I just got my 990 and am totally baffled re how to use the computer monitor to compose and focus. The manual only devotes a small page to connecting to the computer and ends with the daunting statement that all camera functions are disabled when connected to the computer!We have gotten nowhere in our attempts so far. I purchased the 990 on the basis of other users reporting their ability to do this with the 900 and 950 and the assumption it would hold true for the 990! I have invested a lot of time and resources into a microphoto rig that was waiting for the arrival of the 990 and am now quite perplexed to say the least. Any help would be most gratefully received. Cheers, Barnett

-- barnett addis (baddis@olypen.com), May 14, 2000

Answers

I think I know what your trying to accomplish so I hope this is an adequate answer. First, one of my major grudges with the Coolpix series is that they don't have a TWAIN driver to shoot right into Photoshop or other graphics program, so that being said, you can't directly shoot into Photoshop if thats what your trying to do. What you CAN do is setup the camera and compose your shots with an external monitor. Now we're talking about a TV or monitor with RCA inputs,not your regular computer monitor. The Coolpix comes with the composite video out cable and you hook the cable to a monitor with compostite inputs or whatever TV you like. I use a Commodore Amiga 1084 monitor, a basic composite RGB monitor with the good 'ol RCA jacks. Hook the camera up to the monitor and you can compose and see all the LCD info (shutter, modes, quality settings) just like the LCD displays except its now 13" large and much easier to tell if your really focused properly. The color balance isn't perfect (the monitor was on $25 at a pawn shop and the monitor is like 8 years old) but I manually white balance the camera anyway to ensure no color casts and I'm just using the monitor for compositional purposes. What I use the monitor for is to aim the 950 at my seamless background, while I adjust what I'm shooting while looking at the monitor. Basically I rotate the monitor so I can see what the coolpix sees before I go click the shutter, that way I don't run back and forth and can move reflectors or lights and view their effects in real time. You'll need an AC adapter for the camera and you should probably have a rather large Compact Flash card so you don't have to stop all the time and empty the images to free up a small card. And no fuctions will be disabled as the monitor is just becoming an extension of the LCD on the camera. Give it a shot.

-- Cris Daniels (danfla@gte.net), May 14, 2000.