on what they saw, for the class and for newsletters home.
Fifth graders take pictures of school happenings to add to their
newspaper.
It can also be used for taking pictures of models, diagrams, etc.
which student would like to include in presentations.
The battery life has been really low, and sometime they've had
difficulty getting the batteries seated so that the cameras will work.
This has been the earlier model, we have been told that the new model is
better.
The pictures aren't wonderful, but they are pretty darn good, and the
ease and economy of its use make it a useful tool.
------------------
From: Eileen Woodworth Sexton <ews@tenet.edu>
We have a Quick Take camera at our school. It has been used by both
students (all ninth graders) and teachers of various subjects. We have
mostly used it for slide shows on the computer for open house or to
illustrate projects. The students love to see themselves in these slide
shows. I would think that elementary students could very easily use the
camera. It has to be charged every so often, but I can't think of any
drawbacks. We love it!
---------------------
From: Paula Galland <paula@freenet.scri.fsu.edu>
I strongly vote YES in the tally. We have had one which we check out to
teachers for class projects for about a year. It is quite easy to use.
Pictures can be imported into Hyperstudio, Powerpoint and other
presentation software with ease. While printouts aren't that great, they
certainly beat the price of film developing.
-------------------------
From: kfoster@cln.etc.bc.ca (Ken Foster)
Our school has a Quick Take camera which we used for some of the pictures
for the yearbook this year. It's super easy to use, but the resolution
is really not very good compared to a photo which has been scanned.
You'll need to weigh the convenience and ease of use against a pretty
mediocre picture quality.
(I wrote Ken back and asked if he was using the hi resolution format. He
has not responded.)
----------------
From: Doris Murdoch 692-1515 <MURDOCD@mail.firn.edu>
The QuickTake is very easy to use. Be sure to buy the newest model...I
think it is the 150....it seems to take little memory compared to most
digitized images. Great for elementary use. I have an old Xap-shot which
is hard to beat....I like to make analog slide shows which you cannot do
with the QuickTake, but the QuickTake
--------------------
From: C27HUNTER@aol.com
We just received our camera and are using it in a special production lab
for electronic portfolios. We have not encountered any problems so far. Each
student will have their picture on the first card of their stack. We can
also use it to take pictures of their art projects that we are unable to
scan. We are also including video clips of the students in their portfolios.
One of our LMS in the district took a picture of his assistant and made it
the icon for the circulation computer.
Pictures can also be taken for use in a school newspaper, PTO/PTA or
the principals weekly letter home. If you send out a newsletter you can have
your latest bulletin board included. These are just a few of the ideas we've
brainstormed and have yet to try. Have fun and we would love to hear ideas
from others.
This appeared about the time I put out the inquiry and I thought it might
be of interest to those who do get the camera or have it. Thanks Evelyn....
From: Evelyn Mauldin <emaul@CHARLESTON.K12.SC.US>
Subject: Quicktake file formats
>>========================================================
>>>I'm having trouble gettin acceptable quality for my Web pages from the
>>>QuickTake.
>Make sure you are set to high-quality pictures. You will have only half
>notable. Be sure to use the closeup lens for objects 10 to 14 inches away.
>If you don't, the picture will be out of focus.
>28.8 modem, the time spent waiting for those High-Quality pictures to load
>long. I have a T1 connection with a very light user burden and even
when I
>contact another server, the transmision rate is normally no better than
>5-25K/Sec because they have split there band-width to accommodate numerous
>users.
>>>What resolution are you using to take the pictures? How are you saving
>>>them? Are you converting the images to gif or jpeg?
>PhotoFlash, the program which comes with the QuickTake, will save graphic
>files in PICT, TIFF, JPEG, EPS, and DCS. If you are insistant on GIFF, use
>Adobe Photoshop (or it's like) to convert. JPEG is higher quality but GIFF
>loads faster.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Evelyn L. Mauldin
Supervisor, Library Media Services
Charleston County School District
75 Calhoun Street * Charleston, South Carolina 29401
emaul@charleston.k12.sc.us * (803) 937-6465 * Fax (803) 937-6595
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
LM_NET
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