12.2. Digital Photo Cameras

We will speak about using a digital photo camera with GTKam under Mandrake Linux.

12.2.1. Getting Started

So, you have a digital photo camera and you are wondering how to make it work under Mandrake Linux. That is what this section is for. For the rest of this section it is assumed that you have a USB camera[1]. We will also speak about webcams in Webcams And Video Conferencing.

Start GTKam and select Camera->Select Camera. Connect your camera to your computer, turn it on and click on Detect. Your camera should be detected. If it is not, please select your camera from the Model: pull-down list and the port it is connected to in Port:, as shown in figure 12-10. That's all the configuration needed.

Figure 12-10. Configuring The Camera Connection

12.2.2. Manipulating And Transferring Pictures to The Computer

GTKam shows you how many pictures the camera holds by the name of the camera. To show thumbnails of the pictures the camera holds, just double-click on the camera icon. Digital cameras name the pictures in different ways (IMG_XXXX, PIC_XXXX, etc.). If your camera supports it, you can change those names by right-clicking on the thumbnail and selecting Info. Then, type the new name in the Name: field and click on Ok.

You can transfer a single picture to your computer by right-clicking on the thumbnail and selecting Save. You can also select all the pictures you want to transfer to your computer by clicking on them. The ones selected will be highlighted as shown in figure 12-11. To de-select pictures, just click again on them. You can select all pictures with Select->All and you can invert your selection with Select->Inverse.

When you are done selecting pictures, press the Save button (or Ctrl-S). A dialog pops up asking you whether you want to save photos or thumbnails; it also inquires about the pictures' file names. Do not change the options (leave the default values) and press the Ok button. The pictures are then transferred to your computer and saved in your home directory.

Figure 12-11. Selecting Pictures to Transfer

Now, you only need to rotate and/or edit some of them if needed/wanted under GIMP or your favorite imaging software. Enjoy taking pictures with your digital photo camera... and GNU/Linux!

12.2.3. Using The GIMP Plug-In

GPhoto2 (the library used by GTKam) has a GIMP plug-in which allows to open pictures directly in GIMP. You need to install the package gtkam-gimp-plugin to be able to use it.

Run GIMP and select File+Acquire->Load from Camera.... The first time you do it, you will need to select your camera as explained at the beginning of this section. Then, press Ok and double-click on your camera to get a list of the pictures it contains as shown in figure 12-12.

Figure 12-12. Plug-In For GIMP

As previously stated, select the picture you want to work with and press on Ok to open it in GIMP.

If you want to open more than one picture, just select them by clicking on them in the list.

Notes

[1]

There are serial digital cameras, but they are outside the scope of this section since all new ones use USB.


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