Canon A3300?

[booknut]

Hello all,
Thanks for making such a great forum. I'm going to be building my first scanner this week, and I was hoping for some current advice on which camera to buy.
what I'm looking for:
- Control the cameras from the computer (Linux) and directly input the images as they're taken.
- 16mp (or at least 14). I'm a grad student working with oversized, historical documents, so the more pixels the better.
- I'd also love to be able to be using the RAW images, but that's not totally essential.

But being a total noob to this, I can't tell which of the newer cameras fit the bill. Most of the lists that are linked in these forums are from a couple years ago. Could anyone help me pick a camera? I am looking at the Canon PS A3300, but I can't tell from Canon's site if that will do what I want.
Thanks!
Booknut

[Gerard]

- Control the cameras from the computer (Linux) and directly input the images as they're taken.

we have no ready to use solution for this, development is going on with
* viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2520
* all chdk enabled cameras (see ptpcamgui and chdkcam) the canon a3300is has beta chdk support (the beta means it's working for the firmware developer)
* gphoto2 http://gphoto.org/doc/remote/ have a list of cameras which have support for remote capture

- 16mp (or at least 14). I'm a grad student working with oversized, historical documents, so the more pixels the better.

- I'd also love to be able to be using the RAW images, but that's not totally essential.

raw increases the shoot processing time, one disadvantage of the small consumer cameras is they are already slow, it depends on your budget and the time you wont to invest

But being a total noob to this, I can't tell which of the newer cameras fit the bill. Most of the lists that are linked in these forums are from a couple years ago. Could anyone help me pick a camera? I am looking at the Canon PS A3300, but I can't tell from Canon's site if that will do what I want.
Thanks!
Booknut

my goal is to use cheap consumers cameras and boost the possibilities with chdk, my next cameras on the buying list are the a3300is (chdk ist available)

tight budget -> a3300
shooting today without software support -> a3300
shooting in the future with software support -> chdk (a3300 is included)

your risks are with a3300+chdk it is beta software (the software shooting in future will not work, completely or not reliable)
a3300 with raw is maybe to slower that your page turn capabilities

bye

[booknut]

Thanks for the reply.
I should have been more clear with what I want to do. I don't actually need to change settings or have a live preview of the cameras on my computer. I just want to be able to trigger the cameras by software and have the image save to a directory in the computer. Will I be able to do that much with gphoto? Will I need to use chdk as well?

The a3300 is not listed on the gphoto list of cameras. Is it still compatible?

Thanks!

[Gerard]

Thanks for the reply.
I should have been more clear with what I want to do. I don't actually need to change settings or have a live preview of the cameras on my computer.

this is an open issue, we have only viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2520 for now,
you could also make experiments with ptpcamgui and chdkptp (see in the chdk forums for an description how)

live preview sound fine and changing settings also, but for now we have only proof of concepts, ideas and first alphas

in the mean time you could probably scan all your books, with the classic method ((LCD screen or video capture stick) connected to video out of the cameras and changing setting at the beginning by hand)

I just want to be able to trigger the cameras by software and have the image save to a directory in the computer. Will I be able to do that much with gphoto?

if your camera is in the list you will probably be able to do this, but changing settings is more complicated (some camera have SDK or special software for this, but the they have problems with more that one camera, a long way to go)

Will I need to use chdk as well?

no, and yes chdk is for canon cameras and is a other way to change settings, trigger, download, and ... this cameras, but is an hack and it has to be done for every camera model, the live view is still in development, IMHO the chance that the a3300is will get live view are 70% (it is just a question if someone will make the modification on the firmware)

The a3300 is not listed on the gphoto list of cameras. Is it still compatible?

chdk and gphoto are different play fields

my suggestion is, bye a3300 scan the classic way and wait, maybe one or two years

[booknut]

thank you for the help!