chevman Loc: Matthews, North Carolina

It is possible to damage the contacts in the card slot, or get some foreign substance on one or more of the contacts. I use the usb cord some of the time, also if your camera has WiFi then you might consider using the WiFi feature. There are no physical connections to be made, no flimsy doors to break off, and no resulting damage to your SD card, or card slot.

tcthome Loc: NJ

Some cameras (mine did) comes with a little gizmo for taking the stress off of the cable hanging from the camera connection. I'm sure they provide it for good reason considering they didn't provide a hot shoe cover.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I remove the card. I find it easier that having the camera and another wire on my desk. It's too crowded as it is. Also, I over-worry about the plugging and unplugging of the cable wearing out or damaging one or the other.

Blair Shaw Jr Loc: Dunnellon,Florida

I always use the cable and never remove the card and have never had an issue, but you must be very careful when connecting and disconnecting the USB so you don't damage the ports ,because that will cost you dearly.

Red6

I think you could go either way. I have always thought it was easier and faster to pull the card and use a card reader on my desktop. If I am using my laptop it has a built in SD card slot so all I have to do is insert and download. Also I was taught that when using post-processing software, good organization of the downloaded image files is an absolute must. One of the easiest way to accomplish this to to start off organized. Therefore, I always carry several SD cards and assign one to each location, subject etc. I rarely have more than a few dozen images on any card. The cards are ID'd with a number or letter and I record when and where I used it. A little more work, but it makes downloading and organizing the files at the computer much easier since I want each shoot or location to have its own folder, file or catalog on the computer.

There are 2 other issues that have been mentioned.

First, the USB ports on many computers are usually faster than the ports on most cameras. So you are limited on download speed by the camera. Even the cheaper card readers now have up to date USB speeds. Not a big issue with me since I rarely have many images on a card, but for some who have hundreds, it can take a while.

Second, there is wear and tear on the connections in the camera. SD card slots appear to be more robust with only 8 very large connecting points on the card and in the camera. Not a lot to go wrong or wear out on those. A USB port on the other hand has a very small hard plastic connector with multiple tiny pins that is prone to wear at some point in its life. I experienced this with a cell phone that I had for 4-5 years. The charging/data port was a USB type and later in its life I had to position the charging/data cable just at the proper angle to get it to work. The pins themselves appeared to be OK, but the plastic connector internal to the phone itself had worn, so a proper connection was problematic. I could see this easily happening on a camera USB port that gets constant use.

So, I think either method is fine but if you are charging and downloading your camera from the USB port o a regular basis, and you plan on keeping this camera for several years, you may see some issues with wear on the USB connector. In my opinion, I think wear and tear on the access door is the least of your worries, unless you are opening and closing it dozens of times each day.

JeffR Loc: Rehoboth Beach, Delaware

The only way to be certain no part ever wears out is to never use your camera.

dc3legs Loc: Tucson

Grahame mentioned inserting the card directly into the computer. Two of my cameras use SD cards and my computer has a compatible SD slot right in front. No card reader & no cable. Didn't realize the computer was so equipped until months after I bought it

photoman43

I always remove the card from the camera and download the images to a computer using a card reader. It is faster and does not drain the battery in the camera. I have never used a cable from the camera approach. That being said, do what works for you but do it carefully and correctly.

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

Don't know what you mean by the right software, but with Windows you don't need software windows will automatically recognize it as a drive.

For me it's easier just to pull the card put it in the reader and transfer it then format after I make sure I got the photos on the hard drive okay. It's quicker for me because I have to go get the cable out of the bag and it just takes more time it's faster to do it by removing the card.

photoman43

The software comment might refer to various software packages offered by camera manufacturers and third parties to download images and create new image file names and file folders for the images on the card. Something like 2020_Oct_19 Zoo for a file folder and 201019_zoo_01 for an image in that file folder--for images taken at a zoo.

phot0n0ob

Same here; have been doing that for a couple of years w/out issues. A proper card reader might provide faster transfer speeds (I've never tested that!), but you won't break your camera ...

Drbobcameraguy Loc: Eaton Ohio

I agree with you. I always have downloaded my images with the cord. On my D500 with the XQD card downliad is very very fast.

goldenyears Loc: Lake Osewgo

I'm experimenting with shooting photos with the camera tethered to an 8 inch touch-screen tablet using Canon's EOS Utility software. The tablet is clamped on my tripod so I can use it hands-free. The images can be saved directly to the tablet for later transfer to my computer over a network.

goldenyears Loc: Lake Osewgo

P.S. Here's a photo of the arrangement last time I used it.

goldenyears Loc: Lake Osewgo

Here it is. Tablet swiveled to the side to avoid sun glare on the screen last time I used it.