Re: Digital cameras and Linux
Hi all, Thanks for the very useful info. With this, and having found gphoto.org and noticing gphoto comes with Debian, I have everything I need to buy a camera that works with Linux. Cheers, Neil.
Re: Digital cameras and Linux
On Sun, Dec 12, 1999 at 06:19:25PM -0800, Wade Curry wrote: > Good starter cameras ($300 range) check out the Olympus D-340R, HP C-200, > Fuji MX-1200. All of the cameras in this range are a little slow between > pics. > They are 1MegaPixel cameras, so the image quality is just OK for web and 4X6 > prints. The Olympus can save an uncompressed TIFF, but that means a 4-5MB > file gets generated. Adds to the image quality, but you'll want > more storage. All good points. People might also consider consulting the rec.photo.digital and rec.photo.film+labs newsgroups for info. The dejanews site might be handy for this. > Also, prices are much lower on the Net than in the retail stores. > Check out www.computers.com for price lists. If you buy it retail, > you're nuts. Interesting point. :) -- William Burrow -- New Brunswick, Canada A 'box' is something that accomplishes a task -- you feed in input and out comes the output, just as God and Larry Wall intended. -- brian moore
Re: Digital cameras and Linux (fwd)
i was wondering if any of you have had any experience with the camediaplay program, i got it while upgrading to potato. i have an olympus D-340R and was wondering about it, or is gplay the way to go. -- Nathan York [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Digital cameras and Linux
Hello! On Sun, Dec 12, 1999 at 08:10:34AM -0700, Robert L. Harris wrote: > I now have an Olympus. It's the second one. The first one died > mysteriously (I think my son dropped it in the toilet). My wife > was due with my second child any minute. I called them, told them > it died and I needed it ASAP. They told me as soon as I gave them > some sort of tracking # (I used USPS) they would ship me a new one. > I had bought a D340-L refurbished off pricewatch. They were out > of refurbished 340L's and out of 340L's all together. They sent > me a brand spanking New D340-R. 1280x1024, etc and even has a > 2x digital zoom. At any rate. I shipped out my old one that day, I have an Olympus C840L, it was brought directly from Japan. I think that in the US the same cammera has a different model, I think it is the D340L. It came with a serial cable. I download the pictures in Linux using gphoto or some other software I got from freshmeat. I don't have any complaints, it has worked fine, and I can download my pictures in Linux, so it is perfect! Greetings, Alexis Maldonado Engineering College University of Costa Rica
Re: Digital cameras and Linux
Neil Booth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, > > I'm considering buying a digital camera or videocam, but am concerned > about being able to download the JPEG images to Linux. Of course, the > cameras come with a serial cable and software for downloading the > images to Windows. > > Does anyone know if these cameras simply pass the JPEG data down the > serial line, or is there some special camera-specific protocol they > use (rendering it useless without special software)? In the former > case, how would I capture the data coming down the serial line? > > Thanks for any information or advice, > > Neil. > Hi Neil, I do competitive analysis of digital cameras for my company. I will not tell you which camera to buy :-) *but* I will emphatically insist that you *not* get a Sony Mavica. I will try to explain a few things that will help you. First, connectivity. I would recommend going to the gphoto site to see what their software supports. Their software is intended to allow image downloads from a tethered camera (serial, USB). This method usually uses a protocol called Twain. There is a www.twain.org site, I haven't visited it yet. The driver for the digital camera most likely uses Twain, as does Photoshop and some other apps that can get images directly from the camera. I haven't been able to bring cameras home to test which ones use a proper implementation of Twain or which ones gphoto works with -- yet. Experimentation and asking around, as you are, is your best bet for specific information about any particular model. Second, storage. This is related to the first point. Unless you are using a camera that allows scripting on the host to control it ( via Digita OS from FlashPoint technologies ), then you are simply transferring images. This is all that 99 percent of the people want anyway. So you just need a reader for the storage media, then the camera driver isn't really an issue. This is what the person was getting at when he suggested the Sony Mavica with floppy disks. Unfortunately, the images the Mavica produces lose a great deal of information when being stored to the disk. There just isn't enough room an a puny little floppy for all the data, so the camera compresses the hell out of the image. This isn't just a problem for Sony, but I don't know of any other cameras that come with less than a 4MB card for storage. Most now come with min. 8MB. There are PCMCIA card adapters for both SmartMedia and CompactFlash. This may be the way to go. I'm not sure what you'd have to do to mount the card, haven't experimented that far. Good starter cameras ($300 range) check out the Olympus D-340R, HP C-200, Fuji MX-1200. All of the cameras in this range are a little slow between pics. They are 1MegaPixel cameras, so the image quality is just OK for web and 4X6 prints. The Olympus can save an uncompressed TIFF, but that means a 4-5MB file gets generated. Adds to the image quality, but you'll want more storage. Beyond this, remember that digital zoom is just for advertizing. I mean to say that digital zoom is worthless. If you use the digital zoom, it drastically reduces the resolution of the image. You can do this stuff with Photoshop or the Gimp anyway, so you won't miss not using it in the camera. Optical zoom is valuable for taking good pics. You will pay for it, as well as a high resolution CCD. I mention the starter cameras because they were already brought up by way of the Mavicas and the D-340R. If you want to know about the other offerings (like Nikon 950 or Olympus C-2000 which are highly respected), I suggest you look at the following sites: www.steves-digicams.com photo.askey.net www.megapixel.com www.dcresource.com Also, prices are much lower on the Net than in the retail stores. Check out www.computers.com for price lists. If you buy it retail, you're nuts. Wade Curry I am not speaking for Hewlett Packard.
Re: Digital cameras and Linux
*- On 12 Dec, Mike Werner wrote about "Re: Digital cameras and Linux" > "(Ted Harding)" wrote: >> It is worth considering a camera that can record the JPEG file directly >> to a floppy disk -- either natively (the Sony Mavica was probably the >> earliest to do it this way) or using a bit of clip-on kit which you > >> (The floppies used are in all cases -- as far as I know -- standard >> DOS-formatted floppies straight out of the box). > > FWIW I have grabbed pics from a Mavica floppy with a Linux system. I > mounted the floppy as a regular DOS type floppy and just grabbed the > .jpg's like any other. The Mavica also creates a second file for every > pic it makes - I don't remember the extension but that file has no use > I've been able to figure out (probably something the camera uses > internally). > > And the floppy that I had fed into the Mavica was a brand new never-used > one straight out of the box. They are the index files that it uses to display on the on-camera screen. The Mavica's also create an html file that lists the files so that someone can open the list up in a web browser and view the pictures. Brian Servis -- Mechanical Engineering | Never criticize anybody until you Purdue University | have walked a mile in their shoes, [EMAIL PROTECTED] | because by that time you will be a http://www.ecn.purdue.edu/~servis | mile away and have their shoes.
Re: Digital cameras and Linux
"(Ted Harding)" wrote: > It is worth considering a camera that can record the JPEG file directly > to a floppy disk -- either natively (the Sony Mavica was probably the > earliest to do it this way) or using a bit of clip-on kit which you > (The floppies used are in all cases -- as far as I know -- standard > DOS-formatted floppies straight out of the box). FWIW I have grabbed pics from a Mavica floppy with a Linux system. I mounted the floppy as a regular DOS type floppy and just grabbed the .jpg's like any other. The Mavica also creates a second file for every pic it makes - I don't remember the extension but that file has no use I've been able to figure out (probably something the camera uses internally). And the floppy that I had fed into the Mavica was a brand new never-used one straight out of the box. -- Mike Werner KA8YSD | "Where do you want to go today?" ICQ# 12934898 | "As far from Redmond as possible!" '91 GS500E| Morgantown WV | Only dead fish go with the flow.
Re: Digital cameras and Linux
> On 12-Dec-99 Matthew Bloch wrote: > > On Sun, 12 Dec 1999, Neil Booth wrote: > > > >> I'm considering buying a digital camera or videocam, but am concerned > >> about being able to download the JPEG images to Linux. Of course, the > >> cameras come with a serial cable and software for downloading the > >> images to Windows. > > It is worth considering a camera that can record the JPEG file directly > to a floppy disk -- either natively (the Sony Mavica was probably the > earliest to do it this way) or using a bit of clip-on kit which you > buy separately (an increasing number of makes offer this option). > > Then you don't have to worry about using software, cables or any other > nonsense: you just put the floppy into the computer (anybody's > computer ... ) and copy the files. Also, provided you have enough > battery resources, you can go out for a long day with a pocket-full > of floppies and come home with hundreds of photos: you don't have to > buy several expensive memory modules to achieve the same effect. Good points, however it would only be fair to point out what I consider a significant drawback to digital cameras that use floppies as the storage medium--delay time between pictures. For those times where timing is critical (i.e. baby smiles, etc) it's very frustrating to not be able to take a picture because the camera is still busy writing to the floppy disk. Memory modules, while currently expensive, allow instantaneous recording of high quality pictures and will only get cheaper as time goes on. === Charles Lewis, Director of Administrative Computing Southwestern Adventist University, Keene, TX (817)556-4720 [EMAIL PROTECTED] FAX (360)397-7952 ===
Re: Digital cameras and Linux
On 12-Dec-99 Matthew Bloch wrote: > On Sun, 12 Dec 1999, Neil Booth wrote: > >> I'm considering buying a digital camera or videocam, but am concerned >> about being able to download the JPEG images to Linux. Of course, the >> cameras come with a serial cable and software for downloading the >> images to Windows. It is worth considering a camera that can record the JPEG file directly to a floppy disk -- either natively (the Sony Mavica was probably the earliest to do it this way) or using a bit of clip-on kit which you buy separately (an increasing number of makes offer this option). Then you don't have to worry about using software, cables or any other nonsense: you just put the floppy into the computer (anybody's computer ... ) and copy the files. Also, provided you have enough battery resources, you can go out for a long day with a pocket-full of floppies and come home with hundreds of photos: you don't have to buy several expensive memory modules to achieve the same effect. (The floppies used are in all cases -- as far as I know -- standard DOS-formatted floppies straight out of the box). Ted. E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 12-Dec-99 Time: 15:13:37 1673182 seconds left -- XFMail --
Re: Digital cameras and Linux
I've had 2. First a Kodak DC25 that worked well. I ended up using a combination of tools with a C proggy a gentleman wrote along time ago. It worked, but it wasn't pretty. I now have an Olympus. It's the second one. The first one died mysteriously (I think my son dropped it in the toilet). My wife was due with my second child any minute. I called them, told them it died and I needed it ASAP. They told me as soon as I gave them some sort of tracking # (I used USPS) they would ship me a new one. I had bought a D340-L refurbished off pricewatch. They were out of refurbished 340L's and out of 340L's all together. They sent me a brand spanking New D340-R. 1280x1024, etc and even has a 2x digital zoom. At any rate. I shipped out my old one that day, called them with a tracking #. 2days later I had my new one. I use gphoto (search on freshmeat) to download the pics in linux and it works great. I took some pictures to the Kodak place on a floppy and printed them on their color Laser printer. Then printed them on my HP882C (in windows unfortunately). Both are definitely photo quality and worthy of sending to family for christmas. The olympus with a 16Meg SmartMedia card ( ~ $40) holds 244 Pics at 640x480 and 73 at 1280x1024. I have an 8meg and 16Meg card. Fill one, swap it. Take the adapter (floppy or pcmcia) and plug it in and just copy to your computer. No I'm not getting commision or work for them. I am just VERY pleased with the quality and customer service. Robert Thus spake Neil Booth ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): > Hi, > > I'm considering buying a digital camera or videocam, but am concerned > about being able to download the JPEG images to Linux. Of course, the > cameras come with a serial cable and software for downloading the > images to Windows. > > Does anyone know if these cameras simply pass the JPEG data down the > serial line, or is there some special camera-specific protocol they > use (rendering it useless without special software)? In the former > case, how would I capture the data coming down the serial line? > > Thanks for any information or advice, > > Neil. > > > -- > Unsubscribe? mail -s unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] < /dev/null > :wq! --- Robert L. Harris| Low quality in a product happens. Senior System Engineer |That doesn't mean it's right and at RnD Consulting.| and defintely doesn't mean it should \_ be accepted. Require quality. http://www.rnd-consulting.com/~nomad DISCLAIMER: These are MY OPINIONS ALONE. I speak for no-one else. FYI: perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5,(41*2),sqrt(7056),(unpack(c,H)-2),oct(115),10);'
Re: Digital cameras and Linux
On Sun, 12 Dec 1999, Neil Booth wrote: > I'm considering buying a digital camera or videocam, but am concerned > about being able to download the JPEG images to Linux. Of course, the > cameras come with a serial cable and software for downloading the > images to Windows. > > Does anyone know if these cameras simply pass the JPEG data down the > serial line, or is there some special camera-specific protocol they > use (rendering it useless without special software)? In the former > case, how would I capture the data coming down the serial line? As far as I know each camera (or family) of cameras will use its own proprietry protocol which covers fetching thumbnails, deleting photos etc. as well as just getting the JPEGs. However, GPhoto (www.gphoto.org) supports a fair number of cameras from different manufacuters, so I think most of them are pretty open about their specs. Personally I've got a Kodak DC210 which cost me about 400ukp about a year ago, and works very nicely; though it's probably equivalent feature-wise to about a 50 quid compact, and has come down at least 100 quid since then! But I think that's generally the deal with digital cameras. -- Matthew ( http://www.soup-kitchen.demon.co.uk/ )
