Once you have taken pictures with your digital camera or are ready to scan images with your flatbed scanner, you are ready to transfer them to your computer. There are a variety of ways to do this. Most involve plugging a cable of some sort into your computer and into either your camera or scanner, or into a device that reads the removable memory from your digital camera.

Certain ways of transferring images to your computer have advantages over others. While all methods will transfer your images accurately to your computer, the transfer speeds may vary remarkably. The faster the digital image is transferred from your digital camera or scanner, the less time you have to spend waiting to view your images.

Below is a list of the current standards that manufacturers are using to allow the transfer of digital photos from scanners and digital cameras to computers.

• PC Card Reader
  PC card readers are adapters that allow you to plug a memory card into them and then insert them into a PCMCIA slot in your laptop computer. The advantage of these card readers is that they don't require a cable, the transfer rate is high, and your memory card shows up on your desktop as a drive. So you can easily drag and transfer your image files from the memory card to your computer and vice versa. These can be purchased as accessories for a small cost.
  
  
• Memory Card Reader
  Memory card readers typically are just like cable devices, but allow you to continue to use your camera by not requiring you to plug it in to transfer images. Some memory card readers are serial cables, while others are USB cables. Regardless of the format, you simply plug your memory card into them and plug them into the appropriate slot in the back of your computer. Like PC Card readers, you can then open your memory card like a drive and drag and save your images directly to your computer desktop. These are sometimes included with digital cameras or can be bought as accessories.

TIP: Shutterfly recommends using a PC or memory card reader because they are typically easier to use and transfer images more quickly to your computer. They can be purchased fairly cheaply.

• Universal Serial Bus (USB)
  This is becoming the standard on new computers and is supported on both PCs and Macs. It has a fast transfer rate and is supported by many new cameras and scanners. It is very simple to use, usually requiring the installation of some software and then plugging in the device. It is superior to other cable formats because it is easy to set up and has a fast transfer rate.
  
  
• Serial Cable
  Serial Cables are an older transfer method. They plug into the serial port of your PC. Because transferring information for other operations requires less information than digital photos, this method is much slower than other methods. This is a good solution if you have an older computer and don't plan on replacing it soon.
  
  
• SCSI Cable
  SCSI is an older format. It was standard on older Macintosh computers. PC computers require a separate card to be installed to support SCSI, which can be expensive. Newer Macintosh computers and PCs are standardizing on USB. SCSI supports a fast transfer rate, but can be complicated to set up properly. You should be fairly comfortable with this technology if you plan on connecting devices such as scanners using a SCSI connection.
  
  
• Fire Wire
  Fire Wire is a new format not yet supported on most computers. It may eventually be adopted widely by computer manufacturers, but is still uncommon and expensive. The advantage of Fire Wire is its very fast transfer rate.

• Infrared
  Some cameras support infrared transferring of images between your digital camera and your computer. In order for this to work, your computer must have an infrared port that supports the file transfer. Infrared may be more unreliable than cables because the infrared beam can be interrupted. On the other hand, infrared is convenient since it doesn't require connecting any cables to your computer.
  
  
• Wireless
  This is a potential future technology that some companies are working on. Under this scenario, your digital camera would act like a cellular phone. When you've finished taking your pictures, your camera would transfer your pictures by sending the data over a wireless analog or digital network to a location where the photos could be stored. This might be an area online. The advantages to this method are that it would be done automatically without requiring user action. Also, you would be able to access your images anywhere you had Internet access. That way, you could take pictures on vacation and allow your friends and family to view them on the Internet before you returned home.

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