[xavier2]

With my wife's Samsung Digimax I can add text directly to an image on the memory card inside the camera. Yet I can't do this with my Pentax Optio. After adding text and saving the screen LCD says PICTURE ERROR and I have lost the image ( luckily I do backups! ). I want to do this because I don't always print all my photos and sometimes want to add text to images before taking the memory card tothe dealer to have prints done. How do I get round this problem please?

[PopPicker]

Just to clarify.

You are adding text to the image on your computer then saving back to the card in the camera?


PP

[xavier2]

That is correct PP. To expand : I can't configure to my camera because the only choice I have got is about 10 Kodaks. ( i am using PSP 7). If I click ACCESS I get "The camera or driver was not properly opened". So I have gone down the route : Open PSB>File>Brouse>Removable disk>Select image>Open>Add text>Exit>Save changes I then get the message "Because of the limitations of the specified file format (and possibly the save options you have selected) the saved file will be limited to a merged image. Would you like to continue?" I don't really know what this means, but I click YES. The digimax saves the text, but the Pentax loses the image. Hope this makes sense. Thanks.

[slipe]

In Photoshop text goes on a separate layer. It would seem to in PSP as well with that message. You have to flatten or merge down before saving as JPG. Look up flatten and merge in PSP help.

[xavier2]

Thanks for the suggestion, Slipe - much appreciated. However if I have to flatten or merge down why did everything work perfectly well with the Digimax ? My feeling is that something has to be tweaked in the Pentax. But if you feel I am wrong please come back to me.

[xavier2]

Slipe, further to my last post, after I had worked out how to merge layers I carried out your suggestion. Hasn't worked I'm afraid. Any more suggestions? Regards X.

[PopPicker]

I just tried it with an Optio E10 and it saved it to the card just fine. I didn't show an error but it did take a long while to display on the LCD.

Are you sure it's not wrting to the card, and the camera just can't read the file?

Too big a file
Wrong format

Checking the removable disk through my computer would verify that.

[xavier2]

Hi, PopPicker! Thanks for the reply and you could well be right. I have worked out what the problem might be. I say "might" because it doesn't explain why the Digimax works perfectly well. In PSP Help I find " When you installed PSP you were given the option of loading drivers for most brands of digital cameras. If you did not do this, run the installation program again and install the drivers for your camera." I downloaded PSP free ( an option since blocked by Corel ) , don't remember being given an option like this, and of course I can't run it again. In Digital Camera Configuration Box I find a dropdown menu of ten Kodaks - DC40, DC50 etc. Communication Port and Baud Rate are set to Auto.I have tried to delete these cameras but can't ( is there a way?). Could this be the problem? - but like I said it doesn't explain the Digimax. Many thanks.

[slipe]

Most cameras will not let you write an image back to the camera card if you have changed the file name to one not compatible with the camera file system – usually 3 or 4 letters followed by numbers. PSP could be altering the file name.

Cameras sometimes won’t display the images you write back if you strip the EXIF from the file and others won’t display them if you strip the thumbnail data file.

I’ve never loaded drivers for any digital cameras. Some very old models required software to get the images to the computer but that is very old stuff. And some Kodak cameras with EasyShare installed don’t work normally with the computer, which is probably why you are finding Kodak stuff in PSP.

Hook your Pentax up as you would normally download photos to the computer. Look in My Computer or Windows Explorer for a separate drive with a drive letter labeled: ”Removable Drive” or “Camera”. If it is there you have all of the software and drivers needed to access your photos. With XP most cameras just have to be plugged in unless you get involved with Kodak’s craziness – it is the AOL of camera companies.

Once you find the drive letter that is your camera you can dig down into the folder that holds the pictures and see whether you have written the images back and they just won’t display or whether they aren’t going back at all. If they are going back and just won’t display you can still have them developed.

It is better IMO to take the pictures directly from the drive and put them in a folder without any programs. Copy modified photos back to the card the same way. Then you will know what is going on rather than wonder what some program is doing.

[xavier2]

Thanks, Slipe. Man did you put your finger on it!! Yes, I have a Removable Disk and our little baby is listed in there okay : Pentax Optio 50L USB Device. Status: "This device is working properly. " But the really good news is when I checked, as you suggested, there in the Picasa import tray was the image with text and not the blank "picture error." The reason I hadn't spotted this before was that I was deleting the "picture errors" as I went along thinking they were blanks. Well done. Brilliant!
( I forgot to mention the obvious - I did a re-run! )