Re: [Hampshire] Digital Cameras

Stephen Davies <stephen.davies@???> said:
> Add to this the fact that the room I was allowed to use was pretty dim,
> most of the exposures were 1/2 to 1 Second at F8.

I think normal indoor lighting can be expected for the type of
documents I am likely to be taking pictures of.

> As for a 6.1MP DSLR being to expensive, you have not (AFAIR) quoted your
> budget

I had not really decided what would be reasonable, but having seen
a few cameras and read a few reviews, I would hope to get a camera
plus whatever else was needed (memory, battery) for 300 pictures
for no more than 200 pounds.

Something the reviews never mention is how well the cameras work
with Linux, hence my question to this group. I am reassured on this
now: mass storage (no problem at all), PTP (I can install digikam),
and in any case I would probably do better to read the memory card
directly via a USB connector.

Other comments from the experts here have been a bonus: I am now
persuaded that I should get a good quality camera that will work
well in general use. However, I think a DSLR would be too expensive
and I would prefer something smaller and lighter anyway. Also, in
spite of what has been said, I still want 10Mp. From various
reviews, I have reached the conclusion that good quality can now be
achieved with a 10Mp camera. True, the cheaper ones have problems
in this area (saturation, loss of quality with increasing ISO), but
with the more expensive ones what problems there are appear to be
from the lens or optical system generally (barrel distortion, loss
of focus at edges, colour fringing).

So, I am now looking at the better-quality compact cameras.

Another thing never mentioned in reviews is the field of view. I
can't tell from a review how far away I would need to be to get all
of an A3 document in view. A record office would not be happy for
people to put items on the floor to photograph. Is there some
standard meaning for "wide-angle lens"?

Does anyone know the lifetime of Li-ion batteries (how often they
can be recharged)?

Peter Alefounder.