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AndyHancock wrote:
> As a gift about 2 years ago, I got a Canon PowerShot SD1300 IS,
> "Digital ELPH". I got this right from the box. In order to download
> pictures from the camera into a laptop, I have to install Canon's
> ZoomBrowser EX. Does anyone know if his needs to be installed when
> logged in as administrator?
>


Hi,

Never, never, never download pictures from a camera to anything else by
cable. If the battery gets weak, or there is a momentary current loss,
you might lose all your pictures. If your laptop has a memory card slot,
then use it. If not, as previously posted, get a card reader. If you use
an SD card, then lock it a soon as you remove it from the camera, to
avoid losing images.

You might want to back up the images to a good brand of CD-R as well.

Good luck.

Mort Linder

In article <50c69d96$0$1244$>, Mort <>
wrote:

> Never, never, never download pictures from a camera to anything else by
> cable. If the battery gets weak, or there is a momentary current loss,
> you might lose all your pictures.

nonsense.

just don't do it when the battery is nearly dead, and even if it does
die mid-copy, chances are nothing bad will happen, other than the
copying will stop prematurely.

the only loss is time, in having to do everything over again.

> If your laptop has a memory card slot,
> then use it. If not, as previously posted, get a card reader. If you use
> an SD card, then lock it a soon as you remove it from the camera, to
> avoid losing images.

either way works and there's no need to lock it either.

> You might want to back up the images to a good brand of CD-R as well.

cd-rs aren't all that reliable. dvds are better (+ better than -), but
the real problem it's a hassle to burn and keep track of the discs.

it's much better to copy it to your hard drive and let your normal
backup workflow handle it, which means multiple copies including one
(or more) off site.

In rec.photo.digital Mort <> wrote:

> Never, never, never download pictures from a camera to anything else by
> cable.

Oops! I've been only that with 5 different cameras over the last six
years.

> If the battery gets weak, or there is a momentary current loss,
> you might lose all your pictures.

Well, it does happen now and then that I forget to check battery, have
a lot of photos, and the camera powers off part way through the
transfer. But all my cameras have done the sensible thing. They don't
wait for the power to die completely. They check on power levels, and
when it's got too low to continue making image transfers safely, it
stops at the end of the current image, and close off the connection in
a tidy fashion.

There's never been any problems with simply putting fresh batteries
and restarting the transfer from where it left off.

None of my friends who do the same thing with other makes of camera
have had the problems you describe either.

Which camera(s) have you been having these bad experiences with?

> If your laptop has a memory card slot,
> then use it. If not, as previously posted, get a card reader. If you use
> an SD card, then lock it a soon as you remove it from the camera, to
> avoid losing images.

I've been doing what you describe as dangerous for six years with
numbers of different cameras and computers and have never had any of
the problems you describe. If any of these thigns did happen to me I'd
consider it a serious fault of either a crap camera or computer and
would want my money back.

> You might want to back up the images to a good brand of CD-R as well.

Really? Do you know how long CD-R's last? And how many images you can
get on a CD-R? Have you spoken to any serious professional
photographers or read their blogs about how they back up their images?

I'm starting to suspect you may just be spreading scary stories some
other scaremonger told you.

--
Chris Malcolm