To connect or not to connect...?

[garyr]

Perhaps an arbitrary question......but I am curious about the recommended way to transfer images from your camera to your computer - via a card reader or via a camera connection?

Personally I just plug the USB cable in to the PC and then into the camera. I have read posts suggesting that it is better to use a card reader - the thinking is that the camera would be an expensive card reader so rather reduce the risk. Not sure I agree, with my ten thumbs I am more likely to break a pin.

Any thoughts, suggestions, or recommendations?

thnx
Gary

[robert]

I just plug the cable into the camera as well, but I generally dont take more tha a dozen shots at a time so transfer time is not an issue, maybe card readers are quicker if you have a few hundred? I dont know.
Robert

[Glen]

Card readers are quicker and cheaper to replace in case of fault.

[glennles]

I've just switched to using a card reader. The main reason being that I would forget to turn the camera off and then have a flat battery if I was ducking out to take some snaps or muck around in my room.

I should really invest in a spare battery also

[Alpha_7]

Glenn next time I see you, you can probably have one of my spares.

[who]

And it chews through batteries when connected to the computer.

I often use a card reader, but prefer to just take a 15cm USB lead when travelling as I have the laptop and d/l from the camera.

[Killakoala]

A card reader is the way to go.

[Biggzie]

Ive never pluged my camera into a computer, I dont even know if the USB port works in it.
My view was always, why waste batteries and there are card readers everywhere and cheap.
1 of my computers had a reader in the 3.5 inch drive bay, I have 1 laying around the desk, I have 1 in the glove box in the car and I have 1 in the Laptop bag.
The cable for my camera is in the spare room somewhere and its something else I really dont need to carry with me.

And when I go somewhere like the Clipsal 500, I can download 3 cards at once after the days finished.

[MSF]

I prefer a Card reader for a few reasons.

1. Probably faster (never actually test though...)
2. Saves Battery power of the Camera
3. Frees up the Camera to keep taking pics (ie, If onsite)
4. Less messy - less space needed

[Antsl]

A while ago I was told by a colleague that the best way to download images was to connect the camera to the computer.... the reason being that you could leave the card in the camera and avoid the risk of damaging the pins on the camera side of the connection as you put the card back into the camera. That advice though was back when CF cards and DSLR cameras were both incredibly expensive. Now that I have about a dozen CF cards they tend to get pulled in and out with abandon.
I use a Sandisk FireWire CF card reader and it goes well... particularly with the only Extreme IV card that I own.... I will be buying more of them when they become more affordable.

[Oneputt]

Card reader for me. Would not consider any other way.

[Big Red]

my lappy has a SD card slot and the PC has a card reader.

simpler to whip the card out and plug it into a slot than it is to connect up the leads.

[olrac]

I am a card reader kind of guy as I hate having a messy desk (this doesnt stop it getting really messy) and i dont like the look of wire hanging around.

So I have a card reader connected, the benifit of this is that all the different types of card I use (sd and CF) all can be read with the one reader. simple....

[MarkW]

I now have a P5000 for downloading so plugging in the card is the preferable way. I believe you can plug the camera in to the P5k but haven't tried this yet.

[Mal]

Can you actually down load off the camera?


Never done it never will. Card reader all the way.

[MarkW]

Can you actually down load off the camera?


Never done it never will. Card reader all the way.

Haven't tried it yet, but the P5k can read a harddrive in an enclosure provided the drive is self powered and FAT32 formatted. This does work as I have an old laptop drive in a small enclosure which I tried out today. More importantly the P5k will up or down load to this drive which is good for when I go to the UK next year. anyhoo

My D200 shows up as a logical drive in a FAT32 format when connected to a PC so by rights if I connect the camera direct to the P5k it should be able to directly download.

The question is "Why would you want to do that". The big advantage of the P5k is the ability to be downloading unsupervised while your snapping away on another card.

[gstark]

Can you actually down load off the camera?


Never done it never will. Card reader all the way.

Haven't tried it yet, but the P5k

Mark,

I suspect that the lump you can see on the side of Mal's face was his tongue, placed very firmly within his cheek.

[MarkW]

I suspect that the lump you can see on the side of Mal's face was his tongue, placed very firmly within his cheek.

Hard to tell if there's no corresponding emo

If I've wasted my time its no biggie somebody else may benefit

[ATJ]

I have always used card readers and can't comment on how slow or fast a direct connection is.

I recently upgraded from a Lexar CompactFlash Reader (Lexar Media Part No RWO16.D, Rev. A) to a ScanDisk ImageMate CF Reader (Model number: SDDR-92). The newer reader is 3 to 5 times faster for transferring than the old one. I never suspect that one card reader would be faster than another (other than differences between USB 1 and 2).

[Mal]

I suspect that the lump you can see on the side of Mal's face was his tongue, placed very firmly within his cheek.

Hard to tell if there's no corresponding emo

If I've wasted my time its no biggie somebody else may benefit

Sorry MarkW should have used the little yellow guys as my tongue was firmly within my cheek.

[shutterbug]

Can you actually down load off the camera?


Never done it never will. Card reader all the way.

Ditto

[Killakoala]

I just completely bent two pins on my card reader so now I'm using a cable until I buy another one.

[garyr]

Thanks all for sharing your views. It looks to me like it is more of a personal decision (?) based on your situation.

I don't take that many pics that transfer speed is an issue; my camera is set to auto shut off; I have about 5 CF card readers around the place but they are finnicky and I risk damaging pins or the CF card like this

I just completely bent two pins

Until I start filling multiple CF cards at a time, or I use bigger cards and transfer speed is an issue, or I cannot physically get the camera near the laptop I will probably just continue to do a camera-PC connection. (Or if I wanted a divorce I could get one of those wireless transfer grips for the 40D )

Thanks again,
Cheers
Gary