Realty Times December 1, 2000

Digital Camera Tips
by Stephen Canale

If you're going to go digital with your photography, one of the most important steps to take toward productivity is cutting the download cable.

Taking digital photos and then having to wait to transfer those photos to your computer through a cable (as many do) is truly working with one hand behind tied behind your back.

Not only might the cable be back at the office, and thus inaccessible, but transferring photos this way is like watching paint dry. It's painfully slow, and especially so if you're taking high-resolution photos.

If you've got a camera that uses either "compact flash" or "smart media" cards (and most do) then all you really need is a PCMCIA card adapter (often simply called PC Card adapters) to plug either of those cards directly into your notebook computer.

These adapters cost anywhere from just $8 to $40 (the compact flash adapters are less expensive) and are worth every cent.

Once you've got the right adapter for your camera, all you need to do is pop out the card, slide it into the adapter and plug the whole thing into your notebook computer.

The advantages to doing this are many.

  • The adapters are easier to carry than cables as they're about the size of a credit card.

  • Transferring photo's this way is infinitely faster than using cables, or even disks. As there are no moving parts, you can read these images off the card adapter faster than you could off your hard drive.

  • Additionally, the fact that there are no moving parts reduces the risk of breakdown (these cards seem to last forever) and results in less battery drainage, too.

  • This method easily allows you to take photos just moments before an important presentation and have them in all of your marketing materials when you walk in the door.

  • It's simple. Once you insert the card adapter into your notebook, it automatically thinks the adapter is just another hard drive. There's no special configuration needed on your part.

  • Best of all, it's universal. You can plug the photos right into any other notebook computer, too, whether it belongs to another agent or even a customer or client!

    And, of course, once the photos are in your computer, you can always put them on a floppy or CD if you like.

    If you don't have a camera that uses "compact flash" or "smart media" cards then make sure your next one does! The camera's themselves will be faster, smaller and more reliable.


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