GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 324399
importing from a mass storage device should be made painless
Last modified: 2007-12-29 00:06:04 UTC
F-Spot needs to be able to import files simply by moving them from a standart "mass-storage" digital camera (all the cameras I have use that mode). That means maybe selecting which drive is the camera drive (unless there is an automatic way?), then F-Spot would ransack the directories and put you directly in the /media/thecamera/somefolder/leveltwofolder/ and allow you to import pictures. My point is, the new user should absolutely not have to deal with the annoying file structure of the cameras (they usually have two levels of folders, for pretty much nothing). So F-Spot should detect the images and position itself in that directory, ready for importing. The pictures should be moved instead of copied, unless user-specified. Otherwise, the user will just think "why is my memory card still full? I just sent the pictures to my computer! The software must be broken" Thanks for any comments on that issue/idea... Other information:
It does everything you mention except move the images it copies them instead. What part are you having trouble with?
Ok, I tested again just to make sure, and I took screenshots of problems I found along the ways. The problem lies in the file menu. There is "import" and "import from camera". I see well what you guys wanted to achieve there, however, if you try "import from camera" (which would be logical to a newbie... ;) you get this: http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/2672/screenshot15mk.png Not very reassuring is it? The problem is that it looks for cameras that use those "weird protocols", but not mass storage. I understand that this might have been done by design, because you would think "then how the hell should f-spot know if the camera is a usb drive?"... Well I don't know either, that's why I'm posting this bug ;) Ok so I backed up and tried the simple "import" option. There I noticed the dropdown had the correct drive if I clicked it manually, so I could import my pictures, and it worked as you described. But that still required me to do 2 steps ( http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/4103/screenshot29im.png and http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/163/screenshot34hj.png ). That's most likely why you have two options in the file menu: "import" and "import from camera", the first one being for usually importing files from the filesystem. So I would describe this as an "unelegant" situation, because when the user wants to "import from camera", he doesn't care what technology is behind. If he is confronted to a scary error dialog that says "hey are you SURE you didn't do something wrong?" he will most likely loose time trying to find out what he did wrong and _loose confidence in the software_. Does that make sense?
Are you using gnome? if so what version? If your gnome-install has things set up correctly gnome-volume-manager should pop up a dialog that asks you if you want to import photos when you connect the camera or mass storage device and if you choose import photos it should start f-spot with the import dialog up and the right drive selected. If that isn't happening it isn't something f-spot can control without help fromt the system. The import dialog can import from everything that f-spot supports. Having the import from camera menu item there at all is just an leftover from an older time, and I'll remove it before the next release. Thanks for reminding me it is still there.
Yes, I am using GNOME 2.12/2.13.x, but that's on Ubuntu, and F-Spot is not default. They set the action to use gthumb. Maybe it would be a good idea to add a quick answer for that kind of trick on the f-spot FAQ if there is one? Currently, it looks like gnome-volume-manager-gthumb %h Could you tell me what to write there instead? gnome-volume-manager-f-spot %h would look a little odd to me...
I second this (#4). F-Spot is not the default Import from Camera choice in Dapper/Ubuntu. Perhaps something like Set Screensaver to F-Spot in the Preference dialog would be appropriate? "Set F-Spot as prefered application to import photos" or something like this?
Latest CVS still have the Import from Camera in the pulldown menu.
Related comments in bug #328735
f-spot is will be the default in the next ubuntu and bug #361031 covers the delete from camera aspect so I'm closing this now.
Okay, but for those stuck with the old settings, is there something we can use in gnome-volume-manager in the meantime? I tried an ubuntu edgy eft beta liveCD and they still have "gnome-volume-manager-gthumb %h" there (I will file a bug about that). What should go in there instead?
(In reply to comment #9) > Okay, but for those stuck with the old settings, is there something we can use > in gnome-volume-manager in the meantime? I tried an ubuntu edgy eft beta liveCD > and they still have "gnome-volume-manager-gthumb %h" there (I will file a bug > about that). What should go in there instead? The equivalent is "f-spot-import %h". I have filed bug #506169 on g-v-m to try and get this turned into a drop-down menu. Bug #328735 is related.