Windows 10 compatibility

Get a card reader and simply load your files onto your WIN 10 computer from that. I have not plugged a camera directly into a computer to transfer files for decades. Any Canon EF lens will work on any Canon EOS camera. Any Canon EF-S lens will work on any crop sensor Canon DSLR (with 2 exceptions). If you want to upgrade, any 18mp Canon would be great and not very expensive, and would provide a significant upgrade compared with your 300D. Your lenses would also work fine on any Canon "M" mirrorless camera with an adaptor.

You don't need to upgrade just because of downloading problems.

I have a Canon T6s (760D in US and Canada) and an older Canon 400D (Xti in US and Canada).

When I plug any of these in my one year old Windows 10 computer, I need two different Canon software to download images:

- EOS Utility for the T6s;

- EOS Utility 2 for the older Xti.

My gess is you would need EOS Utiliy 2 for your 300D, and also the Xsi (which is the 450D) ,as I do with my 400D (Xti).

That being said, a card reader would also be a perfect solution, as others have already mentionned.

Hope that helps.

Thank you, I saw a 50d that looked like a good deal. Are compact flash cards better than SD cards for cameras?

Compact Flash and SD Cards come in many flavors, class of cards, CF Cards UDMA and UDMA 7 and write/read speeds, SD Card UHS-1 and UHS-II and a symbol that looks like a C with a 10 and it all means stuff. In General a modern highend CF card will be faster than SD Cards. But there may be some old slow CF cards out there that write slower than the newest fastest SD Cards. The newest fastest CF cards are faster than fast SD Card, My 5D MK IV uses two card slots, One CF and one SD, in my camera the CF Card is a UDMA 7 Card that writes at 120 MBs, faster than my SD card which is an Extreme Card with write speeds claiming 100 mbs, the CF Card is the one used for 4K Video. I believe either slot can do HD Video. But you should learn a bit about memory cards, not all SD Cards can handle HD Video. When I buy cards I need to be sure I buy cards that have write speeds fast enough to keep up with the data being recorded, it is usually best to buy cards faster than you need. A few years ago, I learned the hard way shooting with a Black Friday Walmart $10 SD Card that it was not keeping up with my Canon 6D. It crashed and I lost about 4 hours of shooting the Denver, Colorodo Day of Rock. It was a cheap slow card low end card and it cost me the better part of a day shooting.

Do a search on understanding what card requirements are needed for your camera. Remeber, it never hurts to get a faster card than you need, but getting a slower card can ruin camera performance or even ability to do certain functions like record video.

There is a lot of good info out there with a web search..Here is one LINK to get you started. Good luck.

The 300 D (original Digital Rebel, introduced September 2003) was a bit of an outlier compared to later Rebels. It could record JPEGs or RAWs, but not both at the same time. Also, its file prefix was CRW, not IMG or _MG as all later EOS DSLRs used. Once you opened your images in DPP (the 300 D shipped with a very early version of DPP 3) you could batch process the CRW files into JPEGs. DPP 4 was introduced in 2014 and was subsequently continuously updated to make it compatible with images shot prior to its introduction of the software. After a long time compatibility was extended even to the 300 D.

Now I am a Mac, but I fired up an old PC laptop and explored the issue. The laptop would recognize the camera when it was wired to the laptop, but I could not manage to transfer images. With a card reader there were no problems. The wired transfer protocols may have been lost in the prehistoric mist....

The Digital Rebel is actually a rather capable camera, although it is a bit slow. The resolution wars have given us Rebels with twice the linear resolution, but if you don't print large or pixel peep you are still fine.

CF cards are somewhat becoming dinosaurs even though 5 D series cameras still use them as does the 1Dx Mk. II. The Mk. III, however, uses CFast cards. Newer cards are typically able to transfer data much faster.

The 300 D (original Digital Rebel, introduced September 2003) was a bit of an outlier compared to later Rebels. It could record JPEGs or RAWs, but not both at the same time.

I believe you will find that statement incorrect.

Using an EOS 300D, if 'raw' is slected, then a JPEG "M" file is also recorded. This file is embedded into the 'raw' and may be extracted using the Canon dedicated software.

WW

. . . My gess is you would need EOS Utiliy 2 for your 300D,

My guess too.

I believe, specifically it is: EOS Utility Version 2.9.

***

In any case - as many have advised - using a Card Reader would be the most elegant solution.

WW

Compact flash is obsolescent although plenty of used cards are available. One issue is that unlike the SD's wiping contacts, compact flash involves a lot of fine pin contacts in the camera. If one gets bent or broken the camera rather than the card needs expensive repairs. If you take good care inserting the card it shouldn't be a problem but I know two people who had this happen.

lol. I've got two slots in my 5D MK IV, CF and SD, they both must be obsolete then. Yes I know there is always advancements, but I can't get CFExpress cards to fit in my camera. o_O The OP is looking at a 50D...He won't get CFExpress to fit in that and buying a camera that accepts that or even SD UHS-II is probably out of his budget (Maybe a used Sony A7III ) and I see there is SD UHS-III card coming out but not sure what cameras accept those yet.

Compact flash is obsolescent although plenty of used cards are available.

They are not obsolete. See, for example, cf card | B&H Photo Video

Yes, a card reader is the obvious solution.

Re pins and CF cards: I have used CF cards since I went digital many years ago, and two of my three current bodies, including my main body (5D III) use them. I have never bent a pin, even though I remove the card, insert it into a card reader, and reinsert it into the camera after every shoot. It takes only a bit of care to avoid bending pins because the card has a slot in the side to guide insertion.

The problem you cited is not a reason to upgrade, since it is easy to fix, but since you raise the question of a 50D: I shot with a 50D for several years. it was my upgrade path out of the Rebel line. It's an old model, and the sensors in modern Rebels are better. In particular, it's not very good in low light. However, it gives you the pro/ semi-pro body design and ergonomics, which I found to be a big help. They are also dirt cheap now on the used market. However, my first question to anyone wanting to upgrade is: why? You didn't give any reason other than the upload problem which you can fix for a few bucks with a card reader. if you have another reason to consider upgrading, explaining that reason would make it easier to give you useful advice.

I referred to CF as obsolescent rather than obsolete, meaning that although the format is still current, it appears (at least to me) to be in the process of being replaced by SD. I too have removed and replaced CF cards many times with no problems. I was only reporting that two of my friends separately bent the pins to show that it is a possible risk.

John, you make an excellent point. CF Cards need more care, don't stick loose CF cards in your pocket and piece of lint or dirt get in one of the holes. Then trying to plug that card with clogged holes into your camera and yes it will bend the pins. That design has it's flaws and probably goes back decades.

I also worked with someone who bent the pins on their camera and it had to go back to Canon to replace the bent pins. I have not bent any pins in 16 years of owning Canon DSLRs, knock on wood, I do look at the pin holes on my cards, probably should look at the pins too to be sure nothing fell in there while swapping cards.

There should be a label in the card slot door that reads "WARNING! INSPECT YOUR PINS AND CARD BEFORE INSERTING!" lol. Wonder what percentage of CF Pin damaged cameras have to go back for repair out of all sold..

Like others here, i would never connect a camera directly to a computer. Just too darned awkward.

A card reader is the answer. Various programs will import, but in the last instance you can simply drag the files off the card icon to a folder on the computer. Then you worry about what Adobe version will still read your RAW files, but that is another story.

There's a program called Graphic Converter (LINK) that is available for both Mac and Windows that is an almost universal access program to almost all graphics formats.

Compact Flash and SD Cards come in many flavors, class of cards, CF Cards UDMA and UDMA 7 and write/read speeds, SD Card UHS-1 and UHS-II and a symbol that looks like a C with a 10 and it all means stuff. In General a modern highend CF card will be faster than SD Cards. But there may be some old slow CF cards out there that write slower than the newest fastest SD Cards. The newest fastest CF cards are faster than fast SD Card, My 5D MK IV uses two card slots, One CF and one SD, in my camera the CF Card is a UDMA 7 Card that writes at 120 MBs, faster than my SD card which is an Extreme Card with write speeds claiming 100 mbs, the CF Card is the one used for 4K Video. I believe either slot can do HD Video. But you should learn a bit about memory cards, not all SD Cards can handle HD Video. When I buy cards I need to be sure I buy cards that have write speeds fast enough to keep up with the data being recorded, it is usually best to buy cards faster than you need. A few years ago, I learned the hard way shooting with a Black Friday Walmart $10 SD Card that it was not keeping up with my Canon 6D. It crashed and I lost about 4 hours of shooting the Denver, Colorodo Day of Rock. It was a cheap slow card low end card and it cost me the better part of a day shooting.

 

Do a search on understanding what card requirements are needed for your camera. Remeber, it never hurts to get a faster card than you need, but getting a slower card can ruin camera performance or even ability to do certain functions like record video.

 

There is a lot of good info out there with a web search..Here is one LINK to get you started. Good luck.

John, you make an excellent point. CF Cards need more care, don't stick loose CF cards in your pocket and piece of lint or dirt get in one of the holes. Then trying to plug that card with clogged holes into your camera and yes it will bend the pins. That design has it's flaws and probably goes back decades.

 

I also worked with someone who bent the pins on their camera and it had to go back to Canon to replace the bent pins. I have not bent any pins in 16 years of owning Canon DSLRs, knock on wood, I do look at the pin holes on my cards, probably should look at the pins too to be sure nothing fell in there while swapping cards.

 

There should be a label in the card slot door that reads "WARNING! INSPECT YOUR PINS AND CARD BEFORE INSERTING!" lol. Wonder what percentage of CF Pin damaged cameras have to go back for repair out of all sold..

Thank you for the Info.