Transferring the Pictures

Introduction:
No matter what type of memory card format your digital camera uses, you’ll need to get the pictures out of the camera and into the computer. You would want to do this because you’ll have greater control of your pictures, like editing and sharing the photos. This section will describe what type of hardware and software you will need to transfer the photos to a computer or a portable device.

Hardware:
There are some choices on the ways of transferring your photos. It could be to your computer or a portable device.

Computer:
When you are transferring photos to your computer you have two choices, either directly from the camera or from the memory card.

Camera to Computer:
In order to use the camera to computer method, all you need to do is connect the camera to the computer using the bundled cable. Most cameras are bundle with USB cables, some older ones use slow serial cables and very few use Firewire.

Memory Card to Computer:
Using a card reader is probably the best way to transfer the photos to your computer. I think so because it saves your camera’s battery life, it’s faster, and you can manage the files on the memory card. It saves power because you won’t use your camera’s battery; instead it uses your computer’s power. Overall the speed is faster since it doesn’t have to go through the camera. It is a dedicated piece of hardware. Also, it is easier to manage the files on the camera. For example, you can edit choose what files to keep or delete on the memory card. Card readers are discussed in the Accessories section of “Buying a Digital Camera.”

Portable Storage Devices: ($300+)
If you take a lot of photographs and don’t want to carry a laptop with you, you can consider a portable photo storage device. These handheld devices are small and can hold about 10,000-60,000 photographs. Not only can you transfer them from the memory card, on-the-go, but you can also view the pictures you took. These units can read many memory card formats and can keep your photos organized. Consider looking into one of these devices if you travel a lot, because these devices aren’t cheap.

Backup:
You should definitely look into backing up your digital photos because it would be horrible to lose all your precious pictures. Once you get the pictures on the computer, you can burn CDs or DVDs as a backup. Burning CDs or DVDs are effective ways of backing up your whole photo library on disk(s). My preferred method using another hard drive, whether it is internal or external and occasionally send your photographs over to that hard drive.

Software:
No matter which operating system you use, there is a great selection of applications. These applications will let you download the photos to your computer and editing the photos. All applications I feature include transferring and editing pictures features.


Windows:
On Windows, there are many photo editing applications that will let you transfer photos to your computer.

Picasa:
This free application from Google called Picasa, lets you download the photos, organize them, and edit them. This was originally a $29.99US application it is now free because Google recently acquired it. The interface of Picasa looks very similar to Apple’s iPhoto and it has been able to maintain a simple design throughout the application. The main problem with this application is that it keeps the photos stored where you imported them. For example, if you imported them from your desktop, Picasa will leave the files on your desktop. Most applications do not leave the photos where they originated; rather they organize the photos in a database. Therefore, Picasa is a great free application but with the flaw of having unorganized file structures.

Photoshop Elements 3:
If you want a commercial application with a much more elaborate feature set, then Adobe Photoshop Elements is the perfect way to go. Not only that it is from the creators of Adobe Photoshop, the best photo editing application, they managed to make a stripped down version of Photoshop that remains powerful and is easy to use.


Mac OS X:
What’s wonderful on the Mac is that Apple makes the hardware and the operating system, which means you get seamless integration with their products. In digital photography, it is no exception, with iLife you have all these wonderful applications made to integrate with each other smoothly.

iPhoto:
This is my digital photo application of choice for OS X because of its intuitive interface and usability. When you plug the camera or memory card into the Mac, iPhoto will automatically open and ask if you want to transfer the pictures to the computer. Then, once you get them into the computer you can organize them by folders, titles, and time. There are some awesome editing and sharing features in iPhoto.

Linux/Unix:
On Linux, the applications are becoming more alike their Windows and Mac counterparts, it gets the job done wonderfully. Since Linux/Unix has great and active developers around the world, applications are being made and improved every day. With digital photography, there are many applications that can help you. But, I decided to choose my favourite one.

gPhoto2/digiKam:
This application is wonderful because it finally makes transferring photos from a digital camera easier on Linux. Before, there was very minimal support for newer cameras, but now with all these great developers, there is a larger amount of support available for all types of cameras. gPhoto2 is the code behind all the photo transferring while digiKam is a interface for the code. This means, it serves the graphical user interface for gPhoto2. In digiKam, there are some editing features that make it look and feel similar to its Windows or Mac equivalent.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, you should always backup your photographs. All of the applications mentioned can transfer photos from your digital camera or memory card, organize you photos, and edit the photos.