Canon Eos Utility alternatives

drunkmonkey · 04-12-2009 12:52pm #1

i'm using the canon eos utility but find it very hit and miss it seem to hang a lot, is there another program you can use for sending pictures from the camer to the computer, using a 500d and Leopard...tks dm

minikin · 04-12-2009 12:54pm

if you use a card reader you can just access the images as if it were an external drive... drag and drop
(for safety reasons always copy them (hold down alt key while moving) rather than just moving the files incase there's an interruption... could lose the files.

another alternative.. which i find very handy is the adobe downloader (if you have adobe cs/bridge)

Calina · 04-12-2009 12:55pm

Some Mac head should come along but LightRoom probably does it anyway if you have that, and I can't believe Aperture doesn't do it.

I actually use Windows Explorer on a PC. YOu can't tell me there isn't a Mac equivalent. I do occasionally use the EOS Utility as well. Never had problems with it.

drunkmonkey · 04-12-2009 1:04pm

minikin wrote: »

another alternative.. which i find very handy is the adobe downloader (if you have adobe cs/bridge)

I have adobe Bridge CS3 but have never used it, still trying to get my head around photoshop. Is it a good program what's it used for..

when I plug in the camera eos utility pops up automatically but usually hangs and i've to try it a few times, it's working now but it's after taking me a good few attempts.. memory card reader sounds like it would be the handiest.

04-12-2009 1:10pm

Can't you just write / read directly to the card? Thats what I do..

minikin · 04-12-2009 1:12pm

Hi DM, yeah I'm a great believer in having as few hoops for your files to jump through as possible which is why I use reader (lexar FW800) more often than not and it's quicker than the camera usb connection anyhow.

Bridge is a great package for managing your files across the adobe packages... photoshop, indesign, illy etc but it's most useful in terms of photography as an image browser - open bridge directly or go to 'browse' in the photoshop file menu and it'll show you a catalog of your folder. Very quick way of seeing what you have.

Fajitas! · 04-12-2009 1:26pm

Calina wrote: »

Some Mac head should come along but LightRoom probably does it anyway if you have that, and I can't believe Aperture doesn't do it.

It does, but the OP doesn't have Aperture.

DM, first off, as mentioned, get a decent card reader, it'll make everything easier in the long run, they can be got for as little as 10 quid, but try spend 40 on a decent fast one - I've a Lexar model too, and find it great.

iPhoto should be able to import the files too, as should Bridge.

drunkmonkey · 04-12-2009 3:07pm

thanks for the tips, i'll keep an eye out for the card reader..any recommendations on which one to get, don't want to spend a fortune, will an ordinary card reader do or will it take ages to transfer the photos, I presume the more you pay the quicker the photos transfer..

Do I need the canon software for anything, I think i'll just remove it all if the adobe software will do the same thing..

ozt9vdujny3srf · 04-12-2009 3:15pm

Nope, thats dependent more on the quality of your memory card. Any old card reader is fine. If it is an SD card, some of the new macs have SD card readers built in.

minikin · 04-12-2009 6:35pm

card readers vary enormously in quality...
you can't go too far wrong with any sandisk or lexar though
obviously the more you spend... the better the quality

you need an sdhc reader, you could go for something cheap but I'd suggest getting this in case you move to a body that uses cf cards

Canon Eos Utility alternatives

Comments