If the camera software was installed first, try uninstalling it and then putting it on again. Installing the scanner software and Elements may have overridden some settings. However, almost all of us here on the forum are strong advocates of using card readers. There’s no need to worry about compatibility issues, and they’re also safer, faster, and easier on the camera. They’re also pretty inexpensive.
Thank you for responding. I contacted sony & it was a matter of changing my USB mode. All fixed! But, I am curious, what is a card reader?? Thank you.
Hey Beth, I’ve been thinking about what you said, and I have to admit I’m not convinced. I don’t have anything against card readers in particular – I’ve used them too. But, I’m trying to figure out why they would be safer, faster, or easier on the camera. Safer in what way? I assume you mean a safer way to transfer the image data, but I don’t know why. Faster? If they’re a Firewire device I would agree, but why would they be faster than my USB 2.0 output straight from the camera? I guess by easier on the camera you mean because of plugging the connector into the camera every time you want to transfer, but I don’t really see how this could be any worse than unplugging the card each time. Something’s going to wear out eventually, and neither one is going to be cheap to fix.
These are just points of discussion – not to argue. I’m just curious.
BTW, congrats on the new pup!
Hi Sue, Me too, I never used a card reader in the beginning when I got my first digicam, a Nikon Coolpix, as their downloading USB software worked very well. Then I began to read about problems with this with other cameras. Then I ended up with some missing pictures.
So I deleted all the Nikon software and went out and bought a $16 universal card reader. This means that there is no extra software needed, you just put the card reader into the USB and you can download *any* flash memory cards from any make camera into it directly into a folder you put on your desktop.
You also don’t have to worry about your camera battery going dead during the lengthy download. Power cables and more.
With the card reader, it is very fast. No extra software, no extra time. Nobody told me about this, so I figured I had to use the Nikon stuff, not true.
Card reader is the way to go. Then all you need to do is open your pictures with PSE. I admit that I do use Graphic Converter to view them as a slide show full screen first just for fun. Then they are ready and waiting for you to open them with PSE and then the fun starts.
Jane
Dave, the software and the cable that came with my Canon G2 shared a common trait – they were flimsy to the max. I followed the advice of Beth and others and got a nice little card reader that stays more or less permanently installed in one of the front USB ports on my desktop. The Canon software has been flushed and the cables…..well, I don’t know where they are, probably in the drawer with all the other cables and connectors of a lifetime of gadgets!
Chuck
Well, fortunately, I can’t speak from personal experience, but I have heard "horror" stories of cameras suffering severe damage when a cable became disconnected during a transfer, and I’ve also heard of lost images from interrupted downloads. Not to mention cables going bad and not being able to download at all until a replacement is found. Being the kind that never takes unnecessary chances, I’ve always used a card reader. Someone on the forum recently told about a friend who had a very bad experience while doing a direct download. I’m pretty sure Ray was the one who related the incident, but I don’t remember the particulars.
The card readers are so darned inexpensive that I’ve always considered it really cheap insurance. No problems with compatibility, either. I can download to any computer I’m standing next to.
For about $20 US they are one of the bargins of the century.
I got one for $15, although at Christmas all the cheaper ones were gone from the shelves. Haven’t looked to see if they’ve reappeared.
replace $20 card reader or $500+ camera…hmmm, no thought process needed there. When I bought my camera i instantly purchased the card reader and skipped the section in the manual for camera to PC transfer…works for me 😉
Well the reason you had to pay so much, Chuck, was because you just wouldn’t go into JoAnn Fabrics! 🙂
Beth…..I had hoped that incident would be forgotten, but I should have known better….
🙂
I guess I can understand flimsy cables and interrupted downloads. Myself, I’ve always had a concern about pulling/dropping the camera off the desk while it’s connected to the USB port, so I wouldn’t take much convincing to go back to using a card reader. The Canon software isn’t anything special anyway. But, I still think there has to be significant wear and tear on the pins and sockets when taking the card out and putting it back in. How much? I don’t know, but have you noticed how tiny and frail looking those dudes are? Anyway you look at it you’re either wearing the card socket or the USB connector, so it’s going to be a tradeoff. Thanks for the responses everyone!
Dave, that’s a good point on the USB connectors. I’ve purchased some cheap USB multiport units (Sam’s – under $20) that I keep plugged into the computer’s port; any wear and tear is on the extender port which is sturdy and replaceable.
Nancy, what does NSL mean?
Chuck
Chuck,
I’m not surprised you couldn’t translate, because I just made it up and I laughing so hard I’m crying..
Nancy, I went to the TUCAA site (The Ultimate Computer Acronym Archive) and they didn’t have it, so I knew I was in trouble….
🙂
maybe it’s me that’s in trouble
Nancy, the TUCAA site has a link to submit new acronyms – I think you have a winner there!
http://www.tucaa.com/servlet/submitForm ;jsessionid=2851C7E1A94A20281D98A4F9DE83A45A?id=3&operat ion=select
🙂
Why not just leave the card reader permanently plugged in? It just shows up as another removable device in My Computer. Is there concern that leaving it plugged in will shorten its useful life span?
Ken
I don’t think there’s a problem with leaving it plugged in. My husband leaves one in his computer all the time, but I don’t think it shows as a drive until there’s a card inserted. When I use a PCMCIA card with the laptop I have to remove it from the computer, insert the CF card, and then insert both into the slot before the card will show. I don’t know if that’s just my computer or how they work for everybody. I usually leave the PCMCIA card in the slot so it’s handy, though.
I’ve got a Belkin 7 port USB hub, and I just leave my card reader plugged into that. When I stick a CF card into the reader, it mounts, I do my thing copying everthing off to where I want it on the hard drive, then unmount the card, pull it out of the reader, back into its little case and into the camera bag. Poof! All done. Really handy, because I may have two or three cards worth of images to pull down.
Card readers (USB or otherwise) and PCMCIA adapters won’t show up (mount) until you put the card in. It’s probably the one LED, around here, that isn’t glowing continuously!!
😉
Ken, if your comment about leaving the card reader plugged in was in reference to one of my posts, my concerns were with plugging the CF card in and out of the camera itself as opposed to leaving it in all the time and using the USB cable. That’s the device that I was referring to when I was talking about the tiny pins and sockets. There’s going to be wear and tear on the some camera parts no matter how you go about it. As I said before, though, I don’t know how significant it is.
Dave, I understand your concern. In my case, I’m more worried about the door covering the CF card slot on my Canon G2; it’s very thin plastic and I’m betting that it’ll be the first part to go. Glad I bought that 5-year warranty…
Dave,
Actually I was thinking about the card and the USB . My DELL unit has 2 USB ports on the front as well as 2 on the rear, so I could leave something else connected permanently. Agree that the card seems very fragile. Yet they have printers which accept the card directly, and the machine in CVS accepts the card as well. Just came back from a trip and took lots of pictures. Placed selected files on my hard drive via the card reader, then burned a CD, and put the CD in to the CVS machine to print certain pictures – retained more control that way by not putting the card in to a foreign slot. Today, I am enhancing some pictures in Elements. By the way, the pictures out of the commercial machine printed very well; at $0.29 per pop it is cheaper than if I supply ink and paper.
Ken
Chuck, I hear what you’re saying about the flimsy doors on the Canons. Mine’s the same way, and I always try to handle it carefully. The rest of the camera is built like a tank. What a shame.
Ken, I’m going to have to try those machines at CVS one of these days. You’re right – for regular "snapshot" printing there’s no way to beat the price (as opposed to printing them yourself), and that way you can pick and choose the prints you want up front instead of having a whole role of film developed. It would also be nice to be able to enhance files via PE before printing, too. Can you do any cropping, enlarging, etc., at those machines? Do the pictures have to be in a particular proportion prior to printing, or does it just crop automatically (indiscriminately)? I’d be really interested in hearing about these machines if you (or anyone else) would like to take the time to expound. If you want to start a new topic, I’ll be watching for it.
Ken,
Just what is a CVS machine, please?
Nancy
We don’t have CVS around here, but I have taken pictures to the neighborhood camera store and I’ve sent some off to Costco/Kodak for printing. What I did was download all of the images from my camera card and edited and cropped them so they looked just like I wanted them to. For the Costco/Kodak site, I also had to convert them to JPEGs for uploading. For the camera store, I was able to put my TIFF files back on my camera card and insert that into their machine.
Our Costco finally has the machines in for do it yourself digital photos, and they can use TIFFs, PSDs, or JPEGs (4 X 6 is $.19, 5 X 7 is $.69, 8 X 12 is $1.99, and both 11 X 14 and 12 X 18 are $2.99), so I want to get together a batch and try them. I also understand Walgreens does a good job.
With a few exceptions, having the prints done at one of these places is a better option for my needs than fiddling too much with home printers. I still print some at home, but not too many.
Just what is a CVS machine, please?
Nancy, you mean you don’t know that acronym??
LOL
Nancy, this is the truth: CVS is an acronym for Calgary Vegetarian Society.
Honest! I looked it up!!
I always leave these things plugged in to my USB hub.
Then you don’t have to deal with the flimsy plugs, the camera software, the battery cable, the power plugs, or anything else. All you have to do is slide your card into the reader, copy the pictures to a descriptive folder on your desktop. Make a copy of the folder, stick it on your external HD. Make sure that your working copy of all the pictures on the desktop is OK, then reformat the card when you stuff it back into the camera.
I did not know this when I got my digicam, but somebody here about 2 years ago had a great thread about all this. I was told that I had to use the camera’s software, not true.
And it is getting easier all the time.
Yes I see people all the time using the WallMart picture thing, they bring their camera card, put it in, select the pictures they want to print or burn on to a CD. Cheap, quick, and easy. Although I haven’t used these systems yet, all the customers say that they are just great.
I use a different method, I upload my pictures to a photo site such as ClubPhoto, Shutterfly, or others, and then I choose what I want printed, the size, resolution, and all that stuff. I find it easier to do this from my computer at home. But the choices are getting better, easier, and cheaper all the time.
Jane
Hmmm. Nancy, I might be mistaken, but I seem to remember that’s also the name of a chain of drug stores further east. I think that’s where I shopped for a few things when I was in West Virginia. That Chuck…
CVS=Consumer Value Stores. Lots of them back east, and a brand new one about a mile from here in Houston.
Ahh…I’m enlightened.
Nancy
When I bought my first digital camera (Nikon CP 950) about four years ago, I didn’t want to take the card out of the camera for uploading. Thought it would wear out the connector, so I uploaded via SLOOOOOW serial port…that camera didn’t even have USB 1.1!
That got old in a hurry, and I bought a card reader. Since then, I’ve taken thousands of pictures and uploaded them hundreds of times. I’ve never had a card or a connector failure, and my card reader plugs directly into the USB port so it would be difficult to insert and remove cards while it’s plugged in, hanging out of the USB connector. I plug it in every time after inserting the card, and unplug it afterwards. I think the USB connector AND the CF and SM card connectors are pretty robust. I’m sure their service life is finite, but I’m not sure I’ll ever reach it.
Bert
Chuck gave you the answer to the CVS riddle. This was my first use of the machine, and for starters I printed one picture (big spender) which needed to be lighter. I set this command up on the machine, and printed again with a satisfactory result. I then printed the others in like fashion. There are several variables that can be adjusted by the consumer, but I don’t recall all of these – good mind but a short memory. The other point is that one can probably adjust the picture files in Elements at home, then resave and burn to a CD, and print from the CD on the commercial machine.
Ken
