Kodak DC3400Kodak updates the popular DC280 with a new sensor, lower power consumption, and a new color scheme...<<Camera Modes & Menus :(Previous) | (Next): Video, Power, Software>> Page 10:Image Storage & InterfaceReview First Posted: 10/5/2000 |
Image Storage & Interface
The
DC3400 comes equipped with a "CompactFlash" ATA-compatible 10 megabyte
memory card. The memory card compartment is easily accessible on the left-hand
side of the camera. Open the compartment door, insert the picture card into
the slot, push it all the way in, and you're all set to take pictures. All images
are captured and stored in standard JPEG format. In addition, the camera lets
you specify the print order of different images that you capture.
Using the Print option when in Review mode, you can select pictures for printing
and choose how many you want. You can even choose to have an index print of
all your pictures. This information is stored to the picture card along with
the images. If you have a newer PC Card reader, or if you use you picture card
on a Picture Maker kiosk, the reader will recognize the print order format and
print your pictures automatically!
When you first turn on the camera, the status display includes the number of
pictures for which space remains on the picture card. This "Pictures Remaining"
number is displayed in the lower-right hand corner of the status display. This
number, of course, will vary depending on the Quality setting (Best, Better,
Good), and the Resolution level setting (High, Standard). At the high-resolution
level, images are stored at 1760 x 1168 pixels. At the standard level, they
are stored at 896 x 592 pixels. The table below shows the approximate number
of images that can be stored on a 20 megabyte card for each available camera
setting:
|
Resolution/Quality |
|
|
|
|
| High Resolution | Images | 32 | 48 | 86 |
| Approx. Compression |
10:1 | 15:1 | 30:1 | |
| Standard Resolution | Images | 90 | 131 | 245 |
| Approx. Compression |
7:1 | 10:1 | 20:1 | |
Of course, as with all digital cameras, the number of images stored on each
card may vary depending on the complexity of the image being captured. At the
high resolution, best quality setting, the average file size is about 625K.
At the high resolution, good quality setting, the file size is about 230K, and
at the standard resolution, good quality setting, the average file size is about
82K.
The DC3400 is equipped with both USB cable for connecting to Windows '98 and
Apple iMac computers, as well as an RS232 and serial adapter plug for transferring
images to Windows-based, or Macintosh computers. In our data-transfer tests,
the speed advantage of the USB connection became dramatically apparent: We timed
the transfer of a 524K maximum-resolution file from the camera to our 350 MHz
Pentium II Windows '98 computer. Using the conventional serial port, this transfer
required 59.8 seconds, a pretty typical number for an image of this size over
a digicam serial connection. Switching to the USB port, this time dropped to
only 3.1 seconds! This is a data transfer rate of 169 KBytes/second, among the
slower USB ports we've tested. We often recommend external card readers for
our readers, to transfer image files to the host computer more rapidly, but
with a direct USB connection to the camera, such accessories really become irrelevant.
(The DC3400 also ships with "mounter" software that lets it appear
on your computer's desktop as just another disk drive. Kodak has had this software
available for some time now, but with a conventional serial connection it was
really too slow to be useful. With USB however, the "mounter" interface
really comes into its own, making for a very effective way to download images
from the camera.)
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