Best-Of Digital 35 mm Medium Links Tips
Digital
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
Note: This was written in Y2K not up to date any more
(This is one of the tips I gave in a Newsgroup, but it's so general it can be of help to others as well.)
I have used the digital Ixus on my Peru trip, but have not sent any pictures home via email, because I didn't think it was worth it when I left from home. I would do it next time though and its not difficult once you know the basics.I see the following facts:
- Many but not all Cameras today use USB for the physical (=cable) connection
- Many but not all Internet Cafes Computers have USB Ports on their machines
- For the connection to get the pictures over an USB (or serial) cable on the Computer you definitely need
- A) The cable
- B) Some additional Driver-Software specific to your camera on the computer, which will not be pre-installed by default on a Internet-Cafe PC.
- Many Internet Cafe Owners will be reluctant to let you install this additional SW if they know about it.
- Many PC's could be protected against the installation of additional SoftWare in some Form e.g. User-Rights
- If they are not protected, you don't have to let the owner know that you install the SW, if the you have put the needed Software Package (usually small!) on the Internet (free homepage) so you can download it without any CDs
- Todays cameras make large pictures. Unless you took your pictures in a big size for later use and a small size for eMail-use on your trip, you will need some Software to reduce the size of your pictures which is also *not* normally on Internet Cafe Computers. Look for a small freeware package you can download there.
These were the tips for the standard situation that the usual camera owner of a recently built camera will face.
Here are some more Tips for rarer cases:
- If you are still in the phase of buying a camera and want it specifically for the purpose of sending (small) pictures back from the trip, then look for a cheap one, possibly an older, used model that has these advantages.
- It is cheap so you don't worry all the time if it gets stolen
- Old models often use serial Connection Cables which is even to be found on the old Computers
- Their resolution and picture size is so small, that you don't need much resizing or compressing before you send them from slow telephone lines
- Another method is to take a camera with CompactFlash Card (majority of the market today) and buy a cheap 7$US PCMCIA adapter for this card. Then your only problem will be to find someone with a laptop, because Win95 and above simply show the card as an additional Hard-Drive immediately after plugging it into a Laptops PCMCIA slot. So you can just select the picture and send it off via email !(for the enthusiasts: Try at home if your camera can handleadditional files on the card and still work well. Then you can install a small Freeware picture editing SW that needsno registry on your CFlash and resize the pictures before you send them without ever putting the SW on the computer ;-)
=> This adapter card is cheap light and tiny, so I suggest to take it with you if you know how it works. In Peru there are many Internet Cafes in the bigger cities, so you can ask in a couple if they have a Laptop somewhere.I hope I didn't forget to list something I might consider as obvious, but it is not ...
P.S.: If you are interested in my Peru-Pics, you can find them Here
Note: This was written in Y2K not up to date any more
Here are the Pros for this camera:
Of course there are also some negative points for the IXUS: