I am indeed a prehospital user. I have just come from the BASICS conference where A N other A&E Consultant actually said, "We don't often take pictures in
A&E!" There are incredible opportunities for photography out there just waiting to be taken.
Take a recent RTC. Two cars each travelling at 30mph towards a junction. One driver doesn't realise he is supposed to stop, and the other car (A Mini) takes a
severe beating. The passenger side is completely caved in on the passenger. Fortunately both get out unaided. Now, it would have been very easy for two
lads on spine boards to be flipped off after a cursory glance at them. Not when they saw my photos! I was able to take the pictures, drive back to the Hospital
ahead of the ambulance and print off the pictures by the time they arrived.
What to use? Well, those who came to my presentation in Boston will know. Sadly it is far too big to post in its entirety on a website, but basically you need
at least a 2 megapixel camera. Mostly they are still compact camera rather than SLR format but that will change. You need something that pumps these big files
out quickly, so look for a USB connected camera, or one with a removable media such as compact flash or memory stick - for which you will require a reader or
PCMCIA adaptor.. Don't waste money on the ones with floppy disks in and don't waste money on the serial types. I have gone for the Kodak DC280 with a
spare compact flash card as the best compromise, and the only disappointment I have had is that the macro facility is not quite good enough for a fingertip. It
also has the best colour rendition - no question. Maybe the top Nikons are as good but there ain't much in it. It's about half your target price too, so spend
some of the difference on a good image manipulation package. I use Paint Shop Pro, and Adobe Photoshop is the expensive but excellent alternative. You will
also need a good graphics card and monitor.
I have a total of around 1250 35mm slides and 750 digital images of all sorts of things now.
Best wishes,
Rowley Cottingham
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