I downloaded pics from D340R into Paint,Paintshop Pro and PhotosuiteII. I just now heard that you are only to download into your camera program,is this so?Because it can harm your media card,is this so? Needless to say my camera no longer talks to computer,cpu says no conection!I can't use my LCD display either,can a bad media card cause all of these problems?

-- robert l getman (getty@stny.lrun.com), December 28, 1999

Answers

I doubt very much that downloading -- transferring from media card to computer -- using various programs can damage media card. Because in theory this is a READING process only, it should have no effect on the media, the files remain unchanged, so it is like you never did it. The camera doesn't know you did it.

There are warnings about UPLOADING -- transferring images from computer to media card -- possibly fouling up the camera. Some people do this to use the camera as a display device i.e. thay can upload various photos into the camera, then bring only the camera to a party or business conference and display something like a slideshow from the camera, without having to drag along a large computer, etc.

In that case, you want to make sure you upload only unretouched photos because the camera may choke if it is asked to display a photo which is not the right size, format, etc. as what it itself takes.

-bruce

-- bruce komusin (bkomusin@bigfoot.com), December 29, 1999.

I don't think your problems are due to a corrupted card, it sounds like there's something much more serious wrong inside the camera. I'd take it back and exchange it. Just to be sure, if the camera will operate at all, try reformatting the card in the camera and see if the problems go away. If the LCD display isn't working though, you won't be able to see the menus to do the reformat. I doubt *very* much it was an issue with reading the card on the PC. (I've heard of card readers corrupting cards, but that's a sign of a bad card reader, not a basic problem with the practice of doing this.)

-- Dave Etchells (hotnews@imaging-resource.com), January 03, 2000.