On Tue, 01 Apr 2003 13:05:43 GMT, Ming <cmwoo@haha.com> wrote:

> I am planning to take some pictures in my office showing

>how my work place is like. I am going to show my photo

>to my boss and put it on the web. I am using film camera

>and mainly Fuji Superia film. My office is the Computer

>Centre in a university. I also need to take some photo

>from the student's computer room and computer server room.

> My office, like all others, is using fluorescent as light

>source. I am planning to use tripod to take long time exposure

>rather than using flash because using flash would not show

>a natural looking office. I am planning to buy Hoya FL-W or

>FL-Day for the white balance. But I am not sure which one

>to buy.

Even for critical slides, I find a cc30M filter is better than the FL-D (and MUCH better than the FL-W) for most

common fluorescents - but with negative film, simply overexposing a stop or so permits good color-correction

under tungsten or fluorescent lighting, and Superia has

an extra color layer that also handles it fairly well..

> My question is : which filter should I buy ? Also,

>what about doing this job with a digital camera ? Would the

>"white balance" function in DC makes better or worse than

>using film+filter ?

AWB on digital cameras can also work well (or not...;-),

but the errors can usually be corrected out (may not be

easy).

> I don't prefer DC because, firstly, I don't own one. And,

>I need to use wide angle 24mm (I own) or 20mm (not own yet) lens to

>take such wide angle picture. And many DC still don't have test

>by default (it may need to attach converter on the front).

> Also, may I know how the "auto white balance" works in DC ?

>What algorithm does it use ?

> Thanks in advance !

As another poster pointed out, "stitching" is possible,

and this can verk very well (though the perspective

type is "cylindrical", like from a swing-lens panorama

camera, with curved horizontal lines off center).