iPad camera kit error "device uses too much power"

My wife had this problem with her Nikon s6200. Admittedly it was with a non-apple camera interface adapter (1/4 the price of the official offering!).

The SD reader worked OK but when plugging the camera into the USB port it gave the 'too much power' error.

The solution was to be found in the camera menu. There is an option called 'charge from computer' and if you disable this then the problem goes away. The camera still charges fine from the mains adapter.

Peter

The solution is to use a powered USB hub between the device and the iPad accessory. Plug the device into the powered hub, then plug the hub into the accessory. I'm using it with a Sony Bloggie camera.

Same error message with apple camera connection kit and ipad2 and Sony cybershot dsc-hx9v. It worked with old sony cybershot???? Bought iPad to use for camera downloads on vacation so connecting to other things defeats the purpose. Both camera and iPad batteries are fully charged...

Found solution. Go to camera (Sony DSC HX9V) and in camera, go to menu - settings toolbox - Main settings (tool icon) - page 3 USB Power Supply and change to OFF (default is ON); make USB Connect Setting (Mass Storage); and then the camera connector to ipad2 works. Only issue is when you download from camera to Mac iphoto, you get a PMB icon and a couple of other things on the desktop that you have to unmount.

Not sure if this will work with all cameras, or if they have such a setting.

What a hassle.

I can drag and drop photos/videos from my iPhone, when I plug it into a powered USB hub. But I plug in my iPAD, NOOOOOOooo I need to purchase a camera kit. So I submit, I purchase the camera kit. I plug in my USB thumb drive and get the infamous draws too much power ( what kind of crap is that? It's a chip, not spinning media and the device tell the ipad that when it mounts). So then I plug the thumb drive (with the folder called DCIM) into a powered USB hub and plug that into the camera kit. I then have the privilege if now being able to import my video's to the Camera (why not videos, it's a quicktime movie made on an iPhone for crying out loud).

I plugged both my iPhone and my iPad into the powered hub and could see the DCIM on both devices. When this occurs, the DCIM on both devices is disable and nothing is visible.

Enough ********: Here's a solution.

1. Copy the content onto a USB Flash drive. The content must be copied into a folder called DCIM on the root directory of the USB Flash Drive.

2. Insert the USB Flash drive into a powered USB hub (in my case it is a Belkin F5U237 Rev 3.

3. Insert the USB Hub input into the USB Camera Kit.

4. Insert the Camera Kit into the iPad.

At this point a nastygram can pop up on the iPad indicating that the USB device is not supported.

The iPad will then launch to the Photo application and prompt to import the content from the flash drive.

It's even smart enough to allow you to DELETE all the content from the flash drive if you want to.

In my humble opinion, this is another fine tuning of the Apple cash extraction engine to force consumers to fork over their hard earned $$$ for something this is already built into the OS (hey, its works on my iPhone right). Don't get me wrong, I have Apple products, but this is going to make me think twice about the next purchase.

So as for ease of use, my new iPAD gets a 1 out of 5 stars

I was having the same problem connecting my Fujifilm F30 to my new 3rd gen iPad. I discovered that if I connected my camera to the charging unit while connected to the iPad I had no problems downloading pictures.

I haven't charged my camera battery in several months, even though the indicator says it's fully charged, so I'm charging the camera battery as well as my iPad battery which was showing about 70% charged.

Will see how it goes with a fully charged iPad and camera battery.

I have a SONY BLOGGIE & KODAK PlayFULL Camera...NEITHER WILL WORK ON IPAD3...USES TOO MUCH POWER IS MESSAGE...DEFEATS PURPOSE OF THE CAMERA & USB Adaptors...Can't even use a THUMBDRIVE Same deal...USES TOO MUCH POWER...HELP!

I get the same " too much power" error msg when I connect my Samsung WB150T camera to my iPad2.

Since all else failed, I checked my users manual and it says that the camera only connects to computers running Windows XP or Vista. Duh!

It's true that "most cameras" don't have a problem, but the Sony cameras do; but when I contacted Sony, they said it was exclusively an Apple problem. I told them I didn't think so, because by Nikon DSLR and Panasonic and Fuji P&S cameras all work fine. It's a problem with Sony. At that point they disconnected.

Resetting the USB for unpowered in the camera does no good; and of course you can't run this camera with the power cord while trying to download, there's only one I/O port for both functions. So it's a powered USB hub or nothing.

Sony is famous for this sort of thing, by the way. They supply a nifty movie utility with their cameras, but don't bother to tell you in the material, online, or anywhere else that it doesn't work with Apple OS.

Azartguy-

I do not have a problem with the Alpha 100 and 900 DSLRs. I have not had the error message appear with either, and I connect them while powered from their internal battery. Of course these are really Minolta cameras!

I wonder if your Sony videos are compatible with utilities from other brands? You may be able to freely download them from the manufacturer's websites. Canon has utilities available, but do not see one for movies.

There are Mac programs called iMovie and iMovie HD in my Applications folder. Have you tried either?

Fred

This may help, bought a new Nikon Coolpix S6200. Had previously not had trouble with the old Cannon I Had. Plugged in direct from camera using the USB cable and the Camera connector and got the dreaded, Accesory drawing too much power message. After fiddling for a while it somehow downloaded the pictures.

We now follow the following procedure and have not had any problems

Firstly check your camera to see if there is a setting saying Charge by computer. Set this to off, do not leave on automatic.

Attach camera connection kit to iPad

Attach USB cable to camera.

Open pictures app on iPad

Turn camera on

Attach camera to iPad using the connector and USB cable.

The camera will close the shutter and then download the pictures for importing.

Now works every time. I hope this helps someone !

I'm still looking for a solution to upload images from a CF card via a card-reader, through a usb hub, through the camera connection adapter, to the iPad Retina. I read that a very few "unpowered" usb hubs work but can't seem to find one. Can anyone confirm a system that works with CF cards in a card reader? I don't want to use my Nikon camera. PLEASE HELP!!!

Johnjuniper-

The only reason to use a USB hub, is so the hub will provide the power needed when the card reader draws too much current. Obviously an un-powered hub is of no use for that.

I have one CF-to-USB card reader that works with the camera connection kit on my iPad 2. However, I also have others (including a couple universal adapters) that draw too much current. They all work when using a powered hub.

Of course you can not use a powered hub when no power is available. This may be a dumb idea, but what about having a second camera that can be used as a CF card reader? It would not even have to be the same brand as long as it takes the CF cards. I understand all modern cameras use the same card format, and store images in a DCIM folder on the card.

Fred

Fred*M

Thanks for this.

I considered a second camera body but don't want to invest in one for this. My current 2nd body uses SD cards.

Can you tell me which card-reader you have that is compatible with the camera connection kit? This may be an issue for me regardless, as I have the ipad retina and Apple may have downgraded the power restrictions permitted.

Does any powered USB hub work? I could make due with this even though it requires plugging in somewhere.

Please advise.

Thank you.

Johnjuniper-

My Compact Flash Card Reader that works with the Camera Connection Kit, seems to have no name! It is a model CR-V7-UC. My computer identifies it as being from Genesys Logic, Inc. I have had it for several years, so it may no longer be available.

Another option that might work for you, is to obtain an SD-to-CF adapter. I have one from Delkin Devices <http://www.delkin.com>. You would remove the SD card from the adapter and read it using the Camera Connection Kit's SD card reader. If you get one, be sure it is compatible with the SDHC standard. Some such adapters do not work with SD cards over 2 GB. (I have an old onelike that made by Minolta.)

The iPad 1 initially had a much higher current limit. The limit was reduced by a subsequent iOS update. In other words, it is limited by software not hardware. As far as the Retina iPad having downgraded the power available, that is possible but I doubt it.

I think most powered USB hubs will work, but you would need to try it to be sure. Look for the cheapest you can find!

Fred