Compact Digital Cameras w/Firewire?

[iSegway]

I am having trouble finding a good compact digital camera that uses firewire.

Ideally, I would like a camera like the Canon digital elph: super small, 3 megapixel, 2-3 time zoom lens to use with the ipod as the portable storage device.

Anyone know of a camera like this? Can the Ipod even be used in that way - as a portable storage device for digital cameras?

Does anyone know why so few of these compact digital cameras use Firewire? Is Firewire too bulky for this application?

 

[RBMaraman]

Re: Compact Digital Cameras w/Firewire?

Originally posted by iSegway
I am having trouble finding a good compact digital camera that uses firewire.

Ideally, I would like a camera like the Canon digital elph: super small, 3 megapixel, 2-3 time zoom lens to use with the ipod as the portable storage device.

Anyone know of a camera like this? Can the Ipod even be used in that way - as a portable storage device for digital cameras?

Does anyone know why so few of these compact digital cameras use Firewire? Is Firewire too bulky for this application?

I'm not really sure what camera's use FireWire. But, I do know that the iPod can be mounted as a FireWire HD as long as it's connected to a computer.

What I can tell you about is the Canon Digital Elph S200. I have that model, and I love it. If you're worried about storage, don't be. I have my picture resolution set at 1024x768, and with a 128mb compact flash card, I can hold 416 pictures. I'm thinking about getting a bigger card, so I can take 800 pictures on one trip when I'm in Europe in the fall. Like I said, I would highly recommend the Digital Elph. My pictures are absolutely beautiful.

 

[iSegway]

Thanks for the reply, RBMaraman. You lucky guy! Those are beautiful cameras. I have been drooling over them for awhile. I have seen some nice samples at this site.

http://www.dpreview.com/

I am surprised such a small card holds so many pictures.

Another small camera that looks really neat is the Optio S. 3 megapixel 3 time zoom and it fits in a mentos can! Wow. They have some info on it at that site...

OptioS


You are probably right about having enough storage there. It would be great to have the unlimited storage that the Ipod would allow, especially for higher megapixel cameras. I was just curious why I couldn't find any good small cameras with firewire. Seems like firewire would be great for that application. Is it just a price thing? Or firewires more limited use for PC users? Or all of the above?

 

[LethalWolfe]

I don't think any consumer cameras have firewire (some pro cameras do). And I don't think (w/current hardware and software) that you could use the iPod in the way that you want. Either the camera needs software to enable it to send the pix to iPod or the iPod needs software to pull pix from the camera.

Lethal

 

[iSegway]

Thanks for the info, LethalWolfe.

That is a bummer. Good to know though.

I wonder if it would be possible to make a Digital camera capable of that. I wonder why no one has made a compact digital camera with a tiny hardrive like the Ipods(as far as I know)? That would be even better.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by iSegway
Thanks for the info, LethalWolfe.

That is a bummer. Good to know though.

I wonder if it would be possible to make a Digital camera capable of that. I wonder why no one has made a compact digital camera with a tiny hardrive like the Ipods(as far as I know)? That would be even better.

I think size the main issue. Memory sticks are still much, much smaller than HDDs. Although some pro camera's can use microdrives (which I think are up to 1gig).


Lethal

 

[Bear]

Remember, if you get a digital camera that uses CompactFlash, you can get a firewire reader for CompactFlash.

Since I tend to fill up morer than one card when I go out shooting, I'd reather put them in an external reader anyway instead of having to keep exchanging the card in the camera.

 

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by Bear
Remember, if you get a digital camera that uses CompactFlash, you can get a firewire reader for CompactFlash.

Since I tend to fill up morer than one card when I go out shooting, I'd reather put them in an external reader anyway instead of having to keep exchanging the card in the camera.

Something to keep in mind is that most memmory cards do not exceed the speed of USB1. I know for a fact that unless you by a 24x CF card it will only transfer around 2MB/s. That's just barely faster then USB1.

As for using a iPod hard drive for storage. It's not going to happen. That idea just hasn't came to fruition yet. I was wanting the same thing a few months ago but realized it's not going to happen for a while and that it's not really necessary.

I have a Canon S230 and absolutely love it. I have 192MB card for it and that hold 125+ photos with a few movies mixed in. You can pick up a 512MB CF card now for around $150 and I missed a deal on a 1GB CF card the other day for $180. CF memmory is coming down and by the time summer gets here you should be able to get 1GB for less than $200 normally priced.

 

[Belgium]

If you want to store A LOT of pictures

Buy a big CompactFlash card or an IBM MicroDrive. Both are as big as 1Gb. Still pretty expensive though!

You can also buy e.g. a MindStor from Minds@Work . It is not just a small Firewire HD (not as small as an iPod, but still small) but it has also a PC-card slot in which you can insert your CompactFlash (or simiilar) card by using a simple adapter.

I have an old model of them (the Digital Wallet) and always take it with me when I'm on holiday.
Works great, except that this one only has an USB-connection, which is very slow if you need to transfer a lot of pictures.

One drawback, they are not that cheap either! :-(

I know there are some other companies that have similar products, but I don't have their names right now!

Here's another with some very cool products
Vosonic




Hope this helps.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

not sure about any firewire cameras, i use a fuji 2600 usb 2MP 3 optical zoom and 2.5 digital zoom and it has been great though as far as the media goes you can allways load up on cards. a 128 mb card holds 613 images at basic setting on 2 megapixel. Go to Steves digicams site for great reviews on digital cameras you should find all the answers to your questions there and good luck.