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newbie Q about formatting the card

Started by brynn, April 14, 2015, 04:33:19 AM

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spikeyjen

Brynn, you can connect your camera directly to the computer and not have to use a card reader. that way you can just leave your SD or CF card in the camera

Hinfrance

Quote from: spikeyjen on April 17, 2015, 01:08:11 AM
Brynn, you can connect your camera directly to the computer and not have to use a card reader. that way you can just leave your SD or CF card in the camera

Absolutely - this is the method I use most of the time. How to do this will be in the camera manual and there should have been a connecting lead in the box.
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brynn

Sorry for the delay again.

Well that's good to hear.  If I were to connect the camera to the computer, before I format the card, just to see what it looks like, and then format the card, and reconnect, would I be able to see what the difference is?

Also, I solved the mystery with the UV filter.  I had decided to only buy a uv filter for the Tamron lens.  I'll use the kit lens for a while, until I know a little more what I'm doing.  Then I'll put the bigger lens on with the filter.

Thanks again for all you help   :)

spikeyjen

Bryn, formatting the card clears the card, so you can format the card while it is in the camera (check your manual). When you have a new card (SC,CF or micro) it is recommended that you format the card before you start using it. Then, when you want to download images onto the computer, connect your camera directly to the computer to download. If you are happy that they are now on the computer (or stored in an external hard drive) then format your card again so that the card is empty and ready for the next photoshoot

I'm not sure I can explain the difference between formatting and just deleting (someone else may be able to help here), I just know that it is better to regularly format the card (after you have downloaded them somewhere).

hope this helps, don't be afraid to ask more questions

jinky

Yes connect your PC to your camera with the supplied lead. You always get one with the camera. Download your images to your pc having set up a named folder to take them. Next I always put that card to one side so that I have a back up copy until I have finished editing the images as I want them. Once I am sure I have exactly what I need on the PC with copies of them if required ( I keep jpegs and raw file folders to allow later edits) I then free up the card to use again in my camera. When I put it in my camera I format the card there to clear it of old images.

StephenBatey

#20
Deleting versus formatting

When you start out with a formatted card (or disk in your computer for that matter) there's a basic structure written to it to hold the information about the files that will be there, but the data area is completely clear. As you start putting files (photos in this case) they are written contiguously (one after t'other, no gaps between). Once you delete a photo, there's a space left which has the size of that photo. You can add another without problem if it's the same size, but if not, the space will be be either part filled (leaving a smaller space) or completely filled and the rest of the photo stored elsewhere on the card. Disks are "random access" - you can split files like this with no problems. No problems that is until you accidently format a card or delete something you didn't intend to. It then becomes more difficult for recovery software to identify correctly all the parts of the photo and put them back together. It also makes it slightly more likely that a small glitch in reading or writing the card will result in problems because the directory - the list of which photos are where - becomes more complex when a single photo is split into two or more locations on the card.

Formatting the card restores the clean system, and makes errors less likely, and easier to fix if they occur. I don't know what happens with cards, but certainly with hard disks formatting will also check for parts of the disk that aren't entirely reliable, and effectively map them out so that they aren't used. DIsks generally are made with a small surplus of data areas to enable this swapping to occur without losing space.
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