printing

[bottomdweller]

O.K what am I doing wrong. I just recieved my 30d the other day and finally took some pics last nite. A couple actually I think are printable. So I plugged my card in the printer and it says no pics. Alright I know some type of software is supposed to come with the camera, well it didnt and the camera place is closed til monday. I even went to canons HSOforum to try and down load but I have no clue what I am supposed to be downloading, I think its eos utility, well I try that and I get it on the computer but I cant run it, it says I need ss#

Over my head there. I guess my question is cant you just print off the card or am I missing something.

Thanks

the newbie

[Nymph]

I would get a card reader and download to your computer and then print them from your computer.

[Dbl]

When you say you plugged your camera into the printer, are you inserting the CF card directly to the printer? My suggestion would be to put the pictures on your computer first. I will assume you have Windows? Then you will need some software to help with the printing. Windows and Picture Fax viewer the default program on Windows can easily do that.

You can go on Canon's site for the 30D and download the following programs after selecting the Operating System you use;

EOS Utility - for tethered shooting to your computer and controlling your camera when it is hooked to a computer.

DPP - for your RAW conversion and general picture editing.

Zoom Browser - for general picture selections and basic editing.

I would start there. I am not sure what you mean by ss# saying that you need it?

[bottomdweller]

Thanks for the replys. Yes I tried putting the card directly in the printer. Did not work. I downloaded the eos to my computer but when I go to run it it is asking for ssid #s up to 32 characters. Ill get there eventually, I am not too computer savy so this will just take me a while. The raw stuff has got me baffled.

Thanks again

[polarsusd81]

If you are shooting in RAW format, you will have to download the pictures into your computer and convert them to either jpeg or tiff format before you can print. RAW files are not printable direct from the camera, they require work before you can use them.

For starters, I would suggest using jpeg format to shoot photos and then after you are comfortable with getting good exposures and have the camera figured out switch to RAW format shooting. The other option is to shoot RAW + jpeg, that is if you have huge CF cards and unlimited storage space on your hard drive. Shooting RAW + jpeg will allow you to use the images right off of your card while allowing you to edit the RAW version of the file to practice.

[bottomdweller]

Poarsus thanks for the help. I think I am starting too understand. I tried to download the software from canon but I think its all updates I cant seem to find the eos utility original. Will have to contact dealer and have them send me the software. Will the jpeg pics not be as nice as raw what is the difference?

Thanks all

[Steve Foss]

bd, you won't be able to see any difference in picture quality between raw and jpeg unless you start making really large prints (say, over 20x30), and even then the differences will be minimal.

[bottomdweller]

Thanks again everyone. I was able to get the camera converted over to jpeg+raw. Tried it out and I was ok to print. So heres another, which setting do you mostly use, the large med or small. If a person wants a bigger picture do you set for large? Would that be for a 8x10

[Steve Foss]

Always leave it set at large jpeg with the least amount of compression. The files are only about 2-3 Mb at that setting on that camera, so you can get tons of them on a memory card. If you set capture at medium or small jpeg, you are limiting the size of the print you can make, and there's no telling when you'll capture something you really like and might want to print big.

There's no need to set it on RAW+jpeg. Unless you have specific software to convert the RAW image to a tiff or a jpeg for printing, you're just eating up a lot of memory on your card/computer. A RAW file on the 30D runs 7-8 Mb, far larger than a jpeg.

If you pick up a good photo processing program like Photoshop or Photoshop Elements and really want to get into post-processing, RAW will be OK. Otherwise, as Tom said, you have to do a fair amount of processing to make a RAW image look good and print, while a jpeg is easier to bring from the camera to the printer. At this stage of the game, I'd avoid RAW altogether and simply use large jpeg.

[bottomdweller]

Great, thanks for the tip. Really looking foreward to taking some pics. I took some the other nite indoors of the dogs jumping. They seemed o.k. Out of about thirty pics maybe five were what I thought good. I was using manual but with the auto focus. Would I be better off focusing myself or should I just let the camera do it? Now for outside shots should I use the Av setting and what would you suggest for starts with the iso and ap settings shooting moving objects.

[Steve Foss]

Let the camera do the focusing unless it's hunting hard for focus lock. If it can't lock on (the focus point turns red when it achieves focus) then use manual focus.

For outdoors, my bombing around settings are: Av mode, aperture wide open, iso400, Ai servo focus mode, center focus point selected.

Ai servo is meant for moving subjects, while one shot mode is for more stationary subjects. For pics of the dog outside, Ai servo will do the job, as long as you select center focus point and keep that focus point on the dog's face when you take the picture.

In low light, or in low contrast settings (autofocus needs contrast to lock onto) your camera may do more hunting for focus.

[bottomdweller]

Once again thanks Steve