Windows Vista Digital Photo Import

chris.pirillo.comWindows Vista Digital Photo Import Brandon says: Vista’s Photo Import tool, in my opinion, (aside from Tag support) is a complete step backward from what we’ve got in Windows XP…Related Content:… jeremy.zawodny.com

chris.pirillo.comWindows Vista Digital Photo Import Brandon says: Vista’s Photo Import tool, in my opinion, (aside from Tag support) is a complete step backward from what we’ve got in Windows XP…Related Content:… jeremy.zawodny.com

some reason refuses to work for me today. Perhaps Vista dislikes Picasa? I don’t think that’s the case but who knows. I also have a hard time having the photos deleted from my card as I’m importing them. Pack rat much? More talk on this topic: From Chris Pirillo From Microsoft

down and work out how many prints they get out of their ink cartridge, and how much it all costs. So, give the hassle to someone else and save more! What do you do? Related Content: PictureMate Man Cevia Digital Photo Receiver VistaPrint CouponsWindows Vista Digital Photo ImportPhoto Taken from a Nokia N90

Windows Vista Digital Photo Import Chris Pirillo

Chris,

Have to agree with you on this one. I would prefer to use my screen and Adobe Bridge (or similar) to go through my images after they have been imported from my camera, not go through them via the USB cable. Just import the whole load, deleting them from the camera, back them up to CD/DVD and then working on them. I haven’t used the Vista Photo Import, but believe that I am already going to be enjoying the tagging (yes I agree also that it should be keywords) function. I will test it out tonight though.

TravisP

I gave up this weekend and bought my Dad an iMac… We’ll see how that goes…

Picasa FTW!!

I use MS Digital Image Suite 2006 library. It’s pretty good. I can only assume this product line will continue and you can use it to import in Vista, giving you all the control over what/where you import.

Chris I’m surprised you support forcing ONE time download of every pic on a card. We have a dSLR with a huge memory card. My wife takes some pics, I take some pics over time. Different subjects, different events.
I want to download just one set at a time, use the built in naming function so they’re named as a set ie “Kids at the park” and I put them in my kids folder under “My Pictures”.
Control freak? no, that’s called organization. I have thousands and thousands of pictures!! I don’t want them sorted in folders by date or by import session. That’s ridiculous.
However, again, we have other tools, from Microsoft and tools like Picasa that will hopefully keep us organized if Vista isn’t up to the job.

Just goes to show you can’t please anyone, any of the time :)

I’m curious, does Vista’s Photo Import also clear your SD card of the pictures after it does a mass download? If it doesn’t then that completely defeats the whole “Easy Button” concept you’re supporting. My wife isn’t the least bit confused by the current XP Photo Import and since it always defaults to the My Photos folder they don’t end up anywhere besides there BUT we do end up with a ton of duplicates. She never erases/formats the SD card and so after each import we get more and more of the same pictures.

By the way “tags” makes more sense than “keywords”, especially when using your own “go with what’s easier rather than what’s more geeky” logic. There is a greater chance that people have tagged MP3’s, flickr photos, del.icio.us links, etc. and are already used to the concept of a “tag” as metadata.

I completely agree that sometimes you need to do what’s “easier” for the common consumer than with what’s more flexible, i.e. Lowest Common Denominator vs. Geeky, BUT you have to be consistent. You don’t go LCD on the Photo Import and then use the Geeky “keywords”, that’s how you end up with inconsistencies in the UI experience and then some blogger will pick up on it and tear it apart :)

All that being said, I hate not being able to pick which photos I want to import. I often share photos with people by just sharing my SD card. I’m pretty sure they only want the 4 pictures of their kid vs. the other 500 of my Prague trip.

I completely agree. I watched some… “novice” users working with the XP photo import wizard over the weekend so I have some perspective on this issues as well.

You and I don’t need a wizard… I never used the XP one, and I’ll never use the Vista one. I’ll open Explorer and copy the files where I want them. The “wizard” is to make it a one-step process for people who need that.

Many of the features that people seem to be complaining about are well handled by the latest version of Adobe’s Photoshop Elements (version 5.0) Photo Downloader. Here’s the checklist:

– copy files from different events into separate folders
– Select individual files for download prior to downloading
– Auto apply keywords to groups of photos during download
– Auto delete files from the camera or card reader after import
– Don’t re-download files that have previously been downloaded

And a few that nobody thought about menitioning, but are cool anyway:
– Auto tag (er, keyword) Author name and Copyright at time of download
– Preview video files prior to download
– Automatic mode so all you have to do is insert the card, and the import and delete is done for you.

Best of all, you don’t have to upgrade your entire operating system to get it. Third party companies that specialize in certain verticals (like photography) often offer pretty well-thought out solutions that tend to be deeper than the ‘good enough’ solutions that Microsoft tends to provide in the operating system. I don’t think we need to be insulted when Microsfot does this, because fortunatly enough for Microsoft, there are plenty of developers like Adobe who are happy to fill in the gap when deeper features are required by the user.

[...]  Photo Gallery includes tagging (apparently XMP based), captions, ratings, filters, and a photos screensaver.  It can output to printer, email, CD, DVD and has a basic set of image adjustments such as cropping, red eye removal, and automatic level adjustment.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that the photo upload / import feature isn’t winning many friends. [...]

gostaria de adiquerir este programa

This doesn’t make anything “easier” on the lowest common denominator. This makes it harder.

The XP Camera and Scanner Wizard was the best thing to happen to digital photos ever.

I support tons of lowest common denominator computer user customers, some of them little old ladies. Explaining to them how to use their My Pictures and the Wizard took maybe 2 minutes a pop. It was intuitive and made sense to just about anyone. Trying to explain keywords or tags to a grandma that just wants download one or two pics and send them to her coffee club friends? Trying to explain to her husband that it wasn’t her fault that Windows deleted his work photos off the SD card at the same time she downloaded the birthday party pics?

What a giant cluster you know what.

I read somewhere that this is more mac like. I agree. It’s counterintuitive, dictatorial, and makes a mess of everything if you don’t fit into the cookie cutter. Very Mac like.

BIG problem in Vista. I imported many pics with Nikon Picture Bridge. No problen in editing them, etc. I imported a batch from my Nikon D50 yesterday using windows Vista import. I can view them, open them in all programs, etc., BUT if loaded into Photosop 7 they WILL NOT save. I have tried renaming them, putting them in a different directory, etc. Every time the program freezes when I click save as; but only with these pictures. I can only assume that Vista somehow tags these pics when importing them in???? Any ideas??

Windows Scanner and Camera Wizard gone!!!!!!! It was so simple to use and I am lost now. I used to scan up to 9 images at a time then upload and name singly. I am desperate to find a way to do this. I also cannot import my pictures into software I have been using for 3 years. Simple is best left that way, when it works.

I’m going to agree here. I have four years of imported photos from the Windows XP camera import. I loved how it would create a folder and name all the photos the same name with a sequence number. For example, I name all my photos with the year, then the topic. So I have folders/files named “2007 Family”. Ever since I got my new Vista PC, I haven’t found a program that does the same thing the same way. My memory card is now full because I want to keep the same organizational methods that I’ve kept for the past four years.

Vista’s import routine is a HUGE step backwards!

Anyone have suggestions for replacement software?

I agree with the complaints Vista Import wizard is a BIG step backwards than the XP version. I hope they fix it in SP1! XP was so simple it’s the only thing I used to import my pictures this Vista version STINKS.

I am glad to know I am not alone! What was Microsoft thinking? The Vista import wizard is absolutely terrible. For years I had a smooth system to import and sort photos. The new TAG and DATE method is cumbersome and, as one poster has already noted, frankly dictatorial.

To make matters worse, the new version of MS Office for Vista is similarly convoluted if you wish to add photos to a document. Microsoft has eliminated the easy INSERT –> PICTURE –> FROM SCANNER or CAMERA option. Now users have to quit the Office application, run a separate program, scan or import the photo to their hard drive, save it as a file, return to the Office application, and then insert the image from the file’s location. Who in their right mind has the time to do that?

I’ve been working around the various other bugs in Vista and the new office for three months now. At this point, though, I am unwilling to live with the new picture and scanner issues. First chance I get, I’m reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling XP. Good grief.

Vista won’t even recognise my Ricoh Caplio R2 and it’s impossible to find a driver update in case that might force the issue. Upgrade costs for the PC are sufficient so now I also have to upgrade my camera (by buying a new one)? It sux.

Ahhhhhh – I finally got Vista – and now I discovered this too!!!

Isn’t there SOME WAY to do this (import certain pics, name the files, and name the directory)… its just so simple (or WAS simple).

Anyone have any software that can do this? (hopefully free software)????

HELP!!!!

I have to agree with alot of the people above. Who ever at Microsoft decided to “enhance” our features by removing our abiltiy to choose how we import photos is a complete tool! I used to just plug in my digital camer and whamo -presto the photo import window detected and impoted the photos into a folder on my choosing, no problems. Now when I connect nothing happens at all. I have to manually go into the My Computer directory seach out the connected camera and go into the camera dn find the photos and then drag and paste them into a folder on my computer. What idiot at MS thought this was a better approach to down loading photos? I am so annoyed that I have to do this now. Hey Microsoft…pay attention to these complaints, fix your “tool” so that you have the option to choose where to load them to, and also so that the photo wizrd opens and allows you to reach inside the camera and down load the photos. This was a stupid move on Microsofts part. With my Canon camera I got some software called Zoom Browser, which I never used, but I will try to load that on the computer and use than from now on. Thanks Microsoft, thanks for the “big improvement and enhancement” to Vista’s Photo wizard…idiots….

Brian

Vista is a horrible mess. It came bundled with my new laptop and it feels like I’m back with ‘98. I’ll be upgrading from Vista to XP just as soon as I have some spare hours. The photo import wizard is a disaster. Instead of improving a (too) basic tool that at least worked, they have imposed an unusable mess on us. I’m estimating this will take me 4-8 hours to fix finding/installing/learning third party software – already spent an hour on the FinePixViewer (mainly cos I needed to download a 50+MB Vista updated version!!) only to find it can’t batch name photos. MS – you really should spend a tiny piece of your budget on someone with a brain. Not fixing something that isn’t broken REALLY is not rocket science, it’s lazy, abusive, profit-lead marketing.

I have the same problem. Before I would attach my camera and the system would import only the new pictures. Now it imports all the pictures on the chip even though they have been imported before. I guess I will just have to go back to finepix. I like the catalogging qualities of Vista better, but I hat to keep having to delete duplicate photos I didn’t want imported again.

So, do anyone have a work around program? A third party program that works exactly the way that the Scanner and Camera Wizard worked?

Vista is such a throwback I can not believe it when it comes to photos. One other thing I can not believe adding to all of the other valid complaints is how does one delete photos on the SD card after you finally got the photos off of it? The “Delete” function is grayed out in Windows Explorer to do a simple delete function. Are you kidding me???????Microsoft, what are you doing? I can do this in XP no problem. Why is Vista protecting me from myself when I am soooo absolutely sure I want to delete the images I put on the HD and backed it up to CD as well. Microsoft, stop over controlling this relatively simple process. Give me control again, I’m not an idiot!!!!!

Ok, I’ve found a halfway decent solution, unfortunately it involves installling ANOTHER microcrap product – Windows Live Photo Gallery.
Just install it (and not all the other crap they try to get you to install at the same time). Then use it as you Import Wizard. When it pops up you can choose to select what photos you want to import, and it kind of organizes them.
So you can finally PICK THE PHOTOS YOU WANT!!!
yeah. :)
I still wish I could just use the regular old XP way. :(

I’m using Vista’s photo downloader right now, and I’m a little dissapointed. I have 5 separate events captured on my card— my last day in college, meeting up with old friends, aquarium photos, some random stuff, and florida. I would definately prefer to download this separately without having to get new software. The compromise i had to make was naming all of my pictures A&M Mike Florida and forever they’ll have the wrong tag unless i want to change the name on the individual files.

All I would like is separate downloads, the ability to format the date without the dashes (at least they put it yyyy-mm-dd), and add the date to the picture files. 3 easy fixes that won’t confuse a novice user

Windows Vista picture import is stupid. I want the Windows XP one back. In that one you can choose which pictures to import. This crap in Vista makes you import everything on your camera and then it names it all the same. HELLO!!!! I might have a memory card full from several consecutive trips and I don’t want to tag/name the entire load of pictures the same. Come on Microsoft, do you even do any type of customer feedback with real people before releasing this SHIT!

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