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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RandyDSok" data-source="post: 180465" data-attributes="member: 201">I always use my memory card to transfer my pics. USB connections are prone to fail and your camera is from another era so it still has the USB Mini connection which is the weakest of the various connections. Card readers can also fail as well, but if they do, they are cheap enough to replace but the built in USB connection repair ( if needed ) is a pricey fix if one is needed since the camera would need to be disassembled and a new port would require to be soldered on.So you transfer your pics to your computer with whatever method ( mem card recommended ). You need to start to consider some type of folder organization for your pics as well as some type of file naming methodology as you post process and/or edit your originals to something you will later use for printing or sharing etc.  When you post process or edit your photos ... you NEVER overwrite your original picture, you always rename it or add an additional snippet or word so you know what it is later. This way, you can always go back to the original if you every want to post process or edit it differently... or perhaps have gotten a new software that may work better than what  you had or are trying out.So... first folder organization... I use a simple YYYY-MM-DD_"subject" style of folder naming most of the time. This keeps my folders listed by date order and the subject portion tells me quickly the basics of what that photo shoot was about. The subject portion doesn't have to be complex unless you want it to be and if it's about a lot of different things, can be as simple as something like "misc" or whatever. Here is an example of some of mine just to give some context.[ATTACH=full]24855[/ATTACH]In addition... I'll typically have sub-folders under the main pics folder for my post processed and/or edited photos. I do try to keep those separated from the originals so they are easier to find. I use a similar method with my file naming with a post process and/or edited pic containing the originals filename along with a brief description of what I did. I'll often use what resolution I saved it in as well as other changes so I can tell at a glance what I may have done in the processing/editing. Cameras will almost always use a series of number for the pics. So in this example... well call it 0000.RAW as what the camera called itSo the original is as mentioned 0000.RAW. I may then use a subject description for a bird shot and it's resolution as my post processed pic. I also like to use PNG for my first post processing since they have more detail than typical JPG's... so my first post process one may become save as 0000_Bird_6000x4000.PNG telling me it's a bird pic at 6000x4000 resolution. Next I may edit the photo to have the area I'd want to be cropped down to the exact shot I'd like to see it as... lets also say I made the original 1/4 larger of an area that I was after... so I'll crop it at around 75% of the total area of the original. The filename I'll save this one as would then become 0000_Bird_4500x3000_cropped.PNG . So now the name tells me the original filename, the subject, the resolution I saved it as and what I did in an edit.For sharing on a public or social media site like this one... I'll probably cut it down in resolution further ... something close to 1920x1080 or whatever scale factor is equivalent to the original pic ( the original example was at 3:2 scale ratio... what I just mentioned was a 16:9 ratio but it's just an example ) and I'd then save it as a JPG file since that is much smaller size and share the resulting pic. The file naming would use some of the same logic I had in my previous examples.Most good camera's will give you the option to create one or two types of files... a post processed one... typically a .JPG or sometimes a .PNG... and a RAW file type. What the file extension is called will be dependent on the brand of camera. My Nikon uses the .RAW file extension but I believe that Canon calls their .CR1 or similar. The RAW type file is the best one to use but does require you learn how to post process your photos for the best look after you have them copied. RAW photos contain all of the photo data but when viewed in a basic photo program, will look washed out and flat because they haven't been color balanced, contrasted etc that is typically done in the post processing phase. The built in post processing done in camera is ok but it is generalized to be ok for most situations... so it may not be an nice as a customized hand post processed one. You may find the in camera post process pic as fine for you... but it is little different than what you'd get with a point and shoot camera also.What I call post processing is setting the exposure, color balance, contrast, brightness, saturation and vibrancy of the shot. It may also contain some noise filtering and lens correction and other minor changes. As I mentioned, the in camera post processing is pretty good but it's a generalized setting that may not be the best for every picture. This is where saving and post processing by hand has a big advantage. It may be as simple as being about to "tease out" some details in the darker or lighter areas of a photo that the general post processing may not be programmed to perform... or color balance it if the lighting was just what you really wanted.What I call editing... are things such as cropping, straightening, removing defects and adding a million other possible combinations of effects and/or filters. The differences in post processing and editing can be subtle so the two are often used in conjunction since the lines between them can often blur.I don't know what Canon provides as their post processing/editing software... but I do know I didn't care for what Nikon provided, I felt it was too basic and I wanted to do more and have more options. For most of my post processing/editing I use one called "ON 1 Photo Raw" and I get the version with a "Lifetime" license that gets me all of that years updates for free... I avoid any software that requires a subscription although they do offer one. Besides the post processing/editing features it has, it also has some organization features such as keyword searches and a favorites feature that lets me "score" each photo with up to 5 stars. I don't use the later since I rely on my folder and file naming for most of my organization needs but those are nice features to have. Another nice free RAW photo processor/editor is called DarkTable and can be found easily with an internet search. For my basic cropping ( after I've done it in ON 1 ), I use a free viewer called XnView which also allows me to change the scale ratios, save as different file formats and has a nice thumbnail viewer also.</blockquote>

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