Take the card out or upload from Camera

[Hanky]

Differant card readers have performance variations that make it worthwhile to check before purchase. I always use reader to transfer cuz life is too short.

[epoh]

I've never even considered not taking out the card. I actually take the card out every every shoot and pop it into my photobank before I head home. Then I put the card into my card reader to dl to the pc. I've only plugged my camera into my pc once - to upgrade the firmware.

[jgrindal]

I much prefer to use a card reader because generally I have images scattered about multiple cards. Digital film is cheap, and I intend to use a @%!@ton of it.

[ptrd]

btw OT:

reformatting in the camera doesn't erase all the images if you have a program to retrieve them. thank God because I formatted the card in camera before I transfered images.

Next time I'm just going to leave them for a day or two like suggested above a few posts.

[Rson]

Originally Posted by janikphoto

I had a discussion with a photographer who said she was told to never reformat her cards. I was taught early on to erase and then reformat every time I shoot a new assignment. Back then, you HAD to, since a 256 or 512 card couldn't hold more than one or two shoots. That's what I've always done and my cards have worked fine for years.

Think of your card as a book, the pages are your images. All reformatting does is erase the Table of contents so you can rewrite over the images. All because you reformat does not mean you erase the images. Likewise on "deleting" the images. You technically aren't deleting the images, only the index to the image.

So essentially you are performing the same task twice. Just reformat and call it a day.

[srwatters]

Originally Posted by Rson

Think of your card as a book, the pages are your images. All reformatting does is erase the Table of contents so you can rewrite over the images. All because you reformat does not mean you erase the images. Likewise on "deleting" the images. You technically aren't deleting the images, only the index to the image.

So essentially you are performing the same task twice. Just reformat and call it a day.

In general terms you are correct, but it's a little more complex than that. If you delete just the last image made, and only add new images, your scenario might hold true (depending on firmware etc.). If you delete an image a few shots back, then you are essentially creating a hole in the free cluster list. This hole might be filled with the next shot, or it might not. It gets worse if you're shooting jpg images where the compression can make image files of greatly different size. This is the fragmentation of file system you see on your regular computer disk drive. Even if you completely delete all the files on the flash card, you may still have a free cluster list that is not in order and new files could occupy non sequential clusters. When you reformat the disk, that chain is re-established and you have a nice tidy situation again.

So just to be technically accurate, formatting the flash card in the camera is the best way to clear it for subsequent use. I believe your camera manual will tell you the same thing.

[pavi]

For four years and 60,000 pictures I have removed the card from my D70s and used a card reader. Now I have a camera that looses contact with the CF card to the extent that the camera needs replaced. Good news is the USB connection and cord are like new. Anyone want to buy a like new USB connection? Didn't think so.

[lhdvies]

Card reader-no contest-way faster & doesn't put undue wear on the cam battery.

[Brian Luenser]

One month after I purchased my hot off the press Canon 5D Mk II I had a horrible incident. I always have used a card reader as opposed to hooking up the umbilical cord to the computer. After taking a few hundred great pictures I was anxious to get them on my computer. Pulled out my card (A CF card), plugged it into my week old card reader and tried to upload my pictures. Wasn't working. Re-booted my computer to no avail. Decided I really wanted to see those great pictures so I gave up on that upload. Put the chip back in my camera and hooked up the patch cord. Still, did not work. I figured my chip had gone bad. As my camera was just a month old, and $3,500. I woke up at 7am, RAN to Walgreen's and bought an overpriced 2 gig CF chip to get rolling again. RAN home and installed my brand new chip. Camera said, "Chip not formatted." Figured it was a cheapy so I would format. Camera then said, "Can not format." Oh, oh. Sure enough. I went to my original 8 gig CF chip and held it up to the morning Sun. There was a pin inside one of the chip sockets.

The story goes downhill from there. What happened was my new chip reader (an admitted cheapy) had a pin break off in my Chip. Not knowing any better, I then took that chip that already had a broken pin in it and stuffed it in my new camera, only to break a pin in my new camera. So in the course of 2 minutes I ruined a $29. chip reader, a $129. super fast 8 gig CF chip, and my new $3,500. camera.

I rushed my new Canon to the local camera store that I bought it. I thought surely that they would say, "Not a problem, camera is just a month old, Canon warranty will take care of that." but nope. They said, "Not covered under warranty." It will cost you around $700. to fix and will take many weeks to send it off. I thought I was going to cry like a 1 year old. Of course in hindsight, I should not have taken a chip that was not working and stuffed it back in my camera. (I really was thinking it was a computer problem at that point. Or even a bad card reader.) BTW, it took 12 weeks to get my camera back. 12 VERY long weeks. So long that my new camera was not the hottest camera on the block any more and could have been purchased for a few hundred dollars less.

What is the moral here? Several things.

A. Don't buy a cheap card reader. I could have known it was poor by the fact that the chip only went in about a half inch. That allows contact with the pins while still at an angle.

B. There is a risk to taking a chip out of your camera. I think a fairly big risk if your your camera uses a CF chip instead of a SD chip. (20 little pins)

C. If you are having any problems with an upload, don't put that chip back in the camera without further investigation.

I now never remove my chip. Not willing to be without my camera for 12 weeks. I do not like to, particularly when I have a big lens hanging on my camera, but walk over to my computer hand hood up the lifeline.

[Imagebuffet]

Long, long ago, when I got my first digital camera, I tried downloading from the camera to my computer. I decided that this is nonsense. I've been removing the card ever since, now a decade later.

Yes, you can ruin your card. Yes, you can corrode the contacts. No, you should not touch the electrical contacts, and you should treat the card gently. Don't put your memory card in a box with a bunch of junk and leave it to rattle and roll around the back of your car, like my friend did. Otherwise, like my friend, "Card not found" will be your lament.

Pulling the card out probably introduces some wear on the card that it wouldn't get, otherwise. Then, again, downloading from the camera really stinks, it's so slow and drains the battery.

[Imagebuffet]

Originally Posted by Brian Luenser

One month after I purchased my hot off the press Canon 5D Mk II I had a horrible incident. I always have used a card reader as opposed to hooking up the umbilical cord to the computer. After taking a few hundred great pictures I was anxious to get them on my computer. Pulled out my card (A CF card), plugged it into my week old card reader and tried to upload my pictures. Wasn't working. Re-booted my computer to no avail. Decided I really wanted to see those great pictures so I gave up on that upload. Put the chip back in my camera and hooked up the patch cord. Still, did not work. I figured my chip had gone bad. As my camera was just a month old, and $3,500. I woke up at 7am, RAN to Walgreen's and bought an overpriced 2 gig CF chip to get rolling again. RAN home and installed my brand new chip. Camera said, "Chip not formatted." Figured it was a cheapy so I would format. Camera then said, "Can not format." Oh, oh. Sure enough. I went to my original 8 gig CF chip and held it up to the morning Sun. There was a pin inside one of the chip sockets.

The story goes downhill from there. What happened was my new chip reader (an admitted cheapy) had a pin break off in my Chip. Not knowing any better, I then took that chip that already had a broken pin in it and stuffed it in my new camera, only to break a pin in my new camera. So in the course of 2 minutes I ruined a $29. chip reader, a $129. super fast 8 gig CF chip, and my new $3,500. camera.

I rushed my new Canon to the local camera store that I bought it. I thought surely that they would say, "Not a problem, camera is just a month old, Canon warranty will take care of that." but nope. They said, "Not covered under warranty." It will cost you around $700. to fix and will take many weeks to send it off. I thought I was going to cry like a 1 year old. Of course in hindsight, I should not have taken a chip that was not working and stuffed it back in my camera. (I really was thinking it was a computer problem at that point. Or even a bad card reader.) BTW, it took 12 weeks to get my camera back. 12 VERY long weeks. So long that my new camera was not the hottest camera on the block any more and could have been purchased for a few hundred dollars less.

What is the moral here? Several things.

A. Don't buy a cheap card reader. I could have know it was poor by the fact that the chip only went in about a half inch. That allows contact with the pins while still at an angle.

B. There is a risk to taking a chip out of your camera. I think a fairly big risk if your your camera uses a CF chip instead of a SD chip. (20 little pins)

C. If you are having any problems with an upload, don't put that chip back in the camera without further investigation.

I now never remove my chip. Not willing to be without my camera for 12 weeks. I do not like to, particularly when I have a big lens hanging on my camera, but walk over to my computer hand hood up the lifeline.

*sniff* I always tear up when I read these tragedies!