Help. Wedding this weekend - can't download images

Michael_Fink · #1 03-11-2004, 06:17 AM

Please help! My friends' wedding is this weekend. I'm not the official photographer, but they have asked me to take some candid shots.

I only have two 256MB cards so I have arranged to borrow another friend's laptop. The intention is to download on-site (and then erase and reuse the cards).

However I cannot get ZoomBrowser EX on her computer to recognise that a camera is attached. The Windows dialogue box Found New Hardware Wizard comes up both when I switch the camera on, and when I attempt to download from within ZoomBrowser EX. It seeks to install a device driver, which it cannot find on the installation CD (Ver. 6.1) or the harddrive.

I have had no problems with ZoomBrowser EX on my own computer. And I have subsequently successfully downloaded to my computer, so I don't think it's anything I've done with my 300D.

Both computers run Win 2K Prof.

Can anybody suggest what I should tweak on her computer?

Any advice greatly appreciated,

Michael

Antonio_Hui · #2 03-11-2004, 06:57 AM

Buy a card reader ! It is also really useful to you cos you have two CF card. that's means you can still take shot with your camera and the other CF card is being upload to the computer. also, USB 1.1 will take much time to upload.

Antonio Hui

Jim_Larson · #3 03-11-2004, 09:17 AM

Yes, USB 1.1 card readers can be as low as $10! Shoot raw, download with one card while shooting with the other!

Michael_Murphy · #4 03-11-2004, 11:41 AM

Shoot RAW, as recomended above. Buy a card reader. And get some more storage! Borrow a 1 gig card, or buy a couple more 256 or 512 cards.

I have been using a laptop to download pics for 1 1/2 years. Sometimes it works great, sometimes it is a huge distraction. Usually at events like a wedding it is awkward. Too much commotion, hard to get through crowds to get to the laptop and back to take pics, you need someone to watch the equipment, drinks get spilled, etc. And of course there is always that extra chance to screw up during the transfer and delete process!

I have a 1 gig (161 pics in RAW + small JPEG) plus 3 256meg (3x39 pics in RAW + small.) I fill the 1 gig, then use the 256's while downloading the 1 gig. Less chaotic that way.

You might want to use RAW + large JPEG - about 29 per 256 card I think. Extract the JPEGS and you have immediate review and output. Use the RAW's for corrections and best quality prints.

Have fun!
M.

Gabriel_Aguirre · #5 03-11-2004, 11:53 AM

I recently bought (and this is not a paid advertisement!) an Archos Gmini120 mp3 player/data storage gadget (for about US$220) with 20GB, and believe me, it was an incredible thing when I went to Europe last week. It has a CompactFlash card reader (accepts both types), and it was a life saver, for there were days when I just shot about over 600+ pictures and although I have two 256MB and three 128MB cards, when you shoot in JPEG-Fine or RAW mode, you go through the cards rather quickly.

If you get this solution (you'd spend the same money as you would for a good 1 GB CF card), you don't have to worry about software issues; you dump the files from one card, while you load the other on your camera and continue shooting as the pics are written to the hard drive. The Gmini120 is USB 2.0, and is 1.1 compatible (like virtually all 1.1 devices), and that way once you're done you worry about dumping all your pics on your laptop or desktop, not have to worry about how the heck you're going to transfer from one laptop to the other (over a network link I'd say is faster).

I highly recommend practicing the day before you shoot, you don't want to learn the hard way right in the middle of your shooting day, be it either the way I suggest or with the laptop you're borrowing.

Cheers.

LeeHammond · #6 03-11-2004, 12:44 PM

I would add to the opinions: get a card reader. I got USB2 models for about $12. Win2k sees the CF card as an extra drive, so you can copy all files to the PC hard drive. You do not need to use Canon software. xcopy will do it much more quickly. And, as someone else pointed out, there is less distraction this way. You do not really want people looking over your shoulder, trying to see the pictures.

2 more cents...I would not reuse cards like this, before I had two verified copies of the photographs, but this is your choice.

AlanDee · #7 03-11-2004, 03:17 PM

I shoot wedding and definitely recommend a card reader if you intend to transfer the images to a laptop. Get a USB2 reader, the transfer speed is much faster than USB1. You can still take picture with the camera while the tranfering is being done. The laptop will recognize the reader as a removable drive and allows you to move and copy files between folders (including the CRW or JPG files from the card reader) as you normally do. I'd recommend selecting all the folders from the CF, right click and hold the folders, drag them to a folder (let's say a folder named "wedding pics"?) on the desktop, then select "Move Here" when you release the mouse button. The file transfer will take place, Windows will erase the files on the CF once it get copied to Wedding Pics, you can have the Wedding Pics folder open on the desktop, set View to Thumbnails, and check the folder as it updates with pictures moved from the camera. When the TX is done, you'll see the photos in the Wedding Pics folder, and the CF card is emptied and ready for the camera.

Regards,
Alan