New camera!

[kate_nepveu]

With which I took the icon and the picture behind the cut, both gifts from Chad's family over vacation. No, they are not particularly good, but I am just getting started.

Isn't he just so grumpy?

Oh, and does anyone else have a Canon SD series? (This is the 800.) What's better, taking out the memory card and using a card reader, or using the USB cable? The little door for the USB cable feels incredibly flimsy, but I don't know how robust the memory card is, either.

Comments

[montoya.livejournal.com]

It's generally easier to just use a card reader -- no driver issues to worry about (though I think cameras show up as MTP devices, these days), and almost always faster transfers.

(As for reliability, my S100 did have the card door break, but a) that was because I dropped it, and b) I doubt a mini-camera so ancient it used CF is really relevant to modernity.)

[kate_nepveu]

The camera shows up in Explorer when connected by cable, after installing some software. But I'll just use a reader, I think.

[annewashere.livejournal.com]

It is Eeyore the Iguana, in fact.

[kate_nepveu]

I resist naming my plush animals for reasons not relevant to this discussion, but I think that face is a little more cranky than despondent.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

The direct connection vs. card reader debate is a perennial source of pointless argument on camera forums. Using the card reader doesn't run down the camera batteries during transfer, but on the other hand, some have suggested that wear on the card slot from frequent removal is a valid consideration.

In the earlier days of digicams, driver installation issues were often intractable enough that people were driven to card readers by default, but things are a lot better now.

My advice is to do whatever is convenient for you.

[kate_nepveu]

wear on the card slot from frequent removal is a valid consideration

Uh-oh. I'm popping a SD card in and out of my Palm several times a week. Is this really an issue? (There are programs that will read the SD card while it's still in the Palm, if so, but that requires hooking the Palm up with a cable, rather than syncing wirelessly.)

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

I have the same camera, but I dan't have a card reader. I have had no driver issues with my mac though using the USB...

[kate_nepveu]

The hookup I can get to work, it's just that the little door, being pulled out on a little bit of flexible plastic . . . I'm convinced it's going break off any minute.

[ckd]

We have a Canon SD550. I use a card reader, but this is mostly habit going back to my original digicam (a Nikon Coolpix 900) and the way it ate batteries. Also, that one used CompactFlash cards, and the CF-PC Card adapter was a whole lot faster than the serial(!) cable. (Later cameras had USB, but the PC Card slot was still faster.)

If I still had only a USB 1.1 card reader, I'd use the camera. As it is, both the camera and the reader support USB 2.0 so it matters not.

[kate_nepveu]

Serial! Our old Canon A-series uses CF, but at least it has USB . . .

[ckd]

Serial is so last century. (We got the N900 in 1998.)

[paoconnell.livejournal.com]

On personal experience, I'd say the card reader is better. I have a Canon A540 camera, but I also have a built in SD card reader (the right kind) built into my laptop. Strangely enough there's another on my printer. I don't trust the Canon's USB cable (small, delicate connector on the camera end), though I've actually used the cable a few times.

I do have to be careful taking the SD card out of the camera, since the card goes into a socket next to the batteries, and the same somewhat flimsy door covers both the batteries and the SD card.

[kate_nepveu]

The battery/card door on the SD800 is a veritable pillar of strength compared to the door covering the cable connections.

I think I will just use a card reader.

Thanks.

[threeringedmoon.livejournal.com]

I've grappled with the same issue on my DSLR Pentax. It sounds as though d**ned if you do, d**ned if you don't.

[kate_nepveu]

Man, you'd think a DSLR would be better built than a point-and-shoot, even a nice-ish one . . .

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Ye gods, that is a scary lizard.

[kate_nepveu]

He's much more comic in person, where it's clear that he's 6" long and squooshy.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Oh, I bet!!

[culfinriel.livejournal.com]

Because you haven't had enough comments on his already - I tend to use the card reader.