JPG Magazine interviews the community...

toss
Originally uploaded by boxcrown.

JPG Magazine is building an issue on the topic of "Serendipity" in photography. Camera Toss has a place as a feature and they are conducting interviews with the community.

The question for the community is simple... Why do you Camera Toss?. The answers are more diverse than you might think.

With gorgeous results like the above by boxbrown, I can't imagine any valid reason NOT to throw my SuperSampler into the air. Of course I myself don't own one of these neat little cameras, but I am starting to want one. ;-)

clickykbd's picks - issue 20

A selection of wonderful camera toss photography shared by group members since the last issue of photo pool picks...

Photo Selections







Photo Credits (left to right, top to bottom):
bubestube, crazyshin, El Ray, Brian in Cleveland
Brian in Cleveland, GWcumbria, Crochunter, davespilbrow
davespilbrow, zinkwazi, davebluedevil, mappamundi
offstage4, alspix, El Ray, _ferro_
El Ray, Brian in Cleveland, El Ray

reviewed: Konica Minolta Dimage XG

Camera tossing specific product review.
camera reviews listing

Konika Minolta Dimage XG by mappamundi
Links
specs on dpreview.com
examples on pbase.com
review on steves-digicams.com

A compact mini-slab of a camera with a very solid look & feel to it. Fits easily into a pocket & the palm of a hand & seems just the right weight for tossing & catching. There's a reaassuring weightiness to it every time it lands safely back in my hands. The lens & zoom mechanism are built into the body with a automatic sliding recessed lens cover so other than control buttons & program select knob there are no protuberances, a big plus when applying spin. The hinged cover to the battery/card compartment requires a good solid press with the thumb before it flips open & when clicked shut it stays that way with no play or looseness. Of course I can't vouch for how crash-proof it might be but it has resisted minor bumps & I imagine that the small 4cm LCD & recessed lens must be an advantage in that it minimises the externals prone to breakage.

The lens is positioned in the extreme top right corner of the body, which seems to make for some interesting spin results. Fast flat spins give "atomic orbital" shapes with regularity and slow spins give some pleasing lazy loops. Blurred circles are also relatively easy to achieve.

The disadvantage with this camera, as with most pocket compacts, is that it gives no manual control over shutter speed/aperture. This can be worked around by judicious metering/focus on the available light sources before executing the toss but you can only really get a feel for how long the resulting exposure will be as the camera does not report the exposure settings before capture. The safest bet if the exposures prove to be too long is to cover the lens with the hand on catch, quite easy to do given the shape of the camera. The longest available shutter speed is 4 sec & there is a 10 second self timer, with viewable countdown. Other settings such as ISO, whitebalance, exposure comp are customisable. Digging into the menu & switching off the reset function makes it possible to permanently switch off the flash rather than needing to remember to switch off manually before every exposure, an annoyance on many compacts.

On the whole a great camera to get into tossing with. Can carry it everywhere & it take pretty passable regular photos too.

camera reviews listing

reviewed: Sony CyberShot DSC-P51

Camera tossing specific product review.
camera reviews listing

Sony Cybershot DSC-P51 by mollieollieollie
Links
specs on dpreview.com
examples on pbase.com (DSC-P52 Model)

Pros:
*Fixed lens (no moving parts) so no bumping problems
*Difficult to switch off accidentally
*Off-center lens
*Cheap
*Up to 2 second exposure on night mode
*Manual focus settings allow you to trick the camera into a long exposure by holding it to your hand
*Easy to catch

Cons:
*Hitting "OK" is difficult, especially for deleting
*Shutter sticks (open or closed sometimes)
*I've heard it is common for the LCD to break (go black), although mine hasn't
*Shuts down sometimes before saving the picture, usually only when the battery is starting to run down
*Weird colors sometimes regardless of white balance, although I haven't experienced anything weird with night tosses
*Somewhat largeish (although its build is a large part of what makes it so easy to catch)

camera reviews listing