downloading photo's

brianp55

brianp55

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brian
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hi all, been reading one of the books i recently purchased off here, scott kelby's photoshop cs3 and one of his tips was to always use a memory card reader to download your photo's as connecting your camera directly to the computer is the most dangerous way to do it (the way i have always done):shrug: what danger am i risking, is it camera/computer damage or losing my set of photo's. anyone shed any light:thinking: brian
 
taking the card out and putting it into a reader if far more of a risk than initializing the usb interface on the camera imho.
 
Well you can damage the card or bend a pin in the camera by using a card reader, but I have done this hundreds of times and not had a problem yet.
Using a card reader is faster than connecting your camera up, plus you can save it to your backup at the same time!
 
I've occasionally cursed a bit when I've clicked on 'erase when complete' when downloading directly from the camera only to find I don't have enough battery left (in the camera) to complete the download and I lose some pics :(

now I download from camera, never do the 'erase when complete', and format the card afterwards which deletes everything.

hope that helps :)
 
HopefulM said:
now I download from camera, never do the 'erase when complete', and format the card afterwards which deletes everything.
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Me too.

I never use a card reader on account of not being able to find one when I need it. There's always a usb cable or four hanging up in my study - or in my camera bag when I'm on hols.
 
thanks for the replies, as i don't have to download a large amount of photo's download speed does not matter to me i was more worried i may damage my camera. saying that why would canon supply a camera to computer lead if it could do some damage. think i'll stick to how i do it for now and hope i don't regret it. thanks all brian
 
brianp55 said:
one of his tips was to always use a memory card reader to download your photo's as connecting your camera directly to the computer is the most dangerous way to do it
Click to expand...

I have to say, this is one of the weirder pieces of advice I've heard. Does he not give any explanation? Can you give us the original text?
 
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I have heard of people tripping over the USB lead between camera and computer while downloading and causing a terminal body/floor interface.

My new 'puter has a selection of card ports on the front so no need for a USB one now.

Yes, it's possible to damage the pins on a CF reader if you try but on all the readers (and cameras that accept CF cards) I have, it's impossible to put the card in upside down without a good deal of BF&I (Brute Force and Ignorance). Other types of card look to have more of a contact and slider type connection rather than pins, so card damage is unlikely (but I'm sure still possible!).

As an aside, I always copy the files from card to computer rather than allow anything to try to automate the process - that way, I know it's all MY fault should there be a cock up!
 
hi musicman :thumbs: the full paragraph.
TIP: the slowest, and most dangerous way to import photo's is to connect your camera directly to your computer. a much faster and safer way is to use a memory card reader instead, and the faster the card reader the better ( i recommend one that uses either a usb2 or firewire connection. i use a lexar compactflash firewire card reader, which is very fast and reliable. it's around $16.95 for the usb version, and $39.95 for the firewire).
that is the tip given and can be found in chapter 1, page 2 bridge essentials.getting your photo,s into bridge.

for the record i have downloaded direct from 3 different camera,s with no problems (touch wood) up to now. thanks for all input brian.
 
I too download directly from the camera. I think if I am continually moving the card from camera to reader and back I will eventually damage it in some way.

I see from the full quote there no reason given why downloading from the camera is dangerous.

Only thing I can think of is that you should use the remove hardware option from the task bar, before unplugging a USB device. I do not know if it would/could do any damage to the device if you did not do this, but if so, then it would be better to risk a card reader than a camera - but this is just a guess.
 
Tringa said:
. I think if I am continually moving the card from camera to reader and back I will eventually damage it in some way.

this is my thinking too.


I see from the full quote there no reason given why downloading from the camera is dangerous.

cannot see any reason anywhere.

Only thing I can think of is that you should use the remove hardware option from the task bar, before unplugging a USB device. I do not know if it would/could do any damage to the device if you did not do this, but if so, then it would be better to risk a card reader than a camera - but this is just a guess.

i never unplug the usb, the cable is plugged into the usb and sits on my computer desk, all i do then is plug into camera then switch camera on.
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my camera is faster than the usb port, i need a new reader as the dell monitor will not read over 4gb with its inbuilt slot :(
 
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