Card Reader or USB Cable from camera?

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I haven't done much photography lately but changed my PC last year to a higher spec model
My old PC had built in Card Readers, but my new one doesn't, so I have to use the cameras USB cable.

Downloads seem slow and I'm planning to upgrade to Z6 or Z7 with either 2x or 4x more pixels than my old Nikon.

Will a dedicated card reader give me a significantly faster download than I would get using the cable from camera to PC?
 
From what I understand a card reader is faster although if you're not transferring loads of files then USB would do. I'm not posting here just to sell you something but I am putting a generic XQD reader for sale in the accessories section if you're interested haha.
 
I used to use a card reader but then had one where the pins bent because the guide for the card is too short. I was then given a Jessops card reader that was just as bad. Since then (about 6 years or so) I connect directly to the Camera which works fine. I have not noticed any difference in speed as the speed is largely governed by disk speeds. I use LR and I create a back up automatically for my NAS so this naturally slows things a little. I am uploading large Raw files.

Dave
 
Mr Perceptive said:
I nearly always use a USB cable - as this means my camera 'always' has an SD card in it, no chance of going out with a cardless camera
Click to expand...
Same here and it also lessens the chance of any damage occurring to the card/camera/reader contacts.
 
My camera > cable > PC transfer is slower than using SD card in the built in card reader.
I think that's pretty much a given unless you have a really slow card reader.
As above I don't bother as I'm seldom moving enough images to worry about the time and don't want to go out with an empty camera by accident.
 
I always use a reader, cord being returned to camera immediately after transfer completed. The one exception is with my D70 that takes CF cards, where transfer is painfully slow, even though the files are tiny, but it's not worth buying a reader for so little use.
 
I once bent the pins in a camera reinserting a card. After that, I used a cable with that camera.

My wife's digital compacts don't have a USB connection, so a cardreader is necessary.

Sony a7r cameras preserve the date structure if transfers are made via cable, and if using a card reader just have a single directory with all files in.

Using a card reader does give faster transfers, and if you're like one lady I overheard once and average around 10,000 exposures a week, a reader may be the better option.
 
Dave Canon said:
I used to use a card reader but then had one where the pins bent because the guide for the card is too short. I was then given a Jessops card reader that was just as bad. Since then (about 6 years or so) I connect directly to the Camera which works fine. I have not noticed any difference in speed as the speed is largely governed by disk speeds. I use LR and I create a back up automatically for my NAS so this naturally slows things a little. I am uploading large Raw files.

Dave
Click to expand...

Surely mention of pins refers to the issue when using CF (compact flash) cards....... AFAIK using all other memory card types are immune from such "issues"...because there are no pins involved ;)

PS and FWIW I never had a bent pins problem in any of the Canon bodies I owned or any reader (Sandisk or Lexar) when using CF cards. I have always used a reader since my Canon 350D days.......crumbs that was a long while ago :lol:
 
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Get a card reader but check it's a USB3 version assuming you have a USB3 port
 
Indeed. The pins that people refer to are on compact flash cards, which practically no current cameras use. I've heard of a few people getting bent pins in a Canon 5D or something of that era but nothing recently.
I used to shoot with a Sony A350 which used CF cards and I always took the card out of the camera to download files and never had a problem with bent pins.
These days I used SD cards and they don't have pins, they have flat contacts, so there's nothing to bend.
The Z6 uses XQD cards, which like the SD card has flat contacts, no pins.

In my professional experience working in broadcasting, every single camera person removes their memory cards from the camera, multiple times per day, with no issues. No one ever brings in their camera and a USB cable to download footage.


As for transfer speeds, that will depend on the camera.
My Canon 6D is only USB 2.0, 480Mbit/sec so it's slower using a cable from the camera.
Canon EOS R, Fuji X-T3, Nikon Z6 and Sony a7 III are all USB 3.2, which is 5Gbit/sec.
So the newer cameras are quite capable of fast transfer speeds if you want to do it that way.
Even if my camera was capable of faster transfer speeds, I still prefer taking out the card.
 
Well my downloads are painfully slow.
Even 30 - 40 jpegs can take a minute or two.
My SD card is fairly old Lexar. Could that be the cause?
 
Skypilot said:
Well my downloads are painfully slow.
Even 30 - 40 jpegs can take a minute or two.
My SD card is fairly old Lexar. Could that be the cause?
Click to expand...
Depends on a) the card, b) the camera c) the USB port on the computer.

If you have a fast card in a USB 3 card reader, connected to a USB 3 port on the computer that's the way to get the bed speed.
USB3 ports on computers usually have blue sockets. Make sure you're using one of those.
Also if connecting a camera to the computer, some cables aren't actually good enough for USB3 speeds.
I use Sandisk Extreme Pro SD cards that are capable of 95MB/s (that's Megabytes/s = 760Mbit/s, ie you need a USB3 card reader to get the fastest speed from it).


Oh and as for accidently leaving without a card in the camera, when I take the card out, I leave the door open, that way when I pickup the camera again I know that there's no card in it. I also have the camera set to not allow me to shoot without a card. Plus I always have a spare card in my bag just in case.
 
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Transfer speed will depend on a number of factors;

1) Speed of card you use
2) Speed of USB port on PC you use
3) Disk speed on PC you use
4) Speed of card reader and it's USB OR Speed of Camera card reader and USB port
5) PC Speed (CPU / Memory) if importing direct to LightRoom (or similar)

Your transfer / import speed will be limited by the slowest of these - and when you upgrade that, the next slowest will be the limiting factor, etc.
Generally a dedicated USB 3 card reader has been faster than using the camera and USB cable, but the latest cameras are starting to adopt fast USB transfer options, so that may not always be the case.
 
Card reader. USB 3 one.

Like Alistair, I leave the card door open if there's no card in the camera.

Never bent a CF socket pin and most of my cameras are now SD.
 
Box Brownie said:
Surely mention of pins refers to the issue when using CF (compact flash) cards....... AFAIK using all other memory card types are immune from such "issues"...because there are no pins involved
Click to expand...

The pins may not be on the card but they certainly are in the camera and card reader to make physical 'contact' with the contacts on the card. Granted they are not true 'pins' in the sense of the word but they are still fragile flexible connectors that can be very easily damaged.
 
As are USB port connectors.
 
Giblets said:
The pins may not be on the card but they certainly are in the camera and card reader to make physical 'contact' with the contacts on the card. Granted they are not true 'pins' in the sense of the word but they are still fragile flexible connectors that can be very easily damaged.
Click to expand...

Neither are there pins on a CF card!

I have to date never read of any connector related damage issues with SD or any akin 'type' of memory cards.

As the use of CF have reduced markedly, so it also appears have reports of 'Pin' bending on readers or cameras! IMO pin damage in cameras is almost entirely due to poor handling by the user..... one exception I recall was where a pin broke off and was left in the card, this damaging the next device it was inserted into. Though arguably also user error if undue force being used when the card did not fit with the usual "fit".

PS SD types do have their own structural issues but that seems to be more to do with the card itself splitting!
 
In regard to forgetting to put the card back in the camera.

Whether the card is full or not it is replaced immediately with another empty one.....the used one is only put back into use after copying the files to main & backup drives. (NB I format all cards in the reader.....and format as a matter of routine once placed in the camera)
 
i read that all cards should be formatted after being connected to PC - via reader or cable
 
Box Brownie said:
As the use of CF have reduced markedly, so it also appears have reports of 'Pin' bending on readers or cameras! IMO pin damage in cameras is almost entirely due to poor handling by the user..... one exception I recall was where a pin broke off and was left in the card, this damaging the next device it was inserted into. Though arguably also user error if undue force being used when the card did not fit with the usual "fit".
Click to expand...

This may not be entirely fair. While I have not personally had any issues with regard to CF cards and cameras (which normally have a full length guide which eliminates mis-alignment). However, the Built in Reader on my PC and the Jessops external reader had a guide of only about 1/4 the length of the CF card which is obviously wrong as it leads to mis-alignment and bent pins. In fact when I returned the reader to Jessops, the local staff were very shocked and apologetic for the poor design and refunded the cost.

My current camera has one CF and one SD card. If I upload from the camera I do not need to even think about which card was used (or both). I do not consider the upload time particularly relevant. As I expect LR to back up and create standard previews, it will take some time anyway. I do not think anyone has put a strong case for or against either method.

Dave
 
Dave Canon said:
This may not be entirely fair. While I have not personally had any issues with regard to CF cards and cameras (which normally have a full length guide which eliminates mis-alignment). However, the Built in Reader on my PC and the Jessops external reader had a guide of only about 1/4 the length of the CF card which is obviously wrong as it leads to mis-alignment and bent pins. In fact when I returned the reader to Jessops, the local staff were very shocked and apologetic for the poor design and refunded the cost.

My current camera has one CF and one SD card. If I upload from the camera I do not need to even think about which card was used (or both). I do not consider the upload time particularly relevant. As I expect LR to back up and create standard previews, it will take some time anyway. I do not think anyone has put a strong case for or against either method.

Dave
Click to expand...
Sorry, my post was not intended to be in any way a personal one or harsh......but when the reports of bent pins appeared, some of the 'reporters' said that the card was, "difficult to insert and required some pressure to do so"......"did not go in far enough, so pushed it harder and it still would not go fully in".

Yes, for whatever reason the readers have shorter guides than the camera slots. Clearly(?), that can cause potential misalignment upon insertion and pin damage :(

Personally, I would never buy a shop branded reader and apart from a Lexar one that I returned, I have had SanDisk and all my cards have been SanDisk brand. I see no reason to spend significant sums on the camera and then buy too low budget on the prime key accessories.

Back to choice of brand of CF cards, I do wonder if the cheaper brands suffer from poor construction and as such just exacerbate the possibility of pin damage?


PS re Canon and CF with SD slots ~ I never used the SD slot in my Canon because it transpires that Canon made the SD slot slower write/read than the CF slot and if both slots used......the faster CF one was throttled to the SD slot speed? :(
 
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I used PC cable download in about 2005. Fine in theory until the cable dies - which is what happened to me. And I was abroad at the time.
Fortunately I had a spare card. In those days cards were not cheap. Over £60 for a 512mb card. But it saved the day. Useful lesson.
Now cards are cheap.
Standard procedure
  1. Pull the card out and put a new card in the camera from the re-use heap. Check that OK to overwrite then format in camera.
  2. Download with card reader. Don't worry about time. Other things to do. Clean up camera; ensure back to 'standard' settings, check for dust bunnies etc.
  3. When downloaded, put card on the 'To be backed up' heap, where it will stay until everything backed up.
  4. Then onto re-use heap ready for next step to #1
  5. If a a trip, start a new card everyday and do downloads when get home. End up with lots of cards on 'To be backed up' heap waiting until all edited and backed up
Always had SD type cards so cannot comment about pins. But SD cards are incredibly resilient.
 
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Yardbent said:
i read that all cards should be formatted after being connected to PC - via reader or cable
Click to expand...
That's not so. They only need formatting after deleting files, sometimes not even then.
 
My method is;
1) remove card from camera, leave door open
2) insert in card reader
3) copy files to named/dated folder on hard drive (manually, I don't use LR to copy files)
4) any new files on hard drive are automatically backed up to Backblaze online service
5) if card is low on space, delete some old files
6) remove card
7) place card back in camera
8) copy files from main data drive to backup drive.
By this stage I have 4 copies of the files: SD card, data drive, backup drive and online backup. Files are only deleted from the card once the online backup is complete. Therefore anything older than 1 week is safe to delete from the card.
9) import into LR

Oh and LR does a backup of the catalogue onto my backup drive each time it exits.

Occasionally I will format a card but not really needed.
 
Get a good quality card reader.

Cheap card readers are rubbish, camera connections are also rubbish (except on high end cameras)

20 years of using digital cameras and only ever connect the camera when necessary to sync settings.
 
Yardbent said:
i read that all cards should be formatted after being connected to PC - via reader or cable
Click to expand...
Its best to format when you put it back in the camera after downloading.
You can get away with just deleting some or all the files but that takes just as long, and can leave other hidden items which conceivably increase the chance of a card issue eventually.
 
I prefer the simplicity of a card reader than having to keep connecting up cables to a camera, particularly so if two cameras have been used.

Over the years I have used several readers not expensive and have lasted for a fair time each. However earlier this year I spend a little bit more (not a lot though) on a Kingston reader and it has been really efficient and quick, keep it connected to my desktop PC.

When the files have been transferred to the PC I make a point there and then of formatting in the camera so I know all cards I am carrying are ready for action
 
normally leave my usb reader plugged into the back of my pc and leave the most recently downloaded card in it - then when i take some new shots i take the card out of my camera, swap it with the card in the usb reader and put the card that was in the reader in my camera - don't normally bother with a format unless it's a trip planned where i'm likely to take a lot of shots so then do a format to free up space
 
Neither - WiFi either from the camera directly or from a Toshiba wireless-enabled SD card. No need to subject either the USB or card terminals to wear & tear...

Slower than wired? undoubtedly.

Fast enough for me? Sure.

Transfer from the camera is not the limiting factor in reviewing/using the images
 
I always use an external card reader unless I'm downloading to my Mac's that have built in SD card slots.

I built myself a new pc last year after my old one was destroyed in a fire. I went with a USB3.0 sandisk card reader because it's a lot faster than USB to the camera. As I mentioned I'm all SD cards so no pins to bend.
 
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