Talk To The Hand

If you are worried about people who give you funny looks - or throw things at you in train stations - then this column is not for you. We acknowledge your sensitivities and will not compel you to put yourself in the public firing line. The rest can crowd around and settle down.

The days of writing down your exposure details for each test shot you do have gone. No more scraps of paper or grubby notebooks. No more stubs of pencils. You can reserve these for writing down locomotive numbers - the digital age has put all the data you will ever need right there in each file you create. And there are any number of editing programs that will show it to you on demand, together with international conventions for copyrights, naming of files, technical details, and hot dates. It is an age of information overload and you are expected to shoulder your share of the burden.

But there are any number of things that the camera does not record...and that you may really wish to know later. Things that you would be wise to note down as they occur. Things like atmospheric conditions, location information, details about who is in the picture, or what kind of car it is. What you had for lunch and the waitress's telephone number. You need a personal assistant to do this - or you can personally assist yourself. ( Heaven helps those who help themselves, and particularly at a smorgasbord when they bring out the fresh prawns...)

So. Try one of these for size. Olympus personal recorder. Size of an old mobile phone or a cheap dollar candy bar. Records over 800 hours on a 2 GB micro SD card. You talk discretely into it and then play the thing back to yourself later to get the information. Heck, you can sing to yourself in a Charles Aznavour accent if you want to and listen late into the night. You'll get a seat to yourself on the late night train, I can tell you...

Or turn the thing on in a Uni lecture and doze - play it back later and make notes. Send it to an 8:00 in the morning lecture or staff meeting and let it listen for you. Beware; when the lecturer or team leader looks up and sees only one person in the room, frantically pushing the "record" button on 15 of these suckers while smiling nervously, you'll know you are in for trouble.

In short, it is a portable memory that can go with you everywhere. If you are going to engage in nefarious doings, do them quietly, as this Olympus recorder is quite sensitive to the surroundings. It may be just the thing you need to prove to someone that they really did say what you say they said. Olympus will not get you out of a fight but they will give you the evidence to sustain one.

Speak into the hand, please.

Now, Camera Electronic has come across a number of these dangerous devices and would like to sell you one at a bargain price. Come ask the sales staff and they'll go upstairs and bring down a selection. Go on. You'll either get yourself a very useful adjunct to daily life or a packet of trouble beyond your control, and either way it will be interesting.