Upload-Digital-Camera

After you take pictures with your digital camera, you'll want to copy the pictures from your camera to your computer so you can print them, share them with others, and back them up for safe keeping. Once your pictures are on your computer, you can erase them from your camera, freeing up memory so you can take more pictures. You can also view your pictures on a larger screen and decide which ones are worth keeping.

As mentioned, some digital cameras come with software that helps you copy pictures from your camera to your computer. You can use this software, but you don't have to. Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Apple computers can copy pictures to your computer without additional software.  Below, we will present how to use Windows XP to copy pictures to your computer without requiring additional software.  Here's how to copy your pictures using information from Windows XP:

1.  First connect your digital camera to your computer.
You can do this in two different ways:

Use a USB cable. Most digital cameras come with a cable that connects the camera to a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port on your computer. Note: With Windows 7, you rarely need any software, just plug in USB cable, and you can upload!

Tip: It's usually faster to use a memory card reader to copy your pictures than to connect your camera to your computer with a cable.

2.  Once you've connected your camera to your computer or inserted your memory card into your memory card reader, Windows XP will detect the connection and ask you what you want to do with your pictures. If you connected your camera with a USB cable, click Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard, and then click OK.

If you are using a memory card reader, click Copy pictures to a folder on my computer using Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard, and then click OK.

3.  When the Scanner and Camera Wizard appears, click Next.

All of the pictures on your camera (or in your camera's memory card) are now displayed on the Choose Pictures to Copy page. By default, Windows XP selects all of the pictures for downloading. If there are pictures you do not want to download, just clear the check box next to those pictures. At this stage, you can also rotate pictures that you took while holding your camera vertically. To rotate a picture, click it, and then click either the Rotate clockwise or Rotate counterclockwise button on the lower-left side of the page. When you have reviewed the pictures for downloading and rotated your vertical
pictures, click Next.

5.  On the Picture Name and Destination page, type a name for the group of pictures. (This name, plus a number to differentiate each picture, will be applied to each of the pictures you download; for example, if you name the group "Vacation," the pictures will be named "Vacation001," "Vacation002," and so on.) Click Browse, and select a folder in which to save your pictures. Tip: Create a new folder for each group of pictures you download.

6.  If you want to erase the images from your camera's memory card to make space for new ones, select the Delete pictures from my device after copying them check box, and then click Next. The Scanner and Camera Wizard copies the pictures from your camera to the folder you specified and then removes the pictures from your camera's memory card.
7.  On the Other Options page, you can choose to publish your pictures to a Web site or order prints. If you have finished working with your pictures, click Nothing, and then click Next.

8.  On the final page of the wizard, click Finish. Windows XP opens a Windows Explorer window showing the pictures you downloaded from your camera. Your camera's memory card is now clean and ready to store new pictures. If you connected your camera to your computer using a USB cable, disconnect your camera. If you used a memory card reader, return the memory card to the camera. Your photos are now stored on your computer, ready for whatever you want to do with them, and your camera is ready to take more pictures. As with any important files, it's a good idea to make backup copies of your photos, in case anything happens to your computer.

How to send photos as attachments to an e-mail

All e-mail programs, Windows Outlook or the popular Firefox that you can download from the Internet, make it easy to attach photos to an e-mail when you want to share one or more photos with friends and family. While you are writing an e-mail, and you decide to share photos, you only need to look at the icons usually run along the length of the screen, and you will notice one called “attachment” and often uses the symbol of a ‘paper clip’ to denote the term.  You click on this icon and then you are next asked where you want to go to find this attachment.  Attachments can be anything found in your files, on your desktop, etc., but if you want to send a picture you just saved in your ‘picture’ file, you click however necessary to get to where the photo is stored.

Once you find the picture or pictures, you click on the specific picture you want.  You repeat this process, until all the pictures you want to send at attached.  At that point, that picture will be attached to the e-mail and will be sent along with the e-mail whenever you finish writing and send it.

Depending on your particular computer and connection speed, you should practice sending one photo as an attachment, and see how fast or how long it takes to send it.  Often times, on older systems or when you are connected via telephone, etc., putting several pictures as attachments can take a lot of time---as pictures take much more storage than written files, etc.--- and it is better to send e-mails with only one, two or three such attachments to avoid delays in uploading time.

You can go to the following sites for more information:

Webopedia's Quick Reference: The Digital Camera Picture

Digital Camera Resource Page
Excellent resource for current or future owners of digital cameras. Contains a wealth of useful links, articles, and product information.

Digital Eyes
An independent, online publication covering digital cameras and scanners that features news, reviews, and specifications for digital cameras, scanners, and the software that controls them.