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Again..... Digital Questions
Hai,
I'm thinking of buying a digital compact camera, but...... I am worried about the download time's etc.. Let's say 1 picture is 1 Mb and I have 50 picture's to send home.. in an average internet-cafe downtown swahilonesia witch has a 50 K connection.... I guess you don't need a calculator to figure it out.. it won't work. So, my question is actualy: Does an avarage Internet-cafe (in swahilionesia or burminiastan etc..) have a cd-burner ? And.. if yes.. Do I have to bring my own CD's or do they have them ? The awnser to this question enable's me to decide. Any experiance?... thanks. Maarten |
I wouldn't bet on it, and will they let you connect your card reader, install driver for it and then use the potential cd-burner which sits in the manager's machine? I met people who had not been able to unload their digicams in weeks and months(South America), and hence carried a useless camera with them.
A much better option though, is the digital wallet, a pocket harddisk that reads compact flash cards and the like and stores up to 20GB of information. Do a search on the web and you'll find it sold everywhere. ------------------ Dag http://RocinantesTravels.com |
Unfortunatly... A digital wallet costs about 500 euro (if you get a good deal). If I add this to the cost of the digicam I could buy a Sony MVC witch has a build in CD-rewriter.
It is a dificult disicion (talk about a luxury problem) witch started with the need for a wireless remote controll (so I can take action-photo's of myself). I just don't want to spend to much monye on it, and for the cost of a digital wallet I can live like a king in Azie for 2 months. So... still hoping for sugestions or awnsers. Maarten |
Maarten,
I think you've just answered yourself with the MVC and its CD-RW. Right now, Dcam image quality is not a problem anymore, but battery life and storage are. Of course, stacking up on those little mini-cd's ain't no joke either... Roberto. |
A more practical solution might be to purchase one of the older generation Sony Mavica's that writes the pictures onto a 3½ inch floppy disc. I owned one of these several years ago, and it took fine pictures - mine was 1.3 megapixels resolution.
Not only would that save you quite a bit of money on the purchase cost (you could get it used for probably US$ 200), it would completely solve the problem of media and data transfer - no matter how primitive the computer you find in a backwoods internet cafe is, you can be assured it will have a slot for a floppy disc. This will avoid all the hassle of cables, connectors, memory sticks, consumable CD-ROM media, etc. That leaves only the problem of charging up the camera. Batteries degrade over time, so you might want to buy a fresh battery for the unit before you leave, to ensure you get the maximum amount of photos out of each charge. When my battery was new, I got about 100 pictures out of each charge. After a year of use, it only took about 30 pictures before it needed recharging. [This message has been edited by PanEuropean (edited 05 January 2002).] |
Hai,
I don't think this is an option. I thought about it for about 5 seconds but considering the fact that a good quality photo is about 1 Mb and the fact that a floppy can contain 1,44 Mb... that makes for a big suitcase filled with floppy's. Anyway.. the older digi's have more problem's. The delay between pressing the button and the actual taking of the photo is way to long. Even the modern one's are tricky with this. Furthermore the 1.3 megapixel is not enaugh to replace a chemical (or analog http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif) picture. So.. I am still thinking and thinking, but I am afriad that it will be the good old celuloid... Maarten |
I guess it depends a lot on what quality of picture you need.
I replaced my original Sony Mavica (the one that wrote to the floppy) with a Sony DSC-P1 that writes to a memory stick. I was surprised to find that a photo that took about 150kb of space on the floppy now took up 800kb of space on the memory stick - same size, same resolution, same quality. On further investigation, I found that the older camera processed the JPEG image a bit before writing it, to achieve better compression. The newer camera didn't bother to do that, because it had more storage space to work with. Photo quality was the same. I could fit about 12 to 14 reasonably good quality photos onto one floppy disk with the old camera. Not good enough to make prints bigger than 4 by 6 inches, but certainly good enough for viewing on a computer screen, or using in a PowerPoint presentation, or a web site. |
Photo quality is not the same from the two cameras. Your old camera compressed the files more, which is equivalent to reducing quality, even though the pixel size stays the same. Jpeg compression is about finding similar areas in a photo and store that as a simplified object. When you increase the compression you increase the tolerance of what is "similar". Larger files means (by default at least) better quality, simply because there is more information in the file.
------------------ Dag http://RocinantesTravels.com |
Hi Maarten ,
Faced the same situation myself actually. Based on the assumption that no Internet Cafe will let you load the required software to read your smart card, or floppy disk adapter for a smart card or whatever ( yes they all need the appropriate driver software on a PC in order to read the assorted media ) , I chose the Sony Mavica CD option. I've been playing with it over the last couple of months, and it's a fantastic piece of kit. At 3.3 Mega pixels, it will shoot a 1.2 MB jpeg shot on high resolution, or even an 8 MB Tiff shot if you don't fancy any compression. Knowing that todays Digital Minilabs such as Fuji's frontier or Agfa's d-lab can produce excellent results from a 1.2 MB file, I believe the CD-R's or the more expensive CD-RW's are just the ticket. At 1.2 MB , you can expect approx 150 shots per CD , or a significant amount more if you chose a lower resolution. Both of the above Minilabs offer a print resolution 0f 400 ppi regardless of print size thanks to thier laser paper exposure technology, producing a print that is very crisp and sharp. Sure, the 3.3 Megapixel camera from Sony is expensive, but those little disks can be aquired for as little as 1 USD per piece. That's real cheap storage, and as a CD which slots directly into any PC's CD drive without the need for any software, the perfect option for the traveller who might be wanting to upload pictures to a web site using Internet Cafes. See www. panamerica.co.uk for examples. ( Even animated giff files which can be dumped straight into your site. Cheers Jeremy [This message has been edited by Jeremy Andrews (edited 08 January 2002).] [This message has been edited by Jeremy Andrews (edited 08 January 2002).] |
Dag:
I disagree with your disagreement with me (wow, that's complex). My current camera takes a JPEG picture, and it occupies 800 kb on the memory stick. If I open that JPEG in Adobe Photoshop, then do a 'save as' at the highest possible quality setting within Photoshop, the image size drops to between 140 and 200 kb, depending on the content of the image. The old camera took JPEG's that occupied, at the same resolution, size and quality, about 200 kb per photo. My conclusion is that the new camera is not doing any form of compression (according to JPEG specifications) at all. Even a photo of a pure white piece of paper, taken with the new camera, yields a 800 kb image. |
I don't understand this, but it goes against what I thought I knew about Jpeg compression. Who knows, maybe the camera is varying the compression from photo to photo to always get the same size? Sounds odd though.
------------------ Dag http://RocinantesTravels.com |
Actually all file-format's use a form of compression.
If you would have a digital picture with a resolution of 1800 X 2400 (not unusual in a digital camera) and a 32 bit's colour-dept (true colours) you would have a bitmap of 32 X (1800 X 2400) = 138.240.000 bit's or aprox. 16 Mb. By various forms of compression this can be redused to about 1 Mb without loosing any quality. Further compression is alway's possible, but it also reduces the quality. The first steps are hardly noticable (we all have bad eye's) but at a certain point the pictire becomes really bad. A big problem is the fact one can never tell where this point lies, it depends very much on the composition. But... I still have not decided... digital or chemical... At the moment I lean towards chemical becourse of the robust, small, high quality Olympus compact all weather camera I already have. (I won't take the Minolta i7000, it's to heavy and bulky) decisions... decisions... decisions.... Maarten |
heres what i do now, scrambling peaks in the us and canadian rockies, trekking in Nepal, and plan to do on my KLR ride down the Andes later; i got me an olympus digcam D490, 2.1. with a big size card deal that can hold like 100 pix. on my ride i'll get another card or two. i use it mostly for people/ city/ vehicle shots. then i carry my old trusty oly om1 film camera with 35-70 lens and 70-200 zoom, then i carry my sony hi8 video cam. sure its lotsa weight/expense/hassel but at least i know one of them will always work. the film cam fills my photo album, the digcam fills my pc, and the videos are like my diary to watch around the woodstove when i'm old.
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Well, I have made a disicion. I got myself a Sony Mavica CD200. (the cheap one)
It happened when I made a picture of a minor modification on the bike for some one.. when I got the film developed the pictire was no good at all. There was a diagonal border between sun and shade, I can't believe I did not see it when I took the picture. http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/redface.gif Anyway, in the shade there was not enaugh detail for the picture to be usefull. That's when I decided. I got it through mail-order. In this case I can "play" with it for a few day's and if it's no good at all, I can return it. I did notice an other great digi-cam: from Minolta. It's almost like there SLR's and has a build in "micro-drive" It can hold a micro-disk up to 1 Gb (!!!), has 4 or 5 Mpix!! and it's in the same price-catagory as the Sony. Only drawback is ofcourse... how to get the picture's out of there in zimbabolonie. (so I choose the Sony) Maarten |
I recently bought the olympus camedia 3020 zoom -- 3.3 megapixels with 3x optical zoom. It doesnt replace my canon eos setup, but it takes very nice very large pics that only take up about 500kb of space on my comp at full 3.3 pixel resolution. i get 85 pics on one 64meg card at that res. you can get a lot of storage on those small cards nowadays. If you have the cash - get a digital slr - oh boy they are so nice.
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One point to keep in mind about the Mavica CD's: If ou use the CD-RW (and who wouldn't) it's only compatible with "multi-read" CD-rom player's (modern one's).
The CD-R is fully compatible... but erasing does not give back diskspace and finalizing is final. Just so your not caught by surprise. For the rest I stil love it! Maarten |
Started reading all this but gave up - here is my experiances with digital cameria through USA-mexico-Central and south America.
I have a Sony P5 (small - very important if you want to carry it around and use it heaps) 3.3 Mpix. and a 128MB card. For I take pics on max res and them use a CD burner to clear my card and keep a copy and send a copy home every couple of months. Currently brought own small PC and CDRW but next time would just use internet cafe's (just bring driver CD and Cable). No problems with finding burners as in most towns at least one internet cafe' that has a CDRW. Ive been looking for this so OK. Benifits of DIgital, 1)take as many photos as you like and dont worry about the cost 2) if a photo of a once in a lifetime moment doesnt work out you know staight away and take another 3) sound and movie ability, I have some short movies that would not be explained by pic only. |
hello,
just read all this and it helped me a lot to make my decision for digital camera thanks Before, i had f4 and fix lenses, but too much weight in the backpack. so, i bought a f90x and a 24-120 lens. for my website and to send pictures by email, i want to buy a digital camera the problem with internet cafes, as someones said, remains for all cameras, you need at least a driver (even for mavica) , a driver and a usb cable for other cameras. so, we all depend on the amability of the internet cafe owner, if he allows us to install the dirver or/and the usb cable. the sony floppy disc is too small in memory (1,44 mo), i'll go with a nikon coolpix 775 (2 millions pixels, zoom 3x, video sequences, 3 kinds of photo quality, 3 photo sizes, etc ...), good compromise i think, the price just went down in france (460 euros) it's like anything, a bike for example, it depends on your utilisation personnaly, for internet, it's enough safe travels |
Hi Vincent -
As a Mavica CD 300 Owner , I have to correct you. There is certainly no driver necessary. You simply finalise the disk, and insert it into the CD drive of virtually any PC. That's exactly why I bought one. Sure, there is a driver associated with the USB connection, but I don't think you´ll find many of them in Internet Cafe's anyway. The only downside to the Mavica deal is that when using the CD-RW disks ( re-recordable ), only the newer CD drives can read them. So far through Argentina and Chile this hasn't been too much of a problem. Cheers Jeremy |
Jeremy is right.
For the CD versions of the mavica you don't need driver's. That's why I choose it (even though there are tecnicaly better cam's for the same price) All you need is a "multi-sesion" CD-player for the RW-CD or even a oldfashion 1-speed (do they exist?) CD-player for a CD-r. Ofcause the problem with CD-r is... deleting photo's does not give you back the space... I'll go for the CD-rw, The disk's are smaller then floppy's, so I got 10 of them... space for at least 1.000 high quality photo's Maarten |
ok, sorry sorry :-)
i tested one in a shop and the seller told me wrong, did not know the product thanks a lot |
Is it possible to use an iPod with a digital camera? The 5/10 Gig storage + low cost + firewire + small size + long battery life should make this a flash-card killer. Unfortunately, I've only been able to find professional ($3,000+) cameras that have firewire ports.
James Courtier. |
As far as I know, it is not. http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/frown.gif This topic has been thoroughly discussed at the forumns of www.robgalbraith.com , and it's a no-no. Maybe someone will write an app that will make it possible, but not yet.
Roberto (being very sorry about bursting your balloon). [This message has been edited by Photog Rob (edited 05 April 2002).] |
hi, i finally bought a nikon coolpix 775
it's ok for what i need (just internet) hopefully, the connections will be ok in internet cafes safe travels thanks for your help |
vincent danna, it may be worth bringing a card reader for your type of memory with you. Most of these readers do not need a driver if used with Windows XP. If you come accross and Internet cafe with Win XP, just plug it into the USB port and you should be ready to email! Be sure to check the reader before you buy it (I know SanDisk does not need drivers).
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yeah thanks
i realised that since i lost my driver, i am looking for one though just in case, where ? if you have an idea you don t need a driver with windows xp or millenium or 2000, you need one with windows 95 and 98, i ve been said thanks safe travels http://vincent.danna.free.fr/ |
i lost my usb cable now !!!
i can not find one for the moment, now in st peterburg, tomorrow in moscow may find a card reader though safe travels thanks for the advice rodskogj |
hi
i bought a usb driver finally, fine, more expensive than a cable but no other solution in russia now in novosibirsk, soon in mongolia safe travels |
Quote:
James |
I don't use my digital camera while travelling. Its to fragiele, to slow and expensive. I use a simpel old fashion camera, what even operates without batteries. Digitalising film and burning on CD is very easy nowadays and donne globely. This way you have negatives and digi's.
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Quote:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPL...More=T7418LL/A I think I will go with this option. Unfortunately, my camera was stolen at the police station when I had my accident in Russia... |
On the verge of buying the iPod with the Belkin photo card adapter. My worry is using the iPod to transfer photos to the website during my travels. Can the iPod somehow just be plugged into a PC and accessed as a regular hard drive?
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Travelers,
Technology marches on. Do a search and find Archos website for the Gmini MP3 player. Dudes,20 or 40 gigs(yes darlings that's gigs) of memory for music and it has a slot built in for a Canon camera memory(compact flash) card. You download direct fom the card to the MP3 player. Cost is $250US for the unit. Internal Lithium battery. Mini hard drive. Tough. Mine went to the Yukon with me this summer. If you just download your photos it uses very little power. It comes with a 120AC/5VDC step down battery charger. I made a charger that plugs into my bike 12VDC to 5VDC. Rock and roll and shoot high res photos to your heart's content. This is the real deal. Bill. |
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