Your camera is a great way to take pictures. It is not however, an even remotely good way to transfer data.
When you leave the card in your camera and simply connect it directly to your computer, you make a choice to turn your camera into an extremely expensive USB drive.
For the sake of simple math, let’s say you used a 1/100th shutter speed for every photo, and that your photos will transfer in 1 second each. On my Canon – I shoot RAW, and my photos take approximately 3-5 seconds per image to transfer. (So I’m being extremely generous…) Also for the sake of argument, I am not including the time your camera spends focusing, turning on, or shutting down – as that time would be spent regardless of how you take photos, or transfer photos.
Added Wear & Tear
Your camera’s electronic components have a life – yeah, the life is pretty long – however it isn’t going to last forever. Now consider this:
- It takes a fraction of a second to record a photo on your camera.
- It takes 1-2 seconds to transfer that same photo from your camera’s memory card to your computer.
If you take 100 photos at 1/100th shutter speed, your camera has been recording data for a total of 1 second. When you transfer those photos to your computer at a generous estimation of only 1 second per photo, your camera will be reading data for a total of roughly 100 seconds.
Wait a sec…did I just say that your camera – the one you spent hundreds of dollars on – spends 99% of it’s time as a USB drive and only 1% of it’s time as a camera?
I damn sho’ did.
Decreased Battery Life
How much do your camera batteries cost? I have several cameras and they range anywhere from AA’s to very expensive specialty batteries. Now I know we’ve all been told how the new fancy Lithium Ion batteries don’t have a memory like the old Ni-Cad ones did – but anyone who still believes that, feel free to contact me privately – I have some land I’d like to sell you in the scenic Florida Everglades.
Anyone with a laptop, cell phone or mp3 player knows that specialty rechargeable batteries do NOT in fact last forever. They have a finite number of charges in their life, and if you’re using your camera to transfer the files, you’re blowing almost all of your charge, and of the battery’s life – just to transfer files.
Wow – sounds kinda silly when you put some math to it doesn’t it?
Stop the Madness
So what’s the alternative? A simple USB Multi-Card Reader. You can get them in a variety of styles, colors, sizes – I’ve even seen them shaped like pigs and monkeys and footballs and stuff. They’re cheap, they transfer files JUST as fast as your camera does, and they give you back – you guessed it – 99% of your camera’s valuable life.
What’s funny is that your computer may even have a slot already built in to read many common card styles. But even if you don’t have a reader already built in – you can get these card readers anywhere. Wal-mart, Target, BestBuy – hell, I’ve seen them at Walgreens.
The Lexar one I have will read about 10 different kinds of cards, and I think it cost me $10.
So the bottom line is – the next time you reach for that USB cable and pop it directly in your camera to transfer your photos – remember that you’re making a conscious choice to turn your valuable digital camera into a ridiculously expensive USB drive.
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