I would take a stab at understanding how my fellow Nikonians transfer their images from their D800 to the computer?
It would also be nice to know why we have our behaviors when it comes to cards.

I think this will be a useful poll.

Thank you for your participation.

Reza Gorji

Poll result (63 votes) I take my cards out and hook up to a card reader (47 votes) Vote I take my cards out but my computer has a built in card reader (12 votes) Vote I connect the D800 to the computer via USB cable (4 votes) Vote I use WiFi enabled card and avoid cables and card readers (0 votes) Vote I store all my images on my cards as permenant storage (0 votes) Vote

For me, its just a habit to take out and put in thru a card reader. When travelling, my newer macbook pro has the slot so I do not have to carry a card reader.

Thanks for participating.
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I use the Lexar USB 3 card reader for my D800 CF card (my primiary card).

I usually use the card reader on my computer for my D7000 and D600 SD cards.

I used the camera and cable once in the past year and found it to be VERY slow compared to the card reader.


Eric Bowles
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Nikonians membership — my most important photographic investment, after the camera

Thank you Eric. I am a bit surprised by the poll results so far but I'm glad I put it up.

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Over the past twenty years, I have assembled my own desktop PC's. The current one, I added a SOHOUSB bay mounted USB 3.0/SATA card reader. Perfect for the big file sizes from the D800. And it works with both the CF, and SD cards. (Plus many others.)

If you buy a card reader, I would get a usb 3.0 model, they are noticeably faster than usb 2.0. Of course you'll need a computer with usb 3.0 capability.
Dave Jolley

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Card reader all the time. I don't see any computers being made anymore with dedicated CF slots. Probably would be on a slow USB bus even if they did. When I finally upgrade my computer I'll probably get a USB 3 reader to make full use of the UDMA capabilities. If only my eSATA card reader hadn't been a pile of useless junk...

I load my cards into the PC slot, but for a long time I used the USB - camera method. My first digital camera was a Minolta Dynax 7 which took CF cards only and one card bent a pin in the camera. It was repaired, but for years after that with my Nikons I was afraid it may happen again. I hope I haven't just tempted fate!

My new Dell Windows 7 quad core, 32Gb ram PC came with slots and is very fast.

Richard.

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I keep a card reader plugged into my desktop computer and have a second card reader and extra iPhone, iPad etc. cables in my Photo travel case.

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I've had over a dozen Nikon DSLR cameras in the same number of years.
It may surprise you but
I have never even tried to transfer images from the camera to the computer except once by WiFi several years ago.

I now use an USB3 reader

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I'm usually dumping multiple cards so I have a couple of readers plugged up. I had 6 cards out of 3 cameras yesterday (2 games) to dump, so I use whatever method is fastest. My MBP has Thunderbolt, but no USB3, so USB3 readers are not an option for me.

MBP owners are anxiously awaiting a Thunderbolt card reader. I fear it may never come.

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Webpage: http://www.ptfphoto.com

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Here is a thunderbolt sd or cf card reader solution

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/echoexpresscard34thunderbolt.html

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>I added a SOHOUSB bay mounted USB
>3.0/SATA card reader. Perfect for the big file sizes from the
>D800. And it works with both the CF, and SD cards. (Plus many
>others.)

Is this a reader that mounts in a 3.5/5.25 bay, connects to SATA, but provides USB3 in a computer that does not have internal USB3 connection? (I have external USB3 but no internal USB3 for a bay-mounted drive)

If so, what is the brand and source?

Thanks,

AviSys

I never use the cable for 2 reasons 1. slower than readers 2. it is difficult to attach with a L bracket. For travel I take a "Sonnet DiO Pro CompactFlash and SDXC USB 3.0 Media Reader" which has only 2 ports. At home I installed an AKASA USB-3 multi card reader. Oddly, the CF card needs to be inserted up side down. That took a bit of figuring!

Cal

If you have a free PCI slot there are USB-3 cards with 2 external and 2 internal ports. The 2 internal ports use 1 19-pin cable. You need to make sue that the cable that comes with the card reader (if one does) is long enough. If the card reader does use the 19-pin cable, you can run a adapter cable with 2 USB-3 plugs on one end and the 19-pin on the other from 2 external ports to the back of the internal card reader.