Which card reader

whiskaz wrote in post #2085270
That's what I'm curious about... having not done any research. Do the card readers not make transfering the images any faster? Assuming the camera is also going over USB 2.0...

I've never done any head to head comparisons but theoretically the card reader should be faster...it's a much simpler device than the camera is. I suppose it would also depend on how the camera is configured and what camera we're even talking about.

At any rate I'd rather not waste my cam batteries and tie my camera up on a mundane task such as transferring images. The readers are cheap enough that that's a good enough reason for me.

oakmeadows wrote in post #2085291
Now if i didn’t want to buy a card reader couldn’t i just plug in my camera and use windows explorer to copy from camera to pc or am i missing something which makes card readers far superior

You CAN do that. See my post above.

oakmeadows wrote in post #2085291
Now if i didn’t want to buy a card reader couldn’t i just plug in my camera and use windows explorer to copy from camera to pc or am i missing something which makes card readers far superior

Card readers generally offer a faster interface for downloading the files.

Mark

oakmeadows wrote in post #2085291
Now if i didn’t want to buy a card reader couldn’t i just plug in my camera and use windows explorer to copy from camera to pc or am i missing something which makes card readers far superior

Using Windows Explorer? I can't speak for all Canon DSLR models, but the 20D is not recognized as a drive by Windows Explorer. Instead you have to use the software that comes with the 20D (EOS Viewer Utility) to see the files on the card while it is in the camera and transfer them to your PC.

A card reader is soooo much easier since:

1. You don't have to worry about running out of battery power during the transfer
2. The images transfer faster
3. You don't need to learn/use any Canon software

Also, card readers are so cheap why would you want to do it any other way?

Bob_A wrote in post #2085345
Using Windows Explorer? I can't speak for all Canon DSLR models, but the 20D is not recognized as a drive by Windows Explorer. Instead you have to use the software that comes with the 20D (EOS Viewer Utility) to see the files on the card while it is in the camera and transfer them to your PC.

A card reader is soooo much easier since:

1. You don't have to worry about running out of battery power during the transfer
2. The images transfer faster
3. You don't need to learn/use any Canon software

Also, card readers are so cheap why would you want to do it any other way?

I just fired off a round with my 30D and plugged it into my computer directly and it does recognize as a separate drive. You can in fact browse to the images yourself. Perhaps the 20D doesn't allow this but somehow I doubt it...Canon didn't mention any "new recognition by Windows" feature.

I use a Belkin 8 in 1 with no problems.

i bought a cheapy for $5 online and it works great....

cdi-ink.com wrote in post #2085379
I just fired off a round with my 30D and plugged it into my computer directly and it does recognize as a separate drive. You can in fact browse to the images yourself. Perhaps the 20D doesn't allow this but somehow I doubt it...Canon didn't mention any "new recognition by Windows" feature.

The 20D doesn't recognize it.

edit: cdi, are you using your 30D in peer to peer mode? If it is then yes, you can download jpegs directly from the camera using Win XP. In Normal mode you can't, and I thought using PTP it only worked for jpegs and not for RAW ... but I could be wrong.

Besides once you have a card reader you can download any type card into any computer.

I've always recommended the SanDisk 8in1 mate... however, for my laptop, I recently bought a Dazzle Thunderbolt from CompUSA... these things are freakin' lightning fast... noticibly so. It's a little flemsy, so I wouldn't really recommend it for the home... definately SanDisk in that case. Just FWIW.

I just use a Sandisk one.

Sandisk user here. I highly recommend a card reader. They download images much quicker than the camera and they are so cheap there really isn't any reason not to get one.

Bob_A wrote in post #2085570
The 20D doesn't recognize it.

edit: cdi, are you using your 30D in peer to peer mode? If it is then yes, you can download jpegs directly from the camera using Win XP. In Normal mode you can't, and I thought using PTP it only worked for jpegs and not for RAW ... but I could be wrong.

PTP? Menu option in the camera?? At any rate I have no idea but it did work with a RAW.

Got one like this for the desktop, it comes with a 3 or 4 foot usb cable.
http://www.amazon.com …mory-Reader/dp/B00006I5NU

And use this with the laptop.
http://www.bestbuy.com …uct&cp=1&id=109​3467451044

The Sandisk CF Reader works great for me. And fast too.