[wellylug] digital camera

[Daniel Pittman]

Persian <veganforlife at clear.net.nz> writes:

> Could I please have some recommendations of digital cameras known to
> be compatible with linux? I have Ubuntu.

Absolutely.  Ubuntu uses the 'gphoto' library to access the cameras.
Both the KDE and GNOME tools use that to access the cameras themselves.

You can learn about their supported hardware here:
http://www.gphoto.org/proj/libgphoto2/support.php

The short version is: pretty much any standard camera should work, but
do check the list first.


Also, two other classes of camera provide basic support:

Any camera that turns up as a "mass storage" device -- essentially a
hard disk -- can be trivially used.  This may show up in the feature
list on the camera box.


Any camera that writes images to a memory card of some sort, so long as
you can talk to a USB to whatever adapter under Linux, also just works.

That means that anything with CF, SD, xD "just work" -- at least to the
level that you can pull the memory card out of the camera and then plug
it into the card reader.


Well, technically a third class exists: anything that supports the
standard "PictBridge" or "PTP" protocols should work -- which means,
these days, pretty much every camera. 

I wouldn't count on that, myself, though.  Manufacturers are not very
good at implementing standards less than a decade old. ;)


Finally, if you care about top end cameras -- using raw mode -- you need
a "RAW" image decoder for Linux.  The list of supported formats can be
found here:

http://cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/


Regards,
        Daniel
-- 
Digital Infrastructure Solutions -- making IT simple, stable and secure
Phone: 0401 155 707        email: contact at digital-infrastructure.com.au
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