> Hey Richard,
> 
> Did you ever buy one?  I'm currently shopping around for a digital camera,
> and you seem to have had the same concerns I have now. :)

Ah, yes.  I was thinking about posting a followup to netbsd-help or
netbsd-users.  This is a good excuse to do so.  With a longer explanation
below, here's a short summary:

 * If it would work with NetBSD, a $120 DLink camera could be a good
   low-end camera.  No lossless images, finkicky imaging, and no LCD
   display, but: Built in USB, 1.3megapixel image, cheap, and
   (with the right lighting/steady-hand) it can produce reasonably
   good pictures.  IMHO.  Image processing on your computer could also
   make up some for weak imaging in the camera.

   However, when asked about information so that a non-MS driver could
   be written, they responded with the usual we-don't-support-non-MS-
   systems.  I returned the camera for a full refund from where I
   bought it.

 * Ultimately, I settled on an Olympus D-360L.  It supported the
   features that I wanted, was supposedly supported by gPhoto, and
   had a USB option.  (I haven't picked up the USB option.)
   There are options to let you use its media with a floppy disk
   drive (I don't have one in my main computer) or PCMCIA (again,
   I don't have one).

   I had some trouble getting it to work with NetBSD, but now it
   seems to be sorted out.

   (There didn't seem to be any compelling reasons to differentiate
   between the Kodak camera (240?) that was recommended, or the
   Olympus D-360L.  YMMV.)


The caveats with the Olympus 360:

The first rude shock is that our pkgsrc gPhoto, the same version that the
gPhoto home page claims supports the 360, does NOT support the 360.  It
does not even list it in the set of options.  As far as I could see it
also does not work by selecting other (hopefully-similar) cameras.  This
builds from pkgsrc, which should use the official gPhoto tarballs.  The
problem may lie with the gPhoto people---presumably their web-page meant
to say that the 360 is only supported in the (cvs) -current version of
gPhoto.  (I sent them some email, but it bounced, alas.)

...I vaguely remember someone saying something like this, but it may not
have registered because the gPhoto web-site claimed that the same version
as we have in pkgsrc also supported the 360.

Anyway, I tried other camera software from pkgsrc, without any luck
(though I seem to have also suffered some from piolt-error---I should go
back and re-check some of the packages).


To make a long story short: CVS'ing the gPhoto-current code and compiling
didn't seem to help.

HOWEVER, CVS'ing photopc-current does work.


Second problem: The GIMP can't read the JPEG data files that photopc 2.80
downloads from the 360.  Interestingly, file(1) identifies these files as
``JPEG data files'' (or some such), but some other JPEG files are
identified as ``JPEG data files JFIF standard'' (or, again, something like
that).  Notice the suffixed information.

I'm not sure what is technically implied here.  However, the next graphics
program that I tried, xv from our pkgsrc, correctly read the images that
photopc downloaded.  It can also re-export them as GIMP-readable JPEG, or
as any of several other formats.

The caveat with re-exporting is that you either have to re-do the JPEG
compression (almost certainly losing different bits of info than the
camera thew away to make the original JPEG data) or else you have to
export to something like PNG and watch the file-size balloon.

I have NOT tried the TIFF camera mode (at 4MB/image with an RS-232C
connection, I'm not all that eager).

I have NOT tried any other JPEG-aware software on the images that photopc
downloads from the camera, so I don't know how much of a problem
file-compatibility is.  Nor do I know if it's a weak JPEG standard that
allows two incompatible subset implementations, a broken JPEG reader in
the GIMP, or a generous JPEG reader in xv coupled with a not-quite-right
JPEG files being downloaded/stored by photopc.


Misc. points: The batteries seem to run down quickly (4 double-A
batteries).  There's an optional power adapter that you can get for it,
which I'll probably pick up so that I don't need to constantly use the
batteries.  Also, the ``SmartMedia'' card apparently will wear out after a
certain (unspecified) number of writes/erases.  The 360 ships with an 8MB
card, but they list capacities up to 64MB.


On the whole, I'm pleased with it, though it's not ideal.  It takes a
decent shot (to my eye), is just within my financial justification, and
(with a little work) DOES work with NetBSD.


Re. my previous message, one thing that I thought that the Olympus had:

> >  * Lens attachments available.

I don't think that there is any way to attach a lens to this camera.  The
lens-cover (``barrier'') slides to the side, and the lens itself is
recessed in a rectangular hole.

But, it's a fairly moot point.  I wanted this to capture textures at
extreme closeup.  The camera already supports a macro mode for focusing at
ranges under a foot (they claim as close as 4 inches in macro mode) with a
~1.3 megapixel shot, and lossless TIFF available.  I'm not sure that I
would have any need for a lens attachment for my uses.

Given that 8 inches was about as close as I expected to ever need to get,
being able to get within 4 inches is more than adequate---especially
coupled with 1.3megapixel and perhaps TIFF.


  "I probably don't know what I'm talking about." --rauch@eecs.ukans.edu