Why don't camera reviews cover the data connection to the PC?

In article , wrote:
Yes but making it impossible to download the Nikon RAW files without Nikon
software is a petty sneaky thing to do in order to make a few more people
use Nikon software. Its a hassle to have to carry a card reader with me in
my rucksack but now I have no choice. I think trivial things like this need
to get negative vocal responses from camera uses otherwise the next thing
that companies like Nikon will do is encrypt data on the SD card so that
even a card reader won't work.

Now that's absurd. What would be the point in encrypting the data? Why
spend the money developing software that'll just **** off your
customers?

Justin.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

In article , "mcdonaldREMOVE TO ACTUALLY REACH wrote:

It's not as simple as connecting the camera to the computer. AND ...
you have to take the card out, which, as the OP said, could damage contacts.

These posts are bothering me. OK, removing and re-inserting an SD card
time and time again may cause damage, but don't you risk the same
connecting and disconnecting the cable time and time again?

If either point fails the camera is useless. It's bad design, and
something the buyer should have checked before making the purchase.

Justin.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

On Thu, 25 Dec 2008 20:13:08 -0000, Justin C
wrote:

In article , "mcdonaldREMOVE TO ACTUALLY REACH wrote:

It's not as simple as connecting the camera to the computer. AND ...
you have to take the card out, which, as the OP said, could damage contacts.

These posts are bothering me. OK, removing and re-inserting an SD card
time and time again may cause damage, but don't you risk the same
connecting and disconnecting the cable time and time again?

Right. You can muck up the card or the points inside the camera by
taking the card in and out repeatedly, or you can muck up the cable
connection by plugging it in repeatedly. Not that you will in either
case, but it could happen.


--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

Justin C wrote:
In article , "mcdonaldREMOVE TO ACTUALLY REACH wrote:
It's not as simple as connecting the camera to the computer. AND ...
you have to take the card out, which, as the OP said, could damage contacts.

These posts are bothering me. OK, removing and re-inserting an SD card
time and time again may cause damage, but don't you risk the same
connecting and disconnecting the cable time and time again?

If either point fails the camera is useless. It's bad design, and
something the buyer should have checked before making the purchase.

Justin.

Of course, ANYTHING is possible.
But statistically, either event is highly improbable.
You are more likely to damage your camera by dropping it into water or
onto pavement, or banging it into walls etc., than you are to damage it
by removing and inserting a memory card.
I have had 4 digital cameras over 10 years and have never had a failure
from removing / inserting a memory card.
Bob Williams

On 12/25/08 1:26 PMDec 25, "SMS" wrote:

ray wrote:

I've never used a direct connection to transfer data on a regular basis. I
always found it easier, better, faster and saving on the batteries to use
a card reader.

It's just safer to use a cable on a CF camera.

That makes marginal sense if you only use one CF card and leave it in the
camera all the time. What if you fill up eight or ten cards? Do you put them
back into the camera to load the pictures into your computer?

Bob Williams wrote:
[]
Of course, ANYTHING is possible.
But statistically, either event is highly improbable.
You are more likely to damage your camera by dropping it into water or
onto pavement, or banging it into walls etc., than you are to damage
it by removing and inserting a memory card.
I have had 4 digital cameras over 10 years and have never had a
failure from removing / inserting a memory card.
Bob Williams

Same here, Bob. SD cards seem to be quite reliable with multiple
insertions - more so than CF cards where you hear occasional reports of
bent pins. What about the chances of dropping and losing a memory card,
especially SD?

David

On Thu, 25 Dec 2008 10:21:13 -0600, "mcdonaldREMOVE TO ACTUALLY REACH
wrote:

Bob Williams wrote:

Don't get too upset about it.
Most camera users don't even use the Camera-to-Computer cable anyway.
If your computer is of fairly recent vintage you may already have a
built-in card reader....Insert card in proper slot....Bingo!...Your pics
are ready to view and download. No Fuss....No Muss....Simple as Pie.


It's not as simple as connecting the camera to the computer. AND ...
you have to take the card out, which, as the OP said, could damage contacts.

I admit, I use the Canon software and a USB cable.

Doug McDonald

It's actually rare to damage a card contact or the card itself if you
take reasonable care. I rarely if ever connect my camera to my
computer. Using a card reader is so much faster and more convenient.

wrote in
:


"Pat Cheney" wrote in message
...
I'm sad because I read the camera reviews and now that I've opened
the gift, I found out the Casio EXILIM camera uses a proprietary USB
cable!

The reviews failed me.

I only found out when I tried to pull some pictures out that all my
mini usb and micro usb cables are useless on this Casio camera.

What good are the camera reviews if they miss totally something that
is as important as a totally non-standard data interface to the
computer???????

I'll never trust dp review ever again. I'm livid at how stupid the
camera reviewers are when they can't even tell me that a cable is
proprietary.

Not one camera review caught this. Idiots all. I'm so angry at them.

I brought the Nikon D90 the other day and found that I can only use
Nikons own software to transfer RAW data from the camera to the pc
when using a usb cable. The alternative is to carry a card reader and
keep taking the card out of the camera, hence increasing risk of
damage to the camera contacts and door and the card itself. I probably
would have just stayed with my D80, had I known.

The spindly door is a problem, but SD cards and the internal contacts are
not nearly as delicate as CF card contacts.

When I brought a
CANON G9 I discovered that it had no remote shutter realease, and I
would not have brought the camer had I known this. Knowledge of these
shortcomings is important to me and many other people but I think that
the people that wite the reviews deliberately omit them for reasons
of their own.



Remote shutter release is handy, no doubt, but timer release works well,
most times.
But reviewers (esp. Dpreview and the like) are working to SELL cameras,
not enlighten people that much.

In article
,
Nervous Nick wrote:

I'm sure he has complained about this to his GPS manufacturer because
the GPSr won't work indoors.

many recent gps units are sensitive enough to work indoors.

In article ,
wrote:

Yes but making it impossible to download the Nikon RAW files without Nikon
software is a petty sneaky thing to do in order to make a few more people
use Nikon software. Its a hassle to have to carry a card reader with me in
my rucksack but now I have no choice.

card readers are not big.