The first question to be asked is what the use of the camera can be to an Extension program. While the following is not meant to be exclusive, we see a few uses for agents. The first is being able to communicate using a picture. Nothing can replace being able to see something in person, but a number of problems can be solved more readily by specialist with the aid of a picture. Weed identification, nutrient deficiency or toxicity, and disease identification are problems in which a picture is often of value when added to a description of the problem. With the aid of a digital camera an agent could take a picture of the problem, and send it via the internet to a specialist on campus within very little time at all. An answer or a recommendation could be made quickly, avoiding the expense of an on-site visit. Or, in some cases a decision could be better made as to whether an on-site visit by a specialist is needed. Basically, in some situations it could allow us to serve farmers in a faster and more affective way.

Agent training could be more effective with the digital camera. As a supplement to field training for agents, a specialist could post pictures of common problems as they occur during the season on the internet, so that information could be passed on to farmers in a more effective manner. The same could be said of agents from different parts of the state. An agent in the piedmont could observe something that would be of interest to people statewide, post a digital image on the internet for all to see, and avoid some of the travel that would be involved in exchanging the same information.

Digital cameras do not involve the development of any film. Many of our Agents have large collections of slides or pictures that they have taken over the years. Keeping these pictures in a computer file format makes the storage and filing much easier. Once again, communicating this data with other agents or growers or growers that have access to a computer can be facilitated with the use of the internet.

The cost of a digital camera is a main concern. Table 1 lists a number of digital cameras along with some of the features and costs. These are most of the cameras available on the market today. The number of cameras and the costs, however seem to change often. The table is meant to be a guide. When considering the costs of the equipment it should be kept in mind that once a digital camera is purchased, the cost of making 10 pictures is the same as the cost of 1,000 pictures.

The other features listed in the table are important to consider as well, particularly those features dealing with downloading the images from the camera to a computer. There are basically three different systems for doing this. 1) Through a memory card (or sometimes a floppy disk) that inserts into the camera, and then into a computer disk drive, 2) a direct serial port cable from camera to computer, or 3) a SCSI connection from the camera to computer. The memory card is probably the most convenient method. Memory cards increase the amount of pictures that the camera itself can store, and transferring the pictures from to the computer is as simple as using a disk drive. One of the problems that we have encountered with downloading systems that require special software for obtaining the images from the camera is that they may be slow, and transferring the pictures into any other image processing programs can be tedious. Memory cards, and card readers completely eliminate this problem because the images can be copied directly to a computer hard drive. The computer will, however, require a card reader which adds to the expense. Card readers can either be internally mounted in the computer or be external. They act the same as another floppy drive. Card readers typically cost anywhere from $90-500, depending on how they connect to the computer. An advantage of this system is also that most laptops have card readers (slots) built into them. Images could be read from the memory card on a laptop, and then transferred via a floppy to larger computer if needed. The cards themselves come in different size capacities and range from $75 for a 2 Mb to $400 for a 20 Mb card.

A direct connection from the camera to a serial or communications port on the computer is a fairly convenient option. This requires hooking the camera up via a cable to the computer. The images are then obtained from the camera by some software that usually comes with the camera. This method is good, but can be cumbersome if you are dealing with a large number of pictures because most of the software will not deal with large batches of files.

A SCSI connection/interface can be used as well. This method is very similar to a serial port connection, but requires a SCSI card and cable. SCSI connections are typically faster than serial or communication port connections. A lot of external devices such as scanners use SCSI connections, so you may already have some of the software needed. Hookup with the camera may be more inconvenient than with a serial or communications port. Again, the software used to obtain the images may have some limitations.

Most cameras can store a number of images without the use of a memory card. we would caution against a camera that does not have the capacity to use a memory card if you plan to take more than 15 or so pictures at a time. Memory cards greatly increase the storage capacity of a camera, and can be changed out when they become full if you have more than one.

Most cameras will store the image in a *.jpg (JPEG) format. This format is convenient to work with. We have, however, worked with an older Kodak camera that stored the pictures in its own native file format. Since this file format was not recognizable to any other programs we had to convert them all to a *.jpg format. The software Kodak provides will do this but it is time consuming and inconvenient if you are working with large numbers of pictures. The cameras on the market all have different features and we would check with the dealer about this before we bought one.

Another feature that influences price is the resolution of the camera. This is roughly the number of pixels that one picture will contain. The higher the number of pixels, the higher quality the image. As you can see from Table 1, this has a great deal to do with price. The camera that we use is 768x576 resolution and is perfectly acceptable. There are sites on the internet that you can go to and view pictures taken with different resolution cameras.

Concerning finding information on the web about digital cameras, we won’t list any sites. You will be better off entering a search for digital cameras and finding the links yourself. There are plenty of them out there. PC magazines also have done comparisons of digital cameras, and these may be a good resource to look at.

TABLE 1. Selected digital camera features and prices.