Transferring

Learning goal

You will be able to compare the three ways of moving photos from the camera to the computer, the card reader, the cable and wireless transfer, by their speeds, ease and risks. You will calculate with a simple division how long it will take to transfer a card by which route; you will notice that wireless transfer often sends not the original file but a downsized copy; you will make it a habit, during import, to copy files instead of moving them and to do a transfer verification before deleting from the card; and you will see why always going back to the original file for editing makes a difference, especially with faces shot in dim light.

The question

You are celebrating your grandmother's eightieth birthday in the garden. Evening is falling, lanterns are glowing on the table, and you shoot all night: your grandmother blowing out the candles on the cake, your dark-skinned uncle hugging her, your sibling's light-skinned, freckled child laughing at the end of the table. Your cousins want to see the photos that night. You connect the camera to the phone wirelessly and send a few frames; but when you try to send two hundred frames, the phone says it will take more than an hour.

How do photos get from the camera to the computer? When you sit down at the computer the next day, should you put the card into a reader, run a cable, or are the ones you sent to the phone last night enough? In this lesson we will talk about these three routes, how long each one takes, and what can get lost on the way.

Context

When the shoot is over, the photos are still only inside the card. In the previous lesson we saw why cards can fail; that is why emptying the card as soon as possible and moving the photos to a safer place is the archive's first step. But this moving, when done in a hurry, brings its own risks too.

Transferring isn't just dragging files from one place to another. The route you choose decides how long the transfer will take, which file will arrive, the original or a copy of it, and when you can delete from the card. This decision is also the foundation of the folder, metadata and backup system you will build in the coming lessons.

Simple explanation

How are the three routes compared?

A card reader is a small device that connects the card directly to the computer; on some computers it comes as a built-in slot. It is usually the fastest and most trouble-free route: it doesn't use up the camera's battery and doesn't keep the camera waiting on the desk. But a slow reader slows down a fast card; to take advantage of the card's read speed, the reader and the port need to support it too.

Wired transfer is connecting the camera to the computer with a cable. It is practical if you don't have a card reader, but it is usually slower, and the camera's battery is used up throughout the transfer; if the battery runs out during the transfer, the card's file layout can be damaged. Wireless transfer, on the other hand, sets up a wireless connection between the camera and a phone or computer. It is the most comfortable route, especially for sharing a few frames right away; but it is the slowest route, and on many cameras it sends by default not the original file but a downsized copy.

How long does a transfer take?

To roughly calculate the transfer time, it is enough to divide the total size of the files by the transfer speed. Say there are thirty gigabytes, that is, about thirty thousand megabytes of photos on your card. With a card reader reading ninety megabytes per second, this comes to about three hundred thirty seconds, that is, five and a half minutes. With a wireless connection of five megabytes per second, on the other hand, the same job takes six thousand seconds, that is, about a hundred minutes.

These numbers are only an example; the real speed changes with your card, your reader, your cable and the conditions of the connection. But the difference between them is usually big. That is why many photographers use wireless transfer for sharing a few frames right away, and the card reader for bringing the whole shoot into the archive. Using the two routes not in place of each other but for different jobs both saves time and prevents mixing up which file is where.

What do you watch for when importing?

Import is bringing files from the card into the computer or into an editing program's archive. Many programs offer a choice here between copying and moving files; moving deletes the file from the card. If the transfer stops halfway or a file arrives corrupted, there is no copy left to go back to. That is why it is always safer to copy, and to leave the files on the card in place until the copy on the computer has been verified and backed up.

Transfer verification is checking that the files that arrived are complete and can be opened: comparing the number of files on the card with the number on the computer, and opening a few frames from the beginning, middle and end of the shoot by enlarging them. Downsized copies that arrived wirelessly, on the other hand, shouldn't be mistaken for the real archive. This difference becomes noticeable when editing a face shot in dim light: when you open the shadows of dark skin in a small, compressed copy, blocks and blotches appear, and the fine transitions on the bright forehead of light skin turn into coarse steps. The original RAW or full-size JPEG holds up much better to the same editing.

Visual evidence

The next morning you plug the card reader into the computer. In the import window you choose copying instead of moving; two hundred fourteen frames, about eleven gigabytes, arrive in two minutes. You compare the number of files on the card with the number on the computer, and enlarge and open a few frames from the beginning of the night, the cake moment and the end; they are all there.

Then you open, side by side, the frame you sent to your cousins last night and the original RAW. In the lantern light your uncle's face is a little dark in both files. When you open the shadows in the small copy on the phone, square blocks and purplish blotches appear on your uncle's cheek; the child's forehead, turned toward the lantern, turns into a flat white patch. In the original file, on the other hand, with the same setting your uncle's beard, the line of his eyebrows and the warm brown of his skin come through clean; the freckles on the child's forehead and the soft transition of the light are kept. You format the card in the camera only after you have also backed up these files to a disk.

Common mistakes

Summary

There are three routes for moving photos from the camera to the computer: the card reader is usually the fastest and doesn't use up the battery, wired transfer is practical but slower and depends on the battery, and wireless transfer is the most comfortable but the slowest, and often sends a downsized copy instead of the original file. You can roughly calculate the time by dividing the total size by the speed, and while importing, copy files instead of moving them and verify by checking the number of files and opening a few frames. Going back to the original file for editing keeps the shadows and bright areas of faces of every skin tone shot in dim light.

Mini assignment

In this assignment you try your own transfer routes and build an import habit.

1. Transfer the same frames once with a card reader, once with a cable or wirelessly, and note the times.
2. Calculate how long the whole card will take by dividing the total size on your card by your own transfer speed.
3. In the import program, find the copy and move option and choose copy.
4. After the transfer, compare the numbers of files on the card and on the computer, and enlarge and open one frame each from the beginning, middle and end.

Check yourself

• Have you decided which transfer route you will use for which job?
• Did you compare the size of a frame that arrived wirelessly with the original file?
• When you edited a face shot in dim light in two files, did the shadows and bright areas stay cleaner in the original file, regardless of skin tone?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. Which is usually the fastest route for bringing a whole shoot into the archive?

• A) A card reader
• B) Wireless transfer
• C) Sending the photos by email
• D) Taking screenshots

2. About how long does it take to transfer thirty thousand megabytes of photos over a connection of five megabytes per second?

• A) Five minutes
• B) Half an hour
• C) About a hundred minutes
• D) Ten hours

3. Why is copying chosen instead of moving when importing?

• A) Copying is faster
• B) Copying shrinks the files
• C) Copying fixes the colors
• D) If the transfer stops halfway, the original files on the card stay in place

4. You want to open the shadows of a dark-skinned face shot in dim light. Which file should you work with?

• A) The small copy that arrived wirelessly on the phone
• B) The original file transferred with a card reader
• C) A screenshot
• D) A copy downloaded back from a messaging app

Answers

1. A — A card reader is usually the fastest route and doesn't use up the camera's battery.
2. C — 30,000 divided by 5 comes to 6000 seconds; this is about a hundred minutes.
3. D — Moving deletes the file on the card; copying keeps the original until it is verified.
4. B — The original file holds up much better to editing; in a small copy the shadows turn blocky.

Summary card

• Card reader: fast, no battery; cable: practical, slow, uses the battery; wireless: comfortable, the slowest, often a small copy.
• Time ≈ total size ÷ speed.
• When importing, copy, don't move.
• Verify: the number of files and one frame each from the beginning, middle and end.
• The original file for editing; in a small copy, shadows and bright areas break down.

Bridge to the next lesson

Two hundred fourteen frames from your grandmother's birthday are sitting on your computer, and their names are nothing but ordinary letters and numbers the camera gave them. In the same folder there are also last summer's holiday frames, and because the camera's counter went back to the start at some point, some file names are identical to each other. A few years from now, among thousands of frames, how will you find that moment when your grandmother blew out the candles? The next lesson talks about building folders and file names with a date-based, consistent system.