Social Media

 

Keep up to date with CAPA and photography news, like and follow the official CAPA Facebook Page – www.facebook.com/CAPACanada

Follow us on Instagram  – www.instagram.com/capacanada/

Join our private CAPA Club Facebook Group and share information and resources for  CAPA Clubs – www.facebook.com/groups/capaclubs

Join our public CAPA Photo Facebook Group and share your photos – www.facebook.com/groups/CAPAgroupphotos

If you have any problem joining or following any of the CAPA social media accounts or groups please contact webmanager@capacanada.ca

How to reset your password

How to reset your password:

  1. Click on the Login link  on the main navigation menu
  2. Click on the button at the very bottom of the page “Lost your password?
  3. Enter your email address
  4. Click on “Get new password”
  5. A message will be sent to the email address you entered into  your account
  6. You should receive an email within minutes from our system.  Click on the link in the email or cut and paste the link into your browser to reset your password.

If you still have problems, feel free to contact us at membershipdirector@capacanada.ca

Zoom Usage For Competition Judging – Utilisation de Zoom pour le jugement des concours

Many camera clubs have adapted to the COVID-19 restrictions by using the Zoom application to replace their club face-to-face meetings.  In addition, some clubs are using Zoom for their in-club photo competitions.

The Zoom application is a convenient conferencing application but there are some negative aspects to its use as a method for judges to view and score images.

The quality of images projected via the Zoom application is impacted/degraded by external factors from the Zoom host’s computer to a participant’s computer.  One primary factor is the internet bandwidth available to the Zoom host and individual participants.  Therefore, three judges viewing the same image may not receive the optimal quality of the original image.

To ensure the highest quality for an image to be judged, we are suggesting that a club’s judging panel be provided access to the competition images by one of the following methods:

  • forward all the images to the judging panel via WETRANSFER or DROPBOX. The judges will score them on their own computers.
  • load the images on the club’s online competition system and have the judges view/score them on their own computer
  • Clubs that are currently using Visual Pursuits have the ability to provide direct access to the images for online judging within the Visual Pursuits environment. The judge views the image on their own computer monitor and enters the score directly into the Visual Pursuits system. During a club meeting in Zoom to view the images and scores, the best viewing environments to show the images directly from a Gallery in Visual Pursuits rather than
    from the Image Competition Manager software on a laptop.

It may be more appropriate to use a Zoom session for the judges when presenting the winning images and discussing the outstanding features on select images.

Plusieurs clubs de photo se sont adaptés aux restrictions résultant de la COVID-19 et utilisent l’application Zoom pour remplacer leurs réunions en personnes. Certains clubs utilisent même Zoom pour leurs concours intra-club.

L’application Zoom est pratique pour effectuer une conférence en ligne mais comporte des aspects négatifs lorsqu’il s’agit de visionner et évaluer les images lors d’un jugement.

La qualité des images projetées par le biais de Zoom est affectée et dégradée par des éléments externes lors du transfert depuis l’ordinateur utilisé par l’hôte vers l’ordinateur d’un participant. Un des facteurs prépondérants est la bande passante disponible pour l’hôte et pour les individus participants. Il en résulte que les trois juges qui visionnent la même image pourraient ne pas recevoir une image avec la même qualité optimale que celle de l’originale.

Afin de garantir la meilleure qualité des images qui doivent être jugées, nous suggérons que le comité des juges d’un club ait accès aux images d’un concours par l’une des méthodes suivantes:

  • Toutes les images sont transmises au comité des juges par WETRANSFER ou par DROPBOX. Les juges évaluent les images sur leur propre ordinateur.
  • Les images sont placées sur l’application de concours en ligne du club. Les juges les évaluent sur leur propre ordinateur.
  • Les clubs qui utilisent l’application Visual Pursuit ont la possibilité de donner un accès direct aux images pour le jugement en ligne grâce à une fonctionnalité de l’application. Les juges peuvent alors visionner les images sur leur propre écran d’ordinateur et entrer les résultats de leur évaluation directement dans l’application. Durant une réunion Zoom, le meilleur contexte pour le visionnement et l’évaluation des images consiste à se servir d’une galerie directement dans Visual Pursuit plutôt que le gestionnaire de concours dans un portable.

Il peut être approprié d’utiliser Zoom pour la présentation des images gagnantes par les juges ainsi que pour la discussion sur les qualités d’images choisies.

Using your Camera as a HIGH Quality Webcam

Dr. Bob Ito, FCAPA, Hon FCAPA
CAPA Director of Photographic Imaging

Using camera tethering mode to create a webcam

Many recent Interchangeable Lens Cameras ( ILCs) have a tethering mode using USB connections to a computer in order to remotely view the camera image in Live View mode and to control camera settings such as AF On/Off, exposure compensation and white balance. In addition, since one has a choice of lens one can choose a focal length , such as 85mm, that is flattering to a person. Lastly, the aspect ratio of ILCs is significantly less than the very wide 16:9 aspect ratio of standard webcams, yielding less negative space in the image.

An ILC generally offers much better image quality than a typical webcam in term of focus, sharpness, exposure and white balance, less distortion ( no super wide angle distortion such as exaggerated noses and rounded faces). In addition, one can position the camera to give a flattering view of yourself (i.e. at eye-level or above)

The major manufacturers of ILCs have now provided software to use a camera as a webcam via the tethering mode. The camera USB connector is typically a mini or micro-USB and the computer USB connector is typically an USB type A connector although some very recent laptops use an USB type C connector. Many manufacturers supply the cable with the camera, If you have to buy a cable ensure that it is data cable and not just a charging cable. If you are participating in long virtual meetings, you may wish to purchase an AC powered battery substitute for the camera to maintain power.

Not all models of a particular brand are supported; so you need to check whether your camera is supported by the software.

 

Nikon: https://en.nikon.ca/learn-and-explore/webcam-utility.page

Canon: https://www.canon.ca/en/Features/EOS-Webcam-Utility

Sony: https://imagingedge.sony.net/en-ca/ie-webcam.html

Olympus: https://learnandsupport.getolympus.com/olympus-om-d-webcam-beta

Panasonic: https://www.panasonic.com/global/consumer/lumix/lumix_webcam_software.html

Fuji: https://fujifilm-x.com/en-us/webcam-support/

 

Using camera HDMI output as webcam

If your camera has an HDMI output to allow it to be connected to an HDMI display , such as a TV, then this output can also be used to create a webcam.
In order to make this work, you need two additional pieces of hardware.

1. Camera compatible cable that plugs into the HDMI output from your camera and has a standard male HDMI plug (type A) on the other end. The plug at the camera end could be a standard Type A HDMI male connector but more likely will be a Type C mini HDMI connector or a Type D micro HDMI connector.

2. A HMDI to USB converter. There are all kinds to these converters on the market but you do not need 4K video capability; so use an inexpensive converter such as:: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0888DKZ11/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1\

This unit has been tested and works with the Operating system to create a webcam.

With this HDMI method you need to set-up the camera for a suitable focal length, exposure, focus and white balance as you can not control the camera from the computer.. Also, you want to find viewfinder display mode that is as clean as possible, meaning for example, no autofocus boxes on the screen.

Some cameras may require you to put the camera into the “movie” mode.