I recently purchased an Olympus C2020Z, and it is awsome. I have been using the regular cable connection for downloading that came with the camera. Now I want to download faster and be able to do it on OTHER computers too. My computer accepts USB connections. Can someone tell me what my three best options are? maybe a little on the pros and cons. This subject would make a good "Tips" article for us newbies, too. Thanks

-- Judith King (jaking300@aol.com), February 06, 2000

Answers

The easiest/fastest image transfer method is via PCMCIA adaptors on laptops.

If your camera has built in USB, you can connect it straight to USB ports on your computer, with win98 or MacOS. If your camera doesn't have built in USB, you can yank the storage card from your computer, and stick it in a USB or parallel port card reader attached to your computer. These cost maybe $50 to $100.

If your camera uses smartmedia, there are adaptors for PC floppy drives. All these methods are pretty fast and easy.

Some cameras actually use floppy disks for storage, like the sony mavica, but these cameras sacrifice a lot of image quality for this convenience. They're also huge.

-- benoit (foo@bar.com), February 08, 2000.

Thank you for taking the time to sort through this confusing subject. My camera doesn't have USB, but I do have a USB hub that I could connect a USB Card Read to. It sounds like the floppy might be the most versatile. I could probably use this on other computers without USB Hubs. I don't know anything about PCMCIA, but it sounds expensive (?).

-- Judith King (Jaking300@aol.com), February 08, 2000.

Hi Judith,

Do check if the reader you're getting can be connected to a USB hub. The reader I bought crashed the computer when I tried to copy the images to the PC. It also mangled all the data on the smartmedia card.

Plugging it directly into the computer (without using the hub) worked!

Dennis

-- Dennis Leong (dl.kang@pacific.net.sg), February 10, 2000.

I use a Microtech USB CameraMate card reader. It accepts both Compact Flash and Smart Media cards and is very fast. I can't remember the cost offhand, but it was less than $100, maybe $80-ish? Available through many mail-order places. I'm very happy with it. Just attach to a USB port on your computer (or on a USB hub), insert the card and up pops the icon with the images in it. Simple.

-- Joan Goodman (goodink@ix.netcom.com), February 11, 2000.

Pay heed to your computer's operating system. Most USB memory card readers will not work with Windows 95, and need Win98.

-- alfred lee (alflee7@home.com), February 12, 2000.

While the floppy is indeed versatile, you shouldn't consider unless you will only be viewing your pictures on computer displays or don't want to go as large as 8x10 for prints. The reason is that the floppy disk memory capacity won't support the amount of information you need for high resolution prints.

To use on multiple machines, all of the machines will need to have a compatible reader installed or you will need to use an external reader (either reader type compatible with your camera memory card type) that you can attach via the various types of ports, such as serial, parallel or USB. To attach via a port, you will need either vacant ports or to disconnect something, transfer, reconnect. USB is more satisfactory and is theoretically a more rugged connection, able to take more connect/disconnect cycles with less chance of damaging pins, loosening screws, etc. USB doesn't always work well unless the computer is using Windows 98. Support for Windows 95 versions can be troublesome or even nonsupported with some equipment.

PCMIA slots were originally for use with adding functionality temporarily to portables but you can get PCMIA slot adapters installed in desktop machines as well. It's certainly worth considering as you check options. And there are numerous other devices that could use a slot that you might find a use for. It does add some flexibility/capability.

There is something to be said for having either a reader or PCMIA slot installed in each machine. That should reduce the problems you could easily encounter in making external connections work, especially if machines are different. Port connections can also be a little tricky getting internal/external devices communicationg properly.

-- Craig Gillette (cgillette@thegrid.net), February 13, 2000.

Thanks, Craig.

It's amazing what a person just assumes about technology he or she has never tried. I assumed that the floppy, when used with a card would be a totally different animal than the 1.4 meg and would allow any amount of memory to be loaded into the computer. Hmmmm, this puts a whole new light on the subject.

-- Judith King (jaking300@aol.com), February 13, 2000.