How do I copy JPEG's onto camera sd card?

I have a Canon SX260 HS. I took a bunch of pictures on a recent trip, and downloaded them to my computer for editing and culling for showing. I formatted the SD card in the camera after downloading the pictures.

Now, I would like to put the pictures that I want to keep and show back on the SD card so that I can show them in the camera, but when I copy them to the card and then put it into the camera, it says that there are no images. If I connect the camera to my computer via a USB cable (which is how I downloaded the original pictures to the computer), I can see the SD card showing, but I cannot copy my photos back to it.

Can you tell me why I can't do this?
Thanks.

Most likely you're not putting the pictures back into the same location the camera uses to store them. Take a picture and instead of just importing it into your editing software use the computer to browse the card to see where the camera has stored it. Likely in a folder or sub-folder. That's where you should put them for your stated purpose.

nqjudo wrote in post #17384293
Most likely you're not putting the pictures back into the same location the camera uses to store them. Take a picture and instead of just importing it into your editing software use the computer to browse the card to see where the camera has stored it. Likely in a folder or sub-folder. That's where you should put them for your stated purpose.

I agree that this is your likely problem. When I open a card from my 5D3 I see two folders ("DCIM" and "MISC") which are created by the camera, inside the "DCIM" folder are two more folders ("100EOS5D" and "EOSMISC"). The images are to be found in the "100EOS5D" folder. All my cameras work in a similar manner, including my fuji bridge cameras, so I am sure that your SX260HS also creates a folder structure.

If you format the card in the camera, as you say you did, the folders will be removed along with all the files. When you take the next shot, the camera will create the folders again and store the images inside. When you just upload the images onto the card they won't be in the correct folder, where the camera will look for images, so it will say there are no images found.

I would suggest you take a couple of shots with your camera, then put the card directly into your computer and open the folders to where the images are stored, then put the ones you wish to add into that folder so they are where the camera will expect to find them. If it still doesn't work it may come down to file names (if you have changed them). The camera may only be looking for files wih a specific file name structure such as "IMG_1009" or whatever, in which case you might need to rename them.

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, in fact I had already done what you suggested, Sandpiper. I took a shot on the newly formatted card, then put it into my computer, found the folder within the DCIM folder where the new photo was stored, and copied my other photos into that same folder.
But when I put the card back into the camera, I only saw the first photo that I took after formatting the card. I couldn't see the photos that I copied into that folder.

Yes, I did change the file names (re-named and re-numbered them for my slide show). If that's why I can't see them, then I need to re-name them IMG_xxxx. I'll give that a try. Thanks.

LesF wrote in post #17384363
Thanks for the replies.

Yes, in fact I had already done what you suggested, Sandpiper. I took a shot on the newly formatted card, then put it into my computer, found the folder within the DCIM folder where the new photo was stored, and copied my other photos into that same folder.
But when I put the card back into the camera, I only saw the first photo that I took after formatting the card. I couldn't see the photos that I copied into that folder.

Yes, I did change the file names (re-named and re-numbered them for my slide show). If that's why I can't see them, then I need to re-name them IMG_xxxx. I'll give that a try. Thanks.

This has been true for a very long time...Canon requires certain overhead data to be written to the memory card in order for any file to be readable and viewable by the camera...the camera writes that overhead data, but when you simply copy a file to the memory card the necessary additional file is missing. Canon tech support verified this behavior for me, way back in the days of the Canon G2 !

Wilt, your reply suggests that what I want to do is not possible.

Anyway, I renamed the files as Sandpiper suggested, and copied them to the proper folder in DCIM. When I tried to look at them in the camera, the green light started to flash and I was able to see 1 or 2 of the files before the screen went black. I turned the camera off and back on, hit the replay button, one picture was displayed, the green light flashed for a few seconds, and the screen went black again. This was repeatable, and while the green light was flashing, I was able to review at most 4 or 5 photos before shutdown. In any case, strange behavior, although renaming the files did at least enable some of the photos to be seen for a brief time.

I'm working with 600 photos here. Would that make a difference?

ISTR that one of the functions that Canon's PowerShot software makes available is to copy files back to the camera. Might want to give that a try. But 600 photos? Get a memory card for your smart phone and show them on that screen.

Jon wrote in post #17384533
ISTR that one of the functions that Canon's PowerShot software makes available is to copy files back to the camera. Might want to give that a try. But 600 photos? Get a memory card for your smart phone and show them on that screen.

Better still, get an On-The-Go (OTG) cable for your smartphone and a 128GB USB flash drive ... then you can carry your entire history of jpeg's and show them on your smartphone. I handed my phone with usb connected to a very smart guy who had not yet seen OTG ... he was amazed. Scan Amazon to see all the possibilities.

Jon and Bubbygator,

Methinks you presume too much!

I don't own a smart phone, and never want to. My intention is to show the pictures on my HDTV as a slide show using the HDMI output from the camera. And before you suggest that I plug the SD card directly into the TV, my TV doesn't have an SD port.

Hope that clarifies things.

S'OK - I don't have a HDTV... and I never learned about HDMI. Sometimes talk on a topic goes astray.

LesF wrote in post #17384626
My intention is to show the pictures on my HDTV as a slide show using the HDMI output from the camera.

Look into the Western Digital WD TV Media Player. You can load your pictures into an external USB flash or portable drive, then connect into the Media Player. It has an HDMI output connecting into your HDTV. See the link below for more info.

http://www.wdc.com …cts/products.as​px?id=1270

avigar, assuming that the WD Media Player has the HD specs that I want, it looks like exactly what I need. My issue now is whether I'm willing to spend the $90 - $100 it costs for the relatively few times I'll use it.

Thanks for the suggestion.

So, have you looked at Canon's software? One of its' functions is, as I said above, to export files to the camera. The thing is, with 600 photos you'll find it a very slow and time-consuming process.

Jon, sorry, I should have replied sooner. In fact, I did look into the Canon software. It seems that ZoomBrowser has that function, but the software that's specified for my camera is ImageBrowser (a replacement for ZoomBrowser, I guess). When I read the documentation for ImageBrowser (on the Canon web site), it no longer mentions the ability to upload photos to the camera.

I did, however, have a long chat with Canon tech support. They said that if a photo has not been modified, it could be copied back to the SD card, provided that the file structure on the card hasn't been changed. Well, when I look at the icons for all of the photos that I took in portrait mode, they show up sideways on the computer (however, when I actually open them to view, they're right side up). So I took the liberty of righting the icons using the JPG lossless rotation option in Irfanview, which corrected the orientation of the icons without changing the actual viewing orientation. But that's apparently enough to make them unrecognizable to the camera. Also, I have a sprinkling of panoramas that I put together on the computer, that won't play when I put them on the SD card.
But as a test, I took all the original photos (the 600 that I wanted to show) that had no editing, and put them back on the SD card. When I tried to look at them in the camera, the little green led started flashing, and I had time to view the first 4 or 5 before the camera shut down (a repeatable problem).

So I guess I've wasted enough hours trying to get this to work. I have a couple of other options. I can connect my laptop to my TV via HDMI cable, but the photos don't seem to have the same "pop" to them (color saturation, I guess) as they do from an SD card. I can also show them on my smaller (and newer) 32" TV, which has a direct SD slot, but that would mean that I have to carry the TV into the living room when I have company. Or I can try the WD TV Media Player, if I can bring myself to shell out the bucks to buy it.

I'm still weighing my options.

LesF wrote in post #17384472
Wilt, your reply suggests that what I want to do is not possible.

LesF wrote in post #17384472
So I guess I've wasted enough hours trying to get this to work. I have a couple of other options.

So you have discovered, after much work, that what Canon told me back around 10 years ago is still true (no ability to simply copy an image file to memory card and have the camera display it)!