At 9:57 PM +0200 3/31/2003, bramke wrote: >Hello all, > >I want to introduce myself into the world of digital photos, mainly >family snapshots for screen and webuse, but I have run into some >problems. I need a way to get the digital pictures from the camera to the >Mac, and this is where it seems to go wrong. >I have a 8600/G3 with all PCIslots filled, and no USB available, and a >Powerbook G3 Kanga (not cardbus compliant), and about all recent digital >cameras talk USB... > >* I won't buy an other Mac, just for the sake of getting USB. >* I'm not looking forward to the serial connection like the Quicktake >camera family. >* Getting the Kanga cardbus compliant is out of the question. >So what are my options ???
Note, your Kanga may already be CardBus compliant. Apparently the electronics are and the only question is the card cage. Apparently some were shipped with CardBus card cages and will work as is. The problem is that you won't know until you try it which means buy or borrowing a CardBus card. > >The only option I can come up with is the use of a PCMCIA adaptor for >CompactFlash cards (or other memory cards) but I have some questions with >this : >* Pro/con of this route ?? >* Is this possible in the 16bit PCMCIA slots of the Kanga ?? I have both CompactFlash and SmartMedia adapters in use on my Kanga. I was on a three day camping / railfanning trip and at night I'd pop the SM card in and suck them all into the laptop. About 200 pictures a night. >* Do I need special software to read the cards, or do they just show up >on the desktop like a CD ?? Only File Exchange or PC Exchange (depending on the OS version), it's part of the OS install. This is needed as the cameras us PC disk formatting. >* Can I write to the CFcards (backup, I've read of booting from them, >what about formatting them) ?? To format them for Mac you have to turn off File Exchange or PC Exchange and restart. Otherwise you don't have the Mac format option available. >* What's the maximum size of CFcard the Kanga can handle (I've read about >type I and II)?? It should handle any card out there. The largest I've used is 64 Mb. Type I, II and III refer to the PC Card form factor, not CF. The Kanga can use any of them but a Flash adapter is likely a Type II. There are different speeds of CF (and I think SM too) showing up now. If your camera can use the faster speed then it's a plus. Otherwise it's not a lot of use. The main advantage is the camera can shoot faster. >* Difference between CF and the others (Smartmedia,...) which seem to >require more expensive adaptors, any preferences ?? SM seems to be stalled at 128Mb although there have been persistent rumors of higher capacity "Real Soon" for a while. Depending on your camera, 128Mb may be enough. I get about 256 shots on a card with a 2MP camera. I've come close to filling one up in a day but never quite made it. I would stick with CF or SM. They have wider support. I've used both and don't find any particular advantage of one over the other. The only problem I've had is that SM cards are so small and thin that I have to be extra careful to avoid dropping it. CF adapters are cheap as the CF card is basically a miniature PC Card. SM takes some electronics to read the card so they are a little more expensive. I would make the decision between CF and SM based on the features of the camera. >* Are there any other things to consider going this route ?? Or other >possibilities (SCSI) ?? There is a SCSI device for reading PC Cards and CF. I don't know if it will do SM but it should. Finding one is unlikely though. > >I would like some real world experience and hands-on knowledge. Does >anybody use this route with digital cameras ?? > >TIA, Bramke > >For completeness : >8600/G3-450/928MBram/PCIvideo/PCIsound/PCI-IDE cards >PB G3-250 Kanga/160MBram >All OS 9.1 I use both a 7500 w/ USB and CF/SM reader and my Kanga w/ PC Card adapter for reading flash memory. At home I use the 7500 usually as it has a 100BaseT connection to the server where the picture files are archived. On the road I use the Kanga. When I first bought the camera it came with an 8Mb card and I bought the 128Mb card knowing I'd be needing the space. The whole arrangement works quite well. As I said, I've never managed to use up the whole 128Mb card in a single day. So downloading the pictures daily takes care of things quite well. There are only two times I've filled up the card. When I first bought the camera the card reader didn't arrive for a week and Thanksgiving and other pictures filled it up. The other time we were on vacation, I hadn't downloaded the pictures and didn't realize it until Iwas away from the car and the laptop. Actually in that case I don't think I filled it up but it did inhibit me from taking as many pictures as I might have. That is one thing, I am taking about four times as many pictures with the digital camera as with the film SLR. In many cases I take second and third shots with the digital camera that I wouldn't take with the film camera. I also tend to take more informational/ locating shots. One suggestion I have is figure out early how you intend to archive your pictures. I load them up to my server and also copy them to another machine to burn a CD when I have enough. I organize them by year and "roll" (download of the card). -- Clark Martin Redwood City, CA, USA Macintosh / Internet Consulting "I'm a designated driver on the Information Super Highway" -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... 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