I need a digital camera that comes with software that controls the picture-taking functions of the camera. What I would like to do is to be able to take a picture and immediately save it directly to a networked drive. Does anybody know of a camera with this capability?
Any decent web cam security software could do it. Saving the picture to a networked drive is simple, you can specify where it will store the stills it takes. Most will even automatically upload to a web server or automatically send via email. You can also set them to take pictures automatically by time interval or by motion detection.
Most digital cameras can be used as web cams, so don’t let that part put you off. “Web cam” is an idea; not necessarily a thing.
I have an older Kodak DC265 1 megapixel camera that does that through the TWAIN driver over the USB cable. I could not only take pictures from the computer and save them on any drive, I could control all the functions of the camera: f-stop, shutter speed, telephoto lens, etc. My newer Kodak Z240 didn’t come with a TWAIN driver, so I don’t think it has that capability. If you check the specs of the camera you are considering, look for a TWAIN driver, that should give you what you want.
This page has links to camera control software.
Does anyone have recommendations for a good web cam security software? I thought my old webcam came with one, but my new Logitech didn’t.
Any Canon DSLR comes with remote capture software. By tethering the camera to a computer via USB you can control almost all camera functions. All images bypass the CF card and are sent directly to the computer’s hard drive.
Of course, a DSLR may not be in your budget, or may be more camera than you need. The point and shoot models may also be able to handle this, as they seem to come with the same software bundle, but I’m not certain.
I just realized that the software that came with my Canon Powershot does allow me to do this. Since there was nothing about it in the owner’s manual I just assumed it couldn’t do it. There is just one thing that the software does not do that I wish it would. It does not allow me to specify the path and filename of each picture as I take it. The Canon software just assigns it a filename with a sequence number and puts it into the My Pictures folder. There is no way to change this; the software doesn’t even recognize the network drives. I would probably be willing to pay the $50 for the Breeze software from the link upthread if it solves this problem, but the web page for the software doesn’t specify this.
I know the Nikon D70 will do this like the Cannon DSLRs, but you do have to spring for the $100 Nikon capture software since the camera doesn’t come with it. I’m pretty sure that the D80, D100, and D200 (along with their pro DSLRs, but those are very expensive) would also work. I’m not sure about the D50, but it might as well. You can pick up a used D100 for around $500 or so.
What model Powershot do you have?
I’m using EOS Viewer Utility. When I open it with the camera tethered I have a standard file tree on the left. From there I can choose the folder I want the pictures to go to. If I choose nothing the default is Desktop.
Can’t do anything about the filename, though.
What version of the EOS Solutions disk came with your Powershot? My 20D came with Ver 9.1, but you may want to check Canon’s website for any updates. (Or does the Powershot line have a different software bundle?)
I have a Powershot A75. It didn’t come with EOS Viewer Utility, it came with something called “ZoomBrowser.” In ZoomBrowser, you can’t even view photos on a network drive, much less save to one.
I downloaded the trial version of the Breeze software. It looks like it will do what I want it to do, but unfortunately the trial version won’t save anything, so I can’t test it to find out for sure. Frustrating.
Okay, I have ZoomBrowser (it came with my Digital Rebel) but it won’t recognize my 20D. Chances are EOS Viewer Utility wouldn’t see your Powershot, either. Hooking up the Drebel I find fewer controls, but you can still select where the images go by selecting from the file tree, no?
Still can’t rename anything, though.
In Zoombrowser, I can select where files go (as long as it’s a local drive) when I am downloading pictures that are on the camera. But if I am using it to control the camera and taking pictures, there is no way to control where it goes. It’s moot though, without being able to rename it it’s useless to me anyway.