Transferring Pictures via USB or FireWire

The main reason you connect your digital camera to your PC is to transfer photos to your hard disk. Whether you connect via USB or FireWire, one of three things is likely to happen:

• If this launches a propriety picture management program that came with your digital camera, use this program to transfer photos from your camera to your PC's hard disk.

  note

  

  Once you've saved a digital picture file to your hard disk, you can then use picture-editing software to edit and otherwise manipulate the picture. Learn more in Chapter 37, "Managing Your Digital Photos."

  
  

• If this opens Windows' Removable Disk dialog box, select Copy Pictures to a Folder on My Computer Using Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard. This launches the Scanner and Camera Wizard. As you can see in Figure 36.1, you're presented with thumbnails of all the photos currently stored in your camera. Select which photos you want to copy, and then click the Next button. When the Picture Name and Destination screen appears, select the destination folder and filenames for your folders, and then click Next to copy the selected pictures.

  Figure 36.1. Use the Scanner and Camera Wizard to transfer pictures from your digital camera to your PC's hard disk.

  
  
  

• If nothing happens when you connect your camera, click the Start menu, select My Pictures, and then click Get Pictures From Camera or Scanner. This should open the Scanner and Camera Wizard, as just described.

If none of these methods work for you, you might need to open My Computer and double-click the icon for your digital camera. When the digital camera window opens, copy the files you want to a location on your hard disk.