A young lion watches in the Maasai Mara. Handheld with sandbag, 1⁄160 second at f/5.6, ISO 250 (Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 D AF-S lens with a Nikon 2X Teleconverter).
uration allows shooting 234 images without downloading. The truly great feature of the two card bays is that one can be removed for downloading without powering down the camera. An icon on the lower LCD flashes when the data is being written to the card. When it is solid, it is safe to remove either card.
The DCS 760 offers simple file management that is accessed with the menu button on the back of the camera. The LCD monitor displays the folder names available on both cards. The four-way rocker switch navigates to the folder and pressing OK on the camera back makes the choice and turns the monitor off. Images can be deleted individually, as untagged, or as a folder. One of the camera’s inspired features is the ability to recover deleted images from a card. This feature works as long as the image data has not been overwritten. It’s like being able to recover the exposures lost when
Check out the detailed appendix in the electronic users manual for a chart of acceptable lenses, particularly before mounting older lenses.
Powering the camera
The Kodak Professional DCS 760 relies on a proprietary 7.2-volt rechargeable battery, NiCad or NiMH, reportedly good for 100 and 300 exposures, respectively. In my tests, the NiMH version performed quite well. The battery also provides power to charge a small battery that maintains the camera’s preferences. If this battery discharges, such information as the nameplate, date, and time have to be reentered. The manual notes that if a battery is left in the camera for five or more days, it can discharge to the point of being useless or it can leak and damage the camera. As with all battery- powered devices, it’s good practice
to remove and recharge the battery at the end of each session.
The DCS 760 ships with an external AC adapter, as well a dual battery charger with a built-in reconditioning function. These units run on 120 -240 volts and come with cords for most power systems. In Kenya, a supplied cord worked in the local outlets—when we had power. During the safari, I used two portable solar panels to keep the camera batteries and PowerBook charged. Other members of the safari used the cigarette lighter plugs in the two Land Cruisers for their video camera batteries.
Storing and viewing images
The DCS 760 has two bays that can accommodate Type I, II, and III PCMCIA-ATA compatible flash memory and microdrives in PC card adaptors. I used two cards each with 1GB IBM microdrives. This config-
you realize that the film hasn’t gone through the camera.
Photographs can be reviewed on the LCD monitor on the back of the camera. Pressing OK accesses the last stored image and the four way rocker switch navigates forward and backward. The up and down positions bring up options that include a histogram, a zoom tool for checking sharpness, a four- thumbnail view, and a delete image window. It is possible to shoot while in the playback mode, but the four-way rocker will not change the focus zone while the LCD monitor is on. This is true when the nameplate is displayed when turning the camera on, which is not covered in the manual.
Firmware & menus
The firmware that is installed in the camera provides the menus and other operational functions of the
