I was just in my local CVS pharmacy, and noticed they had "One-time-use"
digital cameras for $9.99 (USD). In theory I guess they re-use the parts
enough times to recoup expenses, but it seems like this might be a very
cheap source of CCD's and smallish color displays. Has anybody investigated
these as a source of parts? I bought one but am out of town and thus can
not disassemble it yet. The anxiety is killing me!
> I was just in my local CVS pharmacy, and noticed they had "One-time-use"
> digital cameras for $9.99 (USD). In theory I guess they re-use the parts
> enough times to recoup expenses, but it seems like this might be a very
> cheap source of CCD's and smallish color displays. Has anybody investigated
> these as a source of parts? I bought one but am out of town and thus can
> not disassemble it yet. The anxiety is killing me!
Hi Robert,
I'm familiar with the Dakota Digital one-time-use cameras sold at
Ritz and Wolf stores. There is software on the web for pulling the
pictures out and reusing the cameras. The cameras are $10.99 and have
no preview LCD. There's a new model that has an LCD but no software
is available for it.
The Dakota camera is 1.3 megapixels but the picture quality is not
very good. The lens is crap of course(and fixed focus), but also the
sensor is not a CCD - it is a CMOS sensor so the S/N ratio is lousy.
All in all, you get what you pay for. As far as using them for parts,
it's not super easy to reuse these type of parts, I guess it depends
on how you value your time.
I have a couple of the Ritz cameras and they are small and light and
cheap so you can put one in the glovebox of your car in case you are
feeling spontaneous and don't mind taking pictures with all the
quality of a cellphone camera.
I was thinking maybe putting one on a kite. Outdoor pictures with
plenty of light don't look too bad.
> > I was just in my local CVS pharmacy, and noticed they had
"One-time-use"
> > digital cameras for $9.99 (USD). In theory I guess they re-use the
parts
> > enough times to recoup expenses, but it seems like this might be a very
> > cheap source of CCD's and smallish color displays. Has anybody
investigated
> > these as a source of parts? I bought one but am out of town and thus
can {Quote hidden}
> > not disassemble it yet. The anxiety is killing me!
>
> Hi Robert,
>
> I'm familiar with the Dakota Digital one-time-use cameras sold at
> Ritz and Wolf stores. There is software on the web for pulling the
> pictures out and reusing the cameras. The cameras are $10.99 and have
> no preview LCD. There's a new model that has an LCD but no software
> is available for it.
>
> The Dakota camera is 1.3 megapixels but the picture quality is not
> very good. The lens is crap of course(and fixed focus), but also the
> sensor is not a CCD - it is a CMOS sensor so the S/N ratio is lousy.
>
> All in all, you get what you pay for. As far as using them for parts,
> it's not super easy to reuse these type of parts, I guess it depends
> on how you value your time.
>
> I have a couple of the Ritz cameras and they are small and light and
> cheap so you can put one in the glovebox of your car in case you are
> feeling spontaneous and don't mind taking pictures with all the
> quality of a cellphone camera.
>
> I was thinking maybe putting one on a kite. Outdoor pictures with
> plenty of light don't look too bad.
>
> Here's a sample photo:
> http://bobblick.com/house/downloaded_DSC_0102.JPG
>
> Cheerful regards,
>
> Bob
>
I had heard about the ones without the LCD display, never bothered to look
at them. But with an LCD changes things a little....
Just popped over to the CVS web site to see if I couldn't find a store near
me (50 miles the wrong direction- ugh!) and found a promo on the front page
$5 off making them only $14.99. But look at the disclaimers:
"*Available in select CVS stores with One Hour Photo Center. Camera price
does not include processing. Camera must be processed at CVS. Camera will
not be returned to you after processing. One coupon per customer. Coupon
offer expires 01/31/05."
And...
"$9.99 processing includes 25 prints, index print and photo CD."
So, normal price of $20, and another $10 to make single prints - and you
don't get the camera back. Sounds ridiculous to me.
Bob Blick wrote:
> I'm familiar with the Dakota Digital one-time-use cameras sold at
> Ritz and Wolf stores.
What does "one time use" mean for a digital camera? For film cameras, this
makes sense. The film is built into the camera so you can't take it out and
replace it. You bring the camera back, the film gets removed and processed,
and the camera get recycled.
But how does that apply to a digital camera? Apparently you don't have to
bring the camera back to get the pictures extracted. Are the batteries
permanently built in? It seems "one time" use must be artifically imposed
somehow.
> Bob Blick wrote:
> > I'm familiar with the Dakota Digital one-time-use cameras sold at
> > Ritz and Wolf stores.
>
> What does "one time use" mean for a digital camera? For film cameras,
> this makes sense. The film is built into the camera so you can't take
> it out and replace it. You bring the camera back, the film gets removed
> and processed, and the camera get recycled.
>
> But how does that apply to a digital camera? Apparently you don't have
> to bring the camera back to get the pictures extracted. Are the batteries
> permanently built in? It seems "one time" use must be artifically imposed
> somehow.
A quick Google explains all. But I will spell it out for you anyway.
Yes, you do need to return the camera to get your pictures out, because
they've mechanically obfuscated the USB connector and hidden it under a
sticker.
Also, at least one manufacturer of the chipset used in cameras like these
mentions encryption of the images, but if the cameras are making use of
this feature, it must be very weak, because many people have already
hacked into the cameras and created software to get the pictures out.
-- Dave Tweed
____________________________________________
> So, normal price of $20, and another $10 to make single prints - and you
> don't get the camera back. Sounds ridiculous to me.
>
> -Denny
I agree that it is preposterous to actually use the system as intended, but
for a one-time-fee of $9.99, I've extracted 2 AA batteries (energizer
alkaline), probably some sort of usable EEPROM or FLASH memory, a CMOS
sensor, a flash and associated circuitry, and various other passives. If
the CMOS is usable in other projects (robotics?, cheap image recognition?),
then to me that would be very worth it. I'm a hobbyist, with more time than
money. I'll post whatever I find in there when I get home to the workbench
tonight.
I can further testify to the lacklustre quality of the pictures -
they're decent outdoors, but forget indoors, for the most part. Though
it does make an excellent "bar camera" - who cares what it winds up
in? :)
I've also got the new PV2 model - the one with the LCD. The preview
pics seem to be much better quality than the pics from the old Blue
Dakota, but they are scaled down rather a lot. Reverse engineering
efforts are ongoing here:
A great deal of progress has been made in just the past few weeks -
they are close to deciphering the compression model used, and much
closer to determining the USB commands necessary to browse the
camera's filesystem. You'll also find links to relevant data for some
of the parts - apparently the LCDs are somewhat easy to interface
with.
> > I was just in my local CVS pharmacy, and noticed they had "One-time-use"
> > digital cameras for $9.99 (USD). In theory I guess they re-use the parts
> > enough times to recoup expenses, but it seems like this might be a very
> > cheap source of CCD's and smallish color displays. Has anybody investigated
> > these as a source of parts? I bought one but am out of town and thus can
> > not disassemble it yet. The anxiety is killing me!
>
> Hi Robert,
>
> I'm familiar with the Dakota Digital one-time-use cameras sold at
> Ritz and Wolf stores. There is software on the web for pulling the
> pictures out and reusing the cameras. The cameras are $10.99 and have
> no preview LCD. There's a new model that has an LCD but no software
> is available for it.
>
> The Dakota camera is 1.3 megapixels but the picture quality is not
> very good. The lens is crap of course(and fixed focus), but also the
> sensor is not a CCD - it is a CMOS sensor so the S/N ratio is lousy.
>
> All in all, you get what you pay for. As far as using them for parts,
> it's not super easy to reuse these type of parts, I guess it depends
> on how you value your time.
>
> I have a couple of the Ritz cameras and they are small and light and
> cheap so you can put one in the glovebox of your car in case you are
> feeling spontaneous and don't mind taking pictures with all the
> quality of a cellphone camera.
>
> I was thinking maybe putting one on a kite. Outdoor pictures with
> plenty of light don't look too bad.
>
> Here's a sample photo:
> bobblick.com/house/downloaded_DSC_0102.JPG
>
> Cheerful regards,
>
> Bob
>
>
>
> What does "one time use" mean for a digital camera?
They intend for the camera to be brought to the store for prints to
be made, and the camera is not returned to the customer.
However, clever people have figured out the interface, so it's
possible to reuse the camera and never return it to the store. Two AA
batteries are easily replaceable. The USB connector is non-standard.
> Wow, green leaves. What part of the country are you in, or was this taken a
> lot earlier?
> What does "one time use" mean for a digital camera? For film cameras,
> this
> makes sense. The film is built into the camera so you can't take it
> out and
> replace it. You bring the camera back, the film gets removed and
> processed,
> and the camera get recycled.
>
> But how does that apply to a digital camera? It seems "one time" use
> must be artifically imposed somehow.
Yes. Exactly. I don't know why one would purchase a digital single
use
camera rather than a film one at 1/4 the price (and significantly better
quality; I've been pretty impressed with the quality of disposable film
cameras...) The newer versions have an LCD preview screen and a
'delete'
capability; that could be useful, I guess. There's at least the
perception
that this makes it easier to take pictures for publishing or via email,
since
they come automatically with a picture CD (although the place I get film
developed has offered a CD from film for small extra cost for years
now.)
> you don't have to bring the camera back to get the pictures extracted.
"people" DO have to bring the camera back to get the pictures extracted.
You and I, being HW/SW hackers, can adapt a connector on the camera to
our computer's usb port and download SW of questionable quality to
extract
the pictures, but we are NOT the target audience.
The "intent" is to rent you a low-quality digital camera for the time it
takes you to fill up the camera, give you your pictures and then rent
the
same camera to someone else. The cost is supposed to be high enough to
correct for the people who don't return
> Are the batteries permanently built in?
Probably. For consumer definitions of "permanantly."
>-----Original Message-----
>From: piclist-bouncesKILLspammit.edu [.....piclist-bouncesKILLspam.....mit.edu]
>On Behalf Of Bob Blick
>Sent: 05 December 2004 05:54
>To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
>Subject: Re: [EE] Cheap CCD Source? One-Time Digital Cameras
>
>
>The Dakota camera is 1.3 megapixels but the picture quality is not
>very good. The lens is crap of course(and fixed focus), but also the
>sensor is not a CCD - it is a CMOS sensor so the S/N ratio is lousy.
>
CMOS is not the inferior technology it once was. Most consumer cameras
now use CMOS sensors, even the high end "prosumer" ones.
Regards
Mike Rigby-Jones
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