Downloading Photos - CF Reader or Camera?

Paul Wood47470 · Nov 8, 2002

I've heard some people say that downloading photos directly from the camera was a bad habit to get into. (I think it was in a thread about download speeds)

Why? I don't own a reader, and this is what I've always done. Am I doing something that I shouldn't?

Chris Clark · Nov 8, 2002

Paul Wood said:
I've heard some people say that downloading photos directly from
the camera was a bad habit to get into. (I think it was in a thread
about download speeds)

Why? I don't own a reader, and this is what I've always done. Am I
doing something that I shouldn't?

I don't think you're doing anything wrong, it's just that a card reader is much quicker especially for raw images. I have also experienced crashes of the zoombrowser software losing images that were not backed up. With my system at least, zoombrowser is a no no.
--
Chris Clark

mjbauer · Nov 8, 2002

Paul Wood said:
I've heard some people say that downloading photos directly from
the camera was a bad habit to get into. (I think it was in a thread
about download speeds)

Why? I don't own a reader, and this is what I've always done. Am I
doing something that I shouldn't?

It works fine to do that. I personally use a Firewire CF reader which is very fast. Plus, since I have several CF Cards and 2 Microdrives, it allows me to unload images and still use the camera. Also, if I fill up several cards or use several cards I just rotate them in and out of the reader which I think is more convenient.
Mike Bauer

PhotoNoob120916 · Nov 8, 2002

First off the camera uses USB 1.1. This in itself is a pain. I really can't imagine why they wouldn't have gone with firewire on the D60 but thats not for me to speculate. I also imagine that the camera even reads slower than if you put it in an actual usb reader.

Buy yourself a Firewire reader and firewire card if your set up doesn't have one. The 2 items can be had for under 70 bucks and will save you oodles of time. Specificly about .4 megs a second for usb vs 3 to 5 megs a sec on firewire. These figures are aproximate but on a 1 gig microdrive you are saving yourself a BUS LOAD of time in transfering the files. Trust me on this.

Cheers M8,

Noob

Paul Wood said:
I've heard some people say that downloading photos directly from
the camera was a bad habit to get into. (I think it was in a thread
about download speeds)

Why? I don't own a reader, and this is what I've always done. Am I
doing something that I shouldn't?

M Kim · Nov 8, 2002

Paul,

The firewire reader will really make things smooth for you. Also, I probably don't know what I'm talking about but I wouldn't want to keep taxing the camera by pulling images from it. I'm sure it's fine but you know how people had tape rewinders (b4 dvds). If you kept rewinding directly on the VCR you were putting mileage on the mechanisms inside. It's probably not the same thing but I want to be sure my cam stays in commission for a long long time=)

Min

Paul Wood said:
I've heard some people say that downloading photos directly from
the camera was a bad habit to get into. (I think it was in a thread
about download speeds)

Why? I don't own a reader, and this is what I've always done. Am I
doing something that I shouldn't?

--
M Kim

mattlamb #80892 · Nov 8, 2002

I download by sticking the CF card in adaptor and then use the PCMCIA slot in my G3 laptop, its the fastest way and saves on camera battery.

Matt

PhotoNoob120916 said:
Paul Wood said:

I've heard some people say that downloading photos directly from
the camera was a bad habit to get into. (I think it was in a thread
about download speeds)

Why? I don't own a reader, and this is what I've always done. Am I
doing something that I shouldn't?

Click to expand...

anengineerguy · Nov 8, 2002

Paul, I believe the tradeoff is that of fast reading if you use card reader, vs. the realtively safe practice of never handling the memory card itself. The rash of MD failures due to mishandling inspires the drastic compromise: leave the memory inside the camera and use USB (slow) downloading.

I'm retired, so go do something else for the time it takes to download via cable...

Be safe... Ron.

Paul Wood said:
I've heard some people say that downloading photos directly from
the camera was a bad habit to get into. (I think it was in a thread
about download speeds)

Why? I don't own a reader, and this is what I've always done. Am I
doing something that I shouldn't?

--
http://anengineerguy.0catch.com/

Juli Valley · Nov 8, 2002

If you saw the messy return of my computer desk, you would understand why I don't want to lay my camera on top of all of those papers. I prefer the reader.

Ben Horne · Nov 8, 2002

This is mostly due to battery issues. With a reader, you don't have to worry about wearing down the batteries. Also, if you use a reader the camera isn't tied up during this process. When you plug a card into a reader, it appears like a hard drive in your windows interface. Just select the files, and drag them to your hard drive. When transferring from a camera, you are usually have to use the software provided by the maker which is a pain in the ass.

Get yourself a reader --- It's MUCH better than using the camera connection.

Paul Wood said:
I've heard some people say that downloading photos directly from
the camera was a bad habit to get into. (I think it was in a thread
about download speeds)

Why? I don't own a reader, and this is what I've always done. Am I
doing something that I shouldn't?

Paul Wood47470 · Nov 8, 2002

I've been considering a Firewire CF reader -- I already have a card. I suspect that it'll come in much more handy when I get the D60 instead of the PRO 90 I use now (hopefully, in about 2 months).

I use the breeze downloader now, and it's pretty easy to just plug it in and hit "go". Downloads the files then delete's 'em off the card.

Any recommendations on a good firewire reader that does both CF and MicroDrive?

JimK74361 · Nov 8, 2002

This is the F/W reader I use:

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10261414&hdwt=30421&loc=101

Probably can be had for cheaper.

Every micro drive or cf card I've ever fed it, it read it with no problems, and fast.

Paul Wood said:
I've been considering a Firewire CF reader -- I already have a
card. I suspect that it'll come in much more handy when I get the
D60 instead of the PRO 90 I use now (hopefully, in about 2 months).

I use the breeze downloader now, and it's pretty easy to just plug
it in and hit "go". Downloads the files then delete's 'em off the
card.

Any recommendations on a good firewire reader that does both CF and
MicroDrive?

M Kim · Nov 8, 2002

I found it for thirty something. I don't know if they messed up or what but I think it's really cheap comparatively. I got mine in timely fashion.

Min

JimK said:
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10261414&hdwt=30421&loc=101

Probably can be had for cheaper.

Every micro drive or cf card I've ever fed it, it read it with no
problems, and fast.

Paul Wood said:

I've been considering a Firewire CF reader -- I already have a
card. I suspect that it'll come in much more handy when I get the
D60 instead of the PRO 90 I use now (hopefully, in about 2 months).

I use the breeze downloader now, and it's pretty easy to just plug
it in and hit "go". Downloads the files then delete's 'em off the
card.

Any recommendations on a good firewire reader that does both CF and
MicroDrive?

Click to expand...

--
M Kim

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Downloading Photos - CF Reader or Camera?

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