Childhood Digital Photography - Kodak DC50
I have long wanted to write a review of this camera, but somehow my hands did not reach. Now I am finally going to talk about what digital cameras of the mid-nineties were.
Imagine - Kodak Digital Science DC50 Zoom Camera. Phone next to the realization of the scale (something more modern did not want to put). Under the cut - two dozen photos, a little text and a comparison of the quality of the photo with the camera of a modern phone.
')
Matrix : 0.38 Mp CCD
Maximum resolution : 756 x 504
Focal length (in terms of 35mm) : 37 - 117 mm (3x optical zoom)
Exposure : automatic, 1 / 15s - 1 / 500s
Viewfinder : optical
Screen : 1.2 "black and white (information only)
Memory Card : PCMCIA - ATA
Connectors : RS232C / RS422
Dimensions : 119 x 64 x 152 mm
Weight : 525 grams
Power supply : 4 AA batteries
The outer shell of the box I have not survived, but it looked like this:
And this is what is available now:
Power Supply:
Interface cable (COM, 9pin) and a stack of documentation. There are no disks with software, only boxes from them.
The inventory and production date is July 1997.
The camera turns on when opening the viewfinder cover (shift). Ahead is the lens, flash and viewfinder.
Behind the eyepiece of the optical viewfinder, information screen and control buttons. Upstairs - zoom and descent. Below is a memory card.
On the left under the rubber plug connector for connecting the power supply and interface connector.
Right strap for easy holding the camera and battery compartment. Despite the presence of a strap, you can hold the camera comfortably with one hand, but it is difficult to shoot - the shutter button is tight and you have to hold the camera with your second hand to press it to the end.
Memory card. And a phone for scale.
After you photograph something, you need to transfer the pictures to the computer. Now it is associated with some difficulties.
The first is a memory card format. PCMCIA can now be found only on older laptops, which (in working condition) I do not have at hand. So I had to use the cable. But with this there were two more difficulties - COM-port and software.
It’s lucky with the COM port - it is on the work computer. But the software to communicate with the camera is only under Windows 95 and under NT4. Well, under Linux some hints. I didn’t want to blush so much, so I took the path of least resistance - I put Windows 95 in a virtual machine and threw a COM port there.
The software was installed without problems, saw the camera and began to download photos from there. Not fast.
I was lazy to put a video driver, limited to 16 colors. :)
The link is not very stable, but the copy process continues after a failure.
He didn’t bother with the guest connection with the host either, and just mounted the disk image and pulled out the necessary files.
I didn’t make a serious comparison, I just took five photos with my camera and from the same point I took photos with the camera of the Galaxy S3 phone. Photos from the phone reduced to the same width. Plus, the phone has a slightly more wide-angle lens, but I decided not to cut the images, but leave them as they are.
With optical zoom:
With zoom:
I think that everything is clear. The "budget" cameras fifteen years ago are a maximum of amusing toys that cause some nostalgia.
www.kodak.com/global/en/service/digCam/dc50/ownerManual/toc.shtml - instruction
www.dcviews.com/press/pdffiles/Kodak-DC50-press.pdf - press release on the release of the camera
www.dcviews.com/reviews/Kodak-DC50-Kodak-V550/Kodak-DC50-Kodak-V550-review.htm - a comparative review of Kodak Digital Science DC50 and Kodak EasyShare V550 (2006)
Imagine - Kodak Digital Science DC50 Zoom Camera. Phone next to the realization of the scale (something more modern did not want to put). Under the cut - two dozen photos, a little text and a comparison of the quality of the photo with the camera of a modern phone.
Specifications and equipment
')
Matrix : 0.38 Mp CCD
Maximum resolution : 756 x 504
Focal length (in terms of 35mm) : 37 - 117 mm (3x optical zoom)
Exposure : automatic, 1 / 15s - 1 / 500s
Viewfinder : optical
Screen : 1.2 "black and white (information only)
Memory Card : PCMCIA - ATA
Connectors : RS232C / RS422
Dimensions : 119 x 64 x 152 mm
Weight : 525 grams
Power supply : 4 AA batteries
The outer shell of the box I have not survived, but it looked like this:
And this is what is available now:
Power Supply:
Interface cable (COM, 9pin) and a stack of documentation. There are no disks with software, only boxes from them.
The inventory and production date is July 1997.
Design and usability
The camera turns on when opening the viewfinder cover (shift). Ahead is the lens, flash and viewfinder.
Behind the eyepiece of the optical viewfinder, information screen and control buttons. Upstairs - zoom and descent. Below is a memory card.
On the left under the rubber plug connector for connecting the power supply and interface connector.
Right strap for easy holding the camera and battery compartment. Despite the presence of a strap, you can hold the camera comfortably with one hand, but it is difficult to shoot - the shutter button is tight and you have to hold the camera with your second hand to press it to the end.
Memory card. And a phone for scale.
"Extraction" images
After you photograph something, you need to transfer the pictures to the computer. Now it is associated with some difficulties.
The first is a memory card format. PCMCIA can now be found only on older laptops, which (in working condition) I do not have at hand. So I had to use the cable. But with this there were two more difficulties - COM-port and software.
It’s lucky with the COM port - it is on the work computer. But the software to communicate with the camera is only under Windows 95 and under NT4. Well, under Linux some hints. I didn’t want to blush so much, so I took the path of least resistance - I put Windows 95 in a virtual machine and threw a COM port there.
The software was installed without problems, saw the camera and began to download photos from there. Not fast.
I was lazy to put a video driver, limited to 16 colors. :)
The link is not very stable, but the copy process continues after a failure.
He didn’t bother with the guest connection with the host either, and just mounted the disk image and pulled out the necessary files.
Sample Images
I didn’t make a serious comparison, I just took five photos with my camera and from the same point I took photos with the camera of the Galaxy S3 phone. Photos from the phone reduced to the same width. Plus, the phone has a slightly more wide-angle lens, but I decided not to cut the images, but leave them as they are.
With optical zoom:
With zoom:
I think that everything is clear. The "budget" cameras fifteen years ago are a maximum of amusing toys that cause some nostalgia.
Related Links
www.kodak.com/global/en/service/digCam/dc50/ownerManual/toc.shtml - instruction
www.dcviews.com/press/pdffiles/Kodak-DC50-press.pdf - press release on the release of the camera
www.dcviews.com/reviews/Kodak-DC50-Kodak-V550/Kodak-DC50-Kodak-V550-review.htm - a comparative review of Kodak Digital Science DC50 and Kodak EasyShare V550 (2006)
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/172257/
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