Getting Started
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Downloader Pro is a simple utility for
transferring digital images to your PC. Transfer images at the
touch of a button, renaming and storing them with the filename
and directory names you choose.
Step 1
Set up Downloader Pro preferences to work the
way you want
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 Step
2
Plug in your card reader or DCF compliant camera.....
Downloader Pro starts automatically...
Downloads your files automatically...
and automatically opens the application you set in
Preferences.
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Step 3
Browse / edit your images. It’s that simple!
Example (left) shows files downloaded and displayed
automatically in BreezeBrowser, the perfect partner for Downloader Pro!
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First identify the drive letter assigned to
your card reader using Windows Explorer. Then run Downloader and
go to Preferences (by typing Ctrl+P or by selecting preferences
from the File menu). Click on the "General" tab, set
the image source to "Auto-detect" or "Card reader"and
enter the drive letter in the edit box. If you are unsure of the
drive letter to use, simply press the "Locate card reader"
button and Downloader will find it for you. Then click on OK and
your images should be listed in the main window.
If no images are displayed it may mean that
there is no memory card in your card reader or the memory card is
empty. If a memory card containing images is present but no files
are listed it may be from a camera which doesn't use the DCF
format for storing images. You can check this using Windows
Explorer: if the images are stored using the DCF standard the
root folder will be named DCIM. If the root folder isn't named
DCIM you can still download by going to Preferences and selecting
"Scan whole disk for known image types".
Please see General
Preferences for more details.
Please see below for instructions on how to
setup Downloader to
run automatically when a memory
card is inserted in your card reader.
Downloader can also download images
directly from some cameras via a USB or FireWire connection. Some
cameras, e.g. the Nikon D100, appear as a drive letter when
connected to your PC. If you have a camera that works this way
you can download from it as if it is a card reader.
Downloader can download directly from most
Canon cameras. Please install the appropriate Canon USB drivers
first. The latest drivers can be downloaded from www.powershot.com. Then run Downloader and go to Preferences (by
typing Ctrl+P or selecting preferences from the File menu). Click
on the "General" tab, set the image source to "Auto-detect"
or "Camera". Connect you camera to the USB or FireWire
cable and then press F5 in Downloader to connect and list the
files to be downloaded. Some camera models auto-detect the USB
connection and powerup in PC transfer mode. Other models have to
be turned on manually and may also need to be set to PC transfer
mode.
Please see below for instructions on how to
setup Downloader to
run automatically when your camera
is connected to your PC.
The main screen lists the image files in
the camera together with their size, date, status and their
download directory on the computer. The main screen can be
resized by dragging its corners or edges. The order in which the
files are displayed can be changed by clicking on the column
heading of the list.
The status is one of the following:
| Status |
Description |
| Downloaded |
A file of the same name, size and
timestamp is in the download directory (i.e. it has
probably been downloaded already). It will not be
overwritten when "Download" is pressed. |
| New file |
No file of that name exists in the
download directory. The file will be downloaded to the
download directory when "Download" is pressed. |
| Size different |
A file of the same name but with a
different size is in the download directory. This
probably means that the file has already been downloaded
and has been edited. It will not be overwritten when
"Download" is pressed. |
| Time different |
A file of the same name and size
but with a different timestamp is in the directory. This
probably means that the file has already been downloaded
but has been changed in some way. It will not be
overwritten when "Download" is pressed. |
| Duplicate |
Two or more source files of the
same name and download path exist and appear to be
identical copies. This can happen when transferring a
memory card more than once to an external storage device
such as the PicturePad or MindStor. Only one copy of the
file will be download. |
| Name clash |
Two or more source files of the
same name and download path exist but differ in size,
date or other attributes. These files will not be
downloaded or deleted by Downloader. |
Press "Download" to download all
files with status "New file" or "Duplicate"
to the download directory. To change the program's settings,
including the download directory, display the Preferences dialog
by clicking on the File menu and selecting "Preferences...".
Normally Downloader will download all files that need downloading.
To download selected files only simply select the required files
in the list and press the "Download" button and a
prompt will be displayed asking whether you want to download the
selected images or all the images.
Press "Delete" to delete
downloaded files from the camera. Normally Downloader will delete
all files that have been successfully downloaded. To delete
selected files only simply select the required files in the list
and press the "Delete" button and a prompt will be
displayed asking whether you want to delete the selected images
or all the images.
Note: Downloader will only delete files which
have been downloaded to the computer and have the same date/time
and file size as the files stored on the camera.
You can specify the download directory and
optionally rename image files as they are downloaded. Please see Preferences for more details.
The "BreezeBrowser" button shown
above is a custom button which can be set to any caption you like
and setup to launch an application of your choice (see the Custom Button section for more details).
All settings are stored when the program
exits and are restored the next time it is run.
A more detailed description of a file's
download status can be displayed by right clicking on its name in
the list and selecting "Download status" from the menu.
The progress dialog gives an idea of the
progress of the download. To cancel the download press the "Cancel"
button and the download will be abandoned after the current file
has been downloaded.
Double click on an image to display a
thumbnail image and shooting data summary of a file (or right
click on the image and select "Show thumbnail"):
Click on the "<< Prev" and
"Next >>" buttons or use the cursor keys to step
through other images.
Double click on a sound annotation file (WAV)
or video movie (AVI) to play it in whatever application has been
registered with Windows to handle the files (normally Windows
Media Player).
Note: Thumbnail display
and the playing of AVI and WAV files is only available when
downloading from a card reader.
This is an experimental feature. To enable
this simply place a .wav file named complete.wav in the
Downloader installation directory and it will be played when the
download has been completed. There is an example file called
_complete.wav which you can use by renaming it to complete.wav or
you can provide your own file or recording.
To add Downloader to the list of
applications which can automatically startup when the camera is
connected to the USB port click on "Events" menu and
select "Register for camera events". To unregister
Downloader select "Unregister for camera events" from
the menu. You can modify how programs respond to camera events by
clicking on "Scanners and Cameras" in the Control Panel
and then clicking on the icon for your camera (on Windows XP
"Scanners and Cameras" are located under the "Printers
and Other Hardware" category in the Control Panel). If only
one application is selected, as in the dialog shown below, that
application will be launched when the event is detected. If more
than one application is selected you will be prompted to chose
which application to launch when the event occurs.
Please check that no other events are
registered if you have problems with more than one copy of
Downloader being launched when you connect your camera.
You can setup AutoPlay on Windows XP to
launch Downloader automatically when you insert a memory card in
your card reader. To do this run Downloader and select "Register
for AutoPlay events". This menu option is only available for
versions of Windows that support AutoPlay2 - currently only
Windows XP.
Downloader recognises the following
switches on the command line:
| /d "str" |
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specify a new directory format
string |
| /f "str" |
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specify a new file format string |
| /s n |
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specify a new image source - 0=auto,
1=camera, 2=cardreader |
This is useful if you want to create
several desktop shortcuts to run different ways e.g. you may
share a camera and want to download images to different locations.
You could create two desktop shortcuts and add the command line
switches below:
Shortcut 1: /d "D:\Johns photos\%d"
Shortcut 2: /d "D:\Marys photos\%d"
When you launch downloader using shortcut 1
the download directory will be set to "D:\Johns Photos"
+ the date the photos were taken.
You can turn off the listing of files that
have already been downloaded by going to the "View"
menu and unchecking "Show downloaded files". This is
useful if you are downloading from an external drive such as the
NixVue Vista or Delkin PicturePad when there is a very large
number of files. Hiding the downloaded files makes it easier to
see the files that haven't been downloaded yet.
External drives such as the NixVue Vista or
Delkin PicturePad work by taking a complete copy of the conents
of your memory card. If you are in the habit of copying a memory
card, adding some more images and copying it again you will end
up with some duplicate files on your external drive. You can
instruct Downloader to only display one entry for each duplicate
file by unchecking "Show Duplicate files" in the view
menu.
Downloader displays a file as "Duplicate" if it has the
same name, size and timestamp as another file on the source disk
and has not been downloaded already. If one of the duplicate
files has already been downloaded all the duplicates will be
displayed as "Downloaded".
You can use Downloader's renaming, IPTC and
plug-in features on images already downloaded to your hard disk.
To do this first run Downloader and then either select "Open
source directory..." from the File menu or drag and drop the
source folder onto the Downloader window. A prompt will be
displayed asking you whether you wish to use the folder as the
image source. If you answer yes Downloader will scan the dropped
folder and all it's sub folders for known image types. You cannot
drag and drop a whole drive in this way, the folder must be a
subfolder. Downloader will not allow you to download or delete
any files if the download path is the same as or is a subfolder
of the source folder e.g. you can't download from D:\Photos to D:\Photos\Copy.
WARNING: Please use this
function with care and do not delete any source images until you
are sure they have been copied correctly.
Select "Camera Settings" from the
file menu when connected to a Canon camera to display the "Camera
Settings" dialog:
This dialog shows information about the
camera and allows you to synchronize the camera's internal clock
with your PC's clock and set the Canon camera owner string.
Please note: It may not be possible to
sychronize all Canon cameras with the PC's clock to the exact
second but it is possible for it to be no more than one second
out of sync.
Canon EOS 300D/Digital Rebel FEC
The flash exposure compensation (FEC)
setting of the Canon EOS 300D/Digital Rebel cannot be adjusted
using the normal camera controls, but it can be set by connecting
the camera to a PC via a USB cable and running Downloader Pro.
FEC controls the power of the automatic flash. In normal daylight
conditions it is often useful to use some "fill-in"
flash to lighten up shadows and the FEC value is typically set to
a low value (e.g. -1 stop) to avoid the light from the flash
making the picture look artificial.
To set the FEC first ensure the Canon USB
drivers have been installed on your computer. The latest drivers
can be downloaded from www.powershot.com. Set
the camera's exposure mode to one of the creative settings (e.g.
P, Tv or Av) and then connect the camera to a PC using the USB
cable. Run Downloader Pro and it should connect to the camera (if
it doesn't please check the camera is set to normal communication
not PTP). Select "Camera Settings" from the file menu
and the dialog below will be displayed:
Select the required FEC value and press the
OK button. This value will be stored in the camera and can be
used with any of the "creative" exposure mode settings
(P, Tv, Av, M and A-DEP). The value will be stored in the camera,
even if the camera is turned off, and will be retained until a
new value is set. The FEC value is stored in the shooting data in
the image and can be viewed in an image browser such as BreezeBrowser.
If you select one of the camera's program
exposure modes (e.g. sport, portrait, landscape etc) the camera
will use the standard FEC value and ignore the value set using
Downloader Pro.
Copyright 2003, 2004, Breeze Systems
Limited
www.breezesys.com