Card Reader Protocol help

Ann McRae · February 7, 2005

Hi
Well, I decided that the time has come to give RAW a try. I would really like to do this with the photos I took in Jasper this past weekend, but I really haven't a clue how to go about it. I bought a card reader today. Can any of you walk me through this? In simple terms? :huh
Thanks so much.

ann

And, today I had 2 lock ups! So I'll get the firmware upgrades done too.
Maybe next thing I'll do is clean the sensor!

fish · February 7, 2005

Ann McRae wrote:

Hi
Well, I decided that the time has come to give RAW a try. I would really like to do this with the photos I took in Jasper this past weekend, but I really haven't a clue how to go about it. I bought a card reader today. Can any of you walk me through this? In simple terms?
Thanks so much.

Ann,

Did you shoot the images in Jasper in RAW? If not, you can't turn jpegs into RAW, only the other way around.

As far as card readers, there are two main types...USB and Firewire. Essentially the way it works is you plug the card reader into the appropriate port in your computer, and plug the card into it. You should see what looks like a drive icon show up on your desktop and be able to look at all images on the card. Where you go from there depends a lot on which software you have. Assuming you have no special photo handling software, other than PS, you should copy the images from the card into a folder on your computer's hard drive. At that point, treat the images just like you would any other image.

Does that help?

As far as the lockups...two questions:
(1) Which lens did this happen with?
(2) What's your firmware level? (set mode to P and look at the very last menu item).

Ann McRae · February 8, 2005

fish wrote:

Ann,

Did you shoot the images in Jasper in RAW? If not, you can't turn jpegs into RAW, only the other way around.

Hi fish
I actually have shot every shot ever in raw/lg if I understand the symbols correctly!

As far as card readers, there are two main types...USB and Firewire. Essentially the way it works is you plug the card reader into the appropriate port in your computer, and plug the card into it. You should see what looks like a drive icon show up on your desktop and be able to look at all images on the card. Where you go from there depends a lot on which software you have. Assuming you have no special photo handling software, other than PS, you should copy the images from the card into a folder on your computer's hard drive. At that point, treat the images just like you would any other image.

I have the canon supplied software, and I use PSP 9, which supports canon RAW (whatever that means). I thought that I had read that you cannot save as RAW - and so I am assuming that I need to do things all at once. This is a crazy busy week for me and I would really like to be able to get the files onto my computer and take my time with them.

Does that help?

The card reader came with software - do I need it?

As far as the lockups...two questions:
(1) Which lens did this happen with?

With the 85mm f1.8 - it has happened a handful of times but never twice in 1 night. I did change lenses twice tonight and cf cards once. Popping the battery always works....

(2) What's your firmware level? (set mode to P and look at the very last menu item).

Still as I bought it - 1.02

So I guess my remaining question is if I get the cards from card to card reader to computer, do I need to tackle the RAW conversion right away?

Thanks
ann

fish · February 8, 2005

Ann McRae wrote:

do I need to tackle the RAW conversion right away?

Nope. A file is a file is a file. You can process anytime you want...and as many times in as many different ways as you want.

Ann McRae · February 8, 2005

fish wrote:

Nope. A file is a file is a file. You can process anytime you want...and as many times in as many different ways as you want.

Thanks fish. I'll give it a shot today!

ann

PS Why is the card reader necessary? Why won't RAW transfer via usb like jpegs?

wxwax · February 8, 2005

Ann McRae wrote:

Thanks fish. I'll give it a shot today!

ann

PS Why is the card reader necessary? Why won't RAW transfer via usb like jpegs?

Hi Ann,

It will. There are two ways you can get the files out of your camera/flash memory. The first way is to plug your camera into your computer, where it will show up as a hard drive. That's awkward and a pain.

The easiest way, as Fish explained, is to buy a cheap Card Reader. As Fish said, they can be either USB or Firewire. A Card Reader is just a cheap plastic thing a little bigger than a business card. It looks something like this.

You plug it into your computer. I use a USB2 card reader, so I just plug it into a USB port. Then you put your camera's memory card into the card reader, which like magic shows up as another hard drive on your computer.

From there, you have two more choices. You can simply use Windows Explorer to drag the files off the memory card and onto your computer's hard drive. They'll still be RAW files.

Or you can view the photos with software that can open RAW files, process them and then save them. Once you process them, you can't save them as RAW files. Most of us save the processed file as uncompressed as possible - so we keep them as TIFFs or Photoshop files.

Personally, I use Canon's software to look at the RAW files on the memory card. I use Windows Explorer to drag the RAW files I want to save, onto my hard drive. That way I always have the RAW file. When I process them, I change the file's name, and save it as a Photoshop file with layers, and also as a jpeg (for uploading to smugmug.)

So when I'm done, I usually have three versions of a shot that I like: the original RAW file, a Photoshop file, and a jpeg.

I hope this makes sense to you.

fish · February 8, 2005

Ann McRae wrote:

PS Why is the card reader necessary? Why won't RAW transfer via usb like jpegs?

Card readers typically have transfer rates much faster than the camera's USB connection, and yes, RAWs will transfer just like jpegs.

As to your question about whether you need the card reader software or not, that's entirely dependent on the reader itself and your operating system. RTFM and see what it says for your particular situation.

Good luck!

Ann McRae · February 8, 2005

wxwax wrote:

Hi Ann,

It will. There are two ways you can get the files out of your camera/flash memory. The first way is to plug your camera into your computer, where it will show up as a hard drive. That's awkward and a pain.

From there, you have two more choices. You can simply use Windows Explorer to drag the files off the memory card and onto your computer's hard drive. They'll still be RAW files.

Or you can view the photos with software that can open RAW files, process them and then save them. Once you process them, you can't save them as RAW files. Most of us save the processed file as uncompressed as possible - so we keep them as TIFFs or Photoshop files.

Personally, I use Canon's software to look at the RAW files on the memory card. I use Windows Explorer to drag the RAW files I want to save, onto my hard drive. That way I always have the RAW file. When I process them, I change the file's name, and save it as a Photoshop file with layers, and also as a jpeg (for uploading to smugmug.)

So when I'm done, I usually have three versions of a shot that I like: the original RAW file, a Photoshop file, and a jpeg.

I hope this makes sense to you.

Hi sid
Well it does make sense.....
Currently, or up til now, I have left a usb cable plugged in to my tower. I simply plug the camera in with that usb. With my sony's, it reads as drive g: memory stick, and the photos get put into a folder in 'my pictures' (xp).
When I put the canon onto the usb, a diffderent set of prompts comes up - use canon something or other, use 'my pictures', or use jasc psp 9. I choose use 'my pictures'. This only copies jpgs. I wonder if I chose the canon software option, or PSP9, if I'd get the RAW files. Could return the card reader and get my $15 bucks back

Oh, wait, I still need the firmware update.....

Thanks for outlining what you do with the files after downloading them. I guess I was remembering having read that one could not save a processed RAW file as RAW.

Thanks for your help
ann

Ann McRae · February 8, 2005

fish wrote:

Card readers typically have transfer rates much faster than the camera's USB connection, and yes, RAWs will transfer just like jpegs.

As to your question about whether you need the card reader software or not, that's entirely dependent on the reader itself and your operating system. RTFM and see what it says for your particular situation.

Good luck!

RTFM - not something I do often - why read when one can ask!:D

Thanks fish

ann

wxwax · February 8, 2005

Ann McRae wrote:

When I put the canon onto the usb, a diffderent set of prompts comes up - use canon something or other, use 'my pictures', or use jasc psp 9. I choose use 'my pictures'. This only copies jpgs. I wonder if I chose the canon software option, or PSP9, if I'd get the RAW files.

Try using Canon's Digital Photo Professional. It should be on a CD with your camera.

Here's my workflow. It's a bit clumsy for large batches of pics, but I'm selective about what I save.

I put the Compoact Flash card in the Card reader. I use Digital Photo Professional (DPP) to look at the contents of the card (the card reader shows up as another letter hard drive.) You can set DPP to show thumbnails of all the pics, including RAW files. Either double click on the thumbnail you want to mess with, or Alt-right arrow with your cursor clicked on a thumbnail. (If you Alt-right arrow to open a file, youy must close the file with Alt-left arrow. If you click on the X at the top right corner, you'll close DPP.)

I used to mess with the image with DPP, then Save As to a hard drive. That would convert it to a TIFF. Not anymore, though. Now I view the thumbnails, put a check on the keepers, then use Windows Explorer to drag the keepers from the flash card to a hard drive.

Once the shots are on the hard drive, I can play with them either with DPP or with Photoshop. And as long as I "Save As" and change the file name, I'll still have my RAW file.

Card Reader Protocol help

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