Cable or Card Downloading

[httpwww.photo.netphoto1664881546]

<p>Hi All,<br>

First of all Merry Christmas.<br>

I was wondering what is the majority in the way you are downloading you images.<br>

I tend to use the USB cable straight from camera so as to not risk damaging any pins in the CF slot.<br>

But doing this daily I was wondering if it will effect the seal to that area of the camera (D300).<br>

What are you preferred methods?</p>

<p>Cheers,<br>

Warren</p>

[jose_angel]

<p>Thanks Warren. I`d tend do the same as you for the same reason. Anyway, I need to switch continuosly between cards for storage security reasons. What do you want to mean with <em>"effect the seal to that area of the camera"</em>? The D300 socket plate door is way more tight than the one on the D700, which is too loose in comparison.</p>

[httpwww.photo.netphoto1664881546]

<p>Thanks Jose,<br>

Maybe it's my mind but after many opening/closing I think it is not as tight a it used to be. Luckly the card is 8GB and I tend to download before it is full by a long way. Held to D700 when i bought the D300 but wanted DX. Hope your D700 stays dry.</p>

[Rene11664880918]

<p>Warren... I do the same as you! If you are afraid about the cover getting loose.... The same thing will occur if you start opening and closing the card cover. Either way you do it all have to make sure is that you are careful and don't do it in a rush.</p>

[hans_janssen]

<p>I use a card reader for 4 reasons:<br>

1 camera with cable connected to on my desk is asking for trouble<br>

2 much faster<br>

3 I don't like the opening but special the closing of the rubber lid<br>

4 the usb connecter is easier to damage as the card slot</p>

[walterh]

<p>I know that many will have a technical reason to prefer removing the card and to transfer the files via a card reader. Others will have a technical reason to transfer images directly from the camera.<br>

I guess there is enough pro and contra for both so in my view is is a matter of taste. I personally use the CF card in a reader because it is faster and I can format in the computer and do an error analysis of the card. If you can handle a card in a gentle way I see a low danger of bending the pins.</p>

[Dieter Schaefer]

<p>Card reader all the time because it is much faster, don't like to tether the camera to a computer, no need to run down the camera batteries for file transfer, usually have to transfer from more than one card and/or camera.</p>

[ronald_moravec1]

<p>If you damage the USB, the repair can be delayed. If you bend a pin, the camera is out of action. Batteries are user replaceable and cheap compared to repair labor. A usb can be run to a camera on the floor where it will not fall. My desk is 30" wide and a camera will not fall off.</p>

<p>Downloads from a good card and good reader is faster and can be important for some types of pro work like if you have 1000 images from overshooting a wedding or you did a sports event and held down a motor drive and need to get the images to a publisher fast. If you have 100 pics from a vacation, no matter. Plug the camera in and do something else for a few minutes.</p>

<p>In any case, use caution and work slowly and carefully and there will be little problem.</p>

<p> </p>

[Matt Laur]

<p>I've pulled and re-seated CF cards literally thousands of times, and never had a problem. It takes literally 5 seconds to glance at the card to make sure you don't have any debris on it or in the connecting ports. Seating the card gently isn't any slower than doing so violently.<br /><br />On the other hand, I have dogs. I don't like to have <em>anything</em> expensive tethered to cables! And I don't like aging EN-EL3e batteries so that I can use the camera as a slower card reader, and I've done enough work on thousands of pieces of IT-related equipment to know that it's possible to have something fail and send a voltage spike up the wire (and I'd rather that my camera body wasn't on the recieving end). Everyone has their own preferences on this subject - there are definite pros and cons to each method. </p>

[stillbound]

<p>Card reader always -<br>

1. Faster<br>

2. Safer for camera - not just due to falls but also electrical surges etc....<br>

3. well no real 3 but it is faster and safer....lol<br>

JC</p>

 

[frank_skomial]

<p><br />Why card readers are not good:</p>

<ol>

<li>Card readers are on computer constantly present as disk drives letter extensions to your operating system even if the mard is removed, and more vulnerable to any virus attack planning that possibly resides on your computer. Frequently scanned if present "Trojan" , or other type of illegal software designed for this puprose alone. </li>

<li>Many poor quality card readers or implementations of the software to serve them, were causing picture corruption and picture loss, reported many times on photo.net.</li>

<li>Removed cards if not handled carefully can possibly be subject of any static electricity that could spoil the contents or life of the card.</li>

<li>Mechanical damage to USB cable port is far less likely than possible damage to memory socket in the camera with dozens of tiny pins.</li>

</ol>

[kohanmike]

<p>I have a Mac so drive letters and viruses are non-existent. I use a Firewire 800 UDMA card reader and the transfer is extremely fast. I am careful to handle the card, just as I'm careful to handle the USB cable.</p>

[oskar_ojala]

<p>Why would viruses be an issue with a card reader but not with cameras? Why would memory cards even be of any interest to the virus or trojan?</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>I've done both. I always carry a USB transfer cable in my camera bag, but not a card reader. A few times when I've photographed parties for other family members I'll just transfer the pix to their PCs via the USB cable. Not something I'd do routinely but handy on occasion.</p>

[eric_arnold]

<p>i prefer a card reader, for the same reasons hans mentioned. not only is it faster and drains less battery, but the rubber USB cover is easily the d300's weakest, least-confidence-building, link. i feel secure using the CF card lever (much more so than with the d80's push-pull design). but as lex says, it's good to have a spare usb cable in the bag at all times too.</p>

[dan_brown4]

<p>Used to use a Firewire cardreader, but since I upgraded my macs, they both have fast USB, so I use a cable now days. Unless I have too many cards filled ...</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>I'm not suggesting these are logical substitutes for a simple card reader. But a potential power surge shouldn't be a significant issue. So far I haven't heard this alarm being raised among photographers who used tethered cameras with Nikon Camera Control. And I use the Nikon EH-6 power supply adapter with the tethered camera, so battery drainage isn't an issue either.</p>

<p>If I can find a spare CF card reader as tiny as my current SIIG reader I might start carrying it in my bag instead of the USB cable for reading from the camera. The SIIG card reader is smaller and lighter than most cell phones and so far has been completely reliable.</p>

[robertjewett]

<p>I have a CF reader built directly into my lap top. it is faster than any other method.</p>

[dmz17]

<p>I have a $5 12-way card reader that plugs into an USB port. Couldn't be easier. I do not bring it with me when travelling. On the road I just use an USB cable with a standard USB on the one end and a mini USB on the other end (D300).</p>

[lesterphoto]

<p>I have a USB card reader. I'd rather leave the camera in the bag ready to go for the next shoot than leave it out where I might forget it.</p>

[jmiska]

<p>I've seen damage to cameras from both methods:<br>

Several years back my wife had a Kodak P&S that she always tethered to her Mac. Once, upon plugging it in, the camera failed and would no longer start up- it just kept displaying error codes. Kodak determined the failure was caused by voltage through the USB cable (it was out of warranty when this happened). Whether or not Kodak's assessment was accurate, the camera worked perfectly just before being plugged in and never worked again after. <br>

I also saw someone damage the CF pins on a Canon DSLR at work by shoving the CF card in too quickly.<br>

Having seen both, I choose the card reader. I can control how carefully the card goes in. I can't control or see what comes down the USB wire. Why risk a $1000 camera body using it as a substitute for a $10 card reader?</p>

[gabesouza]

<p>I use a Lexar card reader for faster download rates, what I feel is a safer transaction (I, like others am not a fan of things tethered to cameras), and my Lexar UDMA reader takes the CF cards from my D2h as well as the SDHC cards from my D90 simultaneously, making things much easier and faster.</p>

[bobhelmond]

I've been tethering my D700 to the computer, but the heads up on household current line spikes and surges is something I'd

not considered. Thanks for that! I'll but using my card reader.

[dennis_d._hardenburger]

<p>Card reader 100% of the time<br>

Fast, and no chance of damage to the camera</p>

[kelly_flanigan1]

<p>I sort of like the serial port cable method to get sharper images. :)</p>