On September 8, 2004 02:34 am, Nick W wrote: > Hi gang, > > I'm looking to get some Christmas shopping done early but have 0 clue about > digital cameras. I'm not big on getting ripped off, so I figured I'd ask > here. My first question is about the 42 million different types of flash > cards out there. Which ones have readers that work in Linux and which > don't? From what Google tells me CompactFlash is probably the way to go but > that seems to limit which cameras you can buy. What about Sony memory > sticks? SD? xD Picture Card? etc...
CF and SD are the most common types, with the use of the latter on the rise. xD limits you to Olympus and Fuji, but are currently the fastest cards on the market, though CF and SD are catching up. SmartMedia is limited in capacity and is disappearing, MemoryStick and it's derivatives are also a bit limited but still used by a number of makes. If looking at CF, go for type I over type II - the latter uses moving parts and generates more heat inside the camera, which means more "noise" on longer exposures. Shikatronics has a multi-card reader that handles almost all card types, and which they claim, on the package, works with Linux. So far it's the only one I've seen that actually states that it's Linux compatible. Other brands may be, but don't say so on the package or on their web sites. As for any computer hardware, you should also check the hardware compatibility lists, though they're not always up to date. Also check the digital photo HOWTO to see what cameras are supported directly (and in what mode(s) - PTP, mass storage, etc.) by Linux - the list is growing rapidly. > > The OT part of my post is.... > > Which brand names? How many Megapixels for a decent picture? What size picture and what do you consider decent? I've seen good 8x10's taken at 2 megapixels and reasonable 4x6's made from files of a couple of hundred kilobytes, although the camera manufacturers say you "need" 3mp for an 8x10. What will the pictures be printed with? The printer has as much, if not more, of a bearing on the quality as the megapixel count of the camera. In general I'd recommend a 3 or 4mp camera unless you want to do big enlargements or a lot of cropping/digital zoom. BTW, when looking at the zoom, optical zoom is a more important factor than digital zoom - you can do the latter on the computer with The Gimp, etc. Narrow down the selection by looking at what other features you want, then seeing which cameras with those features fit your hands and have the controls you want, where you want them. For the best colour, stick to the established camera manufacturers - Olympus, Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Leica, etc., or those electronics manufacturers that have partnered with the above. Don't expect most camera sales people to have a clue as to what's compatible with Linux - even the manufacturers' reps have no idea, in my experience. I suspect most won't have looked past the "system requirements" printed on the boxes. Al _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca
