• 'Children's Digital Camera'

    From Mark@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jan 4 14:02:10 2023
    Bought off eBay. Cheap (very!) & bought for a bit of an experiment.
    It's pretty crap though. Still... Two things though:

    1. It's not supposed to have any internal memory - but it does. Playing
    with it I took a couple of pictures before inserting the MiniSD card. I
    took three pictures. I can view them on the device, but not on my
    laptop. Also, there is a fourth picture which looks like it was taken
    in the factory/packing facility (in China I assume). How to get these
    off the device (only interested in the fourth one). Disasemble it?

    2. The included MicroSD card is supposed to be 32GB but reads as 33.57
    - and that's with several pics and a couple of videos on it (resolution
    is crap for both). Any reason it should read like that, or is that a
    function of 'how it was programmed' (or whatever) rather than there
    being a hard cut-off for capacity.

    It's one of these beauties: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354080125374

    --
    Cheers ... Mark

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From nospam@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jan 4 09:19:42 2023
    In article <tp40t2$1ako$[email protected]>, Mark
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Bought off eBay. Cheap (very!) & bought for a bit of an experiment.
    It's pretty crap though. Still... Two things though:

    1. It's not supposed to have any internal memory - but it does. Playing
    with it I took a couple of pictures before inserting the MiniSD card. I
    took three pictures. I can view them on the device, but not on my
    laptop. Also, there is a fourth picture which looks like it was taken
    in the factory/packing facility (in China I assume). How to get these
    off the device (only interested in the fourth one). Disasemble it?

    the 7th photo in the ebay link shows a 'charing vhole/datawhole' port.
    sounds promising :)

    try connecting a usb cable to that and see if the computer sees the
    camera's storage (which may also work for the cards too).

    finder doesn't mount cameras, so either use apple photos, lightroom (or similar), image capture, or find a windows pc and use windows explorer.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Theo@21:1/5 to Mark on Wed Jan 4 14:17:31 2023
    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:
    Bought off eBay. Cheap (very!) & bought for a bit of an experiment.
    It's pretty crap though. Still... Two things though:

    1. It's not supposed to have any internal memory - but it does. Playing
    with it I took a couple of pictures before inserting the MiniSD card. I
    took three pictures. I can view them on the device, but not on my
    laptop. Also, there is a fourth picture which looks like it was taken
    in the factory/packing facility (in China I assume). How to get these
    off the device (only interested in the fourth one). Disasemble it?

    What happens when you plug the USB cable into a computer? Does it show up
    as a digital camera (MTP or PTP) or some kind of storage device?

    2. The included MicroSD card is supposed to be 32GB but reads as 33.57
    - and that's with several pics and a couple of videos on it (resolution
    is crap for both). Any reason it should read like that, or is that a
    function of 'how it was programmed' (or whatever) rather than there
    being a hard cut-off for capacity.

    32*1000*1024*1024 = 33554432000

    so it's 32,000 mebibytes (megabytes in powers of two)

    However I'd be concerned that such a card might be fake and in reality just corrupt itself after you've written a few pictures. I'd replace it with a known good card. (there are testers you can run to confirm if a card can actually store what it says)

    Theo

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark@21:1/5 to Theo on Wed Jan 4 14:56:26 2023
    On 2023-01-04 14:17:31 +0000, Theo <[email protected]> said:

    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:
    Bought off eBay. Cheap (very!) & bought for a bit of an experiment.
    It's pretty crap though. Still... Two things though:

    1. It's not supposed to have any internal memory - but it does. Playing
    with it I took a couple of pictures before inserting the MiniSD card. I
    took three pictures. I can view them on the device, but not on my
    laptop. Also, there is a fourth picture which looks like it was taken
    in the factory/packing facility (in China I assume). How to get these
    off the device (only interested in the fourth one). Disasemble it?

    What happens when you plug the USB cable into a computer? Does it show up
    as a digital camera (MTP or PTP) or some kind of storage device?

    It shows up as a USB volume. It's empty (when it opens - most times it beachballs then self-ejects with the 'blah blah was not ejected
    properly' warning).

    Managed to do a 'Get Info'.
    Format: MS-DOS (FAT12) (...not seen FAT12 before!)
    Capacity: 244 KB
    Available: 7 KB
    Used: 238 KB


    2. The included MicroSD card is supposed to be 32GB but reads as 33.57
    - and that's with several pics and a couple of videos on it (resolution
    is crap for both). Any reason it should read like that, or is that a
    function of 'how it was programmed' (or whatever) rather than there
    being a hard cut-off for capacity.

    32*1000*1024*1024 = 33554432000

    so it's 32,000 mebibytes (megabytes in powers of two)

    However I'd be concerned that such a card might be fake and in reality just corrupt itself after you've written a few pictures. I'd replace it with a known good card. (there are testers you can run to confirm if a card can actually store what it says)

    Theo

    Yes, I was surprised it came with a MicroSD card, particularly one of
    that size (and it came with an USB adapter for it). I'll avoid using it.

    --
    Cheers ... Mark

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark@21:1/5 to nospam on Wed Jan 4 14:57:54 2023
    On 2023-01-04 14:19:42 +0000, nospam <[email protected]d> said:

    In article <tp40t2$1ako$[email protected]>, Mark
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Bought off eBay. Cheap (very!) & bought for a bit of an experiment.
    It's pretty crap though. Still... Two things though:

    1. It's not supposed to have any internal memory - but it does. Playing
    with it I took a couple of pictures before inserting the MiniSD card. I
    took three pictures. I can view them on the device, but not on my
    laptop. Also, there is a fourth picture which looks like it was taken
    in the factory/packing facility (in China I assume). How to get these
    off the device (only interested in the fourth one). Disasemble it?

    the 7th photo in the ebay link shows a 'charing vhole/datawhole' port.
    sounds promising :)

    try connecting a usb cable to that and see if the computer sees the
    camera's storage (which may also work for the cards too).

    finder doesn't mount cameras, so either use apple photos, lightroom (or similar), image capture, or find a windows pc and use windows explorer.

    Some weird translations there! I actually bought it from another
    listing (I think the seller has multiple). Paid more than that too, but
    they've said they will refund me.

    Image Capture doesn't see it.
    --
    Cheers ... Mark

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Richard Tobin@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jan 4 15:12:36 2023
    In article <tp445i$qcq$[email protected]>,
    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:

    Image Capture doesn't see it.

    Did you plug it in without it having the SD card inserted?

    -- Richard

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jaimie Vandenbergh@21:1/5 to Mark on Wed Jan 4 16:09:31 2023
    On 4 Jan 2023 at 15:43:21 GMT, "Mark" <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2023-01-04 15:12:36 +0000, [email protected] (Richard Tobin) said:

    In article <tp445i$qcq$[email protected]>,
    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:

    Image Capture doesn't see it.

    Did you plug it in without it having the SD card inserted?

    -- Richard

    Yes. Should it have been inserted for IC to see it the camera?

    Not if it's got internal storage.

    You could try wandering around the menus to see if there's a 'copy
    internal to SD' or similar.

    Cheers - Jaimie

    --
    Every time we start thinking we're the center of the universe,
    the universe turns around and says with a slightly distracted
    air, 'I'm sorry. What'd you say your name was again?'
    -- Margaret Maron

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jaimie Vandenbergh@21:1/5 to Mark on Wed Jan 4 16:08:34 2023
    On 4 Jan 2023 at 14:56:26 GMT, "Mark" <[email protected]> wrote:

    Format: MS-DOS (FAT12) (...not seen FAT12 before!)

    Floppy disk format!

    Cheers - Jaimie
    --
    Imagine there were no hypothetical situations.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark@21:1/5 to Richard Tobin on Wed Jan 4 15:43:21 2023
    On 2023-01-04 15:12:36 +0000, [email protected] (Richard Tobin) said:

    In article <tp445i$qcq$[email protected]>,
    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:

    Image Capture doesn't see it.

    Did you plug it in without it having the SD card inserted?

    -- Richard

    Yes. Should it have been inserted for IC to see it the camera?
    --
    Cheers ... Mark

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jan 4 16:20:54 2023
    On 2023-01-04 16:09:31 +0000, Jaimie Vandenbergh
    <[email protected]> said:

    On 4 Jan 2023 at 15:43:21 GMT, "Mark" <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 2023-01-04 15:12:36 +0000, [email protected] (Richard Tobin) said: >>
    In article <tp445i$qcq$[email protected]>,
    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:

    Image Capture doesn't see it.

    Did you plug it in without it having the SD card inserted?

    -- Richard

    Yes. Should it have been inserted for IC to see it the camera?

    Not if it's got internal storage.

    You could try wandering around the menus to see if there's a 'copy
    internal to SD' or similar.

    Cheers - Jaimie

    No, nothing. Apparently it doesn't have internal storage (according to
    them!) As the seller is in the UK it might be a dropshipper so they may
    not have realised (they seem to have a lot of Chinese 'tat' for sale).
    Either way, no way to access those other pictures apart from viewing
    them on the screen. I may take it apart later and have a look at the
    internals.
    --
    Cheers ... Mark

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark@21:1/5 to Theo on Wed Jan 4 17:49:28 2023
    On 2023-01-04 17:20:44 +0000, Theo <[email protected]> said:

    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:
    It shows up as a USB volume. It's empty (when it opens - most times it
    beachballs then self-ejects with the 'blah blah was not ejected
    properly' warning).

    Managed to do a 'Get Info'.
    Format: MS-DOS (FAT12) (...not seen FAT12 before!)
    Capacity: 244 KB
    Available: 7 KB
    Used: 238 KB

    What does 'diskutil list' say about it?
    It's possible there are hidden partitions or something on that device.

    /dev/disk2 (external, physical):
    #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
    0: NO NAME *262.1 KB disk2

    Another possible trick is that it shows up as a different device when you 'eject' it - this is used by 4G sticks which first show up as a CD of driver software, and then reappear as a networking device when the 'CD' is 'ejected'. That would show a change in the USB section of System Information.

    Can't seem to eject it. It ejects itself after a while with the 'not
    ejected properly' warning pop-up. After that, diskutil list doesn't see anything (this all without the SD card in).

    Yes, I was surprised it came with a MicroSD card, particularly one of
    that size (and it came with an USB adapter for it). I'll avoid using it.

    A true 32GB card must be a handful of dollars, so it would rather eat into the profit margin. Although it's possible it's the worlds slowest card that they got from a junk heap for pennies.

    Theo


    --
    Cheers ... Mark

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Theo@21:1/5 to Mark on Wed Jan 4 17:20:44 2023
    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:
    It shows up as a USB volume. It's empty (when it opens - most times it beachballs then self-ejects with the 'blah blah was not ejected
    properly' warning).

    Managed to do a 'Get Info'.
    Format: MS-DOS (FAT12) (...not seen FAT12 before!)
    Capacity: 244 KB
    Available: 7 KB
    Used: 238 KB

    What does 'diskutil list' say about it?
    It's possible there are hidden partitions or something on that device.

    Another possible trick is that it shows up as a different device when you 'eject' it - this is used by 4G sticks which first show up as a CD of driver software, and then reappear as a networking device when the 'CD' is
    'ejected'. That would show a change in the USB section of System
    Information.

    Yes, I was surprised it came with a MicroSD card, particularly one of
    that size (and it came with an USB adapter for it). I'll avoid using it.

    A true 32GB card must be a handful of dollars, so it would rather eat into
    the profit margin. Although it's possible it's the worlds slowest card that they got from a junk heap for pennies.

    Theo

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark@21:1/5 to Richard Tobin on Wed Jan 4 17:49:45 2023
    On 2023-01-04 17:30:35 +0000, [email protected] (Richard Tobin) said:

    In article <tp46qp$4ln$[email protected]>,
    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:

    Image Capture doesn't see it.

    Did you plug it in without it having the SD card inserted?

    Yes. Should it have been inserted for IC to see it the camera?

    No, there was just a possibility that the camera only makes the
    internal storage visible when there isn't a card inserted.

    -- Richard

    Ah, ok.
    --
    Cheers ... Mark

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Richard Tobin@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jan 4 17:30:35 2023
    In article <tp46qp$4ln$[email protected]>,
    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:

    Image Capture doesn't see it.

    Did you plug it in without it having the SD card inserted?

    Yes. Should it have been inserted for IC to see it the camera?

    No, there was just a possibility that the camera only makes the
    internal storage visible when there isn't a card inserted.

    -- Richard

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Andy Hewitt@21:1/5 to Mark on Wed Jan 4 19:14:17 2023
    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 2023-01-04 17:30:35 +0000, [email protected] (Richard Tobin) said:

    In article <tp46qp$4ln$[email protected]>,
    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:

    Image Capture doesn't see it.

    Did you plug it in without it having the SD card inserted?

    Yes. Should it have been inserted for IC to see it the camera?

    No, there was just a possibility that the camera only makes the
    internal storage visible when there isn't a card inserted.

    -- Richard

    Ah, ok.

    I suspect you have a really unusual, very cheaply made, camera. The
    internal memory you see is most likely to be just a buffer for taking a few shots before it gets stored on media card (most cameras have these, and is usually enough for a handful of shots, which is why I’m thinking it’s just that).

    The fact that it’s not actually operating as expected might only confirm
    its very basic design.

    I would such a device for my daughter many years ago, and it behaved much
    as this one is, and was difficult to connect to a Mac. The only option for reading the card was to use a card reader outside the camera.

    Personally I think you’re better off buying a proper (i.e. known branded) camera second hand. There are plenty of basic, easy to operate ones around
    that take half decent pictures, and would work without issue with your
    existing devices.

    --
    Andy H

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From nospam@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Jan 4 13:38:04 2023
    In article <tp445i$qcq$[email protected]>, Mark
    <[email protected]> wrote:

    Bought off eBay. Cheap (very!) & bought for a bit of an experiment.
    It's pretty crap though. Still... Two things though:

    1. It's not supposed to have any internal memory - but it does. Playing
    with it I took a couple of pictures before inserting the MiniSD card. I
    took three pictures. I can view them on the device, but not on my
    laptop. Also, there is a fourth picture which looks like it was taken
    in the factory/packing facility (in China I assume). How to get these
    off the device (only interested in the fourth one). Disasemble it?

    the 7th photo in the ebay link shows a 'charing vhole/datawhole' port. sounds promising :)

    try connecting a usb cable to that and see if the computer sees the camera's storage (which may also work for the cards too).

    finder doesn't mount cameras, so either use apple photos, lightroom (or similar), image capture, or find a windows pc and use windows explorer.

    Some weird translations there!

    indeed.

    I actually bought it from another
    listing (I think the seller has multiple). Paid more than that too, but they've said they will refund me.

    i just used the link you posted.

    Image Capture doesn't see it.

    try a photo recovery utility.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark@21:1/5 to Andy Hewitt on Wed Jan 4 19:19:28 2023
    On 2023-01-04 19:14:17 +0000, Andy Hewitt <[email protected]> said:

    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 2023-01-04 17:30:35 +0000, [email protected] (Richard Tobin) said: >>
    In article <tp46qp$4ln$[email protected]>,
    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:

    Image Capture doesn't see it.

    Did you plug it in without it having the SD card inserted?

    Yes. Should it have been inserted for IC to see it the camera?

    No, there was just a possibility that the camera only makes the
    internal storage visible when there isn't a card inserted.

    -- Richard

    Ah, ok.

    I suspect you have a really unusual, very cheaply made, camera. The
    internal memory you see is most likely to be just a buffer for taking a few shots before it gets stored on media card (most cameras have these, and is usually enough for a handful of shots, which is why I’m thinking it’s just
    that).

    The fact that it’s not actually operating as expected might only confirm its very basic design.

    I would such a device for my daughter many years ago, and it behaved much
    as this one is, and was difficult to connect to a Mac. The only option for reading the card was to use a card reader outside the camera.

    Personally I think you’re better off buying a proper (i.e. known branded) camera second hand. There are plenty of basic, easy to operate ones around that take half decent pictures, and would work without issue with your existing devices.

    That's cool. I only bought it as I wanted very 'lo-fi' quality
    (something I've been experimenting with). I have other cameras though -
    more than enough to not be spending more than ~£10 on another one! :)

    Cheers ... Mark

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Chris Ridd@21:1/5 to Mark on Wed Jan 4 19:21:13 2023
    On 04/01/2023 14:56, Mark wrote:
    Managed to do a 'Get Info'.
    Format: MS-DOS (FAT12) (...not seen FAT12 before!)

    That's very much the original, meant for floppy disks. Every byte counted!!

    --
    Chris

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Andy Hewitt@21:1/5 to Mark on Wed Jan 4 22:57:16 2023
    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 2023-01-04 19:14:17 +0000, Andy Hewitt <[email protected]> said:

    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 2023-01-04 17:30:35 +0000, [email protected] (Richard Tobin) said: >>>
    In article <tp46qp$4ln$[email protected]>,
    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:

    Image Capture doesn't see it.

    Did you plug it in without it having the SD card inserted?

    Yes. Should it have been inserted for IC to see it the camera?

    No, there was just a possibility that the camera only makes the
    internal storage visible when there isn't a card inserted.

    -- Richard

    Ah, ok.

    I suspect you have a really unusual, very cheaply made, camera. The
    internal memory you see is most likely to be just a buffer for taking a few >> shots before it gets stored on media card (most cameras have these, and is >> usually enough for a handful of shots, which is why I’m thinking it’s just
    that).

    The fact that it’s not actually operating as expected might only confirm >> its very basic design.

    I would such a device for my daughter many years ago, and it behaved much
    as this one is, and was difficult to connect to a Mac. The only option for >> reading the card was to use a card reader outside the camera.

    Personally I think you’re better off buying a proper (i.e. known branded) >> camera second hand. There are plenty of basic, easy to operate ones around >> that take half decent pictures, and would work without issue with your
    existing devices.

    That's cool. I only bought it as I wanted very 'lo-fi' quality
    (something I've been experimenting with). I have other cameras though -
    more than enough to not be spending more than ~£10 on another one! :)

    Cheers ... Mark

    Understood, no worries.

    My initial thought is still that it’s probably a shooting buffer though, perhaps that’s a pointer to why it’s hard to access.

    Cheers.

    --
    Andy H

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark@21:1/5 to Mark on Wed Jan 4 22:35:16 2023
    On 2023-01-04 19:19:28 +0000, Mark <[email protected]> said:

    On 2023-01-04 19:14:17 +0000, Andy Hewitt <[email protected]> said:

    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 2023-01-04 17:30:35 +0000, [email protected] (Richard Tobin) said: >>>
    In article <tp46qp$4ln$[email protected]>,
    Mark <[email protected]> wrote:

    Image Capture doesn't see it.

    Did you plug it in without it having the SD card inserted?

    Yes. Should it have been inserted for IC to see it the camera?

    No, there was just a possibility that the camera only makes the
    internal storage visible when there isn't a card inserted.

    -- Richard

    Ah, ok.

    I suspect you have a really unusual, very cheaply made, camera. The
    internal memory you see is most likely to be just a buffer for taking a few >> shots before it gets stored on media card (most cameras have these, and is >> usually enough for a handful of shots, which is why I’m thinking it’s just
    that).

    The fact that it’s not actually operating as expected might only confirm >> its very basic design.

    I would such a device for my daughter many years ago, and it behaved much
    as this one is, and was difficult to connect to a Mac. The only option for >> reading the card was to use a card reader outside the camera.

    Personally I think you’re better off buying a proper (i.e. known branded) >> camera second hand. There are plenty of basic, easy to operate ones around >> that take half decent pictures, and would work without issue with your
    existing devices.

    That's cool. I only bought it as I wanted very 'lo-fi' quality
    (something I've been experimenting with). I have other cameras though -
    more than enough to not be spending more than ~£10 on another one! :)

    Cheers ... Mark

    Well, I tried another MicroSD card. The camera created some folders:
    Alarm
    Ebook
    My Music
    Others
    Photos
    Videos

    I put some epubs and mp3s in their respective folders. No way to access
    epubs on the camera(!) but it plays the mp3s (awful quality). No idea
    what Alarm or Others are/do. Plugged the camera into laptop. Camera and
    card show up as volumes - camera empty, card shows those folders but
    all empty. I have to mount the card in the comaputer on its own to see
    the stuff in the folders. Can only undo one (of 4) screws - the others
    look stripped (or poorly cast in the first place). I might try
    supergluing them to the end of an old screwdriver to remove at some
    point... Enough of this for tonight! Just need to chase my
    reimbursement now.

    --
    Cheers ... Mark

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)