Camera D/L Programme Help Please

[Olly]

I've got an S9500 camera and it came with Fuji Finepix software for downloading the images off the camera. Both have worked fine all the time I've had them - until now! The software just freezes as soon as it loads up or it will start to download and freeze up.

The software automatically fires up when the camera is plugged in (via USB) and you switch it on so it's hard to intervene when it starts to fire up. I have tried a few times but it makes no difference. I've left it for a few hours to see if it clears itself - no go. I've totally uninstalled it and re-installed it - no go. I've given my PC a big clean out thinking maybe I've got so much on it it's effecting it's grunt capacity - no go. I can only think it's because the camera is full of movies instead of pics.

I know I can copy the camera files via internet explorer because when the camera is connected it creates it's own 'harddrive' and shows it's contents, but this method seems to lose the film quality somehow because when you view the movies in the camera they're crisp and clear but a copied version of the file appears grainy and dark.

I'm screwed! I can't use my camera because it's full and I can't clear it because the software keeps freezing. Anybody know of a freebie that I can use? Or does some software that I might already have loaded do downloads from camera.

TIA
Olly

 

[plusnq]

Hi Olly

Have you tried taking the camera to another computer? Don't load the software, just turn camera on and plug in usb cable. Nearly all cameras will appear as usb devices. Click on the cameras icon in My computer and drill down the folders till you see the images. Select and copy to hard drive.

Check they look ok in Windows on the borrowed computer and then you can select and delete the image files.

The only time I have seen issues with downloading (apart from software corruption) is when someone has made a very large movie file.

Hope this helps

Cheers

Shane

 

[Olly]

Have you tried taking the camera to another computer? Don't load the software, just turn camera on and plug in usb cable. Nearly all cameras will appear as usb devices. Click on the cameras icon in My computer and drill down the folders till you see the images. Select and copy to hard drive.

As I said in my post I've tried this on my own PC (and it works) but the movies seem to lose quality using this method.

The only time I have seen issues with downloading (apart from software corruption) is when someone has made a very large movie file.

That's what I think the issue is.

The next thing I'll try if I can't get free software is to load the software on to my daughters PC, download them onto hers then burn to CD so I can bring them home. The only other option is to buy a new PC myself. Am going to do this, but it may be another couple of weeks yet and want to use my camera before then.

Ta
Olly

 

[plusnq]

Hi Olly

One of the reasons I suggested using that technique with a different PC is to eliminate your PC as the problem. The image quality (being digital) should remain intact from camera to PC, however there are a lot of reasons why images may be degraded when viewed on a PC vs on the camera (image size, screen resolution, etc etc)

I am not sure from your post which version of the software that you have but there is an updated version at

http://www.fujifilm.com/products/digital/download/02/index.html#windows5.3

Might be worth a try if your version is an earlier one.

If it doesn't work them there are a few options available. Use a photoshop to download the files and have them burnt to a cd, or you could always buy another storage card for the camera. That would be cheaper than a new PC anyway.

Cheers

Shane

 

[Olly]

Ah! now I see where you're coming from.

All good suggestions.

Thanks Shane.

Olly

 

[duncan_m]

I've had a few digital cameras.. and I've never bothered with the software the manufacturer of the camera provides.. generally because its usually really crappy software (as you've found)

I just take the memory card out of the camera and plug it into a "card reader" and copy the images off it that way.. Card Readers can be hard for as little as $20 at most PC Shops.. They're little USB devices that your card plugs into, most have slots for all of the common card formats.

Almost all Card Readers will work flawlessly under Windows (if you're unlucky enough to be using that)..

Maybe a Card Reader is an option for you?

 

[Olly]

I've had a few digital cameras.. and I've never bothered with the software the manufacturer of the camera provides.. generally because its usually really crappy software (as you've found)

I just take the memory card out of the camera and plug it into a "card reader" and copy the images off it that way.. Card Readers can be hard for as little as $20 at most PC Shops.. They're little USB devices that your card plugs into, most have slots for all of the common card formats.

Almost all Card Readers will work flawlessly under Windows (if you're unlucky enough to be using that)..

Maybe a Card Reader is an option for you?

Thanks Duncan - I didn't know there was such a thing and I like the sound of that. Even if it doesn't work for me this time (I'm thinking of the picture quality issue), it will be handy to have regardless.

Olly

 

[duncan_m]

Thanks Duncan - I didn't know there was such a thing and I like the sound of that. Even if it doesn't work for me this time (I'm thinking of the picture quality issue), it will be handy to have regardless.

Olly

Olly..

The Memory Card contains EVERYTHING that the Camera "knows" about a particular picture.. taking the Memory Card out and putting it into a Card Reader will give you everything that the camera knows about any image or video thats its recorded..

Going through the native USB interface of the camera CANNOT deliver any more information/quality/resolution than what is stored on the Memory Card.

 

[geoffw]

Almost all Card Readers will work flawlessly under Windows (if you're unlucky enough to be using that)..

Maybe a Card Reader is an option for you?

I've got this one- $40 from Dick Smith. There are cheaper, but this one has a good range of cards which it supports.

The S9500 supports two card types; this reader will also read pix from a camera phone (with an adaptor which comes with the phone).

 

[plusnq]

Olly,

Did you get the problem solved?

Shane

 

[Olly]

Olly,

Did you get the problem solved?

Shane

Will take the full card to my daughters on Friday night, load the software on and try to download to her PC then burn files to CD. Hopefully this will work.

I've also bought another memory card for backup as I've been asked by a friend to be her official photographer at her babys naming ceremony on Sunday. A spare card won't go astray for holidays anyway.

Thanks
Olly

 

[the_captain]

Use google Picasa (unless you shoot RAW).....it wont help on your vids, but it will get your stills off for you.

My 70+ mother uses is and it is super simple and works 90% of the time

 

[geoffw]

Will take the full card to my daughters on Friday night, load the software on and try to download to her PC then burn files to CD. Hopefully this will work.

I've also bought another memory card for backup as I've been asked by a friend to be her official photographer at her babys naming ceremony on Sunday. A spare card won't go astray for holidays anyway.

How big a card did you get? What was the size of the original card?

The S9500 comes with a card which is almost useless- 256K from memory.

And you can get both a Compact Flash and an XD card- so if you fill up one you can just switch over to the other one.

 

[ger]

I like using the following software
to download photos from cardreader and
also it helps you fix photos if they are dark etc
I use the Professional version but the standard is
aslo as good.
You can download a demo and try it yourself
easy to use

 

[Sunfish]

I just take the memory card out of the camera and plug it into a "card reader" and copy the images off it that way..

Thanks Dunc. I've just found the SD reader on my laptop. Well I knew it was there, just didn't realise it would read my (very new) camera memory.

 

[Olly]

How big a card did you get? What was the size of the original card?

The S9500 comes with a card which is almost useless- 256K from memory.

And you can get both a Compact Flash and an XD card- so if you fill up one you can just switch over to the other one.

Not sure what my original card is but I bought a 1gig XD card for $59.95 (don't know if that's a good price as I didn't shop around - just bought it from a shop I pass every day - Rabbit Photos) and got a voucher for $25.00 worth of free developing redeemable over the next 6 months so that's not too bad. While in the store I saw some good ideas for Xmas pressies involving piccies so that's given me some ideas too.

And as per other comments made here - my printer doesn't take camera cards

Have to agree - Picassa is a good little freebie although I use other stuff.

Cheers
Olly