Experiments with the Apple QuickTake Cameras...

[MindThreat]

After toying around with these cameras for the better part of this year (upon learning of their existence) today is the first time I've bothered with the lower resolution setting on the 150 and much to my surprise, it's not nearly as bad as I had expected. Sure you lose a little image definition, especially in terms of text but overall, if you're in a crunch to take 32 640x480 pictures (in 1995) then this would have worked out fine I gather.

I do remember reading about the 100 taking the smaller pictures in 320x240 mode though I can't confirm. I was going to try but unfortunately it looks like my 100 is fried and no longer powering on. Have about 5 or 6 150s that all work fine except one. Eventually someday hopefully can snag another working 100.

Here's a low resolution shot of our trash can:

vs. a high resolution (heh) shot of, our trash can again...

You can see where it gets muddy around the text and more specifically kind of smudges the unicorn outline on the low res version but now I'm tempted to experiment more with the low res mode.

 

[MindThreat]

And the winner is.... QuickTake 200! (for night shots at least)

On the way back home, a house was all decked out with lights so I stopped over to grab a few quick pictures since I had both the 150 and 200 on hand for comparison sake. Mind you, these are taken with the hi-res mode on both cameras (16 on the 150, 44 on the 200)

The 150 shows just how well it doesn't do in dark lit situations, regardless of having strings of lights everywhere... (and how much closer the house appears) - I now kind of wonder if the extra buttons on the mockup QuickTake camera was to control the aperture as an originally intended feature.

The QuickTake 200 looks slightly better with low aperture mode selected... (or does it?)

...but when selecting high aperature mode, drastically changes.

You can actually not only make out that it's a house but that there are yard decorations as well. Not crisp but at least you can see the photo. Keep in mind, this is when its the darkest time of the year and literally pitch black outside of ambient lights.

 

[MindThreat]

I've decided to mix some modern AI overlord algorithm into the retro mix to see what results could be had. While it doesn't do much in way of actually defining the image any better or magically somehow turning it into an HD image, it does help smooth out some of the jitterbugs and pixelated ways.

This one was taken on the QuickTake 200 in 1997 and processed with our modern day AI for better looking results. Can you notice the difference or tell it was taken with a QT200? Did our AI Overlords manage to finally do what they claim couldn't be done?

Maybe not but it's a certainly smoother as a result, less the distant text.

Here's another one, I shot with the 200 earlier this year, now processed with our AI friends - can you tell?

Here's one more - AI processed, but this time a QuickTake 150 - not sure it did it any favors though this time (*see below as to why):

Oh, you want befores AND afters? Well, I suppose I should include them as well to compare for yourselves - the befores:

(I think I know why now, the image was really small and scaled up almost 100%)

This one you can see how it cleaned up the sky on the AI processed version at the top, giving it a more smooth transition

Some of the others I tried weren't noticeable enough to bother and I only tried about a dozen. For those interested, the name of the program I used was Topaz Gigapixel AI. Just found it the other day and though it would be fun to try.

*Here's a direct before and after GIF I made of a diner shot I took earlier this year:

Non-GIF compressed enhanced version:

 

[MindThreat]

The ultrasound printer arrived today.

Interesting to learn that it's 22-years old. Having worked in IT the majority of my life and dealing with hundreds of thermal printers before, I was able to fix the 'issue' it had almost immediately. After taking a few pictures with the QuickTake 200 then connecting it directly to the video printer using the AV out/in, the results are just as expected and I'm quite pleased with the B&W Polaroidtography it produces.

Nice dithering effect too!

I'll have to set it up at the local computer club to get some pictures with the attendees interested in checking it out but here's a few I took today:

Pretty cool for a 3x4 and you can change the settings to make it wide at 4x5, as shown on the bottom.

Polaroid film: $$$$$ for 8 pictures
Ultrasound film: 200 prints per roll (roughly 5 cents a print)

This thing is going to be a ton of fun!

 

[KnobsNSwitches]

This is brilliant! What model of ultrasound printer are you using?

 

[MindThreat]

This is brilliant! What model of ultrasound printer are you using?

I can't take credit for the idea but knew I had to get one, the problem is they tend to still be quite expensive printers being a medical-field replacement item it seems. Finally lucked out after waiting a few months to find one in as-is condition for $50.

Check out Sony UP-850 or Mitsubishi P91W models.

 

[Mac84]

The ultrasound printer arrived today.

Interesting to learn that it's 22-years old. Having worked in IT the majority of my life and dealing with hundreds of thermal printers before, I was able to fix the 'issue' it had almost immediately. After taking a few pictures with the QuickTake 200 then connecting it directly to the video printer using the AV out/in, the results are just as expected and I'm quite pleased with the B&W Polaroidtography it produces.

Nice dithering effect too!

I'll have to set it up at the local computer club to get some pictures with the attendees interested in checking it out but here's a few I took today:

View attachment 2237

Pretty cool for a 3x4 and you can change the settings to make it wide at 4x5, as shown on the bottom.

Polaroid film: $$$$$ for 8 pictures
Ultrasound film: 200 prints per roll (roughly 5 cents a print)

This thing is going to be a ton of fun!

Awesome!

This past summer I saw Techmoan do a video about those printers and picked one up. I set up a photo booth at VCF East this past October, and it was a huge hit! I'll have to do it again this year. As you noted, the printed images are surprisingly sharp.