Importing from memory card directly as good as importing from camera?

[dtbain]

Am I right that there is no reason not to import by plugging my camera's memory card into the card reader on my laptop, as compared with connecting my camera (with memory card in) to the computer?

Sometimes there are problems when I import from the camera (e.g. the camera turns itself off mid-import) so I thought I might as well take the card out and import from that directly. But, again, I just want to check that there is no difficulty in so doing, e.g. no important data will be left out?

I am importing and converting to dng raw pics taken with a Canon 450d.

Many thanks in advance

David

 

[Victoria Bampton]

That's a handy tip Bryan, thanks

Good to see you posting Hankw, welcome to the forum!

 

[Duncanh]

Yes Bryan, good tip never thought of that, will do in future when I buy new cards, thanks.

 

[Allan Olesen]

Another issue which may count in favour of cable:
My camera has GPS. To speed up the GPS fix, there is a file on the card which contains aGPS data for one month. This file is automatically updated if I connect the camera with a cable. If I put the card in a card reader, I have to download the file manually from Sony's website and put it on the card.

But despite this advantage to cable, I also prefer using a cardreader. Especially since I got this UHS-I SD reader which can sit permanently in the Express Card slot of the laptop and can read from my SD card with 70 MB/s:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Transcend-RDF1-ExpressCard-Reader-SDHC-UHS-I-SDXC-UHS-I-TS-RDF1-/121010554034?pt=UK_Computing_Other_Computing_Networking&hash=item1c2cca84b2

 

[clee01l]

My D800 has both SDXC and CF card slots. I prefer the SD card over the CF card even though there are "experts" on the web that will tell you the CF card is superior/faster/more reliable etc. than the SD card. I've never had an SD Card or CF card fail although that is probably my luck. I did have a no name CF card that would not be recognized by my D800. A few years back I di bend the pins in my HP Pronter CF card slot. Since then I have been skeptical of CF cards and thing the basic interface design is flawed. The CF card fits into the slot and is assisted by two guide rails. One guide rail is thicker than the other so that inserting the card upside down is not likely unless it is forced. If the rail distance tolerances are good and the rail is long enough the CF card is well seated by the time it reaches the pins. If the card reader is cheap, tolerances are off guide rails are too short, the card can enter without aligning properly with the pins. The guide rails on my D800 are ~25mm and the CF card is inserted the full 35mm length. I am comfortable that as long as I am careful I will not bend the pins in the expensive card reader called a D800. My USB3 Card Reader has rails that are ~5mm long and the CF card can only be inserted ~7mm of it's 35mm length. IMO the possibility for a damaged pin in this card reader are great. There are better card readers out there with sufficient depth but I have not found any that are USB3.
My CF card is used in my D800 for overflow when the SD cards fills up. In the event that my D800 CF card reader does get a bent pin, I still have the SD slot so I can continue to operate it without a CF card. Unfortunate is the photographer that has a camera with only a CF card drive.

Even with the risk of a bent pin, I will continue to recommend using a card reader, even a cheap card reader over the camera. Li batteries are not cheap. Mine are running about $50-$75USD. I can buy a lot of cheap card readers for the price of one battery with a limited number of charge cycles.

 

[dtbain]

Thanks all. That is as always on this forum very helpful. I used my laptop's card reader (since I had 8 cards full!) and it worked fine.

all best

d

 

[dtbain]

Out of interest, why do you use both CF and SD. Is that they have different virtues, or simply that your camera has one slot for CF and one for SD?

d

 

[Jim Wilde]

In my case it's because the camera (5DIII) has slots for both, together with various options (fill one then start on the other, write Raw to one and Jpeg to the other, or duplicate whatever the shot selection is to both cards). The latter is what I now do, so If anything goes wrong with one of the cards, I have an instant backup.