Digital cameras & Bluetooth?

Jeff Perry · 10-14-2003, 04:34 PM

I want to buy my wife a digital camera for Christmas, and I'm really hoping to find one with Bluetooth - would be great if she could just get near her computer and download everything wirelessly.

Is there such a product?

If not... any recommendations for good digital cameras without Bluetooth?

Thank you!

-Jeff

Paul McElligott · 10-14-2003, 06:10 PM

I haven't heard of any with Bluetooth yet. Canon's Powershot is highly recommended for about $500.

Patrick Larkin · 10-14-2003, 09:09 PM

I have the Canon Powershot - the real small one. Size was the #1 priority for me.

Funny you should mention Bluetooth. I don't know of any yet but I was just cursing my camera and flash card reader for being USB. USB is too slow - transferring 100 or so pictures is a drag. Especially after moving 5 albums to an iPod via Firewire in seconds... A camera with Firewire...I'd be interested in that!

Adam Bluhm · 10-14-2003, 09:21 PM

Depending on your budget, Canon now had a digital Rebel!

This may be kinda off topic, but I really want that cam.

Jeff Perry · 10-15-2003, 11:28 AM

How about the tiny hard drives? Any cameras supporting those yet? My budget isn't unlimited, but neither is it small. (I'd like to keep it under a grand)

Good call on the USB, Patrick. I didn't even think about that, but you're right. Very slow. And, I just did some research... seems Bluetooth is only ~100-400Kbps. Way too slow.

**HTF Ads**

Graham Perks · 10-15-2003, 12:34 PM

Yes, Bluetooth would be very slow. Actually it works great for the photos taken by my Nokia phone, but those are low resolution compared to a regular camera.

Do cameras come with USB 2 or Firewire yet? If not, why not!?

Even my Canon DV camera, with Firewire out for the video, has a plain USB 1.1 connection for any digital pics taken with it. Lame!

Sucking down hundreds of photos via USB 1.1 takes minutes (oh, the horror!) I am hoping that I the PC Card adaptor for my Microdrive works with my please-Apple-hurry-up-and-ship-it Powerbook. That ought to run faster than USB.

Jeff Perry · 10-15-2003, 01:12 PM

Graham, how do you like the Microdrive? Any problems/issues with it? How's the power draw - does it suck your batteries down fast?

I found the camera I'm going to buy for her. Sony DSC-F828.

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/sonydscf828/

8MP, takes memory stick and compactflash. My Sony miniDV camera takes the same batteries, so we can share when we're on trips. Oh, and USB 2.0!! w00t.

Now I just have to wait for it to be released in November... Although, you know, it doesn't come with a memory card. $1200 for a camera, it should come with a stinkin' memory card... Maybe I'll just buy a Microdrive for her stocking.

Keith Mickunas · 10-15-2003, 01:32 PM

Many cameras that support Compactflash 2 support the microdrive, but hey have to specify it, something about the power requirements.

For those of you complaining of the speeds, get a USB 2.0 CF card reader and if needed a USB 2.0 card for your PC. That'll speed things up considerably. It took me about an hour to load ~17GB of MP3s on my Archos MP3 player with 2.0, and dumping a full 512MB CF card to my PC isn't too bad. I think that only takes a few minutes.

Jeff Perry · 10-15-2003, 02:01 PM

I'm going to start a new thread about the microdrives. I'm curious to know how many own them, drawbacks, etc. I can get a 1GB microdrive for $175, but a 1GB CF is only $240... the microdrive may or may not be the way to go here...