Digital camera question

C

Cinnamon

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www.vega1494.blogspot.com
(I'm justifying this as boaty because it's for comms once I begin my trip).

I would like to get a digital camera so I can send pics via email. I haven't got a PC on board and am not planning to get one. Question: Can I simply wander into an internet cafe, download the pics from the camera and send them? Or do I need to have specific software installed on the computer? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

All this in addition to my trusty old SLR /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
The PC is unlikely to recognise your camera if you plug it straight in because it normally requires the camera manufacturers own software loading on it.

What you need to do is get a small card reader device which is simply a slot for the memory card of your camera with a USB plug coming out of the back of it. They usually cost about a tenner, though it may depend on the type of memory card you use. Plug the card reader with card in it into a USB port on the internet cafe computer and, if the computer runs on Windows XP at least, it should recognise it as an external disk which your pictures are visible on and away you go.

Of course if the internet cafe has blocked off access to the USB ports then you have a problem. Also a prob if they're running eg. Windows 98 as it probably won't recognise the card reader without extra software.
 
Depends on the camera...

Depends on the camera, I think, and the PC's operating system. My trusty old Fuji digital camera requires software to be installed. But I've just bought a waterproof Sony digital camera for use on the boat and when snorkelling, and this plugs straight in to a USB port and is recognised by Windows XP.
 
via USB XP will read the camera as an external disk in the same way as it will read a card reader as one - both without software.

if you are only looking for email quality then this place will do you a 1.3mb camera to go on you key fob, an SD card to take pics too (and if you really want a minature MP3 player that uses the same SD card for some music too) - all for pennies.
 
Re: Depends on the camera...

What model camera is that?
We're looking for a waterproof digital and the only one we can currently find is the pentax jobbie ....
 
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The PC is unlikely to recognise your camera if you plug it straight in because it normally requires the camera manufacturers own software loading on it.


[/ QUOTE ]

My Olympus which is now 3/4 years old just plugs in to any machine and is recognised straight away. It did come with software which I installed on one machine, but I never bothered since.
 
I have just bought a Canon Ixus i, which is tiny and a Canon Ixus 40 which is a bit bigger, both 4 megapixels resolution.

Each camera comes with a USB cable connector,so no separate card reader is needed.

Also the manuals with each camera say that the software CD, which comes with each one and which enables the contents of the camera to be read and stored on the PC, is NOT needed if the PC is running Windows XP.
 
Sony DSC-U60...

It's a Sony Cybershot DSC-U60 - which is no longer in production, but some online sites still list it, and it appears from time to time on eBay (which is where mine came from, for about £90). Quirky little camera. 2 megapixel. No zoom. Waterproof to 5 feet, which is fine for snorkelling. Can be used with one hand. It has a number of modes including an underwater mode which modifies the colour balance so pictures don't look too blue.
 
Hmm, it could be that the machines that I had problems with (at various times with a Canon, an older Panasonic and a new Nikon) were running Windows 2000 rather than XP. Windows 2000 does recognise the card reader though. Then again, my Toshiba laptop running Windows XP didn't recognise my daughter's Olympus when I tried to plug it in. Maybe I should try again. But it did recognise the camera's memory card when plugged into the laptop's inbuilt card reader.

In any case, personally I would (and do) take a card reader as a back up to avoid frustration, as they're so cheap.
 
I'm looking at a "Minox Digital Classic Camera Leica M3, 1.3 MP" cos I like the look of it and it's cheap (80 Euro).

From what you're all saying it depends on the camera, so I've fired off an email to Minox - hopefully they can tell me what I want to know.

Cheers guys
 
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In any case, personally I would (and do) take a card reader as a back up to avoid frustration, as they're so cheap

[/ QUOTE ]

They don't drain power from the camera either!
 
>> The PC is unlikely to recognise your camera if you plug it straight in because it normally requires the camera manufacturers own software loading on it. <<

Not so in my experience, though it certainly used to be the case. We use XP Pro on our laptops, and with this and the bundled stuff that came from Dell, was summin' that allows downloads from any camera we've tried so far (about 5).

Unless you are using either an 'old' camera or software, there shouldn't be a problem these days.
 
Your biggest problem I think, will be getting the owners at the Internet Cafes to let you download onto their computers, which you have to do to send an e-mail. They are very very virus concious and I've only ever been allowed to download once.

Phil
 
So long as the PC is using windows XP, you can just connect the camera with USB lead and it'll work fine, no special software needed.

As other have said some net cafes don't let you connect to their USB sockets. Then you're stuck. Depends on where you are going - most net cafes in French Med allow access to USB sockets, for example
 
With regard to the P.C. not recognising the camera...I've found that most modern P.C's recognise most modern camera's. It just shows up as a disc drive on the startup screen. The manufacturers software seems to just download and save things in a tidy way for you but if you are computer literate you can access most cameras on most P.C's cheers Iain
 
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