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As we discussed last week, one way to improve battery life with your digital camera is to remove the memory card or diskette from the camera and then insert it into a device which your PC can accommodate to download the photos. There are a number of options depending on the camera's memory card and the type of PC you use. We'll discuss these option this week. First, today's digital cameras rely primarily on three different types of removable memory cards. These are:
1.
Diskette (standard 3.5 inch floppy)
2. CompactFlash memory card
3. SmartMedia memory card
The Sony Mavica line of digital cameras became very popular with Realtors and others because it was the first (and still the only) digital camera that uses a standard diskette to store photos. This was a great feature as "everyone" knows what a floppy diskette is and where to insert it into your PC. Floppies are very inexpensive and easy to find when you need more of them. If you have this type of digital camera and a diskette drive in your PC, then you're all set! However, even Sony appears to be moving away from this feature as diskettes are very restrictive in terms of the number of high resolution photos (jpegs) or movies (mpegs) that can be stored on a single diskette.
The CompactFlash card or CF card is very popular and is used in digital cameras from Kodak, Nikon, Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Minolta and others. The CF card is about one inch square and is a very solid but thin magnetic media. The physical size doesn't change but the CF card comes in various storage capacities from 4 MB up to 192 MB!
The SmartMedia card or SM card is also very popular and is used in digital cameras from Olympus, Fuji, Toshiba and Ricoh. The SM card is also about one inch square, but is even thinner than the CF card and is somewhat pliable and more subject to physical damage than the CF card is. As with the CF card, it's physical size never changes but it does offer a range of storage capacities up to 64 MB.
Most digital cameras that use either a CF card or SM card include one card with the purchase. You may want to purchase additional memory cards if you share one camera among several agents. This is a very inexpensive way for one office to allow multiple agents to share just one digital camera but always have ready access to their own photos.
You'll find that by removing the memory card or diskette and inserting it into a high speed data transfer device like those shown below will make the task of transferring photos from your digital camera to your PC much faster and enjoyable. If you use a notebook PC, you'll even be able to show your photos full size to your client during a listing presentation!
If
you have a notebook PC, there are typically one or two slots in
the side of the PC. These are known as PCMCIA slots or PC card slots
for short. You probably already use at least one of these slots
to insert either a modem or a network card. This is where your camera
memory card will go - but wait! First you'll need to get an inexpensive
adapter. Your memory card is too small to fit in the PC slot without
the PC card adapter. The adapter is the exact size and shape of
your modem card, but it has a small notch cut out of one end. You
insert your CF or SM card into this notch, then insert the entire
adapter into your PC card slot. What happens is that your PC immediately
recognizes the memory card as a new drive letter. Your floppy is
A, your hard drive is C, your CD-ROM is D, and this will become
the next letter in line alphabetically (E, F, etc.). These adapters
can be found for typically $10 to $20 wherever digital cameras are
sold.
If you have an office and allow your agents to download digital photos from different cameras onto your graphics or virtual tour workstation, you might get a combination reader that has two slots - one for CF cards, and one for SM cards. This device will give you and your agents the ultimate in versatility and high speed photo downloading!
One
final option for those of you who use a camera with a SM memory
card is a FlashPath adapter. The FlashPath adapter looks like a
floppy diskette in armor. It is similar in concept to the PC card
adapters described above, but it only works with SM cards. You simply
insert the SM card into the notch in the FlashPath adapter and then
insert the FlashPath adapter into your diskette drive. This is a
slower transfer method than the other methods describe above but
can make sense for those of you who don't want to play around with
cables or use both a notebook and a desktop PC. FlashPath adapters
are usually priced from $70 to $100.
Sandisk
and Lexar are two leading companies that make and sell the memory
cards, adapters and readers and they have great photos and explanations
of all these devices on their websites at: www.sandisk.com
& www.digitalfilm.com
So
save your batteries, save time, and get more listings by creating
virtual tours right in front of a client with the aid of these digital
camera accessories!
In
future e-marketing newsletters we'll cover other marketing and photographic
tips. Stay tuned!
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