This applet lets the field photographer store subject, location, exposure, notes, and other reference information, including a drawing of the scene if needed, for each photo taken. It is intended primarily for the medium- and large-format photographer, to record the settings of individual exposures. Small-format shooters who are interested in a sort of careful, deliberate style will still appreciate the functionality of this applet. Additionally, photographic calculations that must be done in the field are handled automatically, like finding the proper filter factors or making film recipricocity-failure corrections to the exposure. Additional calculators for depth of field, image sharpness and optimal apertures, macro exposure, and existing light exposures are included.

Functions included

Subject tab: Subject, location and time/date

Settings tab: camera body, shutter speed, long exposure times, f/stop, film selection, lens selection, the selection of up to two filters, filter compensation and film recipricosity failure compensations are automatically computed. All of these selections are made from drop-down lists of your equipment, which you may customize in the equipment forms. The equipment forms are used to add your own equipment (camera body, lenses [prime and zoom], film [including long-exposure recipricosity-failure corrections], filters [including filter factors], and customized lists of shutter speeds and f/stops). Exposure settings of more than two seconds will activate a timer that, when tapped, will beep after the shutter-speed interval has elapsed.

Notes tab: for adding as many notes as you wish to include.

Drawing tab: gives you a 230x140 pixel area for drawing the scene photographed, as a reminder of which frame it corresponds to, and to record relevant metering information (good if you use the Zone System or anything like it). Buttons are included to erase the drawing, and to export your drawing to a .jpg or .bmp graphic file.

References tab: reports the actual database ID for each entry, has space for recording your own photo ID and digital image ID. There is also a drop-down list for development recommendations (N+1, N+2, N+3, N-1, N-2, N-3, Push 1, Push 2, Push 3, Pull 1, Pull 2, Normal), a report of the Exposure Value (Ev) calculated form the film ISO, shutter speed and f/stop recorded in the settings tab, and places to record highlight, mid gray, and shadow meter values.

Bottom of form: there are four buttons on the bottom of the form taking you to the following:

• Copy-to-New: copies all the current entry information (except the drawing box) to a new entry and updates the time, useful for shots made in series.
• Quick Entry: opens a one-page form for recording all the information found in the Subject, Settings, and Noted tabs, useful for entering data quickly.
• Search: opens a form for searching the photos database for particular information (subject, locale, date range, lens, film, filter or notes). The search results are displayed in a non-editable Results form (with a button you can tap to open the displayed entry for editing if needed).
• Calculations: opens a form that assists you in making the following field calculations: DOF, Sharpness, Existing Light, Flash, and Macro.

The database uses the standard .cdb format, and will synchronize with an Access database file automatically through ActiveSync if desired.

Installation: the two files are provided in a .zip archive. Move the PhotoAssist.cdb file to your My Documents directory (or anywhere you want to store your data), and move the PhotoAssist.RAF file to your SprintDB forms directory (typically /program files/Sprint DB Pro/forms). Click on the PhotoAssist.cbd file to open. Note to those upgrading: You only need to install the .RAF file. Leave your .cdb file as is. If you reinstall the .cdb file, you will lose what data you have already entered. Only the .RAF file is updated. The .cdb file has changed in v1.1.

***IMPORTANT: If you are upgrading from v1.0***
For the new roll and frame info to work, you must add two
fields to the photos table:
1. open the PhotoAssist database.
2. close the main form.
3. click on the "Table" tab, select the "photos" form,
    and click "Edit".
4. in the "field Name" box, enter "roll", in Type select
    "text", and in size, select "50", then press the "+" button.
5. do it again, but now "field Name" = "frame", type = "integer"
6. click the green arrow to close, and you're done!

Version History:

Version 1.2:

Added a version of the PhotoAssist.cdb file compatible with Windows Mobile 2003 devices.

Version 1.1:

Unlocked results table (so you can edit data there),
  Search table still locked.
Added roll and frame info to Refs tab of main form.
The Copy to New function now will copy PhotoID, roll,
  and frame info to the newly-created record, and the
  frame number is automatically incremented. You must
  reset the roll and frame numbers manually when you
  switch to a new roll.
 

Many thanks to Jim Moore for his useful comments on improving the roll film functionality!

Version 1.0:

Search added! Updated the Search and Results forms
Many tweaks to the main forms
Fixed input panel usage
Reformatted many of the Equipment and Calculations forms
Fixed a few of the slower functions to enhance speed
Added a long exposure timer function to the Settings tab of the main form.