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Raw Bytes Computer News KPBX FM 91.1 Radio National Public Radio Network Frank Delaney Producer Broadcast on Wednesday Morning 7:35 AM During Morning Edition Support Public Radio ! The Theater Of the Mind |
In computer news
this week 09/23/2009 Your
digital camera is part of your computer now, so we can talk about it …. Virtually
any digital camera you buy today comes with a usb cable so you can attach it
to your computer. But some people never do this, as they can’t figure
out how they would do this, or why they would want to do this. The
First question is how you would do this. You
take the usb cable that came with
your camera and plug one end of it into any of the usb slots on your computer
– then you plug the other end of it into the special usb cable connector
on your camera. This establishes the physical connection between the 2
devices. Then
you turn your camera on, and you will probably see some activity on your
computer screen that your computer has detected a new device attached to it,
and you might hear some kind of a noise that something is happening. If
you click on the My Computer icon on your desktop you will see that a new
device is now attached to your computer, which usually shows up as a removable
disk drive.
If
you then click on the icon for the removable disk drive itself, you will see
the folder inside your camera where your pictures are. I see a folder named
DCIM, which stands for Digital Camera Images, and if I click on that folder
it opens up and I see my pictures in the camera.
Now
I’m doing this just using Windows Explorer, which I prefer to use in
lieu of any special camera software that might come with your camera.
Explorer lets me see and copy the pictures in the camera to any folder on my
hard disk that I want to. When you use the software that came with your
camera, often this is a more complex procedure, and it might want you to put
your pictures in special folders that they – not you – want them
to be in. The
important concept here is that your camera is just another disk drive to your
computer. You can access the pictures that are on it and copy them to your
computer. A
lesser known fact is that you can actually copy things from your computer
back to your camera. Suppose
you have some pictures on your computer you’d like to show to someone, but
you didn’t take them with your camera. You can copy those pictures to
your camera, and then show them – in your camera – to whoever you
want, wherever you have your camera with you. You
can even copy regular files, word files, access files, to your camera, and
use it as a flash drive. You won’t be able to view them on your camera,
but you will be able to copy them back to another computer you hook your
camera up to. I’ve done this when I didn’t have a flash drive to
use. The
second question was why you would want to hook your camera up to your
computer, and the answer is “Because that’s the way it’s
supposed to work – you take the pictures with your camera, then you
transfer them to your computer to show or send to people, and then you empty the
pictures out of your camera so you can take more pictures. Next
week on Raw Bytes I’ll talk about my digital camera which is 3 years
old now, but still works great for
me, and how I upgraded the memory and the battery capability, and why you
might want to do this. And
then I’ll talk about the biggest mistake most digital camera owners
make, which makes them internet road hogs. |
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For Raw
Bytes This is
Frank Delaney (C) 2009
MTA Micro Technology Associates http://www.mtamicro.com/kpbx.html PO Box
31522 Spokane, Wa 99223-1522 (509)624-7230 |
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