Digital camera question.

[WDWDen]

Ok, I took a bunch of pics on my last trip and uploaded them to my computer. I have not erased them from my camera yet, b/c I'm affraid if my computer freezes up or somthing, I could lose them. I want to put them onto a disk, but havent yet. ANYWAY, my question is this. Since my upload, I have taken more pics. I want to upload them also, BUT, when I do it, will the camera reupload all the ones I already did??

Thanks for any help guys! :lol:

[BetsyAnn]

Den -

You should be able to choose which pictures you want upload from your program. It not then yes it will upload all of them. Go get a disk or whatever you want to save the pictures on. Or buy more memory cards for you camera. One of the best things about digital is not having to keep every picture forever.

[Tagrel]

Yes, it will download the pictures again, unless you specifically tell it not to. HOW you do this depends on the download software you use.

I burn my pictures onto CD's or DVD disks. Making copies and keeping them in a safe deposit box or a friend/relative's home is a good way to make sure you never lose them!

[WDWDen]

Thanks guys :lol: I figured as much. When I plug in the camera, it starts down or uploading, whatever it does automatically. I guess I better get a disk! :lol:

Ta, is it better putting them on a cd than a hard disk? I don't have a burner, but I need a new computer, so maybe I'll get one with it built in.

[MissBianca]

Dennis, your computer is so old it doesn't have a CD-RW drive? :shock: My friend you NEED a new computer! :mrgreen:

[Robin]

Den, my child...you have much to learn. Since you appear to have missed the popularity of the CD-Writer...and I presume the DVD player, I'd suggest you hold out for a DVD writer in your computer.

If you don't need to upgrade yet, you could get an external CD writer that plugs into the Computer. Backpack make an easy to use one.

[Robin]

Here's a list of writers and reviews. I usually check eopinions.com before making a big purchase. The give a nice writeup, user reviews and an idea of the going price.

http://www.epinions.com/CD_DVD_Burners-DVD_RW_1

[WillCAD]

I can't help you much on the camera itself, because I only have experience with 3 or 4 different cameras. But I have some advice about the pics.

Before you do anything else, start thinking about a way to organize your photos on your computer. After you've had your camera for a couple of years you're going to build up a massive number of pics, and just like the physical prints you get from a film camera, the digital pics need to be organized somehow so you can keep track, find the ones you want, and not lose any important ones.

I arrange mine exactly the same as I arrange film pics. Under the My Pictures folder, I have a folder for each year, and under that folder I have a sub-folder for each "roll" of pics. Even though digital pics don't have rolls, I still separate them into groups of 24 just like film pics to make them easier to deal with. Each roll is simply numbered sequentially from 001 through the last roll I shot, which is around 180 or so (I started the numbers in 1999 when I got my Canon camera). I also rename the pics from the DSC0001.jpg name that the camera gives them to a name I give them, which includes the roll number and frame number like so: 076-18.jpg. This gives every pic I have on the whole computer a completely unique name, so I will never have a DSC0001.jpg from last week and a DSC0001.jpg from today and have to figure out which one is which. For instance, the Tagrel group picture we took at the MegaMeet last year is 153-10.jpg (in the 2003 folder, under Roll 153, frame 10). See how easy it is?

Once the pics are organized, not only will you be able to find what you want to find, but backing them up will be much easier when you get a CD or DVD writer because all you will have to do is burn a disk with your photos folder on it and you're done. It will also make it easier to download new pics from the camera, because when you have a simple system you'll always be able to figure out exactly where the pics are supposed to go, and you will never have that terrible connundrum of, "I downloaded some pics yesterday but I don't know where the camera put them!"

[Joe]

Great process Will, I do a similar thing with my pics when I download to the HD. I create a folder with the year and the subject name. This lets me track all of my pictures in their own albums and they automatically order by year in the viewing pane. Just my preference here, your mileage my vary.
Joe

[WDWDen]

:blink: :unsure: :blink: :unsure: :blink: :unsure: :blink: :unsure: :blink: :unsure: :blink: :unsure: Thanks WIll, that was very helpful!! I will get on that tonight for sure! :unsure:

I bought my computer in early 1998. It has a spot for a cd in it, but I never use it. It also has a spot for the hard disk thing. I never use that either. Does that mean I have a CD-RW??? I know it doesnt have a CD burner like 'Ta' said, that is for sure. I DID use the cd thing when I bought my digital camera, cause I had to download a cd they sent me. Actually, there were 2 of them I think. I just pop it in, let it do its thing, then pull it out and toss the cd in the trash! :lol: When I DO get a new computer, YOU guys are gonna tell me what to buy. I want one that is FAAAAAAAST. I wanna be able to play video's without it freezing up and skipping on me. If I want to listen to that Radio Disney channel on here like you guys do, it skips a lot. I just want it all to be clear. :lol:

Robin, thanks for the links! :lol: I'll check them out. Oh yeah, when I open links somtimes, they take forever to open. I want that to stop too. :lol: Was what I described a cd writer?? :confused2:

Tell me what I need people, PLEASE!!!! :woot:

[mickeefan]

I do very much the same thing. I have made a main Picture folder on my C drive where I put all pictures. Then I make more sub folders with subjet titles. All my Disney pictures are in a folder "Disney Pictures" . Then in this folder I make more folders , one for each year. Under each year I either group them by park or resort, or by date.
Now when I decide it is time to back them up to a DVD I can just select the main Pictures folder and all pictures are backed up to the DVD and I only had to select one folder. I back up to a DVD because a cd does not have enough space to handle them all. I have approximately 2.5 GB of pictures, mostly of Disney.

[DrBabe]

Thanks for all the excellent advice and suggestions. I drowned my old camera literally during my last WDW trip -- a water bottle accident on BTR! So I"m the market for a new camera, and obviously will go digital this time.

[MikeS]

I bought my computer in early 1998. It has a spot for a cd in it, but I never use it. It also has a spot for the hard disk thing. I never use that either. Does that mean I have a CD-RW??? I know it doesnt have a CD burner like 'Ta' said, that is for sure. I DID use the cd thing when I bought my digital camera, cause I had to download a cd they sent me. Actually, there were 2 of them I think. I just pop it in, let it do its thing, then pull it out and toss the cd in the trash! :lol: When I DO get a new computer, YOU guys are gonna tell me what to buy. I want one that is FAAAAAAAST. I wanna be able to play video's without it freezing up and skipping on me. If I want to listen to that Radio Disney channel on here like you guys do, it skips a lot. I just want it all to be clear. :lol:

Robin, thanks for the links! :lol: I'll check them out. Oh yeah, when I open links somtimes, they take forever to open. I want that to stop too. :lol: Was what I described a cd writer?? :confused2:

Tell me what I need people, PLEASE!!!! :woot:

Hi Den,

I also bought my present desktop PC in 98. Over the past few years I've done a few things to it like adding an external CD burner as well as shove in more memory.

Mine came with Windows98 and since then I've found that Windows 2000 works well.

As I added more and more stuff to my machine it got bogged down. Finally one day I bought an external CD Burner, put all the important files on a CD, and then did a wipe and clean of the PC.

That means I wiped out the hard drive and installed a fresh image of the Operating System...this time Windows 2000.

Having a "clean system" with twice as much memory resulted in smooth video and audio...I now listen to stations without any clicking.

I rarely, if ever, store files or pictures on the PC. I put them either on floppies, zip disks, or CDs.

I wait until my media card is full and then using the PC I burn a CD.

Before the CD burner I did this on zip disks,

Your machine may have a zip drive that allows you to put files on 100 MB zip disks.

My guess is that you have several USB ports on your PC. If so, think about getting an external CD burner that connects via the USB ports.

I have found that Iomega and Acer peripherals to be pretty good.

You may have room for an internal CD burner but that involves opening up your cabinet and doing much more than just plugging in a USB cable.

Of course the other option is buying a new machine. I have often heard that PCs should last 4-6 years. Mine turns 6 next month. It's still kicking.

Adding memory and an external burner may be the cheapest way around getting to where you want to be...or you can buy a new PC.

One more thing. Get into the practice of going to www.microsoft.com and checking out the Windows Update link.

This may take a while but downloading and installing Windows Updates may make your system run more smoothly and run more secure.

MikeS

[WillCAD]

Dennis, CD-R and CD-RW are both technical terms for 'burnable' CDs. So no, you don't have a CD-RW.

CD-ROM stands for CD-Read Only Memory. CD-ROMs are the kind of discs you get when you buy an audio CD for your stereo, or a new program for your computer. They are recorded at the factory in a process called "stamping", and can only be read, not changed, added to, or deleted from, hence the designation "read-only".

CD-R stands for CD Recordable. You can record on it, but you can't change or erase it once you do. It's finished. These are used to make audio CDs for use in your stereo, and computer data CDs for storing files. The process of writing information onto a CD-R is often refered to as "burning", because the info is burned onto a layer of dye on the blank CD-R disc by a laser.

CD-RW stands for CD-Re-Writable. This is a kind of CD that you CAN change and erase once you write to it, but only if you use it for computer files. If you make an audio CD on a CD-RW disk, you can't change the CD. The process of putting info onto a CD-RW is called "writing", and changing the info later is called "re-writing".

The drive you have is a CD-ROM drive; it can read from computer or audio CDs, but can't change them or create new ones. When you get a new computer, it will probably come with a CD-RW drive, which can do all the things I mentioned above; you will be able to read all kinds of CDs, burn CD-Rs, write and re-write CD-RWs.

The 'hard disk thing' you mentioned is actually a floppy disc. Yes, I know the outside casing is hard plastic, but that's a square; the actual DISC inside is a floppy material. The term "hard disc" refers to the disc that's built into the computer and makes up your C: drive.

I hope you were kidding about throwing away the CD that came with your camera. When you get a piece of hardware (camera, scanner, whatever), the CD that comes with it has important files on it called "drivers" that allow your computer to talk to the hardware in its own language. That's why you need to install the stuff on the CD before you can use your hardware, because without those drivers the computer doesn't speak the same language as the hardware.


The fact that your computer is old and slow is probably what makes those videos and Radio Disney skip and freeze. The computers brain can't think as fast as the info that's playing. It's sorta like when you put the needle on a record but turn the record 30 times faster than it's supposed to turn; the needle just bounces around on the surface and can't play any of the grooves on the record.