4MP digital camera. 4x optical zoom, 4x digital zoom. Uses SD cards. Uses Kodak proprietary battery pack with external charger. Will take movies (qicktime format) or stills (jpg).
Works on Linux as a PTP device. (AFAIK it is not a USB Mass Storage device). I use it on TAO Linux (A RHEL 3.0 clone). Required some setup to get the right usbcam scripts running (see the docs and links on the gphoto2 web site).
Using Xine to play the quicktime movies, they are very jumpy with bursts of loud white noise in the audio. They play fine on Windows.
The whole camera is very easy to use from taking picture to reviewing shots on the generous lcd space.
DigiKam auto-detects and manages the camera memory through the usb interface- it's very easy.
It's also auto-detected through the linux usb hot plug utility.
I use the most excellent program VLC to display the quicktime movies and it is solid/smooth, any other common linux program is jumpy and distorted. ( a partnership is forming between vlc and Apple). Unfortunately vlc is off the official Debian repository.
the tv out is nice to show your pictures or use as a live video camera.
The battery life is 150-250 pictures (flash, and other feature usage dependent).
The camera seems to be hearty enough for normal rough handling.
When the camera is shut off, the lense retracts and closes it's eyelid - no need for a lense cap
The pictures are clear, though too many shots are blurred (my fault? unsteady nerves or rushed shots)
Color? close enough for me, any program (ie: showphoto or gimp) can make corrections.
I'm happy.
The time from click to shot is one of the fastest of all digital cams. Not bad for action shots.
The built in internal memory is nice to have, but I have not used it.
On the minus side:
Any camera that has a tripod mount, should have an attatchment for an external shutter button so the tripod/camera doesnt shake when the shutter button is pressed.
Time and date must be manually reset whenever the battery is removed. The interface to handle that is pretty easy to deal with, still a tedium.
Overall using the dx7440 is easy to use on linux (maybe easier than win). Stores do not give it that credit. I rated it a very solid 8 for general use, but possibly it deserves a 9. Sure, it can't toe up to a 10X optical with 5+ megapixel (4 is fine though), or a camera specially suited for a particular need, but it's a very good buy, though you may find yourself wanting more zoom and possibly more resolution, special features ......
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