Geekcorps Mali’s LMI Blog

So today was digital camera hunting day.

For the project we need to find a decent, all purpose, inexpensive camera that we can use for taking pictures in and around the villages that we plan to service. Why, you might ask, do you need to take pictures in these villages? Well, the answer is simple: it’s a service we plan to offer. No, not the picture taking itself but the prints we plan to make from the photos.

See, one of things here is that people LOVE having pictures. They’re tangible, they’re a record of family members, they’re cool to show to guests, and frankly, who doesn’t like a picture or two of those they care about, right? The issues here though are cost and time. Plain and simply, it’s expensive and it’s a hassle. Sometimes when the photo-tigi* comes around and people want their pictures taken they have to wait weeks until the guy fills up the roll of film, gets the pictures processed (tough!), and then get them back to them. What a hassle! On top of all this people have to pay a bunch of money sometimes for prints that didn’t even turn out all that well. Can you say disappointing?

The real kicker is that there’s a real demand for photos. When there is a marriage or a baptism going on you can rest assured someone would like a photo of the event. They are, after all, often the social event of the season. Who wouldn’t want a photo? And those are only two events. There’s always demand for photos.

But I digress…

We see an opportunity here. There’s a demand for this service. We are in the perfect position to offer it. So what do we need? Well today we were looking at some of the hardware we’d have to pick up to get this fraction of the project taken care of. Here’s what we thought…

We know we need a camera that was very easy to use. We had to keep in mind that the people using it would not need many of the super-duper-deluxe-fantastic features of a high-end camera. The tool would be used chiefly as a simple point-and-click camera.

We wanted something that used AA batteries, not a camera specific battery you very often find in many models. If possible we also wanted to shoot for a camera that only used 2 batteries at a time. This way we can always have at least 2 charging back at our hub and 2 in the machine. We need to have some flexibility in how and when we recharge our batteries, and having to wait around in one area for our only battery to charge is not practical.

We needed it to be inexpensive. Priority. We want to keep our costs low so that that can be recouped more easily. We set a cap of $150 USD and if possible lower.

We wanted between 3-4 Megapixels. We’re printing photos not posters. This should suit our needs adequately.

We wanted something compact. We are going to have to travel with it often after all.

We needed a memory card that would be compatible with our photo printer. [Epson PictureMate Deluxe]

We wanted the camera to have some durability. Chances are it’ll get knocked around from time to time by accident. Who knows? Also, we needed to consider the heat conditions here. Generally we try to shoot for hardware that is in the 55C range, but it seems as though all the models that fit our criteria always fall in the 0-40C range. Not much we can do.

Lastly, if possible, we’d like to have a video function, even if it is only basic. But only if possible.

So, after taking all those things (and more) into consideration, after checking dozens upon dozens of cameras, and after looking at numerous review sites we found one that we think is the right balance for what we need it for. We chose the Canon PowerShot A400 from Amazon (currently on sale at $100 down from $180).

The price was great. Ease of use was just where we needed it to be. 2 AAs is what it takes (don’t worry – we’ll be using NiMH batts). 3.2 Megapixels is fair for our needs. Relatively compact. SD memory card. Somewhat durable – although we read reviews going strongly for and against (most for). It even does very small 3 minute videos (although only at 15 fps).

All together it seems like the right fit for us, at least in comparison to the others we evaluated. And considering we’ll also need to pick up batteries & a charger, a dust proof case (maybe wrapped in Ziplock to keep sand out – what do you think?), and a memory card the price helps us defray these costs more.

So that’s it. For the moment it’s the Canon PowerShot A400. The reviews are solid, it meets our needs, the specs line up on paper, and the price seems fair. Good.

Now all we have to do is agree on which one of the 4 colors we want it in. I’m partial to the green. St. Patrick’s day is coming up after all. You?

Cheers.

*-tigi : When you put “tigi” at the end of a word it means that someone is the one in charge of that thing. For instance, a woman selling bananas (called namasas) would be called the namasa-tigi. She is the banana lady. If it’s your donkey cart (wotoro) you are the wotoro-tigi – the donkey cart man. See the pattern? In our case we have a camera person, therefore they become the photo-tigi.