Imaging Real Objects

VIDEO

• B&W as well as color VIDEO CAMERAS can image both still and moving objects.

• Video must be digitized (perhaps with time base correction) before it can be used. I have used the following digitizers with good results:
  • Digi-View (NewTeK) -- WB1.3

  • FrameGrabber 256 (Progressive Peripherals & Software) -- WB2.x

  • IV24 (Great Valley Products) -- WB3.1

  • VLab (Nohaji) -- WB3.1

• The Canon Xapshot camera is actually a still video camera. It is discussed more fully in the "Some Image Capture Devices" section.

• Several video cameras (notably those by Sharp) can produce video stills. These are felt to be inferior to images produced by digital still cameras, such as those made by Kodak.

• The Amiga cannot as yet use digital still video (the Xapshot produces analog, video images) because no one has written a program to read the disk when the digital camera is connected to the serial port.
  • Software is, however, available for PC's and Mac's.
  • It might be possible to use the Emplant's serial port and the Mac software to access the image data. This would be a very expensive experiment for me to try!

35 mm. CAMERA

• From slides or slide film, you can make a Kodak PhotoCD.
  • Ultimately, a PhotoCD is merely a CD ROM whose images can be read with the appropriate software.

  • PhotoCD's are the basis of Photo Nuke's and have been extensively discussed.

  • If you have many slides or if time is an issue, it may not be cost effective to make PhotoCD's.

• For images on slides, you might consider:
  • Scanning them with a flatbed scanner equipped with a transparency unit.

  • Using a dedicated slide scanner.
    • Some, such as those made by Polaroid and Nikon, have digital output and require software drivers which are not available on the Amiga.

    • Others, such as the Fotovix from Tamaron, have video output, and therefore, can be used with the Amiga.

• An interesting option I have recently explored is using Seattle Film Works to develop and print film and also to put the images on disk.
  • Because the images are returned on a DOS disk in a proprietary format, I have had to extract them on a PC and convert them into a more common image format that ADPro can read. All of this has taken time.

• Images on print film can be scanned with a flatbed scanner.

Final Thoughts.

• There are many Amiga products available for digitizing. My goal was to share with you what worked for me -- and what didn't.

• The Amiga has not remained up to date in several areas. We desperately need drivers for digital cameras, slide scanners, image output devices such as those that make slides, prints, etc.

• We need hardware support for MPEG video, both for playback and also for digitizing.

Revised -- December, 2002

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