Monday, June 9, 2003
Take Real Megapixel Photos on a Pocket PC
Posted by John Walkosak in "HARDWARE" @ 09:30 AM
Taking pictures with your Pocket PC may be nothing new, but taking clear digital pictures with decent resolution is. The Lifeview FlyCAM CF 1.3M makes this possible.
Using your Pocket PC as a camera usually means getting postage stamp sized images that were almost clear enough to use. This was because many of these cameras had a 300k pixel resolution. Not really high resolution. To remedy that, there have been attempts to create a one megapixel compact flash camera, with somewhat less than stellar results. Now, Lifeview weighs in with the 1.3 megapixel version of their FlyCAM compactflash camera attachment. Do we finally have a winner? I think we just might.
Why would I use my Pocket PC to take digital photos?
It's important to remember that if you are looking for high quality shots for marketing or for your photography portfolio, then this camera is not for you. However, if you have the kind of job in which you visit multiple locations and document conditions (ie: contractor, insurance claims adjustor, building inspector, etc.) or you just want a fast way to take decent photos without carrying another gadget, then this product is for you.
What you get: The Hardware
Figure 1: The FlyCAM CF 1.3M itself
The Lifeview FlyCAM-CF 1.3 is a 1.3 megapixel CompactFlash camera compatible with Pocket PCs that have a CompactFlash slot. The FlyCAM-CF 1.3 system consists of a hardware component and a suite of software from IA Style. The hardware is durable and not unattractive, and it provides a whopping 1280x1024 resolution (most comparable products only offer 640x480) with good color depth. The software is simply outstanding.
For those propellerheads who are really interested in the hardware specs, you can find them on the Lifeview Web site.
Figure 2: FlyCAM CF 1.3M Hardware Specifications
What you get: The software
The software suite consists of IA Capture (which controls the hardware and which actually takes the still pictures), IA Album (which is used to view, organize and even annotate photos), and IA Videomail (which can be used to create AVI format movies.
IA Capture is the interface to the compact flash camera for taking still pictures and also for taking picture-only video. The video from IA Capture can only be viewed on the Pocket PC. To make AUF files directly, you will want to use the IA Videomail software (below). The camera operates best with the Pocket PC held in landscape position. You can use the viewfinder on the camera, but like most viewfinders, you don't get the entire picture in the view. You can also use the Pocket PC screen to compose the shot. To help with this, you can hit a button and turn the entire Pocket PC screen into a viewfinder.
Figure 3: The basic IA Capture interface. This provides one to two click access for most of the functions you will need. Clicking on the Image area will toggle through file types and resolutions.
Figure 4: The IA Capture interface showing that it's set for video mode.
You can use the screen button to activate the shutter or you can map one of the hardware buttons. I have found that the latter is preferable, especially if the entire screen is being used as a rangefinder.
One thing to keep in mind when shooting: the camera does show a small trace of shutter lag - that is, the small amount of time between when the button is pushed and when the photograph is taken. The important trick is to make sure that you don't move during the "shutter" sound. As long as you stay still, the pictures will be clear. If you move, you can get some interesting fisheye-type photos.
Figure 5: The fisheye effect if you move too quickly [Full size version]
IA Capture provides an enormous amount of control. One of my favorite features is the ability to choose the picture filenames in advance. This means that I can preset all of my photos taken on a specific date to be, say, “4-28-03" and the software will append a unique number after. The great thing about this is that by changing this setting on a daily basis, I can just keep shooting and don't have to worry about overwriting a previous picture.
Figure 6: Interface showing how the user has control over the file names
Because the camera does not have a flash, lighting control is an important issue. The interface gives the ability to adjust for indoor/outdoor lighting conditions, but this can only do so much. I found that in relatively low light conditions, the photos are weak. But almost all were still readable.
Figure 7: This interior photo was taken in a space lit by just four exposed 60 watt bulbs, on a very overcast day, and is still readable. [Full size version]
Figure 8: This exterior photo was taken on a mostly clear day. Hey, I’m documenting conditions, not composing images for Ansel Adams! [Full size version]
You can also use the IA Capture software to capture and playback video files (sans sound). The files are saved in .iav format, which can be played back right in IA Capture, or can be translated into a .gif file for playback in multiple venues.
Figure 9: IA Capture’s .iav video playback interface
What you get: The software two (IA Album)
Your pictures are viewed on the PPC using IA Album. But this program is more than a simple viewer. There is a multitude of labeling tools, and my favorites: built in markup tools. I use this camera primarily for documenting conditions of various construction sites. Often, I am documenting something which is wrong, or needs to be changed. Instead of using another program, I can make comments directly in IA Album using the markup tools.
Figure 10: Using the markup tools to add comments directly to the image. You can also add audio annotations, etc.
Figure 11: The software gives lots of options for organizing and viewing images.
Figure 12: Zoom and Pan controls let you get up close and personal with the image. Mmmm, pixelicious!
You can add your own annotations or sketches to the images, save copies of the files, even record messages to be attached to each image.
What you get: The software three (IA VideoMail)
While you can take digital video with the IA Capture program, you don’t get any audio with it. This is nice, but what if you want a video file with sound so that you can capture an event, or your kid's giggles, in one file? Up steps IA VideoMail. Ok, so this is not intuitive for movie making. Afterall, if you are working on the Pocket PC with a wireless connection, are you really going to try to email a mult-megabyte AVI file? Probably not, but that’s what IA VideoMail does. IA VideoMail writes directly to an AVI file and uses the Pocket PC’s built-in microphone to capture the audio. The resolution tops out at 240x320, so you can’t make an epic file, but you can get a decent AVI with no time limit.
Figure 13: The VideoMail Interface- a lot like the IA Capture interface, and quite easy to use.
Gotchas
The hardware can be purchased from the Lifeview site for $129.95
Specifications
The camera will work on any Pocket PC 2002 device capable of taking a Type 1 CompactFlash card. For the software you will need a certain amount of free storage space: IA Capture: 763 K, IA Album: 1074 K, IA Videomail: 589 K.
Conclusions
While a CompactFlash camera will never replace a “real” digital camera, the FlyCAM CF 1.3M camera is not only handy, but takes genuinely good photos. It’s not perfect, but this combination of hardware and software is closer than anything else for the Pocket PC has come. I really like it!
Using your Pocket PC as a camera usually means getting postage stamp sized images that were almost clear enough to use. This was because many of these cameras had a 300k pixel resolution. Not really high resolution. To remedy that, there have been attempts to create a one megapixel compact flash camera, with somewhat less than stellar results. Now, Lifeview weighs in with the 1.3 megapixel version of their FlyCAM compactflash camera attachment. Do we finally have a winner? I think we just might.
Why would I use my Pocket PC to take digital photos?
It's important to remember that if you are looking for high quality shots for marketing or for your photography portfolio, then this camera is not for you. However, if you have the kind of job in which you visit multiple locations and document conditions (ie: contractor, insurance claims adjustor, building inspector, etc.) or you just want a fast way to take decent photos without carrying another gadget, then this product is for you.
What you get: The Hardware
Figure 1: The FlyCAM CF 1.3M itself
The Lifeview FlyCAM-CF 1.3 is a 1.3 megapixel CompactFlash camera compatible with Pocket PCs that have a CompactFlash slot. The FlyCAM-CF 1.3 system consists of a hardware component and a suite of software from IA Style. The hardware is durable and not unattractive, and it provides a whopping 1280x1024 resolution (most comparable products only offer 640x480) with good color depth. The software is simply outstanding.
For those propellerheads who are really interested in the hardware specs, you can find them on the Lifeview Web site.
Figure 2: FlyCAM CF 1.3M Hardware Specifications
What you get: The software
The software suite consists of IA Capture (which controls the hardware and which actually takes the still pictures), IA Album (which is used to view, organize and even annotate photos), and IA Videomail (which can be used to create AVI format movies.
IA Capture is the interface to the compact flash camera for taking still pictures and also for taking picture-only video. The video from IA Capture can only be viewed on the Pocket PC. To make AUF files directly, you will want to use the IA Videomail software (below). The camera operates best with the Pocket PC held in landscape position. You can use the viewfinder on the camera, but like most viewfinders, you don't get the entire picture in the view. You can also use the Pocket PC screen to compose the shot. To help with this, you can hit a button and turn the entire Pocket PC screen into a viewfinder.
Figure 3: The basic IA Capture interface. This provides one to two click access for most of the functions you will need. Clicking on the Image area will toggle through file types and resolutions.
Figure 4: The IA Capture interface showing that it's set for video mode.
You can use the screen button to activate the shutter or you can map one of the hardware buttons. I have found that the latter is preferable, especially if the entire screen is being used as a rangefinder.
One thing to keep in mind when shooting: the camera does show a small trace of shutter lag - that is, the small amount of time between when the button is pushed and when the photograph is taken. The important trick is to make sure that you don't move during the "shutter" sound. As long as you stay still, the pictures will be clear. If you move, you can get some interesting fisheye-type photos.
Figure 5: The fisheye effect if you move too quickly [Full size version]
IA Capture provides an enormous amount of control. One of my favorite features is the ability to choose the picture filenames in advance. This means that I can preset all of my photos taken on a specific date to be, say, “4-28-03" and the software will append a unique number after. The great thing about this is that by changing this setting on a daily basis, I can just keep shooting and don't have to worry about overwriting a previous picture.
Figure 6: Interface showing how the user has control over the file names
Because the camera does not have a flash, lighting control is an important issue. The interface gives the ability to adjust for indoor/outdoor lighting conditions, but this can only do so much. I found that in relatively low light conditions, the photos are weak. But almost all were still readable.
Figure 7: This interior photo was taken in a space lit by just four exposed 60 watt bulbs, on a very overcast day, and is still readable. [Full size version]
Figure 8: This exterior photo was taken on a mostly clear day. Hey, I’m documenting conditions, not composing images for Ansel Adams! [Full size version]
You can also use the IA Capture software to capture and playback video files (sans sound). The files are saved in .iav format, which can be played back right in IA Capture, or can be translated into a .gif file for playback in multiple venues.
Figure 9: IA Capture’s .iav video playback interface
What you get: The software two (IA Album)
Your pictures are viewed on the PPC using IA Album. But this program is more than a simple viewer. There is a multitude of labeling tools, and my favorites: built in markup tools. I use this camera primarily for documenting conditions of various construction sites. Often, I am documenting something which is wrong, or needs to be changed. Instead of using another program, I can make comments directly in IA Album using the markup tools.
Figure 10: Using the markup tools to add comments directly to the image. You can also add audio annotations, etc.
Figure 11: The software gives lots of options for organizing and viewing images.
Figure 12: Zoom and Pan controls let you get up close and personal with the image. Mmmm, pixelicious!
You can add your own annotations or sketches to the images, save copies of the files, even record messages to be attached to each image.
What you get: The software three (IA VideoMail)
While you can take digital video with the IA Capture program, you don’t get any audio with it. This is nice, but what if you want a video file with sound so that you can capture an event, or your kid's giggles, in one file? Up steps IA VideoMail. Ok, so this is not intuitive for movie making. Afterall, if you are working on the Pocket PC with a wireless connection, are you really going to try to email a mult-megabyte AVI file? Probably not, but that’s what IA VideoMail does. IA VideoMail writes directly to an AVI file and uses the Pocket PC’s built-in microphone to capture the audio. The resolution tops out at 240x320, so you can’t make an epic file, but you can get a decent AVI with no time limit.
Figure 13: The VideoMail Interface- a lot like the IA Capture interface, and quite easy to use.
Gotchas
- I wish the product came with a storage case for the camera. Just dropping it in my laptop case seems to be asking for trouble....
- I would like to see the exposure adjustment control be a bit easier to adjust from the main screen. It would be great to adjust the exposure and see real-time change on the Pocket PC screen without having to go into other menus.
- The shutter lag takes some getting used to, but is by no means a deal breaker.
- Must have 10 meg of program memory free.
- The quality of interior photographs is a little weak. They are just a bit dark, since the unit does not have a flash. The software does offer the ability to adjust exposure but this can only go so far. It should be stated that Lifeview has just recently announced that the FlyCAM-CF 1.3M with Flash Light, which might overcome this hurdle.
The hardware can be purchased from the Lifeview site for $129.95
Specifications
The camera will work on any Pocket PC 2002 device capable of taking a Type 1 CompactFlash card. For the software you will need a certain amount of free storage space: IA Capture: 763 K, IA Album: 1074 K, IA Videomail: 589 K.
Conclusions
While a CompactFlash camera will never replace a “real” digital camera, the FlyCAM CF 1.3M camera is not only handy, but takes genuinely good photos. It’s not perfect, but this combination of hardware and software is closer than anything else for the Pocket PC has come. I really like it!
