--- Forwarded Message from Bob Cavenagh <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 09:12:52 -0400
>From: Bob Cavenagh <[log in to unmask]>
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum     <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Document Camera (!)
>References: <[log in to unmask]>

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We have purchased a number of Document Cameras for our various departments and I
have not been overly satisfied with their performance.  We have purchased good
ones, mostly from Elmo.  The problem is not the cameras, per se, but the fact that
they usually use VIDEO as their output format.  This limits resolution so that
they are not always good for fine detail.  (Don't mistake me here--we use them,
faculty like them--they should simply be better.)

Before I buy any more I will investigate the market and see what the real
performance of the newer DIGITAL cameras is like.  These send a digital signal
just as a digital camera does, and the resolution can be considerably higher.
Right now they cost more, but that should evolve as the market does.  Our first
cameras, bought a decade ago, were very expensive;  prices for that quality level
have come way down.  The digital ones will too.

Canon, Samsung, and Elmo are all offering digital output models.  Some also have
composite or S-video, too.  I've seen the Canon product at around $3800.

Bob Cavenagh
Director of Instructional Technology
Dickinson College
Carlisle PA, USA