software for palm pilots etc.....

i would like to know if anyone has tried any of the free software you can download into your palm pilot or similar device. what i am particularly interested in things that will help with large format photography. dof, exposure corrections for extensions and some of the tilt and shift computations. would also be nice it you could use it to log and track exposures.

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thanks

I've been using Photo Logger for several months, and I think it's

really neat. The program allows you to store a number of camera and

lens characteristics as well as types of film with reciprocity

tables. For each shot you can then enter a description of the shot,

the film holder number, specify the "settings" (camera, lens, film,

filters, bellows extension), enter the holder number, and the meter-

calculated aperture and exposure time. The program re-calculates

exposure time, taking into account bellows factor, filter factors,

and any reciprocity correction for the specified film. You can also

record two EV readings and place them in zones (based on your

exposure and planned development) and it will calculate the zone in

which up to five additional readings will fall. You can also enter

notes (e.g., development plan). At your request, the program logs

all of this information as a memo in a special folder, which, of

course, you can hotsynch into your PC. You can add additional notes

(e.g., on development, printing, etc) later. The software is not

free, but quite cheap (about $15). I think it's a great deal, as it

has most everything I need and is easy to use.

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I also have Vade Mecum, but I don't use it much. It is basically a

collection of optical equations that are not particularly useful in

my own photography. Others may find it useful, however, and it's

free.

I use both Vade Mecum and Pcam. Vade Mecum isn't a particularly

pretty program, but it can provide very useful information it certain

circumstances. For a difficult shot it nice to calculate it's

viability via tilts or using depth of field rather than fiddle with

the camera for a half hour, expend several Polaroids and still find

out you can't do the shot you desired. Pcam has a wonderful

interface, and is useful for calculating depth of field, and field of

view for various lenses and film formats.

It isn't free - in fact it's somewhat expensive - but The View Camera

Store (formerly Darkroom Innovations) sells the Phil Davis

photography program for the Palm Pilot. This is, IMHO, a terrific

program for large format photographers. Among other things, it

provides you with the proper exposure (after you've keyed in your

high and low zone meter readings and desired zones and selected the

desired aperture or shutter speed), or if you use an incident meter

you can key in the meter readings from it, it allows you to

coordinate the exposure with the contrast of the paper on which you

plan to make the print, it automatically includes in the exposure

calculation things like bellows factors and filter factors, it

functions as a timer, it keeps a complete record of each photograph

for later print out, it will check depth of field if you desire or,

alternatively, will provide you with the required aperture for a

desired depth of field, and probably some other things I'm

forgetting. I've used it for years and fine it very useful. It's

important to note, however, that you have to make the decisions and

provide it with numbers. Apart from its record keeping and timer

functions, it just makes calculations quicker and easier than you're

likely to be able to make them, freeing you up to concentrate on the

photograph rather than on math.

It's to0 bad Ansel Adams, Brett Weston, Edward Weston and so many

others didn't have a palm pilot so we could have seen some really

good work from them.

You may want to consider a TI89 and just load the programs yourself!

There is a section called numeric solver, enter the equation with any

variables you want, then just enter the values for the variables you

want, you can leave anyone blank and solve for it...WITHOUT re

writing the equation!!!...it has a big screen so you can see

everything at once.... The formulas area all readily available... I

never leave home without mine....

You can find PhotoLog at http://members.tripod.com/~PalmPhotographe.

By the way, although Ansel Adams did not have access to a Palm, I

have little doubt that, were he around today, he'd use one. He seems

to have been a bit of a "gearhead" and not one to scorn the latest

technology. I recall that in one of his books he predicts that the

next big thing in photography will be digital and that he looked

forward to it. The Westons, of course, are a different matter.