Help - Canon IXUS - Too much Software!!!

Hi

Just purchased a Canon IXUS40 - pleased with it so far but am
overwhelmed with the software.

All I want to do is connect my camera to various computers (Windows98
at home/parents, Windows2000 at work, friends computers etc) in order
to drag an image (or maybe other files) from/to the sd card in the
camera.

I obviously can't install the tons of 'garbage' that came with the
camera just to share an image with someone else or to use the
printer/email at work.

I just assumed that a new camera with a USB interface would simply
appear as a new drive when plugged in (just like my USB flash memory
stick) but this doesn't appear to be so!!

WHY NOT?

Did I just purchase the wrong camera - I did a lot of research before
buying the ixus and nowhere did I see this as being a limitation with
canon cameras.

Hopefully I've just missed something simple.

I suppose I could get a card reader - but I bought a small portable
camera and now I have to carry around more stuff.

Will a card reader work on any PC that can read a usb flash memory
device?

Possibly I'm being over simplistic in my expectations but why is
software so over complex and yet lacking basic features - surely the
most basic camera interface could at least emulate a card reader.
Thanks in advance for any help.



David

"DavidL" wrote in message
ups.com...
I suppose I could get a card reader - but I bought a small portable
camera and now I have to carry around more stuff.

If you were willing to carry a cable you could carry a card reader.

Will a card reader work on any PC that can read a usb flash memory
device?

Almost any.

"DavidL" wrote in message
ups.com...
I suppose I could get a card reader - but I bought a small portable
camera and now I have to carry around more stuff.

If you were willing to carry a cable you could carry a card reader.

Will a card reader work on any PC that can read a usb flash memory
device?

Almost any.

Hi there

appear as a new drive when plugged in (just like my USB flash memory
stick) but this doesn't appear to be so!!
....
I suppose I could get a card reader - but I bought a small portable
camera and now I have to carry around more stuff.

Use a standard card reader. It's cheap and easy to use, and an SD reader is
very small so it's not much to carry around.
That'll work the way you mention, and appear in the Windows explorer as a
drive you can drag and drop from.

Will a card reader work on any PC that can read a usb flash memory
device?

I don't think it'll work without installing a driver on systems older than
windows 2000 or ME or so. On XP you can just plug the reader in.

-Jacob.

Hi there

appear as a new drive when plugged in (just like my USB flash memory
stick) but this doesn't appear to be so!!
....
I suppose I could get a card reader - but I bought a small portable
camera and now I have to carry around more stuff.

Use a standard card reader. It's cheap and easy to use, and an SD reader is
very small so it's not much to carry around.
That'll work the way you mention, and appear in the Windows explorer as a
drive you can drag and drop from.

Will a card reader work on any PC that can read a usb flash memory
device?

I don't think it'll work without installing a driver on systems older than
windows 2000 or ME or so. On XP you can just plug the reader in.

-Jacob.

Just purchased a Canon IXUS40 - pleased with it so far but am
overwhelmed with the software. ...

None of the software is required. I used my IXUS for a while without
installing any of the software. I got a memory card reader to copy the
photos.

The one inconvenience I found that way was that photos taken in portrait
mode were not in the correct orientation after being copied to the PC. I
ended up rotating each one 90 degrees afterward. To avoid the extra step, I
installed Canon's ZoomBrowser. It does the rotation when needed as it
copies the photos. (The camera senses its orientation and stores this
information with each photo.) There's other software available that could
do this rotation if you don't like ZoomBrowser.

Just purchased a Canon IXUS40 - pleased with it so far but am
overwhelmed with the software. ...

None of the software is required. I used my IXUS for a while without
installing any of the software. I got a memory card reader to copy the
photos.

The one inconvenience I found that way was that photos taken in portrait
mode were not in the correct orientation after being copied to the PC. I
ended up rotating each one 90 degrees afterward. To avoid the extra step, I
installed Canon's ZoomBrowser. It does the rotation when needed as it
copies the photos. (The camera senses its orientation and stores this
information with each photo.) There's other software available that could
do this rotation if you don't like ZoomBrowser.

"DavidL" writes:

All I want to do is connect my camera to various computers (Windows98
at home/parents, Windows2000 at work, friends computers etc) in order
to drag an image (or maybe other files) from/to the sd card in the
camera.

I obviously can't install the tons of 'garbage' that came with the
camera just to share an image with someone else or to use the
printer/email at work.

You don't need any of the Canon-supplied software, but you do need some
software. A minimalist way to transfer data directly from the camera is
to us the free Breeze Downloader program from Breeze Systems.

On Windows XP, you should be able to put the camera in PTP mode and then
you won't need any software at all, but only XP supports that.

But as others have said, a small portable card reader is the way to go.
It will almost certainly be faster for transferring data than plugging
in the camera. If you get a USB2 High Speed reader, and the computer
has a USB2 port, it will be *much* faster.

I just assumed that a new camera with a USB interface would simply
appear as a new drive when plugged in (just like my USB flash memory
stick) but this doesn't appear to be so!!

WHY NOT?

Because that's not how Canon writes their camera software. Your USB
flash key and the card reader pretend to be an external disk. Canon
cameras do not do this.

Did I just purchase the wrong camera - I did a lot of research before
buying the ixus and nowhere did I see this as being a limitation with
canon cameras.

It's been discussed many times in this newsgroup. Where did you do your
research? If this is a requirement for you, you bought the wrong
camera.

Will a card reader work on any PC that can read a usb flash memory
device?

Yes.

Possibly I'm being over simplistic in my expectations but why is
software so over complex and yet lacking basic features - surely the
most basic camera interface could at least emulate a card reader.

It could, but it doesn't. I knew about that limitation before I bought
my first Canon digicam, and now I have several. It's never been a
problem for me.

Dave