-= Canon EOS R7 owners unite! Post photos and discuss.

As others have pointed out, most people find a memory card is the best way when you’re shooting wilderness/BIF. But I can see a USB tether being useful in a studio setting, for example, so portrait clients can see the “proofs” right away.

A few years ago I read an article somewhere about how photogs covering big news events often have their cameras set to transfer the images out right away via WiFi. That way their agency can send them out over the wire as they happen.

Whatever works best for you personally.

John Sheehy wrote in post #19410308
I first noticed how slow the 7D2's "USB3" was when I tried to make the program "DigicamControl" do a burst sequence to the computer, tethered, with the same computer USB port that gives me about 500MB/s with other things. I thought that it was unique to the tethered shooting, but one morning I needed to empty a card before I caught a bus, and the camera was already connected to the computer, so I started a copy of the card from the camera to the computer, and progress was not happening, and I checked the throughput, and it was only about 10MB/s, compared to the ~80MB/s I was getting with a USB3 card reader with that card, and the ~25-30 MB/s I remember getting with the last USB2 reader I used in the past.

There are so many products out there that do not deliver the bandwidth that they claim. Any claim that is exactly the theoretical limit for a type of bus ("5Gbps") should be immediately questioned. Honest numbers are usually not so well-rounded.

I just transferred 5966180281 bytes using the 7D2 cable in just under a minute- so let's call it 60 seconds even. That comes to 94 megabytes per second, much faster than your personal experience, and is slightly faster than your card reader. It 500 MB/second, but neither is your card reader, either. My personal experience counts as much as anyone's.

5966180281 bytes/60 sec/(1024*1024 bytes/megabyte) = 94.8 MB/s

Tom Reichner wrote in post #19410172
.
Every photographer I know uses a card reader and takes the card out of the camera and puts it in the card reader to download images to their computer. . There must be photographers who do it differently, but I sure don't know any of them. . What you are doing is widespread and normal.

Forum users are NOT representative of the photography community in general. . So if you spend time on forums such as this one, and don't know a lot of photographers in real life, it can be easy to think that the way people on the forum do things is the normal way of doing them. . Not the case at all. . The vast majority of photographers I know are not on any photography forums at all, and they are a much more representative cross-section of photographers than the few who are active on photography forums.

.

I totally agree with you that the set of people that participate in a forum like this inherently contains a set of biases that might make the answer to questions such as "do you download photos using the camera USB connection, Wi-Fi or taking the card out?" not representative of the total population of photographers at large. I would posit, however, that the set of people that you personally know (even if a relatively large number) also has its own set of biases that would render the groups answers to such questions not representative of the total population of photographers.

I always transfer via the cable. The reason I don't take the card out is I'm afraid I'll lose it or forget to put it back in.

Archibald wrote in post #19410297
You can test the card or you can test the USB port!

Yep, this is my motivation for using card readers! I have had many USB ports in pieces of equipment go bad, some computers/laptops, and many, many cellphones (that daily charging is a killer). I am normally in fear of damaging the USB port on the camera. I do download photos almost every day and often more than one time a day (though I do use multiple cameras), so on average close to the cellphone recharge experience. Can't comment on the reliability of USB ports on $800-$1000 cellphones as compared toi >$1000 cameras, but I think if they went bad, it would be very painful.

The card readers and/or cards are easily replaceable. The card slot/reader on the camera is the other failure point. Luckily I haven't experienced any failures in any of my cameras, so I keep using that. Admittedly, we are talking about a highly bias sample set of only about a dozen or so cameras over 20 years, but hey, it's working for me

I will use the USB port to transfer images occasionally, most often when I'm traveling and forgot the CFExpress card reader.

fordbjr wrote in post #19410358
I always transfer via the cable. The reason I don't take the card out is I'm afraid I'll lose it or forget to put it back in.

Yeah... have forgotten to put it back in the past. Painful! I am a bit paranoid about it these days and always have spares in bags, and car, but it is still a worry.

PinholeR5 wrote in post #19410361
I will use the USB port to transfer images occasionally, most often when I'm traveling and forgot the CFExpress card reader.

In a pinch you could use the camera to copy the CFExpress files to your SD card, and then continue with the SD card reader.

Slower but even better for BOTH real and hypothetical failure scenarios ... do your transfer via wifi. No moving parts to worry about.

My original question was:-

Ray.Petri wrote in post #19409448
Hi Guys - in anticipation of my pre-ordered R7 arriving anytime soon before the R7DIII is released - can anyone tell me if I will be able to transfer the files from the camera to my laptop via the Wi-Fi. And also - will I still be able to connect the camera directly to my laptop via a usb lead.
Many thanks
Ray

Optiq wrote in post #19410379
Slower but even better for BOTH real and hypothetical failure scenarios ... do your transfer via wifi. No moving parts to worry about.

Hi Optic- Thank you, after four pages of eloquently expressed facts and figures, you have got my point about WiFi file transfer.
My original question was:- can anyone tell me if I will be able to transfer the files from the R7 camera to my laptop via the Wi-Fi? The ability to use WiFi will save all sorts of bothersome plugging leads and cards in and out.
Is WiFi file transfer possible with the R7?
In anticipation of the answer - many thanks folks!

Archibald wrote in post #19410376
In a pinch you could use the camera to copy the CFExpress files to your SD card, and then continue with the SD card reader.

Optiq wrote in post #19410379
Slower but even better for BOTH real and hypothetical failure scenarios ... do your transfer via wifi. No moving parts to worry about.

Yep, both valid options! Wi-Fi has been flaky for me, though For occasional use, just plugging in the USB cable is fine.

At any rate, one thing is clear, we are spoiled for options

I shoot my 7D2 and save on my CF card - and use the SD wireless card to transfer daily to my tablet. Been away from home since March 2021 and mis my PC lol

Grateful for the wireless transfer. Using an app Camera Connect & Control that is better than the Canon app.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #19410172
.
Every photographer I know uses a card reader and takes the card out of the camera and puts it in the card reader to download images to their computer. . There must be photographers who do it differently, but I sure don't know any of them. . What you are doing is widespread and normal.

Forum users are NOT representative of the photography community in general. .

.

PinholeR5 wrote in post #19410361
Yep, this is my motivation for using card readers! I have had many USB ports in pieces of equipment go bad, some computers/laptops, and many, many cellphones (that daily charging is a killer). I am normally in fear of damaging the USB port on the camera. I do download photos almost every day and often more than one time a day (though I do use multiple cameras), so on average close to the cellphone recharge experience. Can't comment on the reliability of USB ports on $800-$1000 cellphones as compared toi >$1000 cameras, but I think if they went bad, it would be very painful.

The card readers and/or cards are easily replaceable. The card slot/reader on the camera is the other failure point. Luckily I haven't experienced any failures in any of my cameras, so I keep using that. Admittedly, we are talking about a highly bias sample set of only about a dozen or so cameras over 20 years, but hey, it's working for me

I will use the USB port to transfer images occasionally, most often when I'm traveling and forgot the CFExpress card reader.

I am replying specifically to your reference of USB ports going bad and this is only my experience across multiple laptops. I find the USB3 cables with the blue plastic are not dimensionally the same as USB2 cables with black plastic. Not sure where the difference is but over time the USB3 cables stretch the ports enough that USB2 cables no longer make a reliable connection. Due to this phenomenon I always use a USB2 extension cable which I plug into the laptopn's USB port to prevent the above mentioned damage to the port. All peripherals are plugged into the extension cable. It's easy to get a new extension cable when required.

I am not sure what all this has to to with the R7

Rod

Ray.Petri wrote in post #19410385
My original question was:-

Hi Optic- Thank you, after four pages of eloquently expressed facts and figures, you have got my point about WiFi file transfer.
My original question was:- can anyone tell me if I will be able to transfer the files from the R7 camera to my laptop via the Wi-Fi? The ability to use WiFi will save all sorts of bothersome plugging leads and cards in and out.
Is WiFi file transfer possible with the R7?
In anticipation of the answer - many thanks folks!

Par for the course. Easy to go off on a tangent.

Rod

Ray.Petri wrote in post #19410385
My original question was:-

Hi Optic- Thank you, after four pages of eloquently expressed facts and figures, you have got my point about WiFi file transfer.
My original question was:- can anyone tell me if I will be able to transfer the files from the R7 camera to my laptop via the Wi-Fi? The ability to use WiFi will save all sorts of bothersome plugging leads and cards in and out.
Is WiFi file transfer possible with the R7?
In anticipation of the answer - many thanks folks!

Hi Ray, see here. Evidently it is possible. I haven't tried it yet but will give it a go later tonight and let you know how it works.

fordbjr wrote in post #19410358
I always transfer via the cable. The reason I don't take the card out is I'm afraid I'll lose it or forget to put it back in.

PinholeR5 wrote in post #19410362
Yeah... have forgotten to put it back in the past. Painful! I am a bit paranoid about it these days and always have spares in bags, and car, but it is still a worry.

I had that happen to me with the R7 when I had just one card in the camera, got to the pond... no card!

I now have 2 cards both high speed, one that I use all the time 256 mb while the other is 128 mb and set to shoot to card 1 (256) so I only pull card 1 and even if I forget to put it back in I still have card 2 in the camera