Re: recommendation for digital camera
Apparently, _Faheem Mitha_, on 07/06/04 18:00,typed:
Dear People,
I know this question has been asked before, but the answer is constantly
changing.:-)
So, I'm looking for a digital camera with the following (tentative)
requirements. I'm happy to have these requirements questioned.
1) A cost of $500 or under.
2) Needs to work well with Debian (obviously). I think the best support is
obtained by cameras that are seen as USB mass storage devices, right?
In my experience, using gphoto is pretty neat. Once you have setup
according to this doc:
http://www.gphoto.org/doc/manual/permissions-usb.html, you should have
no problems. This method is working perfectly for me. I just plug in the
camera and start gphoto2 and I can browse and copy the images to my hard
disk.
The other method which I am finding to be even better is to use a card
reader. I have a 6-in-one card reader (cost me something like $35
Canadian but single card readers are much cheaper; I needed it because I
also wanted to read Sony memory stick) and I read it as a /dev/sda1 or
/dev/sdd1 etc. I have mount entries in /etc/fstab. I just plug in the
camera and mount the directory and work with the camera memory as with
any other directory. This method gives a much higher transfer rate from
camera to computer. And saves camera batteries.
The latter method above can be advance to detect the memory card
automatically as it is inserted and unmount it when it is not been
needed. I haven't implemented this method yet, not clear how to. I guess
it involves hotplug and some other related stuff.
3) Preferably uses as little proprietary technology as possible. This may
not be a realistic requirement, though. I'm basically trying to avoid the
situation when I can only buy an accessory made by the company
manufactured by the camera because nothing else is compatible.
I guess the only variable here are the batteries. If you buy a camera
that uses AA batteries then using NiMH battries and a nice charger works
wonders. However, I put this below some other important stuff when
shopping for a digicam.
4) Something 4 Megapixel or over would be good, I think.
Well, that really depends on what you want to do with your camera. There
are a huge number of other variables also, depending on your skills.
Ergonomics (easy access to useful controls), white balance control,
optics, physical size, *shutter lag*, etc.
I'd also be interested in good internet resources about digital cameras,
particularly Linux specific.
http://dpreview.com/. Oh, Linux specific? I guess just do google. Or
post some here if you find any :)
Seriously though, you will have to search for stuff on USB, gphoto2, etc.
Good luck,
->HS
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