If a product has been tested and passed by Microsoft it will be given a digital signature to indicate that it is compatible with Windows XP. A warning message will be displayed if your computer does not find the signature, however Praktica have carried out all the testing with Windows XP and can confirm that all Praktica products connected to the computer via the USB are compatible with Windows XP. You can carry on loading the driver.

The display is not faulty, when the Liquid Crystal Display is manufactured under laboratory conditions more than 99.999% of the pixels will operate correctly, however an odd pixel made be displayed as a bright dot, this is not a fault and will not affect the final image.

The colour of light recorded on an image can vary depending on the colour of the light source illuminating it. For example, a red cast will appear on images taken under tungsten lighting and a green cast under fluorescent lighting. Photographers using traditional film will use filters to correct this. Digital cameras use software to make the correction.

You can set your camera to auto and this will automatically adjust the setting according to the lighting conditions. If you want to customise the setting refer to your camera manual to select the required setting.

This will also allow you to be creative, if say you want a blue hue on the image to give a cool affect, select the tungsten setting when taking pictures in normal daylight.

Formatting will delete all data in the memory including images, data and files and can repair a non functioning card with corrupted data. Formatting will not repair a card that is physically damaged or has bad sectors.

Note: Once a card has been formatted you will not be able to recover any images.

Red eye is caused by the light from the cameras flash reflecting off the retina in the subject’s eye. The picture will show the subjects eyes appearing to have a red glow.

You can reduce this effect by trying the following.

Ask the subject to look slightly to one side, this will reflect the light from the eye at different angle.

Select the red eye reduction setting, this will fire the flash several times before the exposure and reduce the size of the subjects pupils to reduce the effect of red eye.

Red eye be removed from an image using the picture editing software supplied with your camera.

Digital cameras require a lot of power, especially when the display and the flash are in constant use. To conserve battery power you could turn of the display when it is not needed, however for cameras using AA or AAA batteries we would recommend you use high capacity nickel metal hydride batteries ie: 2000mAh rather than alkaline batteries as these can be recharged and they will last longer.

The International Standards Organisation (ISO) assigns a rating to the film used in traditional cameras, which defines the films sensitivity to light. Low ISO rating ie: 100 ISO means that it would require more light for a correct exposure than a film with a rating of 800 ISO.

In a digital camera it is the camera’s CCD that captures the image. Digital cameras can automatically adjust the sensitivity of the CCD by checking the available light conditions. In certain conditions you may decide to override the automatic control, as with film the higher the ISO the more pronounced the grain, with digital cameras the higher the ISO the more likely pictures will be subject to noise(randomly spaced, brightly coloured pixels). Prakitca cameras typically have an ISO range of 100-400, we would recommend that a setting of 100 is set for optimum results.

All digital cameras contain a solid state sensor which sits behind the lens in the camera body.

No, the cameras produce standard JPEG files so you can use any commercially available photo editing software.

Optical zoom works like the zoom on a traditional film camera. When you push the button to zoom in or out, physical lens elements move inside the camera, reducing the field of view and making the object you're shooting appear closer. Digital zoom, on the other hand, has no moving parts. The camera interpolates a small portion of an image to artificially restore the file to its original size. Using its electronic brain, the digital camera analyses what it sees and digitally zooms in, usually two or three times closer.  Depending on the number of output pixels and the magnification factor, recording with digital zoom can result in relatively lower image quality. The digital zoom range is from 3X (optical zoom maximum) to 24X.

Regular colour inkjet or laser printers are not really suitable for printing photographs. They are suitable for letters and invoices, but picture quality will normally be poor. 

An inkjet photo printer is the lowest cost option. These have 6-8 colours of ink and produce stunning photos as large as 13 x 19 inches. Ink and photo paper can be expensive though. Some printers can grab photos off a memory card -- just insert the card into the slot and use the LCD on the printer to select the photos you want to print.

First make sure the camera is connected to your computer.

Is the camera is turned on?

Is the camera's battery supplying power?

Is the USB cable plugged in as far as it will go? If it is, try connecting to a different USB port (if your computer has more than one). 

If you are connecting through a USB hub, try connecting directly to your computer's USB port.

If available, try connecting to a different computer. If operation is normal when connected to the other computer, it means there is no problem with the camera and USB cable. Check the other troubleshooting items. 

The USB driver may not work properly if there is virus scanning software (McAfee, Norton, etc.) running in the background on your computer. Try shutting down the virus scanning software and see if the normal USB operation is restored.

Some computers with special utilities installed or the BIOS of some computers may be configured so USB is disabled. You will not be able to install the USB driver with such a computer. If you want to install the USB driver, you will need to change the USB setting of the computer to "enabled." The procedure you need to perform to change the special utility or BIOS settings depends on your computer. See the user documentation that came with your computer for details. If there is something you are unsure of, contact your computer's manufacturer. 

Do other USB devices operate normally? If so the best solution may be to purchase a commercially available USB card reader or PC card adapter, and read images from the camera's memory card. 

Memory cards are quite sturdy, but you should try to keep them in a protective case when they are not in the camera.  The cards may break and the images may be lost if they are subject to any form of impact. As with all computer or camera accessories, care should be exercised.

Always re-format the card in your camera after downloading and saving the pictures on your computer. Create a backup by saving your files from the memory card to your computer. 

Maintain battery power as failure during taking pictures can result in the data corruption on the card and can even lead to card damage. 

Do not remove the card or turn off the camera during data transfer as this can result in the corruption of data on the card and lead to damaged memory  

The camera has ‘Auto Power Off’ function, this is normally set to 3 minutes (factory default), but you can reset to another duration or switched it off, please refer to your instruction manual.

Only if you are using Windows 98/98SE, for Windows XP there is no need to install the driver. No driver is required for Macintosh OS-9.1 onwards.

Walkthrough airport x-rays and scanners are safe but stronger x-ray equipment used to examine baggage may be a problem. If you pack your camera in a suitcase, place it in the middle rather than in outer sections of the case. 

Before editing pictures in your graphics application always ensure you have moved the picture from the card to your computer first, doing this can extend the life of the card 

If a memory card problem occurs, stop using the card immediately, do not reformat the card or delete pictures, contact your supplier for information on data recovery  

Be careful with the "delete all" and "Format" functions on cameras using SD or CompactFlash card, as they are irreversible formats that cannot be recovered.