white face/glow gauges

[Duffman]

Wow Duffman your interior picture is bright. How you get it to be so bright? Id like to do that too.

Dusk.

I took the picture at dusk.

All kidding aside, it depends on what kind of camera you have - and what it will let you do. If you have a small tripod (you can pick one up for less than $10 at any camera store, try Ritz or Wolf Camera) and your camera will allow you to adjust the exposure settings, you can get all kinds of creative. Exposure time is, basically, how long the camera's "eye" is open - the longer it is open, the more light it can get, but the more blurriness it will pick up from movement. An example can be found here:

http://www.nothingbutme.net/gallery/alb ... ls_034.jpg

Basically, if you're finding that you're not getting enough light, but a flash won't do, try playing with your exposure settings. Even some of the simpler PHD (Push Here, Dummy) digital cameras nowadays are coming with advanced options packed into them like that - I recommend the Olympus line of cameras if you are looking for an ideal combination of "I just want to point and shoot" and "Maybe I'd like to get into my pictures and play with things". I was going to suggest the C-line of cameras, as they have more features than the D-line or the Stylus units, but as it turns out I'm about two years behind on the camera scene. It's a shame I joined the military - if I was still working at my old job I'd know more about this stuff. And printers. Guess I need to do my research (and I call myself a photography hobbyist!).

You can also play with your photos in any decent photo editing program and get a little more light and clarity out of them. By "any decent photo editing program", of course, I mean Photoshop (because Photoshop is the computerized nectar of the gods!).

[variant]

I have a Powershot SD400, do they have tripods for that?

[Duffman]

One of the nice things about the camera business is that years ago, all the major manufacturers got together and agreed to use the same screw-in format for tripods. If there's a little screw-in type hole at the bottom of your camera, any tripod will do.

[SolaraGuy22]

Is that one of the new '06 model Alpine decks? DVA-9965 I believe.

[Duffman]

I bought it in late late 2005 - it's an Alpine CDA-9853. It's got the touch-glide system, which was FREAKING WEIRD until I got used to it... but I love it now.

I've considered getting one of the DVD units, but the amount of money I'd put into it for the amount of time I'd use it just wasn't worthwhile.