Problem connecting camera to MacBook Pro

Hello,

I am very technically challenged and need help. I've had a MacBook Pro and a Canon PowerShot SX20 IS Camera for a couple of years and I have been uploading photo's on my laptop to something called Image Capture. I apparently messed up settings or something because I can no longer upload my photo's.

I've been using this camera and laptop for about 2 years now and always attach the USB cable from the camera to the laptop, turn on the camera and a window called "Image Capture" appears and then I click on "Import All" and my photo's upload.

Today I plugged the USB cable into the MacBook Pro, turned the camera on and nothing happened. There was a message saying no camera or scanner selected. I checked the camera user guide which says "If Image Capture Does not Open":

1. Connect camera to laptop and turn camera on.

2. Select the camera in the "Devices" List on the left of the screen.

This is where my problem seems to be. The Device's list is blank and I'm assuming I somehow deleted it when playing around with the computer settings. I should not play around with computer settings when I have no earthly idea what I'm doing!

So ... I'm hoping someone can give me advice on how to make my camera and laptop compatible again! I miss being able to download my pictures!

Thanks for any suggestions,

Lin

Open your Finder and select Preferences from its menu. Click on the "Sidebar" tab. Go down to the "Devices" list and place a check in all of them. Your camera should now appear in the sidebar as a device. Also make sure the camera is turned on.

tried your suggestions

Thanks so much for the quick response.

I've done those steps, all boxes checked, camera is turned on but for some reason the laptop is not recognizing the camera... it's not showing up under the list of devices.

I'm now thinking it might be a problem with the camera because when I turn it on the red light flashes for a second like it's going to download photo's but then the light stops and nothing else happens.

I'm now thinking it might be a problem with the camera because when I turn it on the red light flashes for a second like it's going to download photo's but then the light stops and nothing else happens.

Click to expand...

About the only thing I can suggest is to check the camera settings. Most cameras have a setting for USB transfer or can act like a small hard drive. It might be just a matter of a menu setting. Also, I assume your camera battery has enough charge so that your Mac recognizes it.

Thanks so much,

Yes, I put new batteries in the camera today so I'm sure it's not the batteries. I don't know a thing about the camera settings and I have by accident in the past hit a button by mistake and messed up settings. I'm going to read through the camera manual tomorrow.

I had a friend tell me how to find the SD card in the camera so I was able to download my photo's a few minutes ago! I'm now wondering if it's a problem with the USB ports on the MacBook Pro as the friend suggested. I remember a few months ago switching from one port to the other because the camera was having problems downloading the pictures. I'm going to try to figure out how to attach it to my printer tomorrow and see if that works. Do you know, if it is a USB port problem ... is that something serious? My MacBook Pro actually won't be a year old until next month.

I have an external hard drive that I do back up's occasionally and don't seem to have any problems with that connecting though so maybe it's not the USB ports. I sure hope it's something simple.

Thanks again for trying to help, I really appreciate it!

Lin

I very much doubt it is the USB port and would think it MUCH more likely that it's the SD card.

When you are finished copying the pictures from the card to the computer, how do you unmount the card? Because it is the card, not really the camera, that you are seeing on your desktop (and what Image Capture sees as well). If you're just unplugging it without properly dismounting it, I think that's incredibly likely to be the problem.

Still, if I'm wrong or if further testing shows that the USB ports may be at fault, your machine is still covered under warranty for another month so I'd have the techs at your nearest Apple Store or Apple dealer test that now rather than later. You also have a month left to buy AppleCare (the extended warranty that will carry you through for another two years as well as provide phone support), you might be wise to invest in that if you have any suspicions that it could be a hardware problem.

Chas:

Thanks for your response. This is the first time I ever removed the SD card from the camera and downloaded photo's to my laptop by inserting the card, and a message appeared that I did indeed remove it incorrectly from the laptop ... instead of ejecting it I just pulled it out and put it back in the camera. The photo's downloaded fine so I guess I can continue to do it that way from the camera card until I get the problem fixed, but I will remember to eject it properly from now on.

I can't figure out why the camera is not listed in the devices list on my laptop anymore. I think I may have done something to delete it and don't know how to get it back. I am not only computer challenged but camera challenged as well. I will be reading through the camera manual today to see if there is any mention of this.

Thanks for the info regarding the AppleCare extended warranty, I will surely look into that right away, in my case it will be well worth it.

Lin

My suggestion is have you using IPhoto. click iphoto dock.
try to plug in the camera to the usb port of macbook pro and turn camera on, click on iphoto should work.
Or use the sd port to load the pictures to Iphoto.
your goal is to get your pictures, into the macbook pro ?

ycl1688:

Yes, I'm trying to get my photo's uploaded to the MacBook Pro. I used IPhoto once when I first got this particular Mac but I didn't like the concept. I prefer having my photo's uploaded to a folder on my desktop. I had been using the Image Capture program on my old Mac laptop for quite a few years and on the MacBookPro for the past year.

I will try connecting to IPhoto with the USB cable and see if that's working.

Thanks!

I would vote for the problem being one of the following:

1) The USB cable (could have developed a fault or if you have multiple cables they aren't always interchangeable--I found this out when I couldn't get an external HD to read)

2) USB transfer not active on camera (as was mentioned above)

3) USB port on your camera is damaged in some way

Actually, I think your best soloution is to pull the SD card and transfer it that way. I never use USB transfer and have yet to have an SD card related problem in 10+ years using the SD card method.

Razormac said:

I would vote for the problem being one of the following:

1) The USB cable (could have developed a fault or if you have multiple cables they aren't always interchangeable--I found this out when I couldn't get an external HD to read)

2) USB transfer not active on camera (as was mentioned above)

3) USB port on your camera is damaged in some way

Actually, I think your best soloution is to pull the SD card and transfer it that way. I never use USB transfer and have yet to have an SD card related problem in 10+ years using the SD card method.

Click to expand...

I agreed with sd card lot on mbp should work. If all else fail use this expensive and highly tech sd card to transfer your images, here is the link Eye-Fi memory cards: wireless photo and video uploads from your camera to your computer & the web. | Eye-Fi

Thanks so much for the responses. I did a back up to an external hard drive yesterday and the USB cable worked fine for that. I keep thinking it must have something to do with the USB transfer not being active on the camera.

I think I like the idea of not having to worry about cables and instead just removing the SD card from the camera to upload photo's. How long do SD cards tend to last? Should I have a spare?

Going to check the link supplied by ycl1688 ... Thanks!

plantladylin said:

Thanks so much for the responses. I did a back up to an external hard drive yesterday and the USB cable worked fine for that. I keep thinking it must have something to do with the USB transfer not being active on the camera.

I think I like the idea of not having to worry about cables and instead just removing the SD card from the camera to upload photo's. How long do SD cards tend to last? Should I have a spare?

Going to check the link supplied by ycl1688 ... Thanks!

Click to expand...

first step will be to buy the usb cable from camera to mbp, this is cheaper.
next, will be to buy the spare sd cards.
last one is eye fi card it is much cleaner and hassle free. that is the price you pay for.

plantladylin said:

Thanks so much for the responses. I did a back up to an external hard drive yesterday and the USB cable worked fine for that. I keep thinking it must have something to do with the USB transfer not being active on the camera.

I think I like the idea of not having to worry about cables and instead just removing the SD card from the camera to upload photo's. How long do SD cards tend to last? Should I have a spare?

Going to check the link supplied by ycl1688 ... Thanks!

Click to expand...

I have never had an SD card go bad, though have read that it happens. Absolutely worth having a spare; I have somewhere between 8 and a dozen or so cards (lost track--and of course that is spread over six different cameras).
FWIW I don't know any photographers who are more than casual shooters who do the USB transfer thing--may be some out there but I don't know any or have seen any comment to that effect on the Photography forums I frequent.

EDIT: As far as cost is concerned. I have several of these, $10 each from Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003VNKNEG/?tag=macforums0e4-20

I also have a number of pricier cards, like the below which I use in my DSLR. $29 for a 16 GB Card
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003D5MY5I/?tag=macforums0e4-20

$49.99 for that Eye-Fi Connect X2 card thing sounds very reasonable. Is it compatible with my MacBook Pro? I'm assuming it must be since I see the Apple Store sells it.

So, if I buy one of those Eye-Fi cards should I still also buy a spare SD card or does that replace the SD card? Do I put the Eye-Fi card in the camera and leave it there like the SD card?

Sorry for sounding so stupid but I'm "older" and so challenged when it comes to understanding technical stuff! I'm a (very) amateur photographer who enjoys taking pictures of birds and flowers and I don't know much about the Canon camera that I've had for the past few years, I just keep it on automatic and then download the pictures to my laptop. I like that the Eye-Fi card will transfer photo's to my laptop as well as to my Flickr and Facebook pages.

plantladylin said:

$49.99 for that Eye-Fi Connect X2 card thing sounds very reasonable. Is it compatible with my MacBook Pro? I'm assuming it must be since I see the Apple Store sells it.

So, if I buy one of those Eye-Fi cards should I still also buy a spare SD card or does that replace the SD card? Do I put the Eye-Fi card in the camera and leave it there like the SD card?

Sorry for sounding so stupid but I'm "older" and so challenged when it comes to understanding technical stuff! I'm a (very) amateur photographer who enjoys taking pictures of birds and flowers and I don't know much about the Canon camera that I've had for the past few years, I just keep it on automatic and then download the pictures to my laptop. I like that the Eye-Fi card will transfer photo's to my laptop as well as to my Flickr and Facebook pages.

Click to expand...

Honestly . . . I just did a quick scan of reviews on Amazon. Given your admitted tech challenged status, I would not reccomend going this route.

My reasons for commenting on most "advanced photographers" using the SD card transfer method wasn't out of snobbishness or to imply that there was anything wrong with using the USB cable, just to show that pulling the SD card was not a problem.

This is what I would reccomend (and do whenever the subject comes up). It's cheap ($10 a piece for spare cards) and you have a spare card with you when/if your card fills up or (far more unlikely) goes bad.

plantladylin said:

$49.99 for that Eye-Fi Connect X2 card thing sounds very reasonable. Is it compatible with my MacBook Pro? I'm assuming it must be since I see the Apple Store sells it.

So, if I buy one of those Eye-Fi cards should I still also buy a spare SD card or does that replace the SD card? Do I put the Eye-Fi card in the camera and leave it there like the SD card?

Sorry for sounding so stupid but I'm "older" and so challenged when it comes to understanding technical stuff! I'm a (very) amateur photographer who enjoys taking pictures of birds and flowers and I don't know much about the Canon camera that I've had for the past few years, I just keep it on automatic and then download the pictures to my laptop. I like that the Eye-Fi card will transfer photo's to my laptop as well as to my Flickr and Facebook pages.

Click to expand...

i believe the eye-fi card stay permanently in your camera, and you can shoot as much pictures as you want, then transfer to your mbp. I would suggest keep a few regular SD cards ready, in case your eye fi card has problems.
What if all of a sudden you find few rare and exotic birds, coming your ways you have to get the cards handy and make sure your equipment up to the sniff. I know certain camera like Nikon d7000 has twin sd card slots, you can shoot any flowers and birds without worrying the images not capture. Just a thought.

Well, to show you how technically challenged I am ... I typed a reply and somehow lost it when I went back to read the previous comments on page 1!

RazorMac: I didn't take anything you said to be snobbish. I greatly appreciate the knowledgeable help! I didn't realize the SB cards were so inexpensive so I think I will definitely go that route to have a spare on hand. I did find it just as easy (if not easier) to remove the card from my camera and plug it into the laptop ... not having to worry with cables makes it simple! Now, another question: Are all SB cards created equal? Are they all compatible with my MacBook Pro? I'm assuming I can buy them at any office supply store or BestBuy?

By the way: I love your tag line, "You can lead a man to knowledge but you can't make him think." The problem with this "older" gal is you can lead me to knowledge but then my brain gets so discombobulated that I can't think straight.

ycl1688: I think I've decided to go with the SD card. I'm sure the Eye-Fi stays in the camera as does the SD card until transfer of photo's and since the SD cards are very inexpensive it makes it easy.

Thanks so much for all the help ... it's greatly appreciated!

Lin

From what I have seen SanDisk SD cards are generally the most reliable (at least for their high end cards) but I have had good service from Transcend cards. I have seen more reports of problems with Kingston brand SD cards, but not sure that statisically they are any worse than the others.

Both should be available at Best Buy. To tell the truth I generally buy from Amazon (I'm a prime member so I get free shipping) and no sales tax.

Thanks for the card brand names. I just removed the card from the camera and it's a 2.0 GB Kingston SD.

I went to the Amazon website and found a bunch of cards with different prices. I hope it's okay to post the link: Amazon.com: SansDisk Card

Any suggestions as to which one of these I should go with?

Thanks again for your patience and your help!