We have said before that there is no perfect camera. Not in all aspects anyway. But maybe we can get closer to it by dividing the field of action.

I want to talk about Tatoos and Tatoo Artists this time. If your business is related to under-the-skin-art, your picture needs are pretty different from de rest of us mortals.

First of all, you do need a camera. In this area, your art tends to walk away and you need to keep it with you someway. So, what should the tatooer’s cammera do to be right.

• You want good close ups. This is called macro function, and its main limitation is the minimun focal distance. Anything in the 5 to 15 cm. (2 to 6 in.) would be just fine.
• Good color range. This somewhat technical stuff, but you can always ask a friend. Cameras are not the same, and there are some that do not get the colors right.
• you don’t really need depth of field, (you’re taking pictures of skin after all!) but the body is always a challenging target to shot at, so if you can, try to get deeper fields of action.
• Pixels are not a first need here. You’re not looking for big pictures. so anything between 4 and 7 Mp would be just fine.

So, for all the above, I think the best camera right now if you’re starting your tatoo studio or maybe you’re thinking about changing your current camera is the L11 from Nikon, that you can buy for something like $100  if you’re willing to look.

I mean Blackberry-wise. And here is why: The Blackberry 8700 does almost everything you need and is the cheapest one out there.

No matter how many people tells me about how good is the “SureType” the Pearl has, after a day of trying it out I could not get it to do what I wanted the same way the qwerty the 8700 does.

Ok, I’ll give you the fact that you won’t have video playback, or big storage, but the bottom line is that when you’re working, multimedia is not that a necessity.

The screen is as good as it gets, and it handles images very (really) well.

So start there, with the BB 8700, you’ll have time, in the future, to buy more expensive toys, trust me.

The Asus EEE, for those of you who haven’t heard of it yet, is a UMPC that costs 400 bucks in the US and come (as you read) in Windows and Xandros flavours. It supports a 2 GB expansion and etc, etc etc.

Talking of it like that is really boring, you can read that, by better informed people elsewhere. What I want to tell you is who should buy it and who shouldn’t.

• Salesmen: This is great for you, only thing to care about is battery life. But with a car charger it’ll all be good.
• Designers: You need to buy it if you’re the PowerPoint presentation kind of guy. If not this is not an option, a 7 in. screen is no place to work, and though you could plug in a mouse, it would be very uncomfortable to design on it.
• Bars: no use for you guys
• The integrated camera and the ability to connect to the world via WiFi makes this gadget a must have tool for the average executive.  Word and Excel documents are easily modified and reviewed and your mail will be with you… always.
• If I was a writer this would be my travel machine, it’s really light and maybe the keyboard is too small, but that is not really something that will make you uncomfortable.

Ok, a said it before but I’ll say it again, no camera is suitable for everything, there is no BEST CAMERA for all things to be done. So, as I anyway want to talk about it, I’ll narrow it down a little bit. So I decided I’m starting with what is the best camera for a Bar.

The best camera for a bar

I can hear people saying “What for?” Well, a camera is allways something you want around, the time allways comes (you never know when is a celebrity going to shhow up). Anyway, a camera that’s going to live in a bar needs to be really good at some specs and there are others that are not that important. So, now that you’re maybe thinking to buyone this things you should have in mind.

• good pictures with no light for obvius reasons
• Good to excelent battery life
• Space and the ability to stance is not something abundant in a bar, big focal apertures and good focus range is extremely important
• 4Mp today is the minimun out there, that should do it, you don’t need that much resolution in this field.
• Try not to choose a vanilla camera. Handeling the gadget can get very rough in a bar.
• Try to keep it cheap, run away from the costly adons (like memory stick)

Cameras improve every day, and this one I’m going to recomend it is not going to last as the best in the field, but if you cover the obove, I imagine your’re covered. For what it’s worth I think de Kodak EasyShare D6490 that you can get these days for around 140 bucks.

Yesterday at the meet up (see this post) I saw a lot of people using their phones as cameras to document the event. I it after all, the typical use a camera phone has. To be a camera when there is none around.

I started thinking of the times, the really big number of occasion, that I was around some people I would like to have a picture for later, and my camera phone was there.

So. Take the shot. Take the shot and don’t make a fuss about it. It is always better to have your contacts with pictures than without.

I know what’s on your mind, “How does this help at all?!”. Well, this may be not for you, but there are businesses where image matters. Restaurants, Night Clubs, or anything PR related.

Taking ones pictures shows you care, shows you’re interested in the other person and ultimately it builds a solid contact.

I insist, maybe this is not for you, but give it a thought.

Fact: everyday people care less and less of where your business is.
No point in arguing that statement. Truth is you can’t think your business as a neighbourhood leader any more. These days global is such a common word we all take it as a default feature.
The thing is no matter how digital we become, we’re still flesh and bone. And we like to known where things are.
So go to maps.google.com, google your business address, or your business related places, and embed that in your site some how.
You have nothing to lose and you can gain these things.

1. Trust: as I said people like to know where thing are.
2. Exposure, you’d be surprised how many people would actually go to your shop/office/showroom
3. Google results: tag yourself in google maps and your location will add relevance to related searches (this works great with google ads)

See you soon!