A USB Faux Pas = Digital Camera Ahas

Early last week, after snapping a couple of pictures with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS75:

I realized that I didn’t have a SD card installed in the camera and the images had therefore been stored in the DMC-LS75’s internal memory. I subsequently discovered that there was no available means to move image files from internal memory to an SD card via the camera’s user menus…I’d need to USB-tether the DMC-LS75 to a computer and get the files off the camera that way.

It was late on a cold night, and the DMC-LS75’s USB cable was still in the product box out in the back yard storage shed. Feeling lazy, I instead grabbed the cable for the Kodak P880, which also offered a micro USB-sized connector and I therefore assumed would also work. After connecting the cable to both the camera and computer, however, I wasn’t able to access the DMC-LS75’s contents. Feeling tired, I went to bed and vowed to revisit the situation the next morning.

When I retrieved the DMC-LS75’s cable and unsuccessfully attempted to mate it with the camera the next day, I realized the error of my ways. The Panasonic and Kodak cameras merge USB and A/V capabilities within a single connector form factor…one that’s physically compatible with micro USB from an outer dimension standpoint, but with micro USB-incompatible plug and receptacle pinouts and interior dimensions. And, of course, the Kodak and Panasonic proprietary implementations are also incompatible with each other. When I inserted the Kodak cable in the Panasonic camera, I inadvertently smashed the interior of the DMC-LS75 connector, rendering it subsequently unusable. There ought to be a law…

Although the Panasonic camera still otherwise works fine, including the ability to remove SD cards and connect them to a computer via a memory card reader, I’ve decided to retire the DMC-LS75 to the Prying Eyes candidate pile. Part of my motivation, I admit, is that I’ve long wanted to try out the Canon Hack Development Kit (CHDK) that Paul Rako wrote about earlier this year. Per Wikipedia, CHDK…

… allows nearly complete programmatic control of cheap Canon point-and-shoot cameras, enabling users to add features, up to and including games and BASIC scripting. Features include shooting in RAW, USB-cable remote shutter-release, motion-detection triggered photography, customizable high-speed continuous (burst) Tv, Av, ISO, and Focus bracketing (increasing depth of field), 1 Gig video-size limit removed in earlier cameras, Shutter, Aperture, and ISO Overrides (shutter speeds of 64" to 1/10,000" and higher).

I remain a fan of AA battery-fueled cameras, in spite of their beefier form factors when compared against proprietary battery pack-based alternatives, so I focused (pun intended) my attention on Canon’s PowerShot A-Series units, specifically the smallest form factor A400 versions. The latest-and-greatest PowerShot A470 is unfortunately not yet supported by CHDK because of its Digic III hardware and DryOS software platform foundations, but I found a gently used Digic II- and VxWorks-based PowerShot A460 on Ebay for $50:

In the interests of full disclosure, I’ll admit that the PowerShot A460 is probably not going to be my primary conference snapshot camera going forward…as it turns out, it’s a bit too thick to comfortably slip into a pants pocket, so I’ve gone ahead and also purchased a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS80:

However, I don’t regret the PowerShot A460 experiment one bit. As is the case with Panasonic’s camera lines, Canon leverages a common image processor across multiple product proliferations at different price, form factor and (factory firmware-enabled) feature points. CHDK ‘turns on’ substantial additional high-end capabilities with my low-end digicam without, as Paul’s writeup points out, at all disturbing the camera’s native firmware (or, therefore, any Canon warranty). Instead, the firmware augmentations store on a SD card, which you can either manually load via user screen settings or (as I’ve done) configure to auto-boot on camera start-up.

So far, I’m really enjoying the histogram display and RAW image capture options, and I’ve only scratched the surface of what CHDK offers. Stay tuned for more reports here on Brian’s Brain as I further explore my new-to-me camera’s added features.