Alternative to Olympus Master...

I have recently bought an Olympus Stylus 800 that came with Olympus
Master software. I'm not particularly happy with this software, it won't
let me download to the directory of my choice creating dated
sub-directories. When it does transfer images from the camera to the PC
it dumps them in dated sub-directories right enough but deep in some
hidden hierarchy of directories where they are difficult to find. So,
what I'm looking for is some free or cheap software that will transfer
images from my camera to dated sub-directories within the directory of
*my* choice. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Just a bit of background. The Stylus 800 was a distress purchase made at
the Walmart in Prescott Valley, AZ, after I'd managed to lose my
Powershot A70 in Santa Fe a few weeks ago (with 300-odd pictures on the
card, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, et cetera, all gone). No use in crying
over spilt milk, but it meant I wasn't able to do my research on a
replacement very well.

Regards,
Nick.

--
Nick Hopton and Anne Hopton
Caversham, Reading, England

What I would suggest you do is use a card reader to read the memory
chip and that will not only allow you to name your folders exactly as
you want them, but also lose the "cord" that ties you to the Olympus
software.

Dave

The Mju 800 (and most other digital cameras today) are Mass Storage
devices which means the camera will appear as a disk drive in My
Computer (in Windoze). This means you only have to "drag & Drop" or
"copy & Paste" to the folder of YOUR choice. This is the same as using a
card reader.

Nick Hopton wrote:
I have recently bought an Olympus Stylus 800 that came with Olympus
Master software. I'm not particularly happy with this software, it won't
let me download to the directory of my choice creating dated
sub-directories. When it does transfer images from the camera to the PC
it dumps them in dated sub-directories right enough but deep in some
hidden hierarchy of directories where they are difficult to find. So,
what I'm looking for is some free or cheap software that will transfer
images from my camera to dated sub-directories within the directory of
*my* choice. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Just a bit of background. The Stylus 800 was a distress purchase made at
the Walmart in Prescott Valley, AZ, after I'd managed to lose my
Powershot A70 in Santa Fe a few weeks ago (with 300-odd pictures on the
card, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, et cetera, all gone). No use in crying
over spilt milk, but it meant I wasn't able to do my research on a
replacement very well.

Regards,
Nick.

To the original poster of...
I have recently bought an Olympus Stylus 800 that came with Olympus Master
software. I'm not particularly happy with this software, it won't let me
download to the directory of my choice creating dated sub-directories...

You and me both. My copy of the Olympus software also frequently breaks
when downloading selected images (as opposed to the whole lot).

As I had already written my own image processing software as a hobby
project, my solution was to get hold of a copy of Olympus' software
development kit and upgrade my application to do the photo downloading for
me. This means I can avoid using Camedia altogether.

You can download my (PhotoMan) software from
http://homepages.tesco.net/~Keith.Sh...toman/home.htm and see if it
meets your requirements.

The only thing I've not cracked yet is how to download the associated sound
file, if you turn on the option to have a short audio clip associated with
your still image. Olympus save the sound clip in a separate file with the
same file name but different extension - yet when I use their interface
software to check the contents of the camera's memory, I don't see the sound
file. I am sure there is a simple solution to this so if there are any
other software developers out there with knowledge of the Olympus API who
could offer any tips, I would be pleased to hear from them.

Keith

In a recent message , Keith
Sheppard wrote.

I have recently bought an Olympus Stylus 800 that came with Olympus Master
software. I'm not particularly happy with this software, it won't let me
download to the directory of my choice creating dated sub-directories...

You and me both. My copy of the Olympus software also frequently breaks
when downloading selected images (as opposed to the whole lot).

As I had already written my own image processing software as a hobby
project, my solution was to get hold of a copy of Olympus' software
development kit and upgrade my application to do the photo downloading for
me. This means I can avoid using Camedia altogether.

You can download my (PhotoMan) software from
http://homepages.tesco.net/~Keith.Sh...toman/home.htm and see if it
meets your requirements.
[...]

Thanks for this Keith. I've bumped Olympus Master off the hard disk and
just at present I'm using Picasa to transfer files from the camera to
the computer. This works well, though I haven't tried it with video and
sound files yet (not that I use these much, anyway).

It's an odd beast, Picasa, I'm beginning to get quite fond of it. I've
yet to find the down-side to its use (offering a hostage to fortune by
saying this here, perhaps g).

Regards,
Nick.
--
Nick Hopton and Anne Hopton
Caversham, Reading, England