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Making a form for data & photo collection: A step-by-step guide to using custom controls for Zire and Clie cameras |
Taking pictures
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Now you are ready to take pictures.
On the handheld, launch Pendragon Forms and create a new record in your form.
When you see the field with the Camera Control and when you are ready to take a picture, activate the camera.
Press the camera shutter button to capture the image.
• To capture an image on a Zire 71, simply open the camera slide, and use the viewfinder to frame the exposure. Press the Zire 71 shutter button to capture the image.
• On a Zire 72, use the CameraKey button (by default, this is the Voice Memo button) to turn the viewfinder on. Use the ShutterKey button (by default the 5-way navigator button) to capture the image.
• On a Sony Clie, simply open the camera cover, and use the viewfinder to frame the exposure. Press the Clie shutter button to capture the image.
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Photo Capture
While capturing the image, the preview area may zoom in to the top left quarter of the image, but the entire image will be saved on the card. The message "Capturing. Please wait..." will be displayed. Note that once the viewfinder image is frozen, the image is captured and being saved, so it is safe to move the camera without affecting the exposure.
Camera Status Messages
On the handheld, the Camera Control displays a viewfinder box and a status message.
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[No Camera] |
This message appears if you have installed the control on a handheld without a camera. |
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[Camera off] |
The camera is not active |
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[No card] |
No SD/MMC or MemoryStick card is installed, so an image cannot be captured |
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[Camera on] |
The camera slide has been opened. In this case, you should see the preview in the viewfinder box. |
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Capturing. Please wait... |
The camera is saving a photo to the media card |
Image Capture Time and Storage Cards
The time that it takes to capture and write the image to the card depends on the type of storage card you are using. Though SD cards are generally faster than MMC cards, they sometimes have slower write speeds. In our testing, a 64MB SanDisk MMC card was more than twice as fast as a PNY 64MB SD card. Capturing an image took approximately 4 seconds on the MMC card and 10 seconds on the SD card.
MemoryStick PRO cards are generally faster than MemoryStick cards. Not all Sony Clie devices support MemoryStick PRO cards.
Next:
Creating an Access report (for bitmap images only)
Creating an Access Report with a Photo Control (for jpeg images)
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Previous:
Introduction: Using a PDA camera for data collection
Creating a form for photo data collection
For more information
Documentation for the Zire71 Camera Custom Control (81KB PDF)
Documentation for the Zire71JPEG Camera Custom Control (83KB PDF)
Documentation for the Sony Camera Custom Control (94KB PDF)
Using JPEG images with Pendragon Forms
PDA cameras, pictures and Pendragon Forms
Tutorial: Importing Stored Photos (for devices including the Treo 650 and iPAQ rx3715)
Pendragon Forms Reference Guide, Chapter 17: Working with Images (6.6MB PDF)
(To download PDF documents, right-click on the link above and choose Save Target As...)
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