HOWTO: get a high-resolution version of an image on Blogger

Here is a quite big garbage JPEG picture made of pseudo-random noise.

A noisy picture thumbnail

Thumbnail URL:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3IBd5kptNGk_R6iYcCcVRbGPr-qznzJQXl51zG2kB8fPm5ksrpPdG3t4LrsNMq4kdsupZI3QBQ2RzvmdAXPtP6B4ZmwAur6IyQIZAA74UmNbOFE59MtXcTPyCwPlIrVPx4dAyhxT5oYg7/s320/noise01.jpg

"Big image" direct link URL:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3IBd5kptNGk_R6iYcCcVRbGPr-qznzJQXl51zG2kB8fPm5ksrpPdG3t4LrsNMq4kdsupZI3QBQ2RzvmdAXPtP6B4ZmwAur6IyQIZAA74UmNbOFE59MtXcTPyCwPlIrVPx4dAyhxT5oYg7/1600/noise01.jpg

And now we can guess a link to even bigger-sized version:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3IBd5kptNGk_R6iYcCcVRbGPr-qznzJQXl51zG2kB8fPm5ksrpPdG3t4LrsNMq4kdsupZI3QBQ2RzvmdAXPtP6B4ZmwAur6IyQIZAA74UmNbOFE59MtXcTPyCwPlIrVPx4dAyhxT5oYg7/2048/noise01.jpg

Digital camera notes: Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1 is a portable digital camera.

Latest firmware version (known to me): "1.0A".

How to check it:

1. set the mode dial to "P";
2. press and hold together 2 buttons: "Stabilizer" ("hand") + "Up" (above the "MENU" button);
3. turn the camera on (switch the power key from "OFF" to "ON");
4. release the buttons (2);
5. set the mode dial to "Play" position;
6. if there's no detailed image information on the screen, press the "DISPLAY" button a few times, until it displays it;
7. press (and release) 2 buttons together: "Stabilizer" + "Down" (below the "MENU" button);
8. you should see 3 text lines of debugging info, and the 1st one contains the FW version info; e. g.: VER 1.0A:0000 means FW version "1.0A";
9. turn the camera off (switch the power key from "ON" to "OFF").

Unfortunately, no known FW updates found :(

External links:

• Download - Digital Camera - Digital AV - Consumer Products - Support - Panasonic Global

Digital camera notes: Fujifilm FinePix T500

Fujifilm FinePix T500 is a mobile digital camera.

Latest firmware version (known to me): "1.00".
How to check it: turn the camera on (press the power button) while holding the "DISP/BACK" button.
Unfortunately, no known FW updates found :(

External links:

• FinePix T500 - Fujifilm Europe
• FinePix T500 (Discontinued Model) - Fujifilm Global
• Download Software & Firmware - Fujifilm Global
• Detail of firmware update steps - Fujifilm Global

Digital camera notes: Sony MHS-CM5

Sony MHS-CM5 is a mobile HD camera.

Short specs:

video [MP4] resolution:

up to 1080p30 / 720p60 (1920x1080@30 fps, 1280x720@60 fps, 1280x720@30 fps etc.);

photo [JPG]:

up to 5 MP (max. 2592x1944).

Firmware notes.

• Latest firmware version (known to me): "1.21".
• How to check it: turn on the camera (open the LCD screen), and then quickly press and hold the "MENU" button; you'll see the FW version in the bottom right corner of the screen.
• Firmare update file is usually named "SDV5591S.bin".
• Quick firmware analysis suggests this Sony camera contains some hardware by Ambarella, which makes it somewhat related to GoPro.

Misc. notes. Sony PMB (Picture Motion Browser) software is abandoned. You can now use that partition of the camera's internal flash memory to store any other useful data ;)

External links:

• Sony eSupport - MHS-CM5 - Support
• Support for MHS-CM5 - Sony
  • Technical Specifications - MHS-CM5 Support - Sony Support
• Support for MHS-CM5 - Downloads, Manuals, Tutorials and FAQs - Sony UK
  • MHS-CM5 Specifications - Sony UK
• How to check the version - PMB (Picture Motion Browser) Support
• Amazon.com : Sony MHS-CM5 bloggie HD Video Camera (Violet)
• Archived pages (from the Internet Archive):
  • MHS-CM5 - Bloggie(TM) Mobile Cameras - Overview - MHSCM5V.CE7 - MHSCM5 - Sony
  • Updating the Firmware and PMB Portable for MHS-CM5
  • PMB Portable Installer for Windows
  • PMB Portable Installer for Mac OS X

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Last updated: 2019-04-24

Tips: where to find the photos in your Google account

You can try to find your photos in different "departments" of your Google account:

• Photos - Google Photos
  • Albums - Google Photos
• Google Album Archive
• Google Dashboard (see the "Photos" count)
• Download your data [Google Takeout] (refer to the "Google Photos" section)
• Google Photos - Google Drive (somewhat deprecated)
• Photos - Google+ (discontinued)
• Picasa Web Albums (the classic option; unfortunately, discontinued)

And don't forget about the trash folder(s):

• Trash - Google Photos
• Trash - Google Drive
• Photos - Google+ (discontinued)

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Last updated: 2018-03-01

HOWTO: get a highest-resolution version of an image on Last.fm

Sometimes you can find an interesting picture on Last.fm, but don't have an obvious option to zoom in. Fortunately, sometimes you can view it in a better quality too (it depends on the originally uploaded image resolution):

1. First of all, copy the URL of a necessary image; you should get something like this:

   http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/64s/35346791/RJ+Test+Artist+1+knifefighttypepadcom.jpg

2. Then you'll need to modify the URL a little; just replace the entire substring consisting of alphanumeric characters between the two slashes after the "serve" word and before the image number with a single underscore:

   http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/35346791/RJ+Test+Artist+1+knifefighttypepadcom.jpg

3. Just paste the modified image URL into your browser's address bar and enjoy the (big) picture!

HOWTO: get a high-quality image from an eBay listing

Well, sometimes you can find an interesting item on eBay, and then you want to take a nice look at the photos. Unfortunately, the pictures are often displayed in a low resolution (and without a "zoom in" option). Luckily, often you still have a chance to get good quality images (with resolutions up to 1600 * 1200; it depends on the original quality of the picture the seller has uploaded).

Notes. The sites are in process of migration to HTTPS, so you'll often see image URLs beginning with "https://" instead of plain "http://". And it should work for all regional eBay sites (i. e., ebay.com, ebay.co.uk, ebay.de etc.), and also for "eBay Kleinanzeigen" (German eBay classified ads site).

1. An old image URL style.
   1. First of all, copy an URL of the needed image; you'll get something like this:

      http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Some-nice-item-For-sale-/00/s/S0mE-W1LD/$GaRb4gE~~60_12.JPG

   2. Then you'll need to modify the URL a little; just replace the last number found in the URL (it's preceded by a '_' and followed by a '.'; in this sample, it's "12") with "10":

      http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Some-nice-item-For-sale-/00/s/S0mE-W1LD/$GaRb4gE~~60_10.JPG

      or with "57" (I don't know what's actually better):

      http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Some-nice-item-For-sale-/00/s/S0mE-W1LD/$GaRb4gE~~60_57.JPG

   3. Just paste the modified image URL into your browser's address bar and enjoy!
2. A new image URL style. The method remains similar.
   1. Get an image URL:

      http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/GaRbaG3/s-l64.jpg

   2. Change the appropriate URL fragment to "1600":

      http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/GaRbaG3/s-l1600.jpg

   3. ...
   4. Done!

References:

1. getProductDetails : thumbnail How can I get high resolution picture of catalogued item. - eBay Developer Support / Customer Help
2. getProductDetails - API Reference - Product API - eBay Developers Program

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Last updated: 2017-03-14