downloading pictures

[kcalkw5]

We have a Canon Rebel XT camera purchased in 2006. When downloading pictures we would remove the CF card and insert in the CF slot on our hard drive, until we got a new computer that did not have a CF slot.  We then purchased a card reader at a camera shop, but I wondered if all the removing and reinserting the Card is hard on the camera and the card.

We seem to occasionally have trouble with the reader not working correctly.  Would it be better to load the software and connect the camera directly to the computer?  Will there be a problem with compatibilty since the camera is from 2006?  We are currently running Win XP but plan to upgrade to Win 7 soon.

We have also purchased a Canon Power Shot ELPH for our daughter and it did not come with a usb cord to connect to the computer.  When we remove her card, copy pictures to the computer, then insert the card back in the camera some of the images become unrecognizable. 

Makes me wonder if the card reader is faulty.  It is brand new, replaced after the previous one stopped working.

Thanks,

Carol

[ebiggs1]

Carol,

I don't believe the Canon XT is directly compatible with Win 7. I haven't tried mine since I don't use it any more.

But any new Win 7 box should have the card reader slots already there. No card reader needed.

You do need to use care when removing and inserting the card in the slots. This is especially true with the XT since it's pins are so small. They are easily bent. You can look into the Set's CB slot and see if any pins are bent.

I believe in your case, if any piece of your equipment is bad, it is the card reader. Not the camera.

When you get your new Win 7 box, try installing the Canon software under "XP compatibility mode."  See if that works.

[ScottyP]

In my recollection it is much much slower to download pictures through the camera than it is to use the SD card directly in a card reader.

I had a kind of flaky SD card that I was able to fix by going into the camera MENU and doing a full reformatting on the card. Also they do eventually tend to die. Luckily they have gotten a lot cheaper these days.