USB 2.0 port on Canon A620 camera compatible with USB port on PB 867 MHz

[tab75-13]

Hi, I am thinking of purchasing a canon a620 powershot camera. It has USB 2.0 I/O ports. Are USB 2.0 compatible with USB I/O ports that I have on my PB G4 867 Mhz laptop? This is a very newbie question, but I'd appreciate any clarification. If USB 2.0 cable interfaces are not compatible with USB ports on my computer, how can I get the camera to interface with my computer? Although I hope that the two are compatible and I don't have to worry about alternative ways of achieving interface between camera and computer.

Thanks in advance,

tab

[MJA]

from checking the canon website.it doesn't look like you ganna needa driver for the camera

http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/controller?act=OSCompatibilitySupportAct&keycode=macd...&modelid=12072


this is all the updates they have for the cam


Drivers
TWAIN Driver 6.6 for Windows 98 SE/Windows 2000


WIA Driver 6.4 for Windows Me




Applications
ImageBrowser 5.5a Updater for Mac OS X
2006-01

[willrob]

If your laptop only has USB 1, then that's the transfer speed you'll get from the USB 2 camera. I'm not sure what you have. Check your System profile. It should indicate if it's USB 1 or 2. But yes, you can use the camera and trasnfer the images. You could also get a card reader—firewire wold be the fastest.

[Frobozz]

The Canon will connect to your Powerbook and transfer images at USB 1.1 speed. If you bought a USB 2 PCMCIA card you could transfer images at USB 2 speed. As noted, you also can get a media card reader to use instead of connecting the camera.

[tab75-13]

Thanks for the replys everyone. The camera uses either SD or MM cards. The camera is capable of making movies in addition to taking digital photos.

Here's the product description.
http://www2.butterflyphoto.com/shop/product.aspx?ref=cnet&sku=A620#Description

Wilrob mentioned that I can get a firewire card reader. Are there firewire SD card readers available that are in the same price range as USB 2.0 SD card readers?

As I want to be able to shoot AVI movies, which the camera can shoot up to a 1Gig in size, or I've read elsewhere, up to the size of the SD card, I have read that I should get a "high speed" digital SD card in addition to its size being sufficiently capacious to store the movies and/or the photos that I will want to shoot. If I can get a firewire card reader at a reasonable usb 2.0 ball park price, would I still need "high spped SD or MM cards, or will the relatively high transfer rates of a firewire 400 card reader allow me to skip the need for the slightly more expensive "high speed" SD cards?

In addition if I have a firewire card reader I believe I'll be transfer the video without resorting to Canon software, as video cannot be transfered to the mac laptop I have via USB. When a camera or a USB card reader would be connected to the mac iPhoto would be opened up and iPhoto, as far as I know, does not accept video. A firewire card reader transferring AVI video to the mac may work, but I am not sure what program would be opened up.

Alternatively, if i have a firewire card reader hooked up to the Mac and transferring photos, can I still fire up iPhoto to save and edit the photos?

I am really on the outer edges of this thing and trying to feel my way around the possibility of this purchase before shelling out the possibly $400.00 towards it.

Thanks in advance for possibly helping me to get a handle on this.

best,

tab

[Frobozz]

It is my understanding that the high speed memory cards are better for video. This probably matters more if the video you are shooting is at the camera's highest resolution.

The reason for needing a fast card is so it can write data fast enough to keep up with the camera's frame rate. So having a Firewire card reader is not a factor in the need for the high-speed memory card.

iPhoto 5 and 6 import the video clips as well as the stills. You also can import video clips with the Image Capture application. You don't need Canon's software even if you don't have iPhoto 5 or 6.