Using a digital camera to create images -- how?

I was successful using GIMP to create a TGA file and upload it into SL, so my question is directed more to the front-end of the process: using a digital camera to create the image in the first place and load it into GIMP...

I have a Kodak EasyShare 5MP camera. When I dock the camera with my PC, the Kodak software automatically fires off and downloads the photos to my PC as JPG files. When I go into the Kodak software to open the picture I want so I can save a copy to a folder to use in GIMP, it saves again as a JPG. That's two saves in JPG format -- I'm guessing that's BAD. So, by the time I open the picture in GIMP, it's already pretty lossy.

Is there a better way to take the image from my camera into GIMP without using JPG at all?

open jpg file in GIMP, save as TGA. Merely change the file type when saving - use "save as" rather than "save" and it prompts you for file type.

Open GIMP and on the GIMP Dialog window (the main GIMP window) use "open". Navigate to where your downloaded jpg from your camera is located and open the file. Then save as tga or some other lossless format. then in the image window choose "save as" and save with a new name for ease of finding later and place in a new folder or your desktop. I have a folder for SL textures I save my photos to.

Don't use Kodaks software to open the image........use GIMP or some other program that supports tga.

Also want to add: When you save to tga in GIMP you will get a dialog asking if you want the file compressed using two methods. For some reason GIMP is set to compress images by default which defeats the whole purpose of saving in a lossless format. Uncheck both boxes and you set.

Your camera probably only saves as JPEG (at only 5MP). It may have settings that allow for different compressions. Memory is cheap, so you should max out the camera's image quality settings and allow it save at the lowest compression rate (best quality).

I personally would disable/uninstall any of the Easyshare software and opt for a card reader (if you can't already plug it directly into your computer). This will eliminate unwated automated image processing.

Load your image directly into GIMP from the memory card, manipulate it, correct it, or do whatever you need to with the image and save it to your computer's hard drive as TGA. You can also back up the original JPEGs, if you feel you need to, by copying them over to your hard drive using the standard operating system interface (Windows).

If you get rid of the Easy Share software, Windows should automatically detect your camera as a removable hard drive (because that's what it actually is) whenever you plug it in via USB. Open up My Computer, and you should see it listed with a drive letter, along with all your other drives. Double click it, and you'll be able to explore the memory card in the camera, exactly as if it were a hard drive (because it is). Copy whatever files you want from the card to your permanent hard drive, and then play with the images in GIMP or any other image editing software.

For future reference, whenever a piece of software has the word "easy" in the title, don't install it. That stuff is for little kids and old people, who can't grasp the concept of what it means to navigate file folders and such. Everyone else should use real software (which incidentally is significantly easier than "easy" software, as long as you're used to using a computer).

If you don't want ever to have to plug your camera in at all, then do as Nam says, and get a card reader. You don't absolutely need one, but they're handy to have.

Also, follow Nam's advice about snapping pictures at the highest possible quality. For some cameras, that simply means taking the largest possible pictures. Some inexpensive cameras don't allow you actually to play with dedicated quality settings, but pretty much all do allow you to choose the size (in pixels) of the picture. The more pixels you have to work with, the less relative artifacting there will be from the JPEG compression. So always take your pictures at maximum size. You can shrink them in GIMP for texturing purposes later.

it should just pick it up as a usb mass storage device, then you can browse it just like any other file folder in windows, then you can just drag and drop wherever you want to work with them

I will have to check it again. It didnt last night.

Something else to try is the File - Aquire menu in the gimp. A quick google showed the Kodak Easyshare to be twain compatible so you should be able to use that to import pictures straight in and save from there.

Older, low-end digital cameras usually did not have options to save digital images in varying formats. Just from my casual observation, when I check out digital cameras from time to time, it seems that more and more cameras, even on the low-end, include options to save to RAW and other formats. If you don't know about your camera for sure, it's worth reading the documentation to see what options you have.