First off, I would like to thank everybody that responded and to all of those
who wanted to share in my responses, here goes. I have included all of the
responses, important parts, for your review. In case anybody has any other
info, please email me your additional comments.
Thanks
Dave Williams
Montgomery Watson
Original Message:
Does anybody have any good experiences with digital field cameras,specifically
for rough, possibly wet, field work tasks. If so, I am trying to get
information for purchasing a decent digital camera for engineering field work
for the purpose of uploading photos into a GIS database, hyperlinked or
whatever. I would like to get feedback on praise or dislike for certain models
based on your experience. If you could include a general price that would be
helpful also.
Cheers
Dave Williams
Montgomery Watson
Responses:
For land use, I would use the Sony Mavica. It's ease of replacing the floppy
disk is extremely helpful. I used one on a vacation and I loved it. They're
not real cheap though.
For wet use, the SEA and Sea camera line and of course Nikonos. Neither are
digital, but you can get your pics processed directly into digital format. The
Nikonos is the more reliable and sturdy model.
I haven't heard of any digital camera that has any water-proofing capabilities -
sorry.
Layne Seely
Alan Plummer Associates, Inc.
841 West Mitchell Street
Arlington, TX 76013
817-461-1491
817-860-3339 Fax
---
I have found the easiest camera to work with for the price: Sony Mavica
FD-73. $500 www.ecost.com
Sony is the only camera (or one of a select few) who use floppy disks as
storage for your pictures. Makes handling them so easy.
Wet weather? Well, as with most cameras, you'll have the usual issues.
---
I've used the kodak DC240 (and we built a rugged case to
protect it)
Worked like a charm.
To save lots of time look into the kodak fis265
It integrates a GPS with the DC and also comes with an AV
extension to easily bring the data into ArcView. Very easy
to use but I don't think I'd call it "ruggedized"
Hopefully kodak sells protective casing for field work.
Cheers
If your interested I posted a review on our site
http://www.spatialnews.com/newsletter/issue12/demofis265.html
Glenn
---
I bought 2 set of the Kodak DC265 coupled with a Garmin GPSIII Plus.
The neath thing is that you can save the GPS coordinates in the JPEG's
header, and then geocode and associate the photo to the point with only
a few clicks. There's a complete kit for ArcView, wich includes an extension
to retrieve the coordinates, create the points and link the photos. I use
MapInfo,
and with a few click, you can accomplish the same results. But its not a
waterproof camera, and digital cameras are usually more delicate than
traditional
cameras. You'll find all the info on the Kodak web site.
Hope this helps you.
Marc Pelosse
Conseiller en géomatique
Services conseils, Biens immobiliers
Centre d'expertise SGLB-SBI
Région du Québec
Travaux publics et Services gouvernementaux Canada
Tél.: 514-496-3895 Fax: 514-496-3766
Courriel: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
---
David - I will pass this note alone to my marketing group. We have a
software product that creates GPS referenced photos, video, audio and other
notes at time of capture. For higher end studies we can add a laser to
provide offset to image as well as compass orientation and azimuth of the
camera imaging direction.
The software also can create HTML pages of maps with your photos, video, and
audio.
As to hardened digital cameras we too are interested and one of us may know
what and where to go. For video we have put them inside compatible
underwater shells. If you would like to call -
970-493-3952...
http://www.redhensystems.com/vms
Red Hen Systems
Neil
---
i saw your message on gislist regarding digital cameras for field work.
i dont know if you can purchase these in america, but the following two
links show digital cameras made by fujifilm which are specifically
designed for the construction industry. they have a specialized casing
to guard against dust and rain. i dont believe you can totally submerge
them in water, but a bit of rain shouldnt hurt them.
these are 1.5Mega Pixels and have 3x zoom lenses. made for outdoor use.
http://www.finepix.com/ds260hd/index.html
http://www.finepix.com/ds230hd/index.html
you may want to check for an english website and ask them if they have
similar. i am sure you could get one somehow if this is want you needed.
a couple of years ago konica was producing a regular 35mm slr tied to a
gps.
it is still listed on their homepage. the cost is described as 220,000
JPY. i am sure there are some options, etc. this is not a digital
camera.
http://www.konica.co.jp/allgoods/camera-0013.html
but it will print the gps location of when the picture was taken on each
frame.
i d
