Connecting directly to the computer?

Hello, I am an assistant to an art director and I have recently taken on the responsibilty of shooting a ton of my companys simple studio photography. In trying to save time, I have been looking into the steps it takes to connect my s20 cannon to my laptop rather then running back and forth to my desk with the memory disk. Any suggestions as to connections (usb or firewire? it has to be fairly long. Are extentions okay or does it slow the shooting too much?) and software (can you send pictures directly to photoshop or photomechanic? If not is there other software other then capture pro that is cheap and useable?). Thanks for any help, as I said im fairly new to shooting subjects myself so sorry if this question is fairly amature.

With the S20, connections to the computer are only possible with RS-232 or USB. I'm not sure it even supports remote capture, though, so you may be embarking on a vain search. You might want to consider upgrading to a newer camera which (check, not all of them do) does support remote capture, which can be accomplished with Canon's own bundled programs. Remote capture, like any other USB connection, will be subject to the standard USB limitation of 5 m without an intermediate signal booster (powered hub or the like).

Wouldn't it be easier to get a 4 gig CF card and a card reader instead? I am assuming that you are shooting at the highest quality so it can hold somewhere between 1500 and 2000 photos. A card reader than can transfer in a few minutes.

I don't think the S20 will support FAT32, so there's probably a 2 GB ceiling. 2 GB at 3 MP represents a lot of photos. However I think the intent is to review the shots continuously. Might be better to hook the camera up to a TV set for review.

I think that the OP wants to avoid having to run back and forth with the memory card as such, create a direct link from the computer to the camera. Simplest solution might just be to take your laptop to the work area with a card reader and work on a two card system. That way you're downloading one card onto the computer while shooting with the other.

can we hook up a wireless adapter(pcmcia card) to and s2/s3 for remote shooting?

Sorry - no. Canon has offered WiFi on one of their P&S, as has Nikon, and there's an add-on for the later DSLRs, but the S20 can't do this. If you just want to view the images on a large screen for the benefit of the "client" use the Video Out to put it up on a TV monitor.

i think u miss understood, with the s2 you can shoot remotely wi'll hooked up to the usb cord and controlling everything through your computer. It works pretty good ,i've used it as a web cam, my ? is is there a wireless laptop card or somethign that has a usb on one end to hook it up to the camera and do this over a greater range??

Avanti wrote in post #2487806
Hello, I am an assistant to an art director and I have recently taken on the responsibilty of shooting a ton of my companys simple studio photography. In trying to save time, I have been looking into the steps it takes to connect my s20 cannon to my laptop rather then running back and forth to my desk with the memory disk. Any suggestions as to connections (usb or firewire? it has to be fairly long. Are extentions okay or does it slow the shooting too much?) and software (can you send pictures directly to photoshop or photomechanic? If not is there other software other then capture pro that is cheap and useable?). Thanks for any help, as I said im fairly new to shooting subjects myself so sorry if this question is fairly amature.

Avanti---If all you want to do is dump your full Compact Flash card to your laptop without having to run back to your desk, then best solution is to buy a $20 USB Compact Flash card reader (or multifunction reader for about the same price), hook it to your laptop, remove the flash card from the camera and insert it in the reader. Then just copy/paste the images from the card to a folder on your laptop's hd. Delete images on the card and you're ready to shoot some more. No special software needed besides Windows. You could also buy a long USB cable and connect your camera to the laptop to offload pictures, but the reader will be faster and way more convenient.

If you want to accomplish more than this, then we need to know exactly what you would like to do, main laptop specs, what version OS, and how much money you're willing to spend on hardware/software upgrades to accomplish your goal.

brantfordbandit wrote in post #2500957
i think u miss understood, with the s2 you can shoot remotely wi'll hooked up to the usb cord and controlling everything through your computer. It works pretty good ,i've used it as a web cam, my ? is is there a wireless laptop card or somethign that has a usb on one end to hook it up to the camera and do this over a greater range??

I thought "Sorry, no" there isn't a USB wireless hookup for the camera was quite clear. And any kludge someone came up with would be no less restricting than a wired USB direct to the computer. You appear to be asking a different question from OP. It' s better in such a case, where your goals differ from OPs to start a new topic and avoid confusing the original one with side issues.

jennyb wrote in post #2502664
Avanti---If all you want to do is dump your full Compact Flash card to your laptop without having to run back to your desk, then best solution is to buy a $20 USB Compact Flash card reader (or multifunction reader for about the same price), hook it to your laptop, remove the flash card from the camera and insert it in the reader. Then just copy/paste the images from the card to a folder on your laptop's hd. Delete images on the card and you're ready to shoot some more. No special software needed besides Windows. You could also buy a long USB cable and connect your camera to the laptop to offload pictures, but the reader will be faster and way more convenient.

If you want to accomplish more than this, then we need to know exactly what you would like to do, main laptop specs, what version OS, and how much money you're willing to spend on hardware/software upgrades to accomplish your goal.

Basically were trying to bypass that and just have the pictures pop up directly on the laptop screen as we shoot, (like with Capture Pro). If we need that software to do this thats fine, but i was just wondering if there was a more cost effective way to acomplish this. Also, is there somewhere were we can get a USB Cable that is longer then 8 feet long without using an extention? If not does using an extention slow the time or make capturing photos more risky? We'd like to be as frugal as possible, but there is money in a our budget to spend. Lastly we like to shoot some of our photographs in RAW form, is there a way thats more suitable then anything befor-mentioned? Thanks for all the help so far, this forums great!