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Why use Image Capture over Finder?

S

Siderz

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 10, 2012
991
6
On my new Mac, Image Capture opens automatically when I plug in a memory stick.

This wasn't happening on my old one, and I've never opened Image Capture.

I would always just import pictures and video via Finder...why bother using another application to import pictures?

It seems I can't even preview pictures in Image Capture at full screen...
 
I use LightRoom not Finder because that's where my photos get imported too.
 
Siderz said:
Exactly! Why on Earth does Image Capture exist? It looks pointless to me.
Click to expand...

It allows you to import images from dives, scanners, cameras, networks, etc. without all the overhead of iPhoto or other apps. There is also some awesome Automator routines that can be used to automatically import images.
 
Siderz said:
Exactly! Why on Earth does Image Capture exist? It looks pointless to me.
Click to expand...

grapes911 said:
It allows you to import images from dives, scanners, cameras, networks, etc. without all the overhead of iPhoto or other apps. There is also some awesome Automator routines that can be used to automatically import images.
Click to expand...

My scanner has since stopped providing updated applications and now it tells its customers to use Image Capture. So in a sense it I have to use it for my scanner but as I mentioned I don't use it for importing images
 
maflynn said:
My scanner has since stopped providing updated applications and now it tells its customers to use Image Capture. So in a sense it I have to use it for my scanner but as I mentioned I don't use it for importing images
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I don't blame them. Why maintain an app when Apple will do it for them? Image Capture is easy to use. It's a really good app.
 
grapes911 said:
I don't blame them. Why maintain an app when Apple will do it for them? Image Capture is easy to use. It's a really good app.
Click to expand...
I guess I fail to see why it's better than simply dragging and dropping images using Finder.
 
GGJstudios said:
I guess I fail to see why it's better than simply dragging and dropping images using Finder.
Click to expand...

To get photos/videos off your iPhone, you can do it via Image Capture (and not Finder). I don't want to sync or use iPhoto (bloatware for me). If I recorded a long video on my iPhone and just want to have it on my Mac, Image Capture is very straight-forward on getting the video without any hassle.
 
GGJstudios said:
I guess I fail to see why it's better than simply dragging and dropping images using Finder.
Click to expand...

It does more than just allow you to import images from a drive. It imports images from pretty much any source (even scanners, iPhones, network drives) and rarely needs drivers to support these actions. Add in Automator hooks and the ability to use IC with AppleScript and it's sweet tool. Most users might never use it (except for maybe scanning) though.

Years ago I worked in a visual communication lab at a college and I wrote all sorts of apps using IC to import and backup images from computers to servers. It really became my go-to tool for such tasks. Since I stopped working at that lab, I really haven't had much of a need for it.
 
grapes911 said:
It allows you to import images from dives, scanners, cameras, networks, etc. without all the overhead of iPhoto or other apps. There is also some awesome Automator routines that can be used to automatically import images.
Click to expand...

Why bother having another application open up when you can just use what's already open; Finder?

Automator routines sounds good though. I've only been able to use Automator to rename a batch of files, I'd love to put it through its paces one day.
 
GGJstudios said:
I guess I fail to see why it's better than simply dragging and dropping images using Finder.
Click to expand...
Because it does a lot more than that. I use it as the scanning interface for my EPSON scanner. IC allows me to control all the parameters of the scanner directly.

However, it should be possible to stop it from launching when you plug in a "memory stick". Presumably not every USB flash drive? But if OS X thinks the stick is a camera's memory card, then you can control that from iPhoto's preferences.
 
FSMBP said:
To get photos/videos off your iPhone, you can do it via Image Capture (and not Finder). I don't want to sync or use iPhoto (bloatware for me). If I recorded a long video on my iPhone and just want to have it on my Mac, Image Capture is very straight-forward on getting the video without any hassle.
Click to expand...
I just use Dropbox for getting pics/videos from my iPhone. It works whether I'm plugged in or not, no matter where I am.

benwiggy said:
I use it as the scanning interface for my EPSON scanner.
Click to expand...
My scanner came with its own app, which works extremely well for me. I guess if someone didn't have such an app, IC would be useful.
 
GGJstudios said:
I guess I fail to see why it's better than simply dragging and dropping images using Finder.
Click to expand...
How do you drag and drop from a scanner? That's what Image Capture is for and for the few cameras that don't offer drag and drop. iOS devices for instance don't allow you to access the photos on them from finder.

However, for SD/CF/etc cards, I do agree that finder tends to be much easier to use.
 
FSMBP said:
To get photos/videos off your iPhone, you can do it via Image Capture (and not Finder). I don't want to sync or use iPhoto (bloatware for me). If I recorded a long video on my iPhone and just want to have it on my Mac, Image Capture is very straight-forward on getting the video without any hassle.
Click to expand...

It would be really useful if Apple would just allow us to show the iOS device in Finder.

That's what happens on Windows Explorer.
 
Siderz said:
Why bother having another application open up when you can just use what's already open; Finder?
Click to expand...
Because it does way more than finder. As I said, finder just allows you to copy files. It's not an image importer where you can sync images and grab from multiple source.

GGJstudios said:
I just use Dropbox for getting pics/videos from my iPhone. It works whether I'm plugged in or not, no matter where I am.
Click to expand...
I use Dropbox as well, but not everyone wants their images in the cloud.
 
grapes911 said:
I don't blame them. Why maintain an app when Apple will do it for them? Image Capture is easy to use. It's a really good app.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately the app was much more flexible and powerful then image capture - its a step down :( They still maintain a windows version so now all my scanning needs are done by way of windows and synced up through dropbox
 
Bear said:
How do you drag and drop from a scanner?
Click to expand...
As I said, my scanner came with its own app.
Siderz said:
It would be really useful if Apple would just allow us to show the iOS device in Finder.

That's what happens on Windows Explorer.
Click to expand...
This may help: iExplorer
grapes911 said:
I use Dropbox as well, but not everyone wants their images in the cloud.
Click to expand...
I understand. I don't make my default image folder public. I only use it to sync between my phone and Mac. I manually select images and put them in another folder if I want to share them with others.
 
imagecapture IS great for reasons mentioned above, and easy to disable if you don't want to use it.

i take pics for work regularly, and don't want them in my (personal) iPhoto..i drag from the IC window to a folder on my desktop. done.
 
grapes911 said:
Ouch. What features did they eliminate?
Click to expand...

Mostly the PDF capabilities particularly in scanning multiple documents. Scannign profiles for scanning images versus documents including descreening and unsharp masks.
 
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