2 questions for Rebel owners

[mom to 4]

1. If I normally use photoshop, do I even need to install the canon software?

2. I bought a CF card, not a canon card, do I need to format that before using it????

I'm sure I'll have more questions soon!

[Wendy]

Hi Colleen ...

I use a card reader to download my images so I didn't bother installing the Canon software ...

Oh its been a while since I last bought a new CF card but I seem to remember that they were already formatted. It is easy enough to format them in the camera so no harm in doing it again :)

Wendy

[mom to 4]

Wendy:

I did install the software, just because I was afraid I would screw things up if I didn't, but I will happily uninstall it and uninstall the camedia for my olympus. It is taking up too much room on the computer. Thanks!

I am glad I didn't need to format the card, I thought they were preformatted and I actually used the card, but I wasn't sure if I had messed up the new camera by not formatting it...PHEW!!!!!

As ever....thanks for your help!

[Wendy]

Colleen ...

When I first got my camera I used to think that anything I did would harm it ... after a time you get more confident about it and start to treat it a little more normally :) :)

Wendy

[jwhitten]

Colleen and Wendy,

It's a good idea to re-format your card everytime you get ready to remove the photos on it.

The reason is that if you ever need to use recovery software for a corrupted image on the card, the odds of recovery are better if you do not have file fragments on the card. Formatting removes everything, whereas deleting simply marks an area as available - which fragments your card.

Joe

[mom to 4]

Thanks Joe.....I think I understand. So, now that I have downloaded the images to my computer, I will delete them from the card and format it.......sound like the right thing to do?

[Wendy]

Hi Joe ...

Thanks for that ... I reformat mine occasionally but never thought about the recovery aspect. Its easy enough to reformat so I guess that I will now do it every time I put in back in the camera :)

Wendy

[jwhitten]

Colleen,

You only have to do the format since formatting deletes everything on the card.

[Carbone]

The Canon software comes with ImageBrowser which is a handy file browser (Mac). ZoomBrowser for the PC, if I remember correctly, wasn't that great though.

Ray

[Norm F]

The only software that I've found real useful on the Canon disk is PhotoStitch. But then, I recently saw some pretty impressive panoramics done in Elements. If you're shooting RAW, you might want to check the RAW utility that came with your Rebel. It's called Digital Photgraphy Pro. Some have spoken highly of it and it certainly offers more options than the Plug in supplied with PSE. Read about here if you're interested.

http://photoworkshop.com/canon/dpp/index.html

[mom to 4]

Thanks Ray and Norm, I certainly won't delete anything yet!

[Carbone]

Oh yeah, Norm, Photostitch... beats anything! I had forgot about it because I don't do as many panoramas as I use to.

Ray

[Norm F]

Oh yeah, Norm, Photostitch... beats anything! I had forgot about it because I don't do as many panoramas as I use to.

Ray

Ray,

Do you still prefer Photstitch to PSE for panoramics?

[Carbone]

Yes, totally 100% !!! Photostitch also makes Quicktime VR which is kinda cool :)

Ray

[Norm F]

Oh, that is cool. I hadn't noticed that but I will give it a try. Thanks again Ray.

[luvmydigital]

I did not install the software.
I format/reformat all my cards atleast once a month.
Enjoy your Rebel!!!!