Considering getting a T1i--one question

Ty Cobb

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I have researched heavily several DSLRs as my wife and I consider going from point and click to SLR in the digital world. We have an old Pentax and Canon SLR for 35 mm film from way back in the day, so we are not entirely alien to it. However, while doing my research the T1i appealed to us most for a variety of reasons, but we have one reservation.

I have read in one review the reviewer talking about the drawback to the 15.1 Megapixel camera being that it takes forever to transfer and upload pictures of this size. It doesn't appear he was referring to RAW file settings, but JPEGS.

I do realize that you can lower the megapixels to make a smaller file, but I am just curious if it really does take a long time to transfer and upload jpegs at 15.1 megapixels.

Thanks for the assistance.
 
Well transfer from camera to computer tends to be rather slow in general - I much prefer to take the card out of the camera and use a card reader (£/$ 10 -15) to read the card since they appear to do so far quicker than the camera. Larger files will take longer to copy over than smaller ones, but I suspect the reviewer was most likley nitpicking or looking for something negative that was not too serious to put into the review.
 
I have an xsi (12.2MP) and it is not crazy slow, but I wouldn't call it fast. I shoot in RAW so each file is 13-15Mb. It is prob going to be slower then the point and shoots due to file sizes being larger.
 
Well, it depends greatly on the card reader one has,and the transfer speed it has. Transferring an eight gigabyte memory card full of images on a firewire card reader could take as long as ten to even fifteen minutes--it depends on the card reader's transfer speed AND on the transfer speed the memory card itself is capable of, so those are two potential bottlenecks in terms of transfer times.

On the other hand--you're probably not going to be filling up eight gigabyte memory cards two or three at a time unless you're shooting events. And of course, you'd have to consider that even a 15-minute transfer time would be much faster than going to pick up a roll or two of prints at Walgreens, and would involve the transfer of maybe 1,500 photos from card to computer.
 
Will you be in that much of a rush to download and process your images if it takes 30 mins instead of 10 mins?
 
This is what the reviewer said:


"
The downside to all these megapixels? You better have a pretty decent computer and enough free hard drive space to store them all.
Hard drives are about a dime a dozen these days, so storage space isn't a huge issue - what's more problematic is the amount of computer processing power you'll need to view and edit your photos.
When reviewing the photos that I took for this Canon T1i 500D guide I spent a LOT of time waiting:

  • I waited for photos to copy from the memory card to my hard drive
  • I waited for my photo organizing software to import all the images into a gallery (and to create the thumbnails)
  • I waited when I tried to use software to edit any one of the images
Most of all, I waited for images to upload. Even with a very fast Internet connection, uploading large 15 megapixel files takes a long time - I often would start an upload and would then go find something else to do for a couple of hours."




Canon Rebel T1i 500D Guide
 
Most of all, I waited for images to upload. Even with a very fast Internet connection, uploading large 15 megapixel files takes a long time - I often would start an upload and would then go find something else to do for a couple of hours."

Sounds like he is uploading his fullsized images to the internet - which is not commonly done (most people resize to around 1000pixels or less on the longest side and post that to the net). So unless you also want to upload the fullsized images online this should not be a worry for you.

Further his comments on waiting are mostly not that relevant unless we have a breakdown of his computer as well - since the speed of those factors will be highly dependant on the computer setup (both the hardware and the software)
 
I went to the link and read his review. I know what he's talking about,and in most respects it is true--you WILL need a pretty decent computer. As far as uploading a 15 megapixel JPEG image that's maybe 10 megabytes in size YES, it will not upload "rapidly" to the web unless the transfer is done by pretty sophisticated software, or transferred via FTP (File Transfer Protocol),and it will not upload rapidly to most e-mail servers either--it will be decidedly slower with 15 megapixel images than with say, 6- or 8-megapixel images, and the size is 50% larger than 10 megapixel images,so again, yes, it will demand a "pretty decent computer",as he wrote.

Also, he is right about it taking a long time to import 15MP photos into image editing or slideshow programs, image organizing software,etc. It's true; with the newer software requiring an "import" of image files, adding files has grown slower and slower and slower over the years as more software goes that route. If one's database has 20,000 photos in it, and one wishes to add 500 more, it *MAY* be a slow process. This all goes double if one is working on a single-processor laptop with a pokey laptop hard drive in it--laptops are usually much slower than today's modern dual-processor, high-bus speed, 8-gig of RAM, 750 gig hard disk tower computers.

So, yes, 15 megapixel image files do demand a pretty decent computer system to handle easily and effortlessly, and there's no getting around the fact that a 50% size boost from the last-generation of 10MP cameras will be a decided slow-down on every computer, every memory card reader, etc. As image sizes have swelled, library/slideshow programs have to devote more and more time to importing,cataloguing,and referencing the images, creating thumbnails for each image, and so on, and so there *is* a decided difference in speed of file handling and so on at the 15MP level.
 
I moved from a Sony A200 to a T1i, and I haven't really noticed any difference in speed of transfer. Maybe a 2-3 minute increase on copying files, but there's no sign of the apocalypse or anything.

Also, take note that there are ways to resize photos, whether it be in photoshop (you can batch resize if I do remember correctly.) And I want to say that the EOS software that comes with the camera allows you to resize them also.

I'd also recommend getting an external hard drive. My preferred method was to buy a 3.5 inch enclosure, and a 700gb hard drive and slap it in that bad boy. Works wonders, and you could probably get a terabyte hard drive for roughly the same price now.
 
This is what the reviewer said:


"
The downside to all these megapixels? You better have a pretty decent computer and enough free hard drive space to store them all.
Hard drives are about a dime a dozen these days, so storage space isn't a huge issue - what's more problematic is the amount of computer processing power you'll need to view and edit your photos.
When reviewing the photos that I took for this Canon T1i 500D guide I spent a LOT of time waiting:


  • I waited for photos to copy from the memory card to my hard drive
  • I waited for my photo organizing software to import all the images into a gallery (and to create the thumbnails)
  • I waited when I tried to use software to edit any one of the images
Most of all, I waited for images to upload. Even with a very fast Internet connection, uploading large 15 megapixel files takes a long time - I often would start an upload and would then go find something else to do for a couple of hours."




Canon Rebel T1i 500D Guide

Most of my waiting is done waiting for Light Room 2 to import and export images. It's the 32bit version on OS X and it can be a real dog. I'm shooting with a camera that creates 21mp files.

Transferring from the memory card via a usb card reader isn't that bad. I did a full 8gb card in about a 7-8 minutes. I rarely ever upload full size images to the web unless they're going into my Smugmug page from a shoot, so there's not much waiting there and even then, I don't have much of a problem as that can usually be done in the background.
 
I have a T1i (500D) and this is a non-issue. I don't let my storage cards fill up... I regularly back up across 2 drives. And as far as uploading, this is not a computer issue, but an internet speed issue. The faster your connection, the faster your uploads. Any remotely modern computer can handle the simple task of moving files around. And as far as storage space goes, larger internal and/or an external hard drives are cheap. I wouldn't be concerned with any of those points. If the camera has the features you want, and it feels good in your hands, it's a keeper.
 

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