I have a SONY DSC-FI with infrared capability. My notebook has an infrared port. I cannot get them to "talk" to one another ... any suggestions. Whay is your "take" on infrared connections for digital cameras?

Also, I don't see any reviews or references to SONY on your site ... any reason for this? And, finally, what do you use to clean LCD displays ... my camera's display is positioned in such a way that it seems to attract finger printers ...

Thanks for your reply.

-- James A. Ristow (jristow@ix.netcom.com), May 02, 1998

Answers

Hi Janes,

I'll try to take these one at a time, as best I can...

1) The IR port likely needs drivers installed in Win95 to activate it. I'm not much of a Windows guru, but you can probably get it activated through the Windows "Add Hardware" control panel. You'll need your Windows CD-ROM to do so though. (Maybe a true Windows expert can give some further advice here.)

1a) I think IR connections are a cool idea (I hate crawling behind my PC every time I have to plug another digicam in!), but the interface so far hasn't taken off - I think a little of the chicken/egg thing. None of my PCs have one (they're all elderly at this point), so I've never tested one. IR ports are designed to work much faster than serial ports though, so they could be a real benefit if they'd work.

2) Sony has thus far declined to participate in the site. I think the problem for them is that they're in an awkward time-frame wiht their product cycles. (Purely my speculation, absolutely no substantiation from Sony.) By all "normal" indices, the Mavicas should be well past their prime, in terms of product lifetime. The only "problem" though, is that the darn things keep outselling everything else in the market by a wide margin! Ff I were Sony, I'd want to save a bigger "splash" for whatever the next product might be. Meanwhile, the Mavicas are being a money-machine in their present for, so they've no incentive to try to push them at all, beyond their normal advertising/PR efforts.

3) I haven't used it on my digicam's LCD, but any of the various "microfiber" cloths sold for cleaning photo lenses would probably work well for cleaning LCD panels. The cloths' microscopic fibers slurp up organic oils with amazing effectiveness, and you can "renew" them with just a washing. - Worth a try, at ~$5/cloth. (Plus, you can always use it to clean your lens anyway...)

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), May 03, 1998.