I'm looking for a digital camera that can be tethered to a laptop. Requirements: Remotely control camera functions from laptop computer. See what camera viewfinder sees on laptop screen. Saves pictures directly to laptop instead of PC card in camera.

I want to mount the camera under an airplane and be able to control it from inside and take unlimited picts -- at least as many as my hard drive can hold.

Anyone know of such camera? I've checked everywhere w/o any luck.

-- Paul Chiappini (ziccardi@srv.net), June 11, 1999

Answers

I have been able to control my Epson 750Z from the serial port on my desktop computer. Things like frame update rate and the time it take to transfer each picture one at a time to the computer, as you take them, will be a little slow, but it should work. I don't think you can control the zoom remotely either. One thing you can do from the computer that you can't from the camera is set the shutter speed manually. I have a laptop I will see what I can do with it for sure and get back to you.

-- Bob G. (rgreg88721@hotmail.com), June 11, 1999.

I have used a Kodak DVC-323 for a year now. It runs exclusivly from the USB port on your computer. This tends to be its greatest weakness because it can't exist without a laptop or other computer to run it. But it has all of the features that you are asking for. It can zoom via software, snap pictures directly to the hard drive and change all kinds of shudder speed and light settings from software. A click on the take picture button will snap a picture via the mouse. You are bound to the length of the usb cable, but I am pretty sure that you can increase that length by putting a usb repeater between you and the camera.

USB requires windows 98. The kodak company and microsoft say that windows 95 will work, but in my experience it will not. WindowsNT also lacks support for USB, but it is rumored to have support in windows 2000. Thats what I know. You can see pictures of my new son taken from the camera in question at members.home.com/mbgarrett.

Camera cost me $110 a year ago.

-- Michael B. Garrett (mbgarrett@home.com), June 13, 1999.

I checked out the Kodak product mentioned above, but don't think it's quite what you're looking for since it's limited to 640x480, has only digital zoom to 320x240 (2x) and manual focus.

My take on what you're looking for is a digital imaging solution capable of capturing hi-resolution images with external control and a viewfinder that you can image from inside the cockpit. Instead of trying to control everything with a laptop, why not get creative and take a slightly different approach:

1. Find a digital camera that takes pictures you're happy with and has the capability to send out a video signal for external viewing. The video signal can easily be cabled to a small monitor (5" LCD TV with modulator) to allow you to see exactly what the viewfinder on the camera would display. Perhaps more, since I'd swear my TV displays more resolution than the viewfinder does, so maybe the video out displays an actual 640x480 or so image. I can do this with my Toshiba PDR-M1, handy for certain things. I imagine this would work with most any camera having a video out signal.

2. Decide whether the same camera must have the ability to directly download images to a laptop or whether you can get by quite well with a VERY large Compact Flash card. With the larger CF cards you should be able to get quite a few images even at low compression and high resolutions. It's a simple, and quick, matter to download the images on the ground with a memory card reader.

3. Now here's the key: Build a decent protective enclosure for the camera that will suspend it under the plane and install a couple of simple remote actuators to press buttons as though you were taking the images with the camera in your hand. You'll be able to observe the effects of remote button pressing on the remote monitor as though you were looking at the viewfinder. Pretty simple really, just requires a bit of design and simple engineering.

Good luck finding a camera that meets all your original needs, but a solution like the one I described would also have the benefit of being able to do it now and could be configured to fit other cameras you might decide to purchase at later dates that may, or may not, have all the features you'd like either.

-- Gerald M. Payne (gmp@francorp.francomm.com), June 13, 1999.

I tried my Epson 750Z somemore. I think it would do what you want with the exception of being able to control the zoom remotely. You would have to set that from the camera. One thing I was wondering about is how you were planning on mounting the camera? The reason I ask is I work for a company that makes weather radars for airplanes. Our engineering department ran into some problems when trying to mount a camera in a pod hanging from the wing. The problem was the the plexi-glass kept fogging over. The only solution they found is the compartment the camera was in needed to be pressureized with cabin air flowing through it to control the moisture. Just something to think about.

-- Bob G. (rgreg88721@hotmail.com), June 22, 1999.

Either the DCS 420 or 460 will operate tethered to the laptop. They can be triggered from the computer, files can be renamed and saved to the lap top. This is one of the reasons they are called professional.I am using this system for my clients.

-- roger mattingly (digitalroger@chicago.avenew.com), June 26, 1999.