If you're using Microsoft Windows XP or Vista, you'll find that Windows will take care of a lot of image transfer hassles for you. If want to customize your transfer experience, you can easily do that to build the type of workflow that you like.
When you plug a card reader or camera into Vista or XP for the first time, Windows might make some kind of mention of installing a new driver.
Figure 4-3. When plugging in a card reader for the first time, Windows might tell you it's installing a new driver.
Follow any necessary onscreen instructions to get the camera or card reader working. Once the card reader or camera is configured, Windows will show you a simple window that lets you specify what you want done with the images on the card.
Figure 4-4. Windows lets you choose what you want to have happen when you plug in a card reader or camera.
- Import pictures
lets you copy the images on your card to a specific directory on your hard drive. By default, Import pictures copies images into your Pictures directory. When you first choose Import Pictures, Windows will show you a simple dialog box, which gives you an Import button and an option to add a text tag to your images. Tags make it easier to sort and filter your images later.
If you click the Options button, you'll see a more advanced dialog box that offers additional options:
Figure 4-5. Using these controls, you can specify which directory you want the pictures imported into, and you can define naming conventions.
Once your images have been imported, Windows will show them to you in Windows Photo Gallery.
- View pictures using Windows
opens the Windows Photo Gallery, which lets you thumb through large views of your images. Using the menu items at the top, you can choose to import the images, print them, or even perform simple image edits.
- View pictures using Windows Media Center
lets you view the images on the card using the Windows Media Center, which offers a full-screen interface, with easy navigation to other images on your system.
Finally, notice the Always do this for pictures checkbox at the top of the dialog box. This allows you to specify default behavior for a card insertion.
Which option is right for you depends largely on the rest of your workflow. If you think you can manage your entire postproduction workflow in Windows Gallery or Windows Media Center, then these are all good options. If you plan on using some different image-editing software, then you can still use the Import pictures command to copy your images to a directory.
Alternately, you might want to use the Open folder to view files using Windows Explorer option, which gives you the chance to manually copy the files using Windows Explorer. Depending on what software you have installed, the menu might contain other options, like Adobe Bridge. Once you've copied them, you can work with them using your choice of programs.
I'll outline some other options in the following sections.
Changing Your Media Card Preferences
If you check the Always do this for pictures checkbox, configure an option, and then decide later that you'd like something else to happen when you insert a card, you can change Windows' behavior using a Control Panel.
From the Start menu, choose Control Panel, and then select Hardware and Sound. On the following screen, find the AutoPlay section, and click Change default settings for media or devices. Here, you can edit the Pictures category to select a different option, or you can choose Ask me every time to get Windows to present you with a dialog box of choices.
If you installed the Canon Digital Solutions Disk, then you should have a shortcut to Canon ZoomBrowser EX sitting on your desktop. ZoomBrowser also provides you with import capabilities, as well as simple browsing, editing, searching, and sorting.
It's worth playing around with ZoomBrowser to see whether you like it. If you do, you might want to make it the default application that gets launched whenever you insert a media card. You can do this using the same method described in the previous note. But, from the Pictures menu, choose ZoomBrowser EX.
If you've installed Adobe Photoshop Elements, then when you attach a media card reader or camera to your computer, the Elements Photo Downloader will automatically launch.
The Photo Downloader lets you choose a location to store your files and can create subfolders within that location based on the date and time stamp on each image. Photo Downloader can also rename your images from the nonsensical camera names to something more meaningful.
If you click the Advanced Dialog button at the bottom of the screen, you'll get an interface that lets you select which images you want to download as well as use some more advanced options such as the ability to add metadata to each image. Metadata consists of notes and tags—such as your name, copyright info, or organizational keywords—that get added to the image.
Photoshop Elements is a great image editor with all the features you'll need for almost any image-editing task, so if you plan on using Elements for your image editing, you might want to explore Photo Downloader for your image transfers, simply because of its Elements integration.
The full version of Photoshop provides all of the features of Photoshop Elements, along with some more high-end features that you may or may not need. If you think you might need the ability to prepare images for offset printing or if you routinely work with high-end 3D imaging, scientific, or video/film production software, then Photoshop will be a welcome addition to your toolbox. Otherwise, it's probably overkill for your photo-editing needs, and the money you'd spend on the full-blown version of Photoshop would easily pay for Elements and a new lens for your Rebel.
If you do install Photoshop CS3, you'll also get Adobe Bridge, an excellent image browser that has its own image transfer features.
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