camera not showing up in sidebar

Question

Level 1

23 points

camera not showing up in sidebar

Hi, I am trying to get my Canon Powershot to show up in the sidebar as a device. I went to preferences both in Image Capture and iPhoto and selected "No Application" when connecting in the General tab. Years ago, cameras would show up on the desktop as an icon or in the list of devices but I don't see the camera on the desktop either. I have no trouble connecting via iPhoto, by the way, or Image Capture. Reason I am asking? A friend just went from PC to MAC and wanted to set it up that way -to just preview and drag and drop the photos rather than going through an import app. Other devices, such as a thumb drive, CD, etc show up just fine. Any ideas of what is going on? Did something change in the MAC over the years and I didn't notice? My friend is going to go directly to Photoshop, will not pass GO or iPhoto.

Thanks

Work: MackBook Pro intel 17", Quicksilver 733 MHz 10.4.11,, Mac OS X (10.5.6), MacBook Pro 15" intel 10.4.11, iMac G3, iPod nano, Canon S60

Posted on Mar 28, 2010 6:28 AM

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Answer 1

iyacyas

Level 4

1,536 points

Mar 28, 2010 7:54 AM in response to annexit

Does there camera mount at all, in other words does it show up on the desktop?

Can your friend mount the memory card with a card reader, if anything to test it?

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Answer 2

Mar 28, 2010 8:56 AM in response to annexit

HI,

I don't think Canon supports drag and drop. You must use an application like Image Capture or iPhoto to IMPORT the images.

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 3

Mar 28, 2010 9:54 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

You are correct Carolyn. I have a Canon PShot A520.

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Answer 4

Mar 28, 2010 10:04 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Carolyn Samit wrote:
I don't think Canon supports drag and drop. You must use an application like Image Capture or iPhoto to IMPORT the images.

A little web searching finds that Canon doesn't include the necessary USB mass storage device code so that OS X can mount them like a disk. I'm not sure if that's all their cameras, or just some of them.

I just got an inexpensive card reader and use it. It's more convenient and has the happy side effect of not running down the camera's battery while I'm transferring pictures.

charlie

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Answer 5

annexit Author

Level 1

23 points

Mar 28, 2010 1:25 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Carolyn,

thanks, I think this is it - I have used Canon products over the years and some of them did, as I recall, mount on the desktop but this one does not. My friend has a much fancier camera - and I know it is not a Canon, so I think he may just have iPhoto set as his default app for the camera and needs to click show devices in the sidebar. I was just trying with my camera as I am running Leopard and he is running Snow Leopard. People switch to Mac because of it's features then get frustrated because it is not exactly like their PC!

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Answer 6

annexit Author

Level 1

23 points

Mar 28, 2010 1:28 PM in response to Charles Minow

Charles, thanks for your response - please add something so I can give you credit for solving - I accidentally marked helpful.

Annexit

Thanks to the rest of you for your help.

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Answer 7

Mar 28, 2010 5:45 PM in response to annexit

annexit wrote:
Charles, thanks for your response

You're welcome.

To add a little, I guess I'll mention that digital cameras are basically just little computers themselves, just ones that serve a fairly limited purpose: to take and store pictures.* In order for the camera to be able to communicate with the computer, it needs to have some kind of code running that tells the computer what it is.

Probably the simplest way to do this is for it to implement something called USB mass storage. If a camera has the code to do this, the computer sees it and can talk to it as if it's basically just another USB hard drive or flash stick.

Without that code, the computer has to communicate another way: via iPhoto or Image Capture. But by communicating that way, the Finder can't treat the camera as a hard drive any more because of the code missing in the camera.

There, how's that for a little something extra? You can use that as a fun fact at the next party you go to. Be careful though, it'll probably cause a stampede for the exits. 😉

charlie

* In fact, with some cameras, it's even possible to load a different operating system to get added or different functionality, much like you might add programs to your Mac.

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