Digital Cameras in Caches

[+BusBoy]

Office Max has a 27 pic. digital camera on sale for just under $10.00. My question is, has anyone had a good or bad experience in placing an inexpensive digital camera in a cache? Disposables run about six bucks and processing tacks on another six so, in the long run, the digital will be a lot cheaper. The only downside that I can think of is that it is a lot more enticing to a thief which could lead to loss of not only the camera but the cache too. Thoughts?

[+VentureForth]

It may not resist the summer heat. May become a tempting trade item, too. I say stick to the disposables. Those cheapo digi's just don't have the resolution to be useful.

 

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Go! And don't be afraid to get a little wet!

[+JBAT66]

I got an intel webcam computer type camera, that comes of the cable and becomes a small digital point and shoot camera. 640x480 resolution, I use it for taking pictures of the cache sites when I visit them. It was less than $60.00. You could give that a shot. Also put a note on it, that the person that takes this, would also need the software and cable. :-)

[+Dekaner]

I picked up some refilled disposables w/ new batters from Staples for $3 a camera! Sure beats the $10 I spent for a new disposable camera.

 

I placed two new cameras over the weekend and one refurbished. It will be interesting to see how they all turn out!

 

- Dekaner of Team KKF2A

[+chillas]

Which Office Max did you see that at? I live in Cow-lumbus, too.

[+BusBoy]

It was in their weekly circular. Not sure if I am going to put it in my cache (RiverSide Cache), but I am probably going to get one to keep in my caching bag.

[+Weeza & Toad]

Depends on the area. Locally (Florida) the humidity & rain would do a number on the electronics. Film cameras only have a mold problem.

[+chillas]

Thanks for the info, BusBoy. I snagged one today. Pretty shoddy, as you'd expect, but not bad for snapping quick snap-shots. Can't beat the price.

[Eric O'Connor]

Can Busboy whoever post more info about this camera?

I've been looking for a digicam for my five year old.

 

The less I spend the better since it will most likely become an ex-camera in short order.

 

I don't expect it to have a ton of features, but does it use AA???

 

--

[+chillas]

It's a basic point and shoot camera. It has on board memory only, and can hold 27 pics. There is no option for pic quality, they are all 640x480. It runs on 2 AAA batteries, which are included. There is no display, only a standard viewfinder. The 'shutter' is pretty slow, so no action pics with this one. Software is functional. It's designed to be used as a web cam. USB connection, cable included. No flash. Extra shutter button on back so you can snap a pic of yourself more easily. Lanyard included.

[+BusBoy]

Here is a link to the actual camera.

 

http://www.officemax.com/max/solutions/product/prodBlock.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&expansionOID=-536879946&prodBlockOID=536984682

 

Went with a friend this evening and they only had one in stock. It is light on the (almost no) features, but you can't beat the price.

[CourtneyP]

Link didn't work... it was using a cookie on your end.

 

Was it the iConcepts one? I did a quick search and found that for $14.95, $5 rebate.

 

quote:

---

In the Box:

iConcepts Digital Camera

USB Connector Cable

2 AAA batteries

CD-ROM Software

Users Manual

 

System Requirements:

Windows 98, 2000, Me or XP

Pentium II 300, Celeron AMD Athlon processor or higher

64 MB RAM

100 MB free hard drive space

CD-ROM Drive

Available USB port

16-bit color display adapter

---

[+chillas]

quote:

---

Originally Was it the iConcepts one? I did a quick search and found that for $14.95, $5 rebate.

---

 

Aye, that's the one.

[chloew]

Anybody out there who has this camera, could you post some sample pictures. It would be interesting to see the quality this things produces. Thanks.

[+chillas]

A picture taken with this camera.

 

I present to you, Carter - The World's Grumpiest Cat

 

 

A couple notes...

 

The software included will only save the images as bitmap files. This one was converted into a JPEG, but looks pretty much the same. In other words, the picture quality you see here is essentially what you'll get right out of the camera.

 

Also ... it appears to drain batteries even when not in use. BUT the memory is volatile, so if you take the batteries out in the field, you'll lost the pics. It will take power off the USB connection, so you can hook it up to the computer and take the batteries out. This makes it unsuitable for a cache camera.

 

Still ... ten bucks.

[+travisl]

I picked one up this week, and took pictures on my latest benchmark hunts. The pictures have small resolution (320 x 240, I think), and no way to focus, making many pictures blurry.

 

Still, I could buy 10 of these for the price of a real camera. I'm not disappointed, since I didn't have high hopes.

 

The pictures I took yesterday are at my Sund Rock cache, benchmark SY1652, benchmark SY1588, benchmark SY1249, benchmark SY1251, benchmark SY1705, and benchmark SY1252.

 

'''I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.)'' -- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

[RedShoesGirl]

Originally posted by travisl:

I picked one up this week, and took pictures on my latest benchmark hunts. The pictures have small resolution (320 x 240, I think), and no way to focus, making many pictures blurry.

 

I took a look at your photos and I think the blurry is mostly from camera shake. These little cameras are very hard to hold still enough for a sharp image,but even the no focus ones should be fine a medium and far distances. No close-ups and the more light you have the better.

 

Pro photog person

 

[Eric O'Connor]

quote:

---

Originally posted by RedShoes:

I took a look at your photos and I think the blurry is mostly from camera shake.

---

 

Travis must have been on his third pot of coffee at that point then....

 

One of my favorite games here in Berekely is called "Guess the Gender"

You pick a random person and subtly nudge your buddy and ask what they think... This camera would make it hard to tell if Catherine Zeta-Jones was a woman. (What! No slobbering emoticon?)

[chloew]

I also bought one of these last week, but am somewhat disappointed with the results. I do take a lot of pictures with a 35mm and a 2MPixel digital, so my expectation are probably a bit high.

 

The camera is focused at 5ft and does produce okay pictures at that range. It does not work well at long distances, like one would expect. So it is not well suited for most nature pictures if you are trying to capture a whole scene. It will do okay taking pictures of individual objects at the prescribed range and in good lighting conditions. Lighting should be bright and even, such as an overcast sky, as the camera is not very sensitive and also has small dynamic range, causing portions of the picture to be black or white if the amount of light varies too much throughout the picture.

 

Overall I do not find this a good camera for caching. It was worth the $15 experiment, but I would be willing to part with mine if someone wants to buy it and pay the shipping. Otherwise it'll probably end up in a new cache someday soon.