Seniors Network

advertise with 
Seniors Network?
CLICK

Images From Camera to PC

Your photos will most likely be in JPEG format unless your camera is capable of capturing and storing images in uncompressed raw or TIFF format and you programmed the camera to save images in this format.
 
In either case there are three methods of getting your digital photos from the camera into your PC:
 
1 Direct via a cable into the USB port
2 Using a memory card reader
3 Using a docking station - if your camera supports this accessory
 
Which method you use is a matter of preference and convenience, but all end up with the same result ? transferring image files from your cameras memory card to a folder on your computers hard drive. Using a memory card reader is the quickest way to transfer files ? especially if there are a large number of files.
 
In all cases, your PC treats the device connected to it (the camera, the card reader, or the docking station) as an external drive. When you click the My Computer icon on  Windows desktop, the external device (camera, card reader, or docking station) will appear as an additional drive (note: the device must be turned on to be recognized as a drive). Using Windows Explorer, you can drag and drop files from your camera or memory card to a folder on your hard drive (usually under the My Pictures folder).
 
Your camera or docking station most likely shipped with some proprietary software that attempts to simplify the process of transferring images into your PC. These programs can be configured to launch when they recognized your camera turned on or the docking station set to transfer images. Typically these programs provide a basic image viewing and editing capability. If you are comfortable with its operation, continue using it but make sure the images are transferred to an appropriate folder under My Pictures, and not some folder buried within the Program Files folder of your C drive.
 
Once the images are transferred, erase the images on the memory card either in the card reader or in the camera. This is usually a check-box option in the software provided with the camera, or if you choose to transfer images using a utility like Windows Explorer, you will have to delete the image files from the memory card, just as you would delete files from an external drive or floppy drive (select files then delete). Of course, only do this after successful image file transfer to your hard drive folder is complete!