picture help?

Question

how do you send pictures from you DIGITAL CAMERA to your COMPUTER.?? BE SPECIFIC IN WHAT I NEED TO BUY.

Answer 1

You camera should come with a cable that connects it to the usb port in your computer. You shouldn't need to buy anything.

Answer 2

put you memory card in the tower

Answer 3

use a USB cable

Answer 4

Here is an excerpt from the digital photo class that I teach:

One of the greatest things about digital pictures is the fact that there are an endless number of things that can be done with them once they’re in a computer. In the past, people would drop their film off at a store to be developed. The present day equivalent involves bringing your camera’s media card to a kiosk at the store and uploading the photos that need printing. Today, just as years ago, when the prints are finished, they can be framed, placed into an album or more likely stored in an old shoebox somewhere.
Digital pictures may have eliminated the need for film developing, but they have also created a whole new variety of concerns for the average picture taker. If you choose to print and/or manage your pictures yourself, there are two options available.
1. Buy a printer that will print your pictures directly either from the camera or the media card. This option is similar to the kiosk idea except you do it at home.
2. Load the pictures into a computer and use photo editing and management software.
Option two gives you an unlimited amount of options and puts you completely in charge of your pictures. Digital pictures can be brightened, darkened, cropped, e-mailed, stitched together, enlarged, reduced, colorized, posterized, sharpened, blurred, distorted, duplicated, placed on the internet and modified in any number of ways.
Option two surely affords the greatest flexibility, but just getting pictures from your camera into your computer is sometimes a chore. Fortunately there are several methods for accomplishing this task. Some methods are easier than others, but it doesn’t matter which method you choose as long as the result is right for you.
LET THE WIZARD HELP
Windows XP is quite accommodating when it comes to digital cameras. Whether the camera software has been installed or not often doesn’t matter, Windows XP is capable of recognizing most cameras when they’re connected. The “wizard” program pops up when a camera is connected to the computer’s USB connection. To transfer pictures from a camera to a computer using the Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard:
1. Connect computer and camera together via the USB cable. A USB connections are usually marked with the symbol seen at the right.
2. Switch the camera power to the ‘on’ position. NOTE: Most camera manufacturers recommend using an AC power adapter when transferring images to prevent the loss of any images in the event low camera battery power causes the camera to automatically shut off. If you intend to use battery power during image transfer, it would be wise to insure that your batteries are fully charged. The computer may acknowledge that a device has been detected with a sound event and a balloon in the lower right of the screen.
3. The media detector will pop onto the screen and it may display several options from which you may choose. These options are directly related to the various programs that are installed on your computer.
4. Select Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard from the list and click the OK button.
5. The Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard will appear. Click the NEXT button to move on to the next step in the process.
6. Check off the images to be copied or transferred. By default, all pictures will be checked. You may opt to check or uncheck images by clicking in the check box in the upper left corner of each image. There are buttons for UNCHECK ALL and CHECK ALL that may make selecting easier depending on what you want to do. Click the NEXT button.
7. Supply a name for your pictures. Example: ‘Family Picnic,’ ‘Alaska Cruise,’ ‘Jim & Sue’s wedding.’ Digital cameras automatically assign a cryptic sort of name to each picture that you take … i.e. DSCF0254.JPG or KIF_0316.JPG. Pictures will be renamed with the name you supply followed by a series number. Example: ‘Alaska Cruise001,’ ‘Alaska Cruise002,’ etc… The wizard will also create a folder with the same name and locate that folder within the My Pictures folder unless you specify a different location.
8. In the same window you may opt to delete the information on the media card after the transfer is completed. This will allow you to reuse that portion of the media card for other pictures. Place a check in the box to clear the card or leave the box unchecked to keep the images on the media card. NOTE: You may want to keep pictures on the media card if you intend to print them from a retail store photo kiosk.
9. Click NEXT to begin transferring the images to the computer.
10. When the transfer is complete you can choose from a final option box. You may:
a. Publish your pictures to web
b. Order prints of your pictures from an online photo service (there is a fee)
c. Do nothing (recommended)
11. Click the FINISH button. After the wizard exits, it will open the folder containing your newest pictures.
12. Disconnect the USB cable and turn the camera off.
CAMERA SOFTWARE
Your camera will come with software that works much the same as the Scanner and Camera Wizard. Your camera software may be represented in the option list that appears in step #3 above. The steps will, more than likely, be very similar to those listed above. After the media detector appears on the screen you may choose to run the image transfer software that came with your camera instead of the Scanner and Camera Wizard. Just choose it from the list then click the NEXT button. A media detector may not be present on older computers. In this case, the camera software may launch automatically or may need to be manually started.
MEDIA CARD READER
A media card reader allows you to plug the camera’s media card directly into the computer. Card readers can be:
1. INTERNAL – Built directly into the computer.
2. EXTERNAL – A small USB device plugged into a USB connector or connected by wire to a USB connection. (The wired models are especially handy for older computers where USB connections are located in the back of the computer.)
3. Some printers come with BUILT-IN MEDIA CARD SLOTS. These printers can print images directly from the card or be used to transfer images to the computer.
4. The Sony Corporation makes cameras that use a media card called a Memory Stick. Sony makes an optical mouse that features a BUILT-IN MEMORY STICK READER.
After inserting a media card into a card reader, the rest of the transfer process is similar to the others.
DOCKING STATIONS
Some camera models may have docking stations (may be available as an option). Kodak and HP digital cameras offer the most camera models with available docking stations. A docking station is a device that allows you to connect the camera to the computer by simply placing the camera onto it. Some docking stations are also used to charge the camera’s batteries. Transfer pictures to the computer by placing the camera onto the docking station then pressing the transfer button. The rest of the process is similar to the others.
OTHER DEVICES
To a computer, a media card is just another drive (a.k.a. storage device). When a media card is connected to a computer, the computer assigns it a drive letter. A floppy drive is usually named Drive A:, a hard drive is usually Drive C:, a CD or DVD drive is often Drive D:, etc… When a media card is connected it may show as Removable Drive E: or F: or some other letter … depending on the computer. Some older computers (circa 1998) may have no USB connections at all, but unlike today’s newest computers, most do feature a 3½” floppy disk drive.
Depending on the type of media card being used there may be a floppy drive adapter available that would allow a media card to be read via a floppy drive. In this case the media card is inserted into a slot on the floppy adapter and the adapter is then inserted into the floppy drive.
IF NO WIZARD OR TRANSFER SOFTWARE IS PRESENT
Keeping in mind that a media card is seen by a computer as just another storage device (like a floppy disk), files can be transferred to the computer using Windows Explorer. Copying or moving files with Windows Explorer is not as elegant as using a wizard or transfer software, but it is an acceptable alternative. There are many ways to use Windows Explorer to manage files. This sheet will only cover one method.
To launch Windows Explorer:
1. Click START
2. Click RUN
3. Type “Explorer” in the box (minus the quotes “”)
4. Click the OK button
Or
1. Right-click the ‘My Computer’ icon
2. Choose EXPLORE from the resulting menu (left click)
Please do not confuse Windows Explorer with Internet Explorer, which is used to browse the Internet. Though Internet Explorer is capable of opening and viewing photographs, using it to transfer pictures to your computer would be quite cumbersome. Windows Explorer on the other hand allows you to copy files from one location to another.
To copy or move a file from one location to another:
1. Select the file(s) to be copied or moved.
2. Click the EDIT menu
3. Select the ‘COPY TO FOLDER’ or ‘MOVE TO FOLDER’ option from the menu
4. In the resulting box, browse to the folder that will receive the file(s) to be copied or moved.
5. Click the OK button.
For the sake of simplicity, the steps listed above represent only one of several possible methods of transferring files using Windows Explorer. To learn about other methods, please refer to Explorer’s help menus or other Windows documentation.
Remember that moving a file will delete it from its original location while copying it will duplicate the file while leaving it in its original folder.
A downside for transferring files using Windows Explorer is the fact that it will not rename or sequentially number your pictures. The cryptic names assigned by your camera (DSCF0562.JPG) will not be renamed to “Sal’s Party001.JPG”. If you don’t take the time to rename your pictures, be careful not to transfer new pictures into an existing folder that holds files that may bear the same file names. Doing so runs the risk of allowing the computer to overwrite older pictures with newer ones. Windows will however, display a warning before overwriting an existing file. Be sure to carefully read warning notices that pop onto the screen before proceeding with a file transfer. To avoid this problem, simply transfer your pictures into a newly created folder.