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iPod Camera?

S

Swinny

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 12, 2002
109
0
Oxford, UK
Hi y'all, my first ever post...please dont be too harsh!

I think this is purely wishful thinking on my behalf, but I'm wondering how easy it may be for Apple to add a simple camera attachment to the existing iPod to allow it function as a Digital stills (even DV) camera?

Looking at new mobile phones such as the Sony/Ericsson T68i that has the Communicam attachment which adds a small CCD to the phone for taking pics, surely this would be a relatively simple thing to attach to an iPod via the Firewire port? Even just a few megapixels would be enough to wet my appetite and would even be enough to capture DV footage straight to the HD. With all the technical storage gubbins already built inside the iPod, it could also (in my uneducated opinion) be quite small.

There are obvious drawbacks, mainly no screen and the fact you'd be spoiling the lines of ya iPod...but to me it kinda makes sense...iTunes 2 was released to fully use the iPod, maybe iMovie 3/iPhoto 2 can add access to iPods camera functions?

If Apple could somehow attach a screen (maybe a new iPod with full colour LCD dsiplay like a stills/DV cam?) to the iPod that would make a full MP3, stills and DV cam from one device...I'd certainly buy one!
 
K

kevinibook

macrumors member
Jan 6, 2002
59
0
Geneva ,Switzerland
It would take a lot of effort on the part of Apple to upgrade screens and add digital still camera's, this addition would probably take the price up to at least 800$ if not more....

DV camera is very wishful thinking :), not trying to be too pesemistic here but...
 
S

Swinny

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 12, 2002
109
0
Oxford, UK
I don't really know the exact ins-and-outs of how such things work, but I can't believe its that hard to acheive.

A friend of mine bought a Mustek digital camera the other day that is (admitedaly, interpolated) 2.1Megapizels and yet is only the size of a credit card and less than a centimetre thick...for £50...and surprisingly good quality...take out the memory, and power parts of this device that could be handled by the iPod and all you have left is the CCD and the circuitry that converts and IOs the data...I think its more than possible such a device could be made to fit in an inch or so high attachment that fits snugly onto the iPod.

An Apple webcam/netmeeting clone has long been rumoured...why not make an iPod webcam attachment that offers interpolation for decent resolution of stills, DV capture to the iPods HD and is detachable to be used as a standalone webcam...

I reckon its more than plausible...now, if only an Apple employee were reading this and could building it withing 5 days!

...blimey...I do go on a bit!
 
K

kevinibook

macrumors member
Jan 6, 2002
59
0
Geneva ,Switzerland
Firstly Mustek is quite a "cheap" brand and that's why it only costs 50 £, and Apple would probably if ever use more expense technology for such a camera.

And for the millionth time, if there were DV capture that would take up too much disk space. Think about DV tape, Still shots and MP3's on 5GB??? even on 10 it would be far fetched.
 
D

DavPeanut

macrumors 6502
Jun 5, 2002
272
0
Maryland
Originally posted by kevinibook
Firstly Mustek is quite a "cheap" brand and that's why it only costs 50 £, and Apple would probably if ever use more expense technology for such a camera.

And for the millionth time, if there were DV capture that would take up too much disk space. Think about DV tape, Still shots and MP3's on 5GB??? even on 10 it would be far fetched.
Click to expand...
It would probably be bigger, and would use a laptop HD
 
D

djniche

macrumors regular
Apr 10, 2002
175
0
DC
This camera would go along with the digital hub - ipod was the first - a camera with this specs would be great

4 or 5 mega pixels
3x zoom
5 gig hd to store pics
design along the lines as the ipod
a device that that works all the camera function and connects to the ipod via firewire or bluetooh would be amazing.

I just bought a Olympus C3020 3.2 megapixel and I would sell right away as soon as the apple camera appears.
 
S

synergy

macrumors regular
Jun 12, 2002
248
0
I was just thinking about the same thing today. They could always do something like the PalmPix thing. Not that it is all the great but it does what it does. Probably better though would be to tell the camera makers that if they put firewire ports on their cameras Apple will make their cameras work with the iPod.
 
Moonlight

Moonlight

macrumors 65816
Jul 9, 2002
1,131
2,356
Los Angeles
iPod and my Camera

What we need is for our iPods to work with our digital cameras, so we can download ouir images off the small flash memory onto the iPods big HD. We need a usb to firewire adapter and some iPod software that lets us download from the camera and maybe view the names of the files we are downloading, if we could do that it would be amazing, sort of like what the Mindstor does.
 
C

clubmedia

macrumors regular
Apr 12, 2002
149
0
delaware
an iCam is definately in the cards for apple in my eyes. apple will be and provide nearly everything for their "digital hub"
 
solvs

solvs

macrumors 603
Jun 25, 2002
5,684
1
LaLaLand, CA
Mustek

Bought a scanner from them once. It just died and the only thing they could tell me was buy another one. I'll never use any of their products ever again. Same thing with UMAX. My scanner still works (so far, thankfully), but their support policies are terrible. Next time I'm getting an Epson.

Or whoever comes out with OS X drivers.

Back on topic, I'm getting a Sony D8 for use as a camcorder/camera. It would be cool if Apple came out with something like that, but it would probably be too expensive for what I need it for.
 
N

neilt

macrumors regular
May 28, 2002
156
0
Phoenix, AZ
How it can be used

Think about the way most DV cameras work. The lcd screen pops out of the side on a hinge. Imagine that that part was actually just a holder for the iPod with a male firewire plug at the bottom. The iPod would slip into the groove and become the controler for the camera. You would still have the ability to have the DV tape for an hour of video, but you could load some scenes directly onto the iPod for transfer to your desktop.


Now, i know that a lot would need to be done to the ipod to make this work: color screen, bigger screen, etc. But i think it is a pretty cool idea. wether or not it would ever happen is an entirely different matter :D

you could use the same basic concept for other devices:
an audio recording attachment. record conversations meetings for later download into your desktop. Digital Camera as mentioned above
 
big

big

macrumors 65816
Feb 20, 2002
1,074
0
neilt-first there are only two types of people that understand binary...

secondly,
>What we need is for our iPods to work with our digital cameras, so we can download...
I have been begging for apple to allow cameras to connect to your ipod, and automatically download pics.

thirdly,
>Bought a scanner from them once
I bought a Microtek scanner, after two scans the thing died, I took it in to my make guy and he literally traded me a new one for the old one, no hassle

>I just bought a Olympus C3020 3.2 megapixe
man! I bought their 2.11 megapixel, then a week later they came out with the 3.1 for the same price, that bites!

one of my girlfriends on AIM wanted to, uh, teleconfrence with me tonight, I'm about to go get a web cam tomorrow, should I wait and see if Apple releases one MWNY?
 
W

Wry Cooter

macrumors 6502
Mar 10, 2002
418
0
What I want to see is a firewire mic for the iPod. It would be nice if we could dump photos to an iPod, but you would have to have a fire wire camera... most of the consumer digital cameras are still USB.

However, I do not think an apple branded webcam is too speculative, with iChat and other rumored teleconfercing apps, it would be a way for Apple to guarantee properly working hardware. And maybe the webcam could attach to an iPod.

But in case you missed it in the first paragraph, I would like an iPod to be able to record audio. Either AIFF, or perhaps encoding to mp3 on the fly. So a firewire microphone would be way cool.
 
big

big

macrumors 65816
Feb 20, 2002
1,074
0
a simple bluetooth plug for both the camera and ipod would be nice...

you could keep the iPod in your pocket, and it would AUTOMATICALLY download pics as you take em....

(or get a firewire to USB converter cord
 
B

bsharp

macrumors newbie
Jul 1, 2002
11
0
Atlanta
I don't think that Apple wants to sell anything that attaches to an iPod. They would rather sell an entirely new device for a larger mark-up. They may use the guts of an iPod to make it, but they would prefer selling more hardware than modular hardware.
 
K

kevinibook

macrumors member
Jan 6, 2002
59
0
Geneva ,Switzerland
Originally posted by big
a simple bluetooth plug for both the camera and ipod would be nice...

you could keep the iPod in your pocket, and it would AUTOMATICALLY download pics as you take em....

(or get a firewire to USB converter cord
Click to expand...

With Bluetooth downloading say.. 30 pics that would take a very long time! nevertheless it's a interesting idea.
 
H

Heltik

macrumors 6502
Jul 16, 2002
254
51
USA
I'm really not sure about some of the ideas flying around here.

The thing I love about Apple is the elegance of the solutions they provide. I'm hoping to buy an iPod, and the reason is because of its size and interface. I don't want some device with gubbins attached to every side, I'd rather have a dedicated device.

Apple has always believed that form follows function... and I think their devices should stay that way. By increasing the number of functions I think the form would suffer.

As it is, the iPod is a great MP3 player... the perfect solution for that task. I don't want to add any more weight to it - I'd stretch the pockets of my 'nice' suit :) .

Enabling a camera to interface with it would be handy though.
 
S

spacepower

macrumors member
Jul 8, 2002
35
0
iPod 2

How about an iPod2 with a 320x320 color screen. The ability to play back MPEG-4 video and audio :) This new ACC format will be great! MP3 is old tech, but since there are so many MP3 files out there, ACC may take awhile to catch on:(
 
H

Heltik

macrumors 6502
Jul 16, 2002
254
51
USA
I'm really not sure about some of the ideas flying around here.

The thing I love about Apple is the elegance of the solutions they provide. I'm hoping to buy an iPod, and the reason is because of its size and interface. I don't want some device with gubbins attached to every side, I'd rather have a dedicated device.

Apple has always believed that form follows function... and I think their devices should stay that way. By increasing the number of functions I think the form would suffer.

As it is, the iPod is a great MP3 player... the perfect solution for that task. I don't want to add any more weight to it - I'd stretch the pockets of my 'nice' suit :) .

Enabling a camera to interface with it would be handy though.
 
W

Wry Cooter

macrumors 6502
Mar 10, 2002
418
0
Yeah, but your jogging along listening to your MP3s when all of a sudden you come upon a great photo to take.. Just so happens your Archos Jukebox 20 gig still has its Camera attachement on. You grab the shot.

Or you need to record a meeting or a lecture. Its built in Stereo Mic grabs it for you.

Apple doesn't have to make little Gizmos that plug into the firewire that allow an iPod to capture something- but it might be done more elegantly if they did.

If a third party made a firewire stereo mic, and Apple allowed the iPod to record either AIFF or encode MP3 on the fly with a mere jigger of the iPod software... I would be buying that baby yesterday.

Yes it probably would be better for many purposes to have a real digital camera, but it would be nice to be able to dump those images to something smaller than an iBook. If only more consumer Digital Cameras had firewire....
 
big

big

macrumors 65816
Feb 20, 2002
1,074
0
if we can convert USB to ADB, and vica versa, why can't we go USB to Firewire
 
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