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Is
a Digital Camera always the right
choice?
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01/25/99
A recent email posed an interesting question. The
correspondent was a university lecturer who was
thinking of placing digital images of students in a
computer database so that he'd remember which
student was which.
Initially
he was thinking of getting a digital
camera:
"I
thought this was going to be easy and that I
could just spend $400 and there wouldn't be much
choice. I've become overwhelmed [with the
choices] and now am wondering if one of the
new Video cameras that shoots single shots isn't
a better solution? Do I need to spend more than
$400 or $500 to get an acceptable
result?"
As
I tried to explain to the questioner, the answer to
this question might as much depend upon what other
needs he might have, as what would be the best
solution for this single problem. If he's only
going to use the camera for these class pictures,
and he's doing only tens of pictures (rather than
hundreds) then an alternative solution might be
better.
- How
about Polaroids?
Hey, it's old technology, but maybe it will work
better for some applications. Polaroid also
sells a digital scanner, the PhotoMax Photo
Scanner, that works just with Polaroid pictures
(but that's an extra expense; I'd consider a
regular scanner first.)
- How
about a scanner?
If you have a regular camera you might consider
buying a flatbed scanner. They are amazingly
inexpensive now. A $200 scanner will be fine for
screen images. Scanning probably won't be too
much of a problem if you don't have too many
images to scan, and the scanner can be useful
for other purposes.
- Film
processing
There are now many photo-finishers who will scan
images for you and place them on a floppy or the
internet for very little money. Quality will be
good enough for screen display.
- PhotoCD
Available through most photo-finishers (though
it could take a week or so to get back) PhotoCD
provides the images at very high resolutions on
a CD-ROM disc. Depending upon where it is done
and the number of pictures, it should cost
between 50 cents - $1 per image for a Photo CD
(Some professional labs charge as much as $3 per
image.)
If you want high quality scans, but only need a
few now and again, then PhotoCD is the way to
go.
- Picture
CD
Not available nationally yet, Kodak's new
Picture CD is similar to PhotoCD, but the
resolution of the scans is lower (PhotoCD
resolution is approx 3000 x 2000 pixels, while
Picture CD is about half that.) Also delivered
on a CD, Picture CD will be widely available
over the next few months, and should cost about
$10 per roll of film.
- DV
camcorder
The new digital camcorders have a still photo
mode which captures a single image and then
records it for 6 seconds on the tape. Canon's
Optura even resembles a regular camera. I see DV
as a great video format that can also be used
for still images; so only get one if your first
interest is in motion video.
The resolution of the still images is around 640
x 480, so a still digital camera will produce a
larger resolution image, but for screen use this
may not be a problem.
The downside is that the cheapest of these
cameras costs as much as an average still
camera, and you'll need to get a FireWire
interface for your computer (and software) if
you don't already have it. Also, working with
tape is still not as easy as it is working with
a still camera.
Sony's TRV900 has a floppy disc option, which
can be used to save still image to the disc, but
the camera is $2,000.
- A
regular camcorder
Consider this only if you already have a video
digitizing board and software. It's not as easy
or convenient as other solutions, and the
quality will generally be poorer than any of the
other choices.
- Digital
Cameras
A $400-$500 camera should be ideal for this
purpose. But again, if that's all you are going
to do with it one of the other solutions might
be a better use of the money.
I have no personal recommendations as I haven't
used any of the current cameras in this price
range, but there have been several reviews in
magazines recently (search the websites of
PCWeek, PCMagazine and MacWorld.) The HP
PhotoSmart C30 seems to have rated well (under
$500.)
If you are really interested in getting a good
digital camera, then the Kodak DC260, Nikon
C900S, or Olympus 600L are the ones to look at
in the under $1,000 category.
This
was the list of suggestions I came up with. Each
has different pros and cons. The number of images
needed to be taken should be the first factor to
consider, followed by evaluating what hardware is
already available.
I
don't know if that made the decision any easier for
him. I did forget to add one other suggestion; Name
Tags.
Michael
D. Murie has been a multimedia consultant and
developer since he first saw HyperCard in 1987. He
has written for New Media magazine and worked on
the CD-ROM The Jack Kerouac ROMnibus. He wrote the
books "Macintosh Multimedia Workshop" and
"Macintosh Multimedia Starter Kit" and was
co-author of "The QuickTime HandBook." He can be
reached at mmurie@m2w.net.
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