.KEYWORD palmpix
.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Kodak PalmPix turns your Palm device into a digital camera
.FEATURE
.SUMMARY Kodak has come up with a great new way for all you shutterbugs to extend the use of your Palm III, Palm V, or Palm VII. Claire Pieterek reviews the PalmPix, a cool piece of hardware that lets you take digital photos with your Palm device.
.AUTHOR Claire Pieterek
The Kodak PalmPix is a handy way to extend the use of your Palm III, Palm V, or Palm VII series handheld if you need quick and easy digital pictures. If you need to take pictures in areas that are not well lit, or if high picture quality is important to you, a full-fledged digital camera with flash may be a better option.
The PalmPix is a small unit, about the size of a Palm Modem, and has the same dark grey color as a Palm IIIc. You attach the PalmPix to your Palm device by snapping it onto the HotSync port. Its physical dimensions measure about two inches wide, one inch long, and three inches high. It weighs 1.6 ounces, not including the two AA batteries it needs for power. It’s pictured in Figure A.
.FIG A The Kodak PalmPix turns your Palm device into a digital camera.
I didn’t feel overly confident about the connection between the PalmPix and my Palm IIIx. Perhaps a design that wraps around the body of the Palm device, at least enough to cover the handheld’s battery cover, would allay those concerns. The design of the optional DockV Adapter, available for $34.95, looks more like what I have in mind, although Palm V-series owners with steady hands might want to try the multipurpose "The Bridge "adapter from Midwest PCB Designs. I reviewed it in the September 1999 issue of PalmPower Magazine at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199909/bridge001.html. A wrist strap would also be a nice addition.
Sorry Mac users–the PalmPix conduit and included software only works with Windows 95/98 and Windows NT. Kodak includes the Presto Mr. Photo software for image editing and Image Carousel for creating screen shots. I fired up Presto Mr. Photo a few times and found the interface confusing in its attempt to be simple. I prefer a more straightforward product, such as Microsoft Photo Editor. Finally, I think Kodak should have included more software for making use of the photos on Palm devices, especially in terms of beaming pictures to non-PalmPix users.
.H1 Getting started
To get started, load a small program, which takes up about 53K, onto your Palm device to enable the PalmPix. The installation process will also put the PalmPix conduit into the HotSync Manager. Each picture you take consumes about 91K of your Palm device’s RAM.
After you install the PalmPix software onto your Palm device, you can snap the PalmPix on and then tap the PalmPix icon, pictured in Figure B, to start taking pictures.
.FIG B Tap the PalmPix icon to start taking pictures.
.H1 Taking pictures
It’s easy to take pictures with the PalmPix. After you tap the PalmPix icon, line up your shot and use the Date Book button to fire the shutter. You can "pan" around to get the best angle for your photo. The image on the display will change accordingly, although there is a bit of a lag. You can also use the scroll button to zoom in on your subject.
It took me a while to get accustomed to holding my Palm device with the PalmPix attached. Although I have a couple of regular cameras, I’m not much of a photographer. When I first started using the PalmPix, I got some good views of errant fingers, probably because I’m accustomed to a camera’s lens being in its center (rather than the upper right corner), and the button that fires the shutter being in the spot where the PalmPix’s lens is situated. I learned to hold the PalmPix so that my right index finger rests on the beveled edge pointing upwards, which positioned my right thumb to press the Date Book button.
.H1 The PalmPix software
The PalmPix Image List, pictured in Figure C, is where you set your options.
.FIG C Set your options with the PalmPix Image List.
The clock-like icon in the bottom left corner of the Image List functions as a self-timer, which gives you ten seconds to get in the shot. To the right of the self-timer is the resolution indicator. The left side of the resolution indicator lets you select 320 x 240 dpi (dots per inch) resolution, and the right side is for 640 x 480 dpi resolution. The number to the right of the resolution indicator indicates how many more pictures can be taken at the given resolution. In the figure above, I selected 640 x 480 dpi, and my Palm IIIx can hold five more pictures.
From the Image List, tap the Menu silkscreen to access the Record and Options menus. The Record menu lets you beam or delete the selected image, and the Options menu lets you choose the images to be synchronized to your PC or deletes all the images on your Palm device, as you can see in Figure D.
.FIG D The Options menu lets you choose the images to be synchronized and lets you delete all the images.
Once you take a picture, you can tap Details in order to add more information to each picture. You can categorize it, change the name, or mark it private. The default name given to pictures as you take them is not very informative. You can change the name of the image here to make it more descriptive. Figure E shows you the Details dialogue box.
.FIG E By tapping Details, you can add more information to each picture.
.H1 Synchronizing your pictures
You synchronize your pictures to your PC using the conduit Kodak provides. The default is to store pictures in the c:\palm\<username>\palmpix directory as .JPG images. The PalmPix software will install a conduit into your HotSync Manager. To change the HotSync action, tap the Change button. The HotSync defaults for the PalmPix conduit can be found by tapping the Advanced button.
You can change the format in which your pictures are saved on your PC, whether or not you want to delete the pictures after a HotSync, and the directory in which the pictures should be saved. The default settings for the PalmPix are displayed in Figure F.
.FIGPAIR F Here you can see the PalmPix default settings.
Pictures will be synchronized every time, unless you make changes in the conduit settings or use the Image Uploads menu under Options. Note: If you keep the default naming convention, the pictures will be uploaded as "000002.jpg" on the first time you synchronize, "0000021.jpg" the second time, and so forth.
.H1 Beaming your pictures
If you meet another PalmPix user, you can even beam pictures back and forth. Although it’s possible to beam pictures to other Palm device users who don’t have the PalmPix software loaded, the receiving Palm device will display the "Cannot find application for data received" error, and the picture will wind up in the bit bucket.
To beam a picture from your PalmPix-equipped device, use the Command-B stroke or tap the Menu button, tap Record, and then tap Beam Image. As the message says, "Make sure the receiving Palm is on the home screen." Tap OK and the selected picture will be beamed.
Kodak should have included a utility that PalmPix users could beam along with the picture for those who don’t own a PalmPix or who use Handspring Visors. This would be a perfect application for a Palm-based program like Album To Go (which is bundled with the Palm IIIc). Tech-savvy aunts, uncles, parents, and grandparents could really have fun with this. My preschool nieces would really be awed by the "magic tricks" I could do by taking their pictures and then beaming the photos to their Palm IIIc-toting father.
.H1 So, how are the pictures?
The PalmPix offers two resolutions. You can take pictures at 320 x 240 (low resolution) or 640 x 480 (high resolution). Regardless of resolution, each picture takes up about 100K of your Palm’s RAM, although the frame counter on the PalmPix main menu indicates that you can take a lot more shots using low resolution. Personally, I would just leave the PalmPix in high-resolution mode and perform a lot of HotSync operations, especially since the zoom works only in high resolution.
In my experience, the biggest downfall of the PalmPix is its lack of flash. I found it difficult to keep the unit steady enough to take good pictures in low-light conditions. This was a big disappointment to me, since I could really use the PalmPix in my job as a network consultant. It would be a lot easier and faster to shoot pictures in data centers or wiring closets and drop them into documents instead of making sketches, firing up Visio, and drawing network diagrams. (I suppose I could use a Polaroid camera, but that just doesn’t have the same amount of geek chic as the PalmPix.) Unfortunately, the environments where I could really make use of the PalmPix offer less-than-optimal lighting for its needs.
In Figure G you can see a picture I took in a client’s data center. It’s pretty blurry, which is probably because I didn’t hold the PalmPix steady enough for the low light conditions.
.FIGPAIR G Here’s an example of a photo I took in low-light conditions.
I also found it a bit difficult to orient the PalmPix vertically. The shape of the unit and position of the lens are much better suited to horizontally oriented shots.
The picture in Figure H, on the other hand, was shot in bright sunlight with a horizontal orientation. You’ll probably agree, it looks a whole lot better than the data center picture.
.FIGPAIR H This photo, taken in bright sunlight, turned out much better.
.H1 Conclusion
I do like the PalmPix, though I was disappointed with the pictures taken in low-light conditions. If you have the right lighting, the pictures are certainly good enough for most Web sites or for emailing to friends and family.
Although the PalmPix unit itself is sturdy, for $179 it should have come with a slipcase or flip-lid, so it could be tossed into a briefcase or handbag without fear of lens damage. Most Palm device cases don’t have room for something like this. Kodak does offer the PalmPix Portfolio Case for an additional $39.95.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on the Kodak PalmPix, visit http://www.kodak.com/cgi-bin/webCatalog.pl?product=KODAK+PalmPix+Camera&cc=US&lc=en.
For more information on The Bridge from Midwest PCB Designs, visit http://www.midwestpcbdesigns.com.
To read Claire Pieterek’s review of The Bridge in the September 1999 issue of PalmPower, visit http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199909/bridge001.html.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
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