Reaction of Canon on Nikon CoolWalker MSV-01

[tony723]

Recently Nikon announced a new digital wallet which can support Nikon RAW format. Should Canon also consider the similar idea?

From my understanding, no single 3rd party digital wallet support Canon RAW format and photos downloaded cannot be previewed to make sure copy process is completed.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0401/04012802nikoncoolwalker.asp

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0401/PMA/Nikon/coolwalker.jpg

[CyberDyneSystems]

Well,. I suppose it is a matter of personal preference,. by for me, there is no way I am going to have the time to reveiw the images as I transfer them to one of these image banks.. the whole point of the image bank is to allow me to keep shooting...

So the image reveiew option is lost on me anyway, at least to the degree that it is not an option I'd be willing to pay extra for.

[Vertabreaker]

I think reviewing the images on a screen that size is a waste of time. Sure it lets you see which images you want to keep but at that size you would only really be able to check how bright the image is. You also have to look at the battery consumption with the screen.

[Nolz]

for me the reason why that screen is handy is so that i can be particulalry sure that my images did make it across. mind you i havent heard any stories about the xdrive and bad transfers . if it was made amore affordable (more like x drive price) it could be an alternative...but right now as is for that amount of money?....no thankyou :)

[Guillermo Freige]

Recently Nikon announced a new digital wallet which can support Nikon RAW format. Should Canon also consider the similar idea?

From my understanding, no single 3rd party digital wallet support Canon RAW format and photos downloaded cannot be previewed to make sure copy process is completed.



From my undestanding, you are wrong :). FlashTrax and probably others have the ability of showing the embedded JPEG present in Canon RAW files. Actually the cameras also show this JPEG when the image preview is done, and not the actual RAW file. That´s why the RAW preview in digicams like the S50/G5 is so pixelated, because the embedded jpeg is a Small/Normal one (640x480).

[Canuck]

I have a 40GB Flashtrax drive and here is the info from the site: http://www.smartdisk.com/Products/DigitalMultimedia/FlashTrax.asp there is this about the FlashTrax drive:
Display:

LCD: 3.5” (diagonal) color TFT LCD with CCFL backlight
TV monitor output: NTSC or PAL, Composite video
JPEG format viewing, with hardware zoom in/out, pan/scroll, rotation support. (Some RAW format as well as GIF and BMP files can also be viewed.)
Video: Motion JPEG picture decoding,
up to 320 x 240 x 30 frames/sec or 640 x 480 x 10 frames/sec
Can view simple text files (*.txt)

It reads CRW in the lot of RAW files.

There is also this from the same page:
1) Does FlashTrax read RAW format data from digital still cameras?
FlashTrax can read any RAW format files from flash media and store them on its hard drive, just like JPEG’s. When FlashTrax copies the contents of an inserted flash media card onto its hard drive using the automatic COPY feature, it copies the entire contents of the media card, including all files and subdirectories. Therefore no matter what format you have used to capture images or other data, it will be saved to the FlashTrax hard drive.

2) Can FlashTrax display RAW format images on its LCD?
Yes, FlashTrax can display RAW format images from selected camera models from Canon (.CRW), FujiFilm (.RAF), Minolta (.MRW + .THM), Nikon (.NEF), Olympus (.ORF) and Pentax (.PEF). FlashTrax displays RAW files using the JPEG image embedded in most RAW files, so display time is quite fast.

The resolution of the displayed RAW file (and therefore the extent of zooming possible) depends on the resolution of the JPEG information stored in the RAW file by the particular camera manufacturer.

That is the lowdown and yadda yadda bit and hope this helps...

Cheers from England,
Canuck

[CoolToolGuy]

I would be interested in one from Canon with a screen. One scenario: I go for the weekend to a race, and each night I want to review the shots I got. I could back and forth to CF cards and view in the camera, but if I had a screen in the image tank I could find out what I nailed and what I have to go back for tomorrow.
Any other multi-day event or vacation could produce the same need.
It wouldn't have to be Canon, but it would have to handle RAW as well as JPG.

Have Fun
Rick 8)

[iwatkins]

The fairly new EPSON P-1000 will also apparantly display RAW files from "selected dSLRs" but I can't find any more information on that. I.e. whether is displays RAW or displays the embedded JPG.

Cheers

Ian

[Andy_T]

The fairly new EPSON P-1000 will also apparantly display RAW files from "selected dSLRs" but I can't find any more information on that. I.e. whether is displays RAW or displays the embedded JPG.

Cheers

Ian

My educated guess is that ANY such device will display only the embedded JPG file. That's also what conversion programs (e.g. Breezebrowser, FVU) do.

However, though it might be quite easy technically to do that, only very few picturebanks (e.g. flashtrax, delkin) do this so far.

Regards,
Andy

[Andy_T]

I would be interested in one from Canon with a screen. One scenario: I go for the weekend to a race, and each night I want to review the shots I got. I could back and forth to CF cards and view in the camera, but if I had a screen in the image tank I could find out what I nailed and what I have to go back for tomorrow.
Any other multi-day event or vacation could produce the same need.
It wouldn't have to be Canon, but it would have to handle RAW as well as JPG.

Have Fun
Rick 8)

That sounds exactly like what you could do with the Flashtrax device.

Look for threads where owners of these devices (e.g. Belmondo, Canuck) discuss how and whether it works.

Regards,
Andy

[Belmondo]

You're right. You can go back at any time and review stored images. You can't tell an awful lot about the picture, but it does have some zoom capablility so you can magnify portions of the image. The general complaints about the Flashtrax is that it's a little pricey, and it uses its battery pretty quickly. If you're in your room every night, that shouldn't be an issue.

[Andy_T]

Tom,

do you see a difference in the possible zoom resolution of the Flashtrax depending on whether you use normal or high resolution for the embedded JPEG?

Then it might be a great way to also judge whether your images are in focus or not.

Regards,
Andy

[CoolToolGuy]

You're right. You can go back at any time and review stored images. You can't tell an awful lot about the picture, but it does have some zoom capablility so you can magnify portions of the image. The general complaints about the Flashtrax is that it's a little pricey, and it uses its battery pretty quickly. If you're in your room every night, that shouldn't be an issue.

Room :?: Usually, when I go to a race, my 'room' is made of canvas, and my bed is made by Coleman :!:

Seriously, I can't remember the details (jeez, this gettin' old is for the birds), but I looked at the Flashtrax and wrote it off. It might have been the battery usage or the cost. At the moment, the Image Tank G2 is at the top of my list. Battery life is important, and the ability to power and/or charge from the car is high on the list, too.

Have Fun
Rick 8)

[billfranklin]

You might want to look at the nixvue vista at: http://www.steves-digicams.com/2002_reviews/nixvue_vista.html. I have one and you can view canon raw files. Screen is not too large, but you can magnify the image. Download to the vista is fast enough, but viewing is not too swift.

Bill F.