Sidebar: Digital cameras are just one way of digitizing photographs
for use in computer applications. Depending on how you want to use your
images, one of these other digitizing methods might be cheaper and better
suited to your needs:
Scanners:
Decent scanners can now be purchased for less than $100. I recently bought
a Visioneer PaperPort 6000B for $118, tax included, and have a $30 rebate
on the way from the company, making the total cost $88. A scanner is more
versatile than a digital camera. I can not only scan the photos I took
yesterday, but also my old family photos, and line art. I can use the optical
character recognition (OCR) software to scan in documents and turn them
into files that can be read by any word processor. It can work as a FAX
machine. If you only have one digital imaging device, it should probably
be a scanner.
Video input devices:
If you have a video camcorder, you can grab
still frames from your video using an inexpensive video capture device
such as Snappy, GrabIt Pro, AIGotcha! or Connetix QuickClip. These small
gadgets - not much bigger than a pack of cigarettes - act as an interface
between your computer and your camcorder or VCR. They retail between $90
and $200. Several years ago we used a Snappy attached to my laptop and
a home video camera during the Alamo Bowl; it worked great. While the game
was still in progress, we managed to post about 75 photos to the official
web site.
Film digitizing bureaus:
When I take my 35mm film to my camera shop, one of the options I have is
to get all of my photos digitized onto a diskette in addition to the envelope
full of paper prints. If you have only an occasional need for digitized
photos it might be cheaper and more efficient to pay a bureau to do it
for you. |