This instruction describes the procedure of taking sample pictures for producing PhotoAcute Studio profile for compact cameras and mobile phone cameras.

Sample photographs are made by snapping the special picture viewed on your display. To make the sample photographs, you should have flat LCD/TFT display with at least 1024xN resolution.

Note: Please read the description carefully, as the procedure requires strict adherence to the instructions. Contact us if something is unclear.
If, in any stage of the process, you are not sure whether you are making good samples or not, you can just send us a couple of samples for review (the best would be taken at minumum and maximum optical zoom levels).

The procedure:

1. Selection of the sample picture
Depending on your display's resolution, click one of the links: 1024xN 1152xN 1280xN 1400xN 1600xN to open the sample picture. View the picture in full screen mode (activated by pressing F11 key in most browsers). Please make sure that the picture is not resized by the browser. Important: your display should be set to its 'native' resolution lest the picture be distorted.

2. Choosing the distance to the display
The width w of the picture on the screen should be a certain part of the whole photograph width W, depending on the camera and monitor resolution.

Please refer to the following table to define the required part:

w/W table:

Native LCD resolution (width)

0.3 MPix

1 MPix

2 MPix

3 MPix

4 MPix

5 MPix

6 MPix

7 MPix

8 MPix

9 MPix

10 MPix

11 MPix

12 MPix

1024

1/2

1/3

1/4

1/4

1/5

1/6

1/7

1/7

1/7

1/8

1/8

1/9

1/9

1152

1/2

1/3

1/4

1/4

1/5

1/5

1/6

1/7

1/7

1/7

1/7

1/8

1/8

1280

1/1

1/2

1/3

1/4

1/4

1/5

1/5

1/6

1/6

1/6

1/7

1/7

1/7

1400

1/1

1/2

1/3

1/4

1/4

1/4

1/5

1/5

1/5

1/6

1/6

1/6

1/7

1600

1/1

1/2

1/3

1/3

1/3

1/4

1/4

1/5

1/5

1/5

1/5

1/6

1/6

For example: if you have 5 MPix camera and 1280x1024 display, the sample picture should take 1/5th part of whole snapshot width.

3. Adjusting the exposure
Adjust the exposure of your camera so the round gray-and-white marks are visible on the picture. You may need to snap several photographs with different exposures and change the monitor brightness to find the right conditions.
Please also note, that it is better to take photographs at ISO level about 400, even if your camera makes noisy images at this ISO.

4. Choosing zoom levels
You will need to take several sets of pictures at different focal lengths (zoom levels). The range always includes the minimal and maximal zoom levels and one or more intermediate levels. You do not need to set the intermediate levels precisely; it is enough to do it "by eye".

Maximum zoom level (the ratio of the maximal focal length to the minimal focal length)	Zoom levels for taking the pictures
2x	minimal and maximal
3x 5x	minimal, maximal and one intermediate
6x and more	minimal, maximal and two intermediate

5. Taking a series of photos at each zoom level
At each zoom level, take 8-10 snapshots of the sample picture (either using "continuous mode" or manually).
Important: pictures should not be pixel-to-pixel coincident. When holding camera in hands, it always moves slightly, so the picrutes are shifted a little. But if you use a tripod, you should move the camera (or the display) a little after taking each single snapshot.


6. Taking additional full-screen photos
In addition, take two photos of the sample picture closer to the display, so the picture takes all the photo size - one photo at the maximum zoom and one at the minimum zoom. Important: sample picture should take all the photo size, even if the camera cannot focus on the required distance.
For prime lens you should take only one full-screen photo.
click here for examples of good and bad full-screen photos


7. Pre-processing of the images.
All photos, except the full-screen photos, should be pre-processed using PhotoAcute Studio:

1. Load all images that correspond to a single focal length into PhotoAcute Studio. 2. Click on PhotoAcute logo with right mouse button while holding left mouse button already pressed. (On Mac press Shift-Command-} or select File->Special->Auto Crop Samples instead) 3. Dialog will appear asking if you wish to prepare images for profile submission, click Yes. 4. If processing is successful (a 'Save As' dialog appears) save the result. Do not rename the file the filename contains important information 5. Repeat with all image sets.

8. Send the results.

To avoid transferring a lot of files you can compress the resultant files using any common archiver (rar, zip, gzip, bzip and so on).

There are several ways of transferring the results:

Uploading to photoacute server by ftp:
You can upload the results by ftp to our server. Please contact us to get ftp login/password.

Uploading to other ftp/http server:
If you have the possibility of uploading the results to any server accessible by ftp/http, you can do that and send us the link.

Using http-push service:
You can send the results using some public http-push service like www.yousendit.com

Sending by email.
Send the results as the attachments to support@photoacute.com (usially this is not a good way for transferring huge files)