The following tips may be best understood if you take out your camera and its manual and try out the suggestions as you read this article. If you don’t have or can’t find your camera’s manual, you can go online and download a PDF copy of it from the manufacture’s site.

The illustrations used in this article are based on the Canon Powershot G9, but I will point out features that are typically found in most point-and-shoot and compact cameras.

Basic Settings

1. Setup Menu: First off, know how to find the setup menu on your camera. Most cameras come with default settings that you can customize for your particular needs or the way you shoot. Look in your manual to find out how to access your camera’s setup menu. Notice what kind of menu changes can be made with the control dials on your camera and the menu settings that you can bring up and select through your camera’s LCD screen. Some cameras, for example, will allow you to change the exposure mode of the camera with a dial on the top or on the back of the camera, while smaller pocket-size cameras will require you to open a menu setting to make those changes.

2. Date and Time Stamp: Most cameras come with quick instructions for how to set the date and time stamp in your camera. If you haven’t already done so, be sure your camera is stamping the correct date and time on your image files. This bit of information (or what is called metadata in the digital photography world) can be very useful for archiving and managing your photos.

3. Review Time: One of the best features about digital photography is the ability to review photos after they are taken. The default time for reviewing an image may be only a couple of seconds, but you typically can change that time, making it longer or shorter. Look up the word “review” or “play menu” in your manual to find out how to change the review time. I have my photos display for 6-8 seconds. This gives me enough time to consider if I need to retake the shot.

4. Picture Count: If you never want to miss a good shot, you should know where to find the picture count for your camera. Typically it can be seen on your camera‘s LCD screen when you review the images stored on your image card. Based the size of your card and the resolution settings you’re shooting in, the camera will display the number of photos you have shot. When you set the camera to take a photo, the number of captures you have remaining that your media card can hold should be displayed on the LCD screen.

5. Format Your Media Card: When you fill up a media card, it’s best to reformat it instead of erasing the image files. Avoid filling up your card completely. Change the card when you only have 5-10 captures remaining that you can put on the card. Also, don’t allow your computer or software application to erase images for you. Reformat your card on the camera itself after you have securely imported and backed up your photos to your computer. Look up the word “format” in the index of your manual for specific instructions.

Advanced Tips

6. Turn the Flash On/Off: Most with cameras come with a built-in flash. Your camera‘s automatic features may cause your flash to fire when you don’t want it to; for example when you’re shooting in a shaded area. So learn how to manually shut off and turn on your camera built-in flash. If you’re shooting in Automatic mode, you most likely will not have the option to turn off the flash, and in that case you’ll need to choose another shooting mode (like Program, discussed later) in order to shut off the flash.

Likewise, if your photos are coming out a little blurred, it means that you may need the use the flash or increase the shutter speed on your camera. If you can’t do the latter, it’s best the turn on the flash for that will automatically increase your shutter speed to 1/60th of a second, which is a better speed for holding a camera than at say 1/10th of a second. (I will discuss flash later in a longer article in this series.)

7. Shooting Beyond A: Most beginning photographers shoot in automatic mode. There’s typically a dial on your camera with a green Auto icon indicating that mode of shooting. When you shoot in automatic mode you’re telling your camera to make all the decisions about exposure settings when you take pictures. Your camera will read the amount and type of light coming into the lens and hitting the sensor and it will make the best guess for setting the exposure.

But if you learn how to shoot beyond the automatic made, you can have more control about those settings. Even you don’t understand what aperture and shutter speed means, you can more easily learn how to use Program mode, which is discussed in the next step. But in order to do this, you need to know how to change the shooting modes of your camera.

8. Program Mode: The first step to getting beyond Automatic mode is to use Program or P mode. This mode is similar to automatic in that it sets the exposure settings for the picture you’re taking; however,  in this mode, you can control better how much light is allowed to enter the camera. If you shoot a photo in Automatic and then shoot the same subject in the same lighting condition in Program mode at their default settings, they should look pretty much alike. But in Program mode, you can use what is called Exposure Compensation to adjust for lighting. Look up in your camera’s manual how to change the shooting mode to P or program.

9. Exposure Compensation: Okay, here’s the hardest feature you’ll learn in this series of tips, but it can make a big difference in the quality of photos you take. If you noticed that some of your photos come out too dark or too light, or that they just seem flat, you can use exposure compensation to adjust for lighting. To adjust for lighting, you can use what is called Exposure Compensation. You can only use this feature in Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or Manual Mode. It is typically deactivated in Automatic mode because, remember, you’re telling the camera to make all the decisions for you.

Look up the term, exposure compensation, in your manual and find out how to use it on your particular camera. It is typically a meter with a plus/minus scale for increasing and decreasing the amount of light coming into your camera.

In these two photos (both un-edited), the top one is shot in Automatic mode, and the bottom one in Program mode. In the first one, the image is slightly under exposed. With the second photo, using exposure compensation, I was able to allow more light in thus getting more detail on the subject (my daughter.)

Even if you don’t understand aperture and shutter speed, if you learn how to use exposure compensation then you can have more control over the lighting exposure of your camera. So right after you read this article, find a subject and practice with the exposure compensation feature. With digital photography, you’re not wasting film, so you can practice, practice, practice, and not have to spend a penny extra.

10. Self-Timer: Often times if you’re the main photographer in your family, you most likely don’t get yourself included in many of the photos you take. So learn to use the self-timer and a tripod so that you can take photos that include you, the photographer.

Also, the self-timer is a good way to shoot close-up shots of say, a flower or Ebay product shots. By using the self-timer and a tripod, you will get less camera shake in your macro shots and thus, less blurry photos.

In the next few articles on digital photography, I will share some advanced tips for taking pictures. But it will useful to hear back from readers what questions you have about using your camera and the art of taking photos. What problems do you encounter when taking photos?

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• Technology Explained: How Does A Digital Camera Work? (32)
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Flickr offers both free and paid subscriptions, and after you open your account and start building your own photostream, you’ll want to sign up for several of the tens of thousands of groups on the popular photo sharing site.

The following is a suggested list of the various types of Flickr discussion groups you might consider joining.

1. Your Camera Model Flickr Group

One of the first groups you should search for and join is one based on the camera you use. Nearly all popular digital 35mm and compact cameras have at least one Flickr group dedicated to it. If you’re a Canon user, for example, there’s the Canon DSLR User Group.

But more specifically there’s groups based on different models of Canon cameras, such as the Canon Powershot G9 group with well over 3,000 members. There’s groups for Nikon and Kodak camera users, as well as for Sonys and Panasonics.

2. Your Town or City

If you’re the kind of photographer who likes to get out and take photographs, search for a group based on the town or city you live in. If such a group doesn’t exist, create one. These Flickr groups can be a great places for discovering nearby shutterbugs, as well public locations for photo shoots. For example there’s one group called San Francisco Graffiti with 900 members. This niche groups shares some awesome finds.

3. Black-and-White Photography

If you like black-and-white photography, there are hundreds of groups on the subject that not only includes awesome monochromatic photographs, but also great discussions about lighting, post-processing, and film related issues related to black-and-white photography. One such Flickr group has nearly 85,000 members, and it’s name is simply, B&W.

4. iPhoneography

If you’re an iPhone camera shooter, you’ll want to join one or more of the growing Flickr groups on this subject. One such group, iPhoneography has over 600 members, while another group, iPhone Camera Shots has well over 2,000 members.

There are even smaller groups based on different and popular iPhone camera applications, such the Best Camera app group.  There’s not a lot of discussion in this group, but they share really awesome photos, and you can share yours as well.

5. Photography Tips

Beginning photographers will want to find a newbie Flickr group. One such group is Your Photo Tips and another was created by author/photographer Derrick Story, and it is called  The Digital Story Group . Derrick’s group, of about 1,000 members, includes discussions about all kinds of camera features, accessories and photography strategies.

Digital Photography School is also a group for both beginning and advanced photographers, as well as Amateurs which includes long discussion threads of favorite photos and camera tips.

6. Project 365

The best way to build and improve your photography skills is to take photos every day, or as often as you can. There are over 11,000 members of the popular Project 365 group that have or are attempting to complete a photo-per-day project. Even if you don’t reach the goal, you’ll improve your photography trying to.  There are several other smaller and similar project groups that you should also query using the keyword, 365.

7. Strobist.com

If you’re wanting to learn about using external flashes and lighting equipment, the must-join group is Strobist.com, started by 20 year-old veteran photographer, David Hobby. The group, with well over 62,000 members, is an outgrowth of his popular blog site of the same name.

8. Nature Photography

If nature photography is your hobby, check out this wild nature group of 22,000 members. The discussions are little sparse for a group of that size, but there’s lots of great photos of plants, animals, fungi, landscapes and flowers.

One popular thread in the group is “the best flower shot.” These “best of” topics are common in groups where you simply share your own favorite photos based on a discussion topic.

9. Artistic Photo Group

If you approach photography from a artistic perspective you might check out a popular and respected group called UTATA: Tribal Photography. Its 17,000+ members are made up of both professionals and serious shutterbugs. It has over 8,000 discussion threads with weekly photo projects for its members.

10. Photoshop Support Group

If you’re serious about photography, you’ll no doubt spend lots of time in Photoshop. Flickr’s Photoshop Support Group has over 92,000 members, with over 5,000 discussion threads about all aspects of the popular image processing program.

When you join a group, look for the typical “introduce yourself” discussion thread and add a few sentences about you as a photographer and why you joined the group. From there, add your own photos to the group, being careful to follow the posting rules of the groups.

If none of the above groups interest you, you might want to check out what Flickr staff members suggest. Each time you reload the Groups page you’ll get a list of three or four suggested groups. While writing this article and checking the Groups page, for example, a group called Cloudporn popped up. What a great idea. I love taking photos of clouds, so I immediately joined. There’s currently no discussions in this group, but its 5,000+ members are sharing some great images of spectacular cloud formations and lighting.

This list of groups is mainly based on my five years of being a Flickr member, and thus it’s partially subjective. So what groups do you suggest be on the list? Please include a URL to the group and maybe a line or two about why you think the group is worth joining.

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• 3 Steps To Find Similar-Minded People On Flickr (9)
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Except me. I have to know how things work. No good reason for that. Sometimes I have to read a bunch of technical jargon, ask a lot of questions and then relate the information to something else I understand, before I can truly understand what’s going on. That makes me a slow, but tenacious, learner. And really annoying when Jeopardy! is on.

The underlying technology of the digital camera is a light sensor and  a program. The light sensor is most often a Charge Coupled Device  (CCD) and the program is firmware that is embedded right into the circuit board of the camera. Kind of like the programs that help make your microwave oven or iPod work.

I’ll focus on the CCD first. Yes, there is another kind of light sensor that can be used and that’s the Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) type. The mechanics of how they do what they do differ, but the principles are the same.

Think of the CCD as being a grid of millions of little squares, each one kind of like a solar cell. You know that a solar cell takes light energy and converts it to electrical energy right? And you probably figured that the more light there is the more energy it makes and vice versa right? So you can see where we’re going with this whole CCD thing.

Each of those little squares on the CCD takes light energy and converts it to electrical energy. Each condition of the light – like brightness and intensity – generates a very specific electrical charge. Those charges for each little square are then transported through an array of electronics to where it can be interpreted by the firmware. The firmware knows what each specific charge means and translates it to information that includes the colour and other qualities of the light that the CCD picked up.

This process is done for each of the squares in the grid of the CCD – so now you can see the miracle that it really is! Now picture (pun intended) a million little squares, each one different as though they were puzzle pieces. The firmware puts those puzzle pieces together to form an image that is recognizable to the human eye.

The process of putting it together is very much akin to what happens with your television or monitor. It does this using pixels. Each pixel is comprised of three basic colours – red, green and blue. By varying the intensity of each colour within a pixel, the variety of colours that can be produced is amazing indeed. This is known as a Bayer filter.

Get up close with your monitor – to the point where you can see the pixels individually. Don’t worry, that whole thing about going blind from sitting too close to the TV is an old wives’ tale. Except when it comes to my kids.  You might need a magnifying glass. Neat, huh? Did you see how there were more green pixels than red or blue? That’s because somebody figured out that the eye is not as sensitive to green as it is to red or blue.

I digressed. The next step is for the firmware to record the information it saw into digital code. That code can be used to accurately reproduce the picture time and time again. Call it a recipe for that specific moment in time that you captured. Now, that code can be passed to the view screen on the camera, or to a monitor or printer to be reproduced.

And now you know how that all works. Hopefully taking the mystery away hasn’t ruined the experience for you. I hope you enjoyed this high level overview of how these things work.

Are you a digital photo enthusiast? Did this article help you to understand the process better? Share your questions with us in the comments, and I’ll try to answer them.

Photo Credit: ralphbijker

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• How To Easily Manage Photos from Multiple Cameras [Mac] (5)
• 10 Features You Should Know About Your Digicamera (26)
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The Mac and the cameras

So I connect my digital camera to my Mac almost all the time; saving those precious moments to the hard drive.

There are two applications that I use to manage my photos: iPhoto (which always opens automatically), and the camera picture transfer software from my camera manufacturer – just for the sake of backup.

But the source of photos is not only my own camera. My wife has a pocket digital camera. My kids are still babies, but soon they too will start taking pictures. And I believe that there are folks who have several cameras for each of their family members. Over time, managing all of the devices and all the pictures taken by them could be mundane tasks.

Luckily, there’s Cameras – a little Mac app to help you manage all of your cameras including your iPhone’s camera.

Shoot, Cameras, Manage!

This camera picture transfer software from Flexibits is less than 1MB in size. So downloading it wouldn’t be a problem. The installation process is also a snap; you just double-click on the “Cameras.prefPane”. Cameras will then reside in your Mac’s System Preferences.

You will have a blank “Cameras” Preferences Pane window. Make sure to check “Enable Cameras” and choose “Ask what to do” in the options of “When you connect new cameras”. These option allow Cameras to always run in the background and ask you what to do if you connect new camera(s).

After doing that little setting, I connect my camera to my Mac and… a pop-up window appears and asks what to do every time that specific camera is connected. The options are: do nothing, open iPhoto, open Image Capture, open other application, and automatically download. Choose one according to your preferences.

The nice thing about Cameras is that you can set different things to do for each different camera. If you want to, you can choose to simply download all images from all of your cameras automatically.

But if you are a professional photographer who wants to edit the shots from your dSLR with Aperture while manage images from other cameras with iPhoto, you can do so. Just set your preference in Cameras and you won’t be bothered again.

With a little help from Image Capture

My personal preferences is to manage all my pictures with iPhoto and keep a copy of each for backup. To achieve this objective, I ask Cameras to open Image Capture.

In Image Capture, I set the option to download the image from my camera to a folder (as the back up) and set it to automatically opens iPhoto after the downloading process has finished.

I also dug a little bit deeper into Image Capture’s options and choose to

• delete items from camera after downloading
• automatically download all items from camera
• set the camera’s date and time

With everything is set, all that’s left for me to do is to continue taking pictures and connect my cameras to my Mac. No more manually opening several apps and downloading the images.

Final Note and Wish List

As the ’s’ behind the name suggested plural form, Cameras is indeed a useful little app for those who have multiple cameras.

But I need to point out that if you have only one camera, Image Capture could do a better job in automatic camera management.

So, I think Cameras would turn into a much better app if the developer adds the ability to:

• do several task for each device, for example: first downloads the pictures, then renames them, then opens iPhoto, and continues with the task of creating copies of the images in folder X.
• manage other cellphone’s cameras other than iPhone. Almost everybody has cellphones these days, and almost all cellphones have camera built in. iPhone might be very popular, but not everybody owns it.

Do you enjoy photography? Do you have multiple cameras? Have you tried Cameras? Or do you know better alternative application? Share using the comment below.

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• Technology Explained: How Does A Digital Camera Work? (32)
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Digital Photography School

Tutorials, cameras, accessories, software. You name it, these guys know more than you think they do.

I’m constantly impressed with both the depth and breadth of knowledge here. I keep track of their RSS feeds on a daily basis, and they are responsible for a substantial proportion of the time I spend in front of my screen instead of out with the camera.

Interesting recent articles include a post on time-lapse photography and a review of the R-Strap camera strap replacement from BlackRapid. These things are cool, and I really want one.

If you use Lightroom or Photoshop, or just spend too much time at the computer after a session with the camera, the Post Production section is just what you need, but check out our own Idiot’s Guide to Photoshop first.

DPreview

If you’re a camera geek and you really need to know the specifications of your existing or next machine, it’s hard to beat this site.

dpreview takes reviews to a new level.

All of the specifications on all of the digital cameras I’ve ever owned. Great comparisons, wonderfully reasonable advice.

It’s the depth of this stuff that’s stunning. I recall waiting impatiently for weeks a couple of cameras back because I was unwilling to slap down a credit card on anything until I’d checked it out on here. And in the end, they changed my mind for me.

The only vaguely upsetting thing about this site is the way they blithely list my poor overworked 30D in the discontinued list. Oh, well.

Good feeds from dpreview, too, and the Buyer’s Guide is comprehensive, with a great features search capability.

Photo.net

Photo.net and I don’t have a whole lot to do with each other these days, but in the early days before flickr caught on, this was my favourite hangout. Back then, the interface was a little simplistic, and the content was… well eclectic is the best word to use.

These days things are much nicer. The content is well organised, and the members tend to be a little more skilled and experienced than the flickr crowd. They take it all a little more seriously too, and the site features some wonderful photographers.

Aside from sharing your images here you can find like-minded communities, learn more about your equipment and ask tough questions.

Blogs, monthly projects. It’s all there for the taking. Free and paid memberships ala flickr are available and worthwhile.

Photography.com

Photography.com must have the best URL in the industry, and if you choose to remember a web address this wouldn’t be a bad one for the job.

Articles abound, but that’s not all.

Links to photographer websites, access to stock photos, somewhere to build your professional photography website using ImagePRO. It’s all here. Careful with the links. They’ll take you to numerous other websites.

PopPhoto

Popular Photography is the reference site I’ve stumbled upon most recently. Their style is different, and their articles are thoroughly interesting, even when they might not be directly useful.

Where else might you find a post on photographing hot springs, for instance?

Great How-To articles are easy to find. Spend some time and pick up some new skills.

Need more?

You can catch up on photo news, find other photograph sites, or check out a seriously large photography blog.

So tell me, where do you spend you valuable time online? Do you have any secret resources the rest of us should know about? Let me know in the comments, when you eventually get back here.

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• Technology Explained: How Does A Digital Camera Work? (32)
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If you could get some sort of logic applied to the opinions as well, the value would go through the roof. That’s the whole basis of BestInClass.

Find a group of experts who actually know what they are talking about, assemble their opinions, tabulate the answers, and present them in a way that actually helps you to make decisions. For free.

There’s a catch, right? Well, aside from some harmless Google ads, it seems not. Come and take a look with me.

When you visit the site you’re presented with a basic options page:

Click the View Recommendations button.

An algorithm, claimed to have taken two years to develop, presents you with some recommendations, in order of preference. You’re either going to love or hate this. It’s something to do with being told by a computer what to do.

In any case, for the settings above, the recommendation was fairly clear.

Okay, now I’m a Canon guy, so I’d be fine with this, but if I had some reason to dislike the first option there are a string of three others below, including another Canon and two Panasonics.

So, a couple of things. Why should I trust the recommendations?

BestInClass has a group of experts to evaluate the cameras and provide a number of different opinions, and there is no sales bias. Doubtless there is some user bias, but that’s what recommendations are all about.

So, what if your requirements are more complex than can be captured in those initial questions?

Easy. Answer some more. On the left side of the results page is a huge list of tick boxes to narrow your choices.

For instance, the first box allows you to choose the brands of cameras you’re interested in.

The default is to search all of the available brands, but you can restrict the search to whichever brands you prefer.

Clicking the More button adds Fuji, Casio, Kodak, Leica, Olympus and Pentax to the list.

By the way, there’s no update button here. The list just changes when you release the slider.

Simple, right? Some options use a combination of live sliders and update buttons. Just have a play.

Clicking on a particular brand presents you with an Update button. Clicking that will present you with a new list of recommendations.

Time for a confession. A couple of cameras back I had the option of walking in and picking up a silver Panasonic camera, or waiting a week for the same model in black. I waited, so it would be hypocritical for me to make fun of the Color tickboxes, though I’m tempted. Pink?

Okay, so you have a resulting list of recommendations. Let’s dig into that a little more, by taking a look at the leader.

A summary about the camera is presented here, but if you need more detail, clicking on the link here, or the large image to the right, will take you to a detailed page for the recommendation by that particular expert.

You’ll see that the camera you were looking at is not necessarily in the number one spot on the Expert Recommendation page, because now we are only looking at the opinions of a single expert.

This page includes in-depth analysis, and comparisons. Pros and cons of the recommended camera are supplied (in this case the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3, which is, you must admit, a hell of a mouthful for a little camera).

Also included is a comparison chart for the recommendations.

Back on the initial recommendation page there are also links to opinions from other websites and customers, along with Amazon purchase links, and price comparisons. In all, a huge amount of valuable information.

So, is it perfect?

No, not yet. There seem to be some holes in the coverage, especially where new or elderly cameras are concerned. Don’t get me started on the fact that it’s all in US dollars, as well.

But it’s most helpful if you’re in the market. Now if only I could work out a way to get a good price for my EOS 30D.

You can also get some good comparison action from some of the competition too. Check out TestFreaks for a broader product base than just cameras, or allCamReviews for a custom Google search for cameras. Kallow provides for a rather, well, shallow look, specialising in single recommendations for each category.

Have a play, and let me know how you do. Are there some other sites you would use for this purpose?  Let me know in the comments.

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When you take a picture with a digital camera, your camera embeds information into your image which contains a thumbnail, as well as the type of camera you used to take the picture and some other interesting tidbits.

You might be thinking – SO WHAT? If I am posting my picture online what the frick do I care if the thumbnail of my image is embedded. Sure if you have nothing to hide than you should not be worried.

But if you are snapping pictures with a stolen camera or you are editing your images to hide something contained in them – then you should be aware of MetaData, and know how to remove that metadata from photos. That’s right the thumbnail is NOT updated as you edit the image, it is the original thumbnail. So if you are photoshopping yourself – make sure the original picture didn’t show you in a compromising situation!

We have seen instances in the past few years of people getting nailed because their fancy smancy camera embedded their GPS location into their MetaData. Even a not so techie person can view the MetaData and use it against you! There are plenty of sites for that, CameraSummary is one of such image data extractor websites.

Let’s teach our paranoid friends how to remove their MetaData from pictures and ease their minds.

We can start by downloading a small application called JPEG & PNG Stripper. It is a 75KB file that does exactly what it promises. There are not many options and you really cannot go wrong. It is a simple drag and drop operation that will clear up your skeletons in the closet.

No matter what you are trying to hide or protect, this awesome free application will scrub your images down lickity split. It also has command line options and you can do entire folders in one shot. You are actually saving a small amount of space as well because that MetaData does have to live somewhere!

Let’s take a look at how it works. You simply fire up the application called Stripper.exe. It does not need to be installed, just run it and drag a file to the window to be cleaned.

That’s it. It is as simple as that! We confirmed that the MetaData (or lack thereof) has been totally scrubbed – never to be seen again.

From the Author’s Website:

The image quality IS NOT AFFECTED. Includes command line support. Just specify a folder or file on the commandline (wildcards allowed)

And here are the options for my fellow command line geeks:

/GUI={0|1}
/IGNORE-READONLY={0|1}
/PRESERVE-DATETIME={0|1}
anything else on the command line is treated as a folder or filename (allows wildcards)

examples
stripper /gui=0 c:\path\test.jpg
stripper /gui=0 c:\path\test.* /ignore-readonly=1

Do you remove your MetaData from photos? Do you use MetaData for some other sort of snooping? Put us on in the comments!

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How does it work?

• Step 1: Use your mobile phone or digital camera to photograph documents, whiteboards and even business cards.
• Step 2: Send all images to scanR (send to doc@scanR.com for documents and to wb@scanR.com for whiteboards)
• Step 3: scanr will send you back nicely formatted PDF versions of documents.

If it’s your first time with Scanr you will need to register for an account. Registration process is simple and won’t take you more then 2 minutes. All you need to do is to provide your email and verify it by entering the activation code. Afterwards you can start using the service by emailing it whatever images you want to get converted to PDF. You can also use your moblie phone to send images and get back PDF versions.

Ooh, I almost forgot to mention that Scanr works on your image to make it look much better. That’s to say, not only it will convert your file but also make them look better. Check out snapshots below, showing scanr in action

Important thing to remember is that the camera you plan to use should have at least 1 mega pixel lens.

Some more things you can do with Scanr

• Get properly formatted PDF versions for captured files
• Save all documents, whiteboards and even business cards in your account
• Easily search through documents, whiteboards and business cards
• Download data to your computer if needed
• Transfer data from the business cards (that you have created from taking snapshots of paper business cards) to preferred contact management application (i.e., Jigsaw, Plaxo, Salesforce.com)

I was impressed by the performance of this service. It actually does what it shows and much more. It is not completely free to use but whatever comes with basic service is more then an enough for an amateur Joe. With basic service you get following:

• Option to scan business cards and convert them into searchable PDF files
• Convert photos of whiteboards or documents into legible PDF files for use in the future

Scanr promises more features, but my guess it will be mainly available for premium members. There you go, here we had another web based service that offers free features and does not require any installation. Try it out and add it to your bookmarks, I am sure one day you will need it.

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