Card Reader and getting pics into DPP

[gail bisson]

I have never used a card reader, preferring to just hook up the camera straight to the computer. I like the fact that when I hook the camera directly to the computer the files download directly into DPP folders sorted by date. Nothing to copy or paste.
I just tried the card reader and the pics do not go into DPP. Can you tell me how you move your files from the card reader into DPP?
Gail
PS Is there anything wrong with me connecting the camera to the computer for downloads. So many people say it is bad for the camera but is this true?

[arash_hazeghi]

There is nothing intrinsically bad about connecting the camera, however it eats your battery and also the camera's USB connection is very slow ( old USB 2.0) so you will waste a bunch of time waiting for a large card to download. Thus most people use a fast USB 3 card reader.

What is the brand of your CF card and what's the type of card reader? Also DPP cannot download files automatically, you can copy them manually in DPP but I don't see why you would want to do that. Just use EOS utility or downloader pro or any other program to download from your CF card. or just use native Windows/Mac download feature.

[Diane Miller]

I've always downloaded with a card reader but ran into a card corruption issue a while back. I had just gone to Lexar Pro 1000x UDMA 7, for the higher camera-to-card write speed, in order to get longer bursts. I was downloading with an older reader and one day (in a remote location, of course -- the Patriarch Grove of the Bristlecone Pine forest at 11,000 ft and several hours from any semblance of civilization) I started getting random black frames. Back in civilization I contacted Lexar and a very nice guy knew immediately that the problem was the older reader. Re-formatting the card in the laptop, which does a deeper format than the camera, fixed it, and a new Lexar Pro USB 3 card reader has prevented any recurrence. That reader is a vey nice one too -- some of the older ones had a very sloppy path for inserting the card and I had problems with bent pins. The Lexar holds the card in a nicely aligned slot as it is inserted.

I don't know if this issue applies to other brands of the newer, faster cards. Arash???

[gail bisson]

Thanks for the replies.
Arash_I am using Delkin and Lexar 700X and 1000x. And I have the cheapest no-brand card reader from 4 years ago that I never used until last week.
i just realized what an idiot I am. I forgot to start up EOS utility when using the card reader! No wonder the files did not download!

Another question.
The reason I thought about stopping direct downloading from camera to computer is as follows: I pulled out my 1DMKIV last week to make sure it is still working well.I took a bunch of images and while they were downloading EOS Utility would randomly freeze and the rest of the pictures wouldn't download until I quit the program, turned off the camera and restarted . The EOS freeze happened 4 times over a download of 180 pictures. My 1 DX has no such issues so it seems to be a 1DMK IV issue. What should I do ?

[Diane Miller]

You can download by drag and drop. Just open the folder on the card that contains the images.

[arash_hazeghi]

If you have UDMA 7 cards (1000X and faster might be UDMA 7), you shouldn't use an old card reader. It does not have the UDMA7 protocols and may corrupt your files during transfer like what happened to Diane.

Likewise, the transfer protocols that the camera uses for file transfer over USB may become obsolete after a while so there will be hiccups with old cameras such as the 1D4. Another reason to use a good card reader :)

[Diane Miller]

The issue I mentioned above apparently corrupted the files as they were being written to the card, not just during transfer to the computer, as they showed up black on the camera's screen. Formatting the card in a computer fixed it.