Software for Mac OS X (Snow Leopard) to browse/download photos on a Canon 5D?

Question

What options are there to browse or download photos from a Canon 5d?

Gareth · Answer 1 · 2011-10-28 05:16:32Z

up vote 3 down vote

You can always use Apple's inbuilt app - Image Capture (. It supports the 5D's raw images from 10.5 onwards.

For a more full-featured photography workflow app, I strongly recommend Adobe Lightroom.

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Gareth
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answered Sep 24 '09 at 6:19

caliban
10.9k21944

	I've heard good things about lightroom, but haven't been able to try it out. I'll have to, I guess. :) Thanks! – davethegr8 Sep 24 '09 at 6:35
	It takes awhile to get used to it, but stick with the workflow, make it a discipline to tag/categorize your photos, and you will find LR to be an indispensable tool. – caliban Sep 24 '09 at 7:01
	+1 I used Lightroom when it was still in beta and I was really impressed by the app. – alex Sep 24 '09 at 7:29
	I ❤❤❤ Lightroom, expensive but wow is it worth the money. I'd put it as my most revolutionary workflow tool in the last 5 years along with Quicksilver. UI is brilliant ★★★★★! – The Tentacle Sep 24 '09 at 18:33

feedback

Chealion · Answer 2 · 2009-09-25 02:28:41Z

Are you shooting JPG or RAW?

You have multitudes of programs to get your photos from your camera and into a spot where you can start editing/sharing/etc.

iPhoto. Great if you're not planning on editing a lot of photos. Slow and really not well optimized for a RAW workflow. All your files are stored in the iPhoto Library.
Image Capture. This program will allow you to download and save the files wherever you want and allows you to manage your photos however you want. The files are visible right within Mac OS X since the OS itself has support for many RAW formats (including your 5D and the 5D Mk. II if that's what you have)
Finder. You can open up your Compact Flash card (either via a card reader or via the camera acting as a card reader) and simply drag and drop your photos and then edit them with whatever program (eg. Photoshop) you want.
Aperture is Apple's RAW workflow/photo management application and allows you to take RAW files from the 5D store them in it's library and then edit your pictures within the application. Most of the edits on non-destructive as well. You're able to edit these photos in Photoshop or other image editor (eg. Acorn, Pixelmator) as well and the resulting edited file (a .tiff) will be added to your library. It does work with JPGs as well if you start off by shooting JPGs.
Lightroom is Adobe's RAW workflow/photo management application. Personally it's my favourite as it has nearly all of the features that Aperture does plus more. It does with JPGs as well.

How do you get the camera to act as a card reader? It's never mounted in Finder to my knowledge.
When you plug your USB cable from the camera into the computer it should mount the card by default. If you've changed the USB connection settings on the camera from PC to PTP that would explain why it would not work. To change it back: Hit Menu and scroll down to Connection - be sure this is set to PC. (5D Mk. II can only be set to this so there is no option) All that said if you have an original 5D it's much faster to use a card reader.

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