Can pictures be downloaded from a computer onto an SD memory card?

[Rocker]

Is there any way of downloading pictures in JPG format stored on a computer onto an SD memory card? what I want to be able to do is to display pictures that are on my computer on a TV. I can display pictures on a flash card in my digital camera on a TV by connecting the camera to the TV with a cable.

Rocker

[Big Shed]

Rocker, don't know about your camera, but when I plug my digital camera with SD card into my USB port it looks like just another external drive to the computer, therefore you should be able to write to it, just like a memory stick. There are also card adapters on the market that allow you to do this without the camera.

[DJ’s Timber]

In a word, yes :U as long as your computer has a SD card slot, not too sure if you can do it to the card if it's in your camera via the camera's cable

You can either drag and drop or copy and paste the entire folder or separate photos.

The easiest way would probably to make a new folder with a selection of the photos you want and then cut and paste that folder onto the SD card. This

[Rocker]

Big Shed,

I did as you suggested and transferred a picture file onto the flash card, using a cable between the camera and the computer, but although the file is actually transferred onto the card, the camera cannot display the picture file, although the computer can. So I am still no further forward. I am wondering whether the same thing would happen if I bought an adapter, as you suggested.

Rocker

[Cruzi]

Camera cards will hold the pictures but will not display them, don't know why, but it is so.

They will display if and only if they are exactly same dimensions as the pictures camera takes.

[Big Shed]

Big Shed,

I did as you suggested and transferred a picture file onto the flash card, using a cable between the camera and the computer, but although the file is actually transferred onto the card, the camera cannot display the picture file, although the computer can. So I am still no further forward. I am wondering whether the same thing would happen if I bought an adapter, as you suggested.

Rocker

Rocker, what file format is the picture in? I'm guessing that it is in a different format to what the camera normally handles? My camera uses jpg format.

If that doesn't work on your camera, just transfer the jpg's to a CD and play it through your DVD player.

OK, have just tried to transfer a jpg file from computer to camera, no problems camera displays it OK.

[DJ’s Timber]

Big Shed,

I did as you suggested and transferred a picture file onto the flash card, using a cable between the camera and the computer, but although the file is actually transferred onto the card, the camera cannot display the picture file, although the computer can. So I am still no further forward. I am wondering whether the same thing would happen if I bought an adapter, as you suggested.

Rocker

Don't know if this is applicable but on my card, it has a folder in it which is formatted onto it by the camera's software. The photos that I transfer onto the card must be placed in this folder for the camera to read the photos

[Ashore]

You could always put the picture up on the screen then take a picture of the screen :p

[Rocker]

If that doesn't work on your camera, just transfer the jpg's to a CD and play it through your DVD player.

OK, have just tried to transfer a jpg file from computer to camera, no problems camera displays it OK.

Big Shed,

Looks as though I might need to get a DVD player. Despite putting the jpg files into the same folder as pictures taken by the camera, I still can't make the camera display them. Your camera is obviously less recalcitrant.

Rocker

[Big Shed]

Rocker,

If you don't want to spend an arm and a leg on a DVD player, my son just bought a cheapie to replace his expensive one which broke down. He got it from Strathfield, paid $39, and it plays more file formats than my $300+ Yamaha!

Other option is if you have S-Video output from the computer and S-Video input on the TV.

[wheelinround]

Rocker many cameras wont allow viewing of files transfered to cards this doesn't mean you wont see it on the TV screen.

There are new DVD players out that have chip readers in them to play straight to TV not sure which brand but have seen them about

[Master Splinter]

The pics probably aren't displaying because the camera expects a particular size 'thumbnail' preview embedded in the image.

The camera reads and displays this preview rather than go through all the hassle of reading the whole file, decompressing it, re-sizing it and finally displaying it on the little screen - so if the image comes from elsewhere, it either wont have a thumbnail preview or it will have a thumbnail preview of a different size. Either way, the camera will ignore it.

You may have luck with this program (http://www.sentex.net/%7Emwandel/jhead/); but I'd hazard a guess that it would be 'a lot of work' to put it mildly.

The quick test would be to take some pics with the camera, copy them to computer, delete them off the card, and then copy them back onto the card from the computer. If they display - then yes there is a magic ingredient missing from the other files, if they don't, you know you can make evil faces at your PC!

[Rocker]

Master Splinter,

The pictures were originally taken by the camera, and transferred to the computer for resizing and storage; but the camera cannot see them when they are transferred back onto the SD card from the computer.

Rocker

[Sir Stinkalot]

Rocker,

When I download off the sd card from my Canon I use a card reader attached to the usb on the laptop ..... that really isn't that important to you but the following might be .....

When the sd card is displayed it comes up as a removable drive .... nothing odd there .... the photos from the camera are imbedded in a number of folders which are created by the camera ..... my guess would be that if you are planning to put the photos back onto the sd card then they should follow the same folder set up. Just a thought.

[Master Splinter]

...loading the resized pics back onto the card?

The thumbnail gets deleted when you re-size (or redrawn according to the software preferences).

Or it could be something really kinky like the camera liking little-endian byte order and the PC writing in big-endian.

You could always get one of those photo frames that display digital pics....

[Rocker]

The plot thickens. I have found that, if I upload pictures from the camera to the computer, using my USB cable, then delete them from the camera, then download them from the computer to the camera, the camera will in fact recognise the pictures. However, if they have been resized in Photoshop, it will not. Nor will it recognise pictures that have been scanned onto the computer. So it looks as though Master Splinter is correct in saying that the camera is looking for a thumbnail.

I do have a digital picture frame and it will display the pictures on the SD card that the camera cannot recognise; however the digital picture frame has a major drawback in that it will not show folders - it just shows all the pictures on the card, or flash drive, regardless of what folder they are in. There is an Epson device for storing digital pictures, which does recognize the folders that pictures are in: http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?oid=63061068 but it is very expensive, about $650-800 depending on the storage capacity.
I can't really justify buying it.

What I ultimately want to do is to display the pictures that I have on my computer on a TV set; but my TV set does not have ports for SD cards or flash drives. I can display photos on it by connectiong my camera to the TV, but, as explained above, the camera cannot recognise the pictures I want to display, because it cannot see them on the card.

Rocker

[Big Shed]

Rocker, I still think a DVD player is your cheapest option. Last time I looked Strathfield were selling OneHungLo DVD players for $39. Not only will they play your pictures, they will play DVDs and a variety of video formats including .avi, the format a lot of torrents use.

Of course all this pre-supposes that your computer has a DVD burner, but even they are now sub-$50!

[Wood Butcher]

Most DVD players will recognise a normal CD that has images burnt onto it, and I know that on mine you can have folders and select only one at a time if wanted.

[Rocker]

Got the DVD player; and it does all that I need. Thanks for all the helpful advice.

Rocker

[MrFixIt]

Hi Rocker

Big Shed,

I did as you suggested and transferred a picture file onto the flash card, using a cable between the camera and the computer, but although the file is actually transferred onto the card, the camera cannot display the picture file, although the computer can. So I am still no further forward. I am wondering whether the same thing would happen if I bought an adapter, as you suggested.

Rocker

I had a similar problem. The answer was simple and hopefully it will work for you. The FILENAME has to be just like the filenames created by the camera. For example my camera names image files like...

DSC00010, DSC00011 ...etc

...if you name your computer based images in a similar sequence to that used by YOUR camera they will most likely display from the camera to the tv. Be careful of course NOT to use the same numbers that may already be in use on the cameras sd card. AFAIK the image number DO NOT have to be in a special sequence, so you could number your images like DSC99001, DSC99002... etc.

If you need a means by which you could sequentially number your images, the program irfanview can easily do this for you.

www.irfanview.com

What I normally do is COPY the images to be renumbered to a SEPARATE folder and work with the copies.

HTH :)