Anybody recommend a good camera that I can use with Win98?

[Robert Macy]

Like the subject, anybody know a good camera that I can use with
Win98?

I've been using the Motorola RAZR phone which has terrible images,
requires WinXP [ptui, ptui, cusre be gone!]

Is alright to get by, but images are like 60k and more of a thumbnail
image than a real image.



I just bought a Vivitar 16MPixel ViviCam S524, which listed the system
requirements on the back of the envelope. They left out that you MUST
have internet connection to download a huge bulky bloated program,
Plus, and this is far more important, model is NOT listed in included
CD, call to Customer Service informs that software not available yet,
wait 2 weeks and come back to their website ??!!!

So, what I need is a camera with decent image capability, that I can
download images through the USB port, and be done with it. I don't
want to connect to their websites, I don't want to download a program
that will take 24 hours to download via dial-up, I just want a !@#$!#
$@%^^ camera!

 

[Robert Macy]

Like the subject, anybody know a good camera that I can use with
Win98?

I've been using the Motorola RAZR phone which has terrible images,
requires WinXP [ptui, ptui, cusre be gone!]

Is alright to get by, but images are like 60k and more of a thumbnail
image than a real image.

I just bought a Vivitar 16MPixel ViviCam S524, which listed the system
requirements on the back of the envelope. They left out that you MUST
have internet connection to download a huge bulky bloated program,
Plus, and this is far more important, model is NOT listed in included
CD, call to Customer Service informs that software not available yet,
wait 2 weeks and come back to their website ??!!!

So, what I need is a camera with decent image capability, that I can
download images through the USB port, and be done with it. I don't
want to connect to their websites, I don't want to download a program
that will take 24 hours to download via dial-up, I  just want a !@#$!#
$@%^^ camera!

   Can't you just access the photos by treating the camera as a USB
Memory stick?  I do that with my Fuji Finepix S5200, and I've done it
with several other digital cameras.  On some cameras the photos are
three to five folders deep, but they can be viewed, copied or erased.  I
power up the camera, inset the USB cable and wait for the computer to
recognize the device.  Then I drill down to what I want.

Thanks, I didn't think to just 'try' it!

Damned thing makes NOISE! After fussing several times, took a picture.
connected via USB cable and saw nothing. Empty file structure. Then
tried again and this time found a single image, downloaded image and
it seems small at 156kB, but ok. Camera said memory full insert SD
card, but have no card. Memory shows up empty, and will not show any
new picture.

After that experience, no more pictures and no more images, the files
are blank on the USB port ?! Don't know what's going on.

May have to remove batteries and start again. But kind of works, and
got ONE picture only? But now that picture doesn't even show up.


Memory said 978KB available, all empty, picture takes 156kB, perhaps
that's bits and bytes to get one picture in that memory. nothing is
adding up. Plus, no more pictures.

 

[Robert Macy]

Like the subject, anybody know a good camera that I can use with
Win98?

I've been using the Motorola RAZR phone which has terrible images,
requires WinXP [ptui, ptui, cusre be gone!]

Is alright to get by, but images are like 60k and more of a thumbnail
image than a real image.

I just bought a Vivitar 16MPixel ViviCam S524, which listed the system
requirements on the back of the envelope. They left out that you MUST
have internet connection to download a huge bulky bloated program,
Plus, and this is far more important, model is NOT listed in included
CD, call to Customer Service informs that software not available yet,
wait 2 weeks and come back to their website ??!!!

So, what I need is a camera with decent image capability, that I can
download images through the USB port, and be done with it. I don't
want to connect to their websites, I don't want to download a program
that will take 24 hours to download via dial-up, I  just want a !@#$!#
$@%^^ camera!

   Can't you just access the photos by treating the camera as a USB
Memory stick?  I do that with my Fuji Finepix S5200, and I've done it
with several other digital cameras.  On some cameras the photos are
three to five folders deep, but they can be viewed, copied or erased.  I
power up the camera, inset the USB cable and wait for the computer to
recognize the device.  Then I drill down to what I want.

Got it!

The protocol was to 'delete' the images and/or folders in the camera
then one more picture could be taken.

So, does work - after a fashion. Now need a good SD card to plug in.

 

[N_Cook]

Like the subject, anybody know a good camera that I can use with
Win98?

I've been using the Motorola RAZR phone which has terrible images,
requires WinXP [ptui, ptui, cusre be gone!]

Is alright to get by, but images are like 60k and more of a thumbnail
image than a real image.



I just bought a Vivitar 16MPixel ViviCam S524, which listed the system
requirements on the back of the envelope. They left out that you MUST
have internet connection to download a huge bulky bloated program,
Plus, and this is far more important, model is NOT listed in included
CD, call to Customer Service informs that software not available yet,
wait 2 weeks and come back to their website ??!!!

So, what I need is a camera with decent image capability, that I can
download images through the USB port, and be done with it. I don't
want to connect to their websites, I don't want to download a program
that will take 24 hours to download via dial-up, I just want a !@#$!#
$@%^^ camera!

I use a Novatech 4Meg via USB and win98SE using its Windows Explorer , no
trouble,
compared with all the impossible proprietary crap that came with the camera

 

[Robert Macy]

Like the subject, anybody know a good camera that I can use with
Win98?

I've been using the Motorola RAZR phone which has terrible images,
requires WinXP [ptui, ptui, cusre be gone!]

Is alright to get by, but images are like 60k and more of a thumbnail
image than a real image.

I just bought a Vivitar 16MPixel ViviCam S524, which listed the system
requirements on the back of the envelope. They left out that you MUST
have internet connection to download a huge bulky bloated program,
Plus, and this is far more important, model is NOT listed in included
CD, call to Customer Service informs that software not available yet,
wait 2 weeks and come back to their website ??!!!

So, what I need is a camera with decent image capability, that I can
download images through the USB port, and be done with it. I don't
want to connect to their websites, I don't want to download a program
that will take 24 hours to download via dial-up, I  just want a !@#$!#
$@%^^ camera!

I use a Novatech 4Meg via USB and win98SE using its Windows Explorer , no
trouble,
compared with all the impossible proprietary crap that came with the camera

Wish I'd known that cameras work straight through, I would have bought
that $10 4M Pixel camera when I saw it.

Oh well, 16.1 MPixels are 'adjustable' in the control settings and
this only cost $49.95

I almost expunged Explorer off my system in favor of Opera 9.64; but
had to keep it for some website(s) that are 'fussy'

Use Irfanview 4.25 and am EXTREMELY happy with their software.

 

[Robert Macy]

It sounds as though you definitely need to add memory capacity.

You may find worthwhile info regarding which specific SD or SDHC cards are
recommended by the manufacturer, or possibly at various camera forums.

There are numerous classes of SD/HC, and some equipment doesn't work well
with the latest releases of the cards (C6 or higher).
I've been trying C2,4, 6 and 8 recently in several of my audio/video
DVR/camera devices and some units won't record/save files reliably on some
classes of SD/HC, but work fine with others.
It appears that the newest/fastest write speed SD/HC cards don't work well
with equipment that may only be 2 to 4 years old. Apparently the timing
cycle requirements are different.
Most packaging is marked with a number inside a 'C', but it may not be easy
to see.

Unlike many devices/components which are "backward compatible", the newer
SD/HC (and maybe other formats) are not.

Also be aware that the manufacturer may release firmware updates after the
equipment has been on the market for a while, permitting the use of updated
memory devices and/or other features.

--
Cheers,
WB
.............

Like the subject, anybody know a good camera that I can use with
Win98?

I've been using the Motorola RAZR phone which has terrible images,
requires WinXP [ptui, ptui, cusre be gone!]

Is alright to get by, but images are like 60k and more of a thumbnail
image than a real image.

I just bought a Vivitar 16MPixel ViviCam S524, which listed the system
requirements on the back of the envelope. They left out that you MUST
have internet connection to download a huge bulky bloated program,
Plus, and this is far more important, model is NOT listed in included
CD, call to Customer Service informs that software not available yet,
wait 2 weeks and come back to their website ??!!!

So, what I need is a camera with decent image capability, that I can
download images through the USB port, and be done with it. I don't
want to connect to their websites, I don't want to download a program
that will take 24 hours to download via dial-up, I  just want a !@#$!#
$@%^^ camera!

Thank you for THAT heads up! I have no idea how to make certain the
two work together, but 'unreliable'? arrrggg! That's the WORST kind of
failure mode.

Without the manual, [which is NOT available I guess for two more
weeks] I have no idea what SD card will work. Perhaps there's a
section just for Vivitar. I'll make certain they're returnable just in
case.

 

[Robert Macy]

...snip...
It's a bit pointless having 16MPixels if it is looking through a $1 plastic
lens.

Get the camera with the good lens.

Gareth.

True. I'm still kicking myself for passing up the $10 4MPixel camera,
which would have sufficed for my needs.

Don't underestimate lensing in 'cheap' systems:
Years ago, a consultant told Logitec that they needed to redesign the
lense system for their Scanman Plus [manually operated hendheld
scanner], because his ray tracing sw showed how bad the cheap lensing
was, all distortion and blurry, and Logitec must hire him to do the
redesign. The Project Mgr was technically sharp enough to believe his
own eyes and to not listen to experts looking for work and hired me to
evaluate the lensing system as 'proof' to back up his conclusions to
his bosses. I found that that cheap little handheld scanner was better
than Ricoh's $5,000 flatbed scanner. Better focus, better flatness of
illumination across the field of view, less backlash/jitter, etc. Fun
project, because I got to also test out scan targets I had designed
[carryover from another camera design project] to automate such tests
during Production. The specs and resolution on the 8.5 by 11 sheets
were so severe that the sheets had to be printed in Switzerland by
people who also make money printers. Cost only $300 a sheet of
'paper' [paper also special material for stability] at the time I
could only afford 10 sheets. I had expected the Scanman Plus system to
be a bit of cheap garbage what with plastic lensing and mouse-like
optical wheels for position sensors, but learned a lesson there -
System Blocks only need to MEET spec, not EXCEED spec, for evrything
to work well. As in, lense focus only needs to get the image onto each
pixel and not be better than that.Oddly, images were easier to
postprocess for OCR *IF* the lensing is a bit poor. I have a proof of
that written up somewhere. NDA, not allowed to present it.

 

[[email protected]]

HA, I have the opposite problem. I've been keeping this old scanner around waiting for either a Win98 machine or drivers to run it on XP. It's a Visioneer 6100B and though it was not expensive, it's one of the best scanners I've seen.

Might not be so hot on the criteria you used in testing, but it has plenty of depth. What I mean is that something doesn't have to be flat. I've scanned guns, car parts, people's faces etc. There is something about it's lightbeam I think. It must be almost as coherent as a laser for something literally 4" away to still be in focus. This of course comes in handy when you scan a book without cutting out the pages or breaking the binder.

About the OCR software, can I just use any propgram even though I don't have the hardware it came with ? Reason I ask is I have some already scannned images I would like to convert. They're 800 pixels wide because I wanted them readable in an internet browser (though I am pretty sure I have higher resolution copies around somewhere). I could simply string them together by writing a few simple lines of HTML. Here's an example of one:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29948706/page02.jpg

Never did write that page..... Anyway, the only OCR software I have right now came with the Visioneer and it requires MAX files. Irfanview IIRC reported that these are TIF files "misnamed". I imagine there is something different about the compression, which makes me wonder if reconverting them will work. I mean convert from JPG to TIF and then rename to MAX.

That assumes the OCR software will even install in XP.

As far as your USB situation, I remember my 98SE required software to recognize those thumbdrives. I got it from Lexar's website. This makes me wonderif the machine is reading your device correctly, can you try it in a newerPC just to see if you get the same results ? What's more, I wonder if you can find an SD card reader that is compatible with Win98. It seems they certainly do not want you using 98 anymore. (BTW you do know about olderversion.com right ?)

Believe me, I was dragged kicking and screaming into XP. Know why I got XP ? I couldn't get 98SE to work with my router. Grrrr.

J

 

[[email protected]]

"The specs and resolution on the 8.5 by 11 sheets
were so severe that the sheets had to be printed in Switzerland by
people who also make money printers. Cost only $300 a sheet of
'paper' [paper also special material for stability] "

Sounds like they're doing a pretty good job of printing money.........

J

 

[josephkk]

HA, I have the opposite problem. I've been keeping this old scanner around waiting for either a Win98 machine or drivers to run it on XP. It's a Visioneer 6100B and though it was not expensive, it's one of the best scanners I've seen.

Might not be so hot on the criteria you used in testing, but it has plenty of depth. What I mean is that something doesn't have to be flat. I've scanned guns, car parts, people's faces etc. There is something about it's light beam I think. It must be almost as coherent as a laser for something literally 4" away to still be in focus. This of course comes in handy when you scan a book without cutting out the pages or breaking the binder.

About the OCR software, can I just use any propgram even though I don't have the hardware it came with ? Reason I ask is I have some already scannned images I would like to convert. They're 800 pixels wide because I wanted them readable in an internet browser (though I am pretty sure I have higher resolution copies around somewhere). I could simply string them together by writing a few simple lines of HTML. Here's an example ofone:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/29948706/page02.jpg

Never did write that page..... Anyway, the only OCR software I have right now came with the Visioneer and it requires MAX files. Irfanview IIRC reported that these are TIF files "misnamed". I imagine there is something different about the compression, which makes me wonder if reconverting them will work. I mean convert from JPG to TIF and then rename to MAX.

That assumes the OCR software will even install in XP.

As far as your USB situation, I remember my 98SE required software to recognize those thumbdrives. I got it from Lexar's website. This makes mewonder if the machine is reading your device correctly, can you try it in a newer PC just to see if you get the same results ? What's more, I wonder if you can find an SD card reader that is compatible with Win98. It seems they certainly do not want you using 98 anymore. (BTW you do know about olderversion.com right ?)

Believe me, I was dragged kicking and screaming into XP. Know why I got XP ? I couldn't get 98SE to work with my router. Grrrr.

J

I have an old slot A machine that i never use any more. I would have to
fire it up to make sure it still runs, has a 10BaseTX nic.

?-)