Part Three - Digital Photography Basics
by Chuck Gardner
Transferring Images to your computer
 Sony Mavicas use diskettes for storage which make transfer easy, but as
noted above the increasing size of files has made this method impractical. Other digital cameras come with some form of cable connection
to a computer for file transfer, usually via a USB port. All of these
require using a cumbersome application to view and save the pictures. A far simpler approach is to use a separate media
reader which plugs into your computer's USB port. The storage card is removed
from the camera, inserted into the reader, and it appears as an icon on your
computer desktop. The files can then be easily copied to the computer hard
disk, then deleted from the card, eliminating the need for in-camera deletion or
reformatting.
Storage in the Field Camera storage media come in various capacities ranging from 8 MB to 512 MB in some formats. The IBM microdrive is available in sizes up to 1 GB. The number of photographs which will fit in the camera will depend on the capacity of the storage media and the format of the photo you select. For example, I use a 64 MB CF type 2 flash memory card in my Kodak DC290. If I take photos in 1792 x 1200 TIFF mode the card will only store 10. However if I switch to "Best" quality (minimal JPEG compression) the same card can store 92 photos. At the lowest resolution (pixel dimension) and quality (extreme JPEG compression) over 900 photos can be stored. Thus, depending on the quality you want and the number of photos you plan to take a single 64 MB card can last less than 10 minutes or a year!  On-line camera reviews will provide
information on how many photos will fit using various resolution and quality
settings. If you find you will need more than two 64 MB flash cards you should
consider the use of a laptop or one of the standalone transfer units on the
market made by Iomega or Minds@Work. These may be cheaper than the cost of
several flash cards. I use a Digital Wallet by Minds@Work. It is a battery
operated 6 GB hard disk. I can pop my 64 MB card out of the camera and into the
Digital Wallet to copy the files. I can then reformat the card in the camera
and continue shooting using the same CF card.
Archival storage One of the downsides of digital photography in the early days was the problem and expense of long term archival storage. Apart from the original camera files it is very likely there may be several iterations of edited files which will need to be stored. Fortunately the onward march of technological innovation has provided a inexpensive solution in the form of new, relatively inexpensive computers with huge 20-30 gigabyte hard disks and plug-and-play CD recorders. Nowadays archiving 650 MB of photos onto a CD is a drag-and-drop operation that costs less than a dollar for the blank CD. Segregate your files in folders that will fit on a CD-R and back up frequently. Otherwise you are only one disk crash away from losing your entire photo collection! Goto Next Page > Goto < Previous Page Goto Class Outline Goto super.nova.org my home page. |