Is it better to leave the memory inside the camera

Gregg.Siam wrote in post #14399233
I'm with artyman. I never take my card out of camera. You can bend pins and maybe damage a card pulling them in and out, but I do it my way because I'm lazy and I think card readers are over-rated. I prefer the EOS utility automated folder creations over having to copy from one drive to another as well as manually creating a folder.

The only way you are going to damage pins and cards is if you're just jamming stuff in and not doing it right.

I use my camera. I'm too cheap to buy a CF card reader for my Mac. I rather buy more memory cards.

I use a card reader since it's considerably faster than using the camera as a transfer device.

People fret about wearing or breaking CF pins, but in general, if you use a well-made card and don't treat it like a neanderthal would, you should have little to no risk at all.

SD cards are far worse when it comes to loading and unloading them, as they use a spring loaded carrier that can wear and break over time.

Thanks all for the usefull informations

Gregg.Siam wrote in post #14399233
I'm with artyman. I never take my card out of camera. You can bend pins and maybe damage a card pulling them in and out, but I do it my way because I'm lazy and I think card readers are over-rated. I prefer the EOS utility automated folder creations over having to copy from one drive to another as well as manually creating a folder.

I would think the engineering on the 5DIII is pretty is pretty robust, and unless you're careless or rough with it bending pins should not be an issue.

I only have the 5Dc - have constantly swapped cards since 2006 but do so with care; no issues. I create my own folder system and find even the USB 2.0 readers to be fairly fast when moving several hundered wedding files from card => hard drive.

Now perhaps some here have purchased inexpensive third party cards with sloppy engineering, and that may have resulted in bent pins. But unless I've missed them I think I've only seen one "bent pin" post here.

Razeus wrote in post #14399269
I use my camera. I'm too cheap to buy a CF card reader for my Mac. I rather buy more memory cards.

Don't they have fast external card readers for the Mac? I would think buying additional cards would be far more expensive .

Rick, there are also lots of pots regarding broken CF pins from a bad card, or misaligned card ... I know ... it's happened to me

Granted I will admit it was a cheap card (SD to CF converter).

I know i'll get flamed..... but this thread is a joke right??? You - all are just kidding right??

I think it's better to pull the memory card and use a card reader to download the images, for several reasons.

I use 12 memory cards at present, so I swap them out a lot: ten 8GB that I mostly use in a pair of 7Ds and a couple 16GB that mostly get used in my 5D2. That gives me about 270-300 RAWs per card with the 7Ds and around 480-540 RAWs per card with the 5D2 (if they go on sale, I might pick up a couple more of those 16GB cards). I'm from the "don't put all your eggs in one basket" school of thought. Actually, if needed I have a couple dozen more cards... smaller, slower cards that I used with older, lower resolution cameras in the past.

At any rate, I've never damaged a card socket in any way in 8 years of shooting digital and swapping cards rapidly during shoots... a lot! Knock on wood. I have pulled a card out too fast and corrupted images on it... once. But that was while using a 30D and older memory cards that are slower writing than the 7Ds and UDMA cards I'm using now.

It's far faster downloading through the SATA connected card reader that's built into my PC, than through any USB connector I've used (USB 3 or Firewire might be faster, I dunno). The ExpressCard adapter I use in my laptop also is fast... 54MB/sec if I recall correctly. Download speed is a major consideration when I need to unload 3000+ images from a day's shoot (last Saturday's).

I also don't have to worry about corrupted files due to the connecting cord between camera and computer (I have had file corruption problems with external card readers in the past, USB 2 connected).

I can swap out a memory card in about 4 or 5 seconds, and that includes formatting the fresh card in-camera and putting the full card away securely in a card storage case. Sure, I've missed a few shots swapping cards at inopportune times, but what the heck. I try to watch remaining shots and change cards when there's a break in the action, but sometimes don't swap in time.

I plug my camera in with USB, make a cup of coffee, a bite to eat, or whatever. Images are automatically downloaded. No waiting because I'm not sitting there waiting.

I always pull the cards from my cameras and transfer files using a high speed card reader. I have never damaged any card pins in either the cameras or in the reader.

I do have one caution for folks, though. A card reader should support the card before the card reaches the pins. I bought one card reader for my new computer that had the pins really close to the front face of the reader. There was nothing to align the card to the pins. I took that reader back and got a better one that guides the cards to the pins.

I am surprised at the variety of answers, I thought they would be more towards external card readers.
Just goes to show that the answer is not always the same - what works for another may not for you.

I always pull the cards.
When I used my G1, I never did: I always plugged the camera into a USB.
I don't recall why I started using a card reader when I got my 300D (original Digital Rebel), it either didn't plug in or it was very slow, but once I started doing that, I never looked back... I always pull the card -- even on the G1 in the rare situations that I still use it.

Thanks all

can i use this unit to transfer images from camera to the laptop wireless ?
Wireless Transmitter WFT-E5A

Card reader 100% I have never connected my Cams via USB .