Hard wiring SD for image download - Leica Q3

[Wardy78]

Hi. I use a Leica Q3, love it. Fabulous. SO happy. Upgraded from a Q2, equally fabulous.

BUT, the downloading from the camera to the FOTOS app is painfully slow and prone for disconnection. It's my fault for downloading images in RAW, but I want to!

I've seen £10 SD readers that would plus into either iPhone or MacBook and presumably be infinitely quicker.

Has anyone got any experience?

[tog]

I don't know about the £10 ones, but I use a ProGrade reader that flies through files. It is a 2-slot CF Express / SD card reader, a few years old and uses USB3.2 - I know there are even faster USB4 or Thunderbolt readers available now if your computer supports it. It will also connect to an iPad or iPhone if you want to edit on the go.

[Turtle Shed]

Yeah you need to use a card reader. Can't speak about Leica but the speed difference with even the cheapest card reader compared to all three of my Nikons is night and day.

My Z6 uses XQD cards. Transfer speed from the camera is perhaps one quarter of the speed of the £20 XQD reader I have.

[mikef]

For the Mac I use and can recommend a Sandisk Pro Multi-Card reader. Nearer to £100 than £10 but it is solid, reliable and achieves great transfer speeds

https://amzn.eu/d/bhbYadc

[Tony1963]

Seriously? How many thousands of pounds spent on the Q3? And a MacBook? And you want to cheap out on transferring data?

As above, I have a couple of ProGrade readers, currently a rapid CFExpress reader into my MacBook. ProGrade recommended, solid build, perform very well.

But please, don’t cheap out after spending all that cash, it’s just silly.

Edited by Tony1963 on Wednesday 14th May 09:17

[Arkose]

Tony1963 said:

Seriously? How many thousands of pounds spent on the Q3? And a MacBook? And you want to cheap out on transferring data?

Edited by Tony1963 on Wednesday 14th May 09:17

exactly my thoughts, just buy a decent USB card reader...

at least we know OP shoots on a Leica...

[Wardy78]

tog said:

I don't know about the £10 ones, but I use a ProGrade reader that flies through files. It is a 2-slot CF Express / SD card reader, a few years old and uses USB3.2 - I know there are even faster USB4 or Thunderbolt readers available now if your computer supports it. It will also connect to an iPad or iPhone if you want to edit on the go.

Thanks. Yeah, the £10 ones were just the ones I'd seen. It was more the concept I was wondering about, and hence the question.

I'll do some digging. Thanks again!

[Wardy78]

mikef said:

For the Mac I use and can recommend a Sandisk Pro Multi-Card reader. Nearer to £100 than £10 but it is solid, reliable and achieves great transfer speeds

https://amzn.eu/d/bhbYadc

Looks great and portable. Thanks.

[Wardy78]

Tony1963 said:

Seriously? How many thousands of pounds spent on the Q3? And a MacBook? And you want to cheap out on transferring data?

As above, I have a couple of ProGrade readers, currently a rapid CFExpress reader into my MacBook. ProGrade recommended, solid build, perform very well.

But please, don’t cheap out after spending all that cash, it’s just silly.

Edited by Tony1963 on Wednesday 14th May 09:17

I'm not 'cheaping out'?? I was asking about the concept of using an SD reader Vs proprietary app transfer. I thought this forum would be the place to ask advice.

Friendly place!

[Wardy78]

Arkose said:

Tony1963 said:

Seriously? How many thousands of pounds spent on the Q3? And a MacBook? And you want to cheap out on transferring data?

Edited by Tony1963 on Wednesday 14th May 09:17

exactly my thoughts, just buy a decent USB card reader...

at least we know OP shoots on a Leica...

Wow. Thanks for such a helpful response.

[Tony1963]

Victim

[Arkose]

Wardy78 said:

Arkose said:

Tony1963 said:

Seriously? How many thousands of pounds spent on the Q3? And a MacBook? And you want to cheap out on transferring data?

Edited by Tony1963 on Wednesday 14th May 09:17

exactly my thoughts, just buy a decent USB card reader...

at least we know OP shoots on a Leica...

Wow. Thanks for such a helpful response.

saying buy a card reader ?? thats quite helpful and the logical thing ?

(the Leica comment was a JOKE)

[C n C]

As has been mentioned, a card reader will give much faster transfer times than plugging the camera in to your Mac. It's how I've always downloaded RAW files from my cameras whatever type of card they use.

It is worth getting a decent quality one from a recognised make though. Although not SD, when I first got the Canon R5, I bought a CF Express card reader (it was a Unitek USB 3.2 type C), which wasn't exactly cheap at £40. It rapidly overheated when downloading anything more than 100 RAW files, so much so that I was worried about the health of my CF Express cards, so had to download in small batches. I replaced it with a Transcend one (for similar cost), and that has been very good - only getting slightly warm downloading several hundred RAW images at a time.

[tog]

C n C said:

It rapidly overheated when downloading anything more than 100 RAW files, so much so that I was worried about the health of my CF Express cards, so had to download in small batches. I replaced it with a Transcend one (for similar cost), and that has been very good - only getting slightly warm downloading several hundred RAW images at a time.

CF Express cards get hot in use - both when writing or reading, or if just left in a card reader connected to a computer. I queried it with ProGrade support when I first got my R5 but was assured it is normal. There is in fact even a warning notice on the inside of the card door on the R5 pointing out that the cards can be hot.

[mikef]

Are those Prograde readers plastic? The Sandisk Pro card reader range includes a CFExpress reader, and heat dissipation through the metal cases is excellent. If necessary you could use a USB fan to blow cold air over it, as I do with external NVMe4 drives (for instance a Noctua 40mm 5v USB fan)

[tog]

It is plastic, but I'm not particularly worried about it. The cards can sometimes be very hot when removed from the camera anyway, and they're normally only ever in the reader for a minute or two tops. I've never used SD cards much, but I don't think they ever get as hot so not something for the OP to worry about.