40D PC Control

Instead of using my USB card reader like I usually do, I decided to try plugging my Canon EOS 40D into my PC via the USB cable.

The file manager software I use failed to pick up the camera, probably because it wasn't designed for XP. In Windows Explorer the camera appeared under 'Cameras and Scanners' instead of a removable drive. That wouldn't bother me except that you can't see any of the folders on the camera. This is useless if you want to manually drag and drop files, though the Canon EOS utility included with the camera allows you to view each of the folders.

Although I wasn't impressed with all of this I did uncover some other camera functionality. While plugged into the PC you can control almost all aspects of the camera. You can scroll through white balance settings, shutter speeds, apertures, ISO ratings, well you name it! As you change the settings you can see the display on the camera update in sync.

Why might all of this be useful? You can also take pictures via your PC using the camera's Live View functionality! Using this you can save photos straight to your PC as well as the camera.This is probably of use to professionals in studio environments but realistically of limited use to amateurs like me.

While fiddling with this software I once again felt that the manual focus in Live View (manually controlled via the software) lets the camera down slightly. Then again, if you were doing studio work I imagine you'd normally have time to use manual focus.

In summary, some cool features that I'll probably never use. In fact, I may go back to using my card reader for ease of use in copying photos.

Comments

[Lee]

Turned off visual styles eh? You l337 h4x0r you.

[Darren]

How do you mean? The XP theme being switched off?

[Lee]

Yeah classic 2k desktop (there’s a “Visual Styles” tick box in XP).

[Darren]

Is there? I just changed it to 'Windows Classic' under 'Themes'. I'm not a fan of the XP interface, it's too 'big and bubbly'.

I'm starting to take a liking to the Vista interface/theme, even with the animated window effects. I never thought I'd say something like that about Windows. I still don't plan an upgrade any time soon, though. Maybe in a year's time or when I next overhaul my PC spec.