[plug] Digital cameras with gphoto/linux...

[Craig Ringer]

Ben Jensz wrote:
> David & Lisa Buddrige wrote:
> 
>> Does this mean that I should be able to read pic's or movies off any 
>> given digital camera as long as it supports USB?

Yes, by removing the memory card and plugging it into a reader in your PC.

>>  Do you require specific USB
>> drivers or is there a bog-standard usb driver that will talk to any usb
>> device under linux?

Some memory card readers need specific drivers; I think others might use 
the USB storage class drivers (and as such 'just work'). Certainly 
there's no 'universal USB driver' - some kinds of devices need special 
drivers just for them, and others use class drivers like the 'USB 
scanner driver' or 'USB-RS232 class driver'. There is no 'all usb 
devices' driver.

> Basically I'd buy a digital camera based on features / image quality and 
> if it doesn't work under Linux (yet), then buy a memory card reader to 
> read whatever type of memory card the digital camera you buy takes (e.g. 
> compact flash, secure digital, memorystick etc.).

I'll agree with this - strongly. As you're likely to have multiple cards 
anyway (the tiny one that comes with the camera, plus at least one that 
actually holds photos), it's much more convenient to work off flash 
cards than talk directly to the camera.

Additionally, you can get USB2/FireWire memory card readers (plus nice 
easy ATA ones too, I think). As even nonvolatile memory formats are 
generally faster than USB1.1, these can make working with the images 
faster - especially since many cameras only support USB1.1 (and 
sometimes FireWire).

Craig Ringer