Transfer Images from a Digital Camera to a Computer

Are you having trouble transferring your pictures from your camera to your computer? It's easy! And pretty soon you'll be able to do it with your eyes closed.

Many cameras come with software to download pictures from your camera to your hard drive. This article will cover how to get the pictures using either the camera’s software, or your operating system.

Steps

Transferring using camera software

  1. Run the software that came with your camera. Pop the CD into your computer and go through the setup steps. If you bought the camera used, or for one reason or another, just don't seem to have the CD, you can probably find one on eBay. You might even be able to find it available for download on the camera manufacturer’s website.
  2. Connect the camera to the computer. Most of the time, you'll hear a sound or something will pop-up if the camera is connected properly and working.
  3. Sync the camera to the computer and transfer the pictures. With most camera software, as soon as you connect the camera to the computer, something will pop up asking if you would like to sync the pictures to the computer. After that it's pretty self-explanatory. If nothing pops up or it was never supposed to pop up in the first place, find and open the camera software.
  4. Delete pictures from camera’s memory. Now that the pictures should be safely on your hard drive, the software should have an option for you to delete the files on the camera.

Transferring using the operating system software

  • If the manufacturer does not force you to use their software, many operating systems (MacOS, Windows and all recent Linux distributions) will detect the camera and mount it for you (like a flash drive).
  1. If the camera has a USB connection, just connect it to computer. If your computer has a memory card reader, it is even more convenient to plug the memory card in directly. .
  2. Open the camera folder, find the picture files, and copy them to your desired location.
  3. Remove the files from the camera’s memory. After you are sure the files are safely on your computer’s hard drive, delete the originals on your memory card.
    • Some cameras allow you to transfer files but do not support writing changes to the memory card(i.e. deleting). In this case you may need to clean the card using the camera controls (most cameras have a button or a sequence of buttons to clear the card).



Tips

  • If you use a Mac you will not need to install the camera software. Simply plug in the camera, and use iPhoto to manage your pictures if you want. The iPhoto program starts up automatically. All you have to do is push the blue button in the bottom right corner of the window.
  • Under the recent distribution of Linux (SuSe, Fedora and so on) the best is to have a USB card reader connected to the computer. The system is usually able to detect and mount the inserted card and either show the folder icon on the desktop or in the file explorer. All you need to do is move the contents where you want, and you can use the Windows software CD that came with the camera to decorate your lamp instead.
  • Another option is to buy a Memory Card Reader. They will go by the name "6 in One, 12 in one, USB Reader Writer or Flash Memory Card Reader Writer.” They allow memory sticks and cards to be recognized by your computer. On Windows XP, you just plug it in and find it as another drive on My Computer.
  • If you have Windows XP, usually all you have to do is plug your camera in and when Windows asks you what you want to do, choose Transfer Images To Computer or Run Camera Wizard. This makes it much easier to transfer images and movies from your camera.

Things You'll Need

  • Camera
  • Computer
  • Connecting cord
  • Camera software (for the proper camera, this should be optional)

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