Cannot Detect Camera - When Camera And Computer Stop Speaking!

When you download images from your camera to your computer, the operation is powered by the batteries in your camera. It takes a whole heap of power to do this and that seems to be at the core of this problem.

The minute your batteries are no longer brand new they can't seem to cope and recharging them doesn't appear to help.

My situation was that I was able to upload images from my Canon PowerShot camera to my computer for the first few months after I got it for Christmas. I raced around madly snapping images every where, rejoicing in this new freedom-from-film life.

And then it happened. One day I sat down to transfer my images to the computer and got that "cannot detect camera" message.

I Googled for information but found most of the suggestions complicated and involved delving into the interior processes of my computer where you find files with nonsensical names. I always know when I start to strike files with names I can't recognize that it is time to quietly back out without bumping or erasing anything on the way. My files are called things like Budget and Pics of Dogs (although there is one file called To Be Sorted where I chuck files that I don't know what to do with, but I don't go there very often either).

Anyway, I started with the simpler options. I recharged the batteries and tried again - no joy. I uninstalled ZoomBrowser from the computer and reinstalled it again - no joy. But there was still one possible solution that was within my non-techie capabilities so I went for it.

I bought a card reader.

It really was just that simple to solve the problem. I bought an inexpensive card reader and seconds later the images that had been "stuck" in my camera for the last few weeks were safely on the computer.

The relief!

The reader I bought is a Silicon Power 27 in 1 Multi Slot Card Reader. I like to buy New Zealand made when I can but I was a desperate women! The Silicon Power 27 in 1 reader is made in Taiwan and all I can say thank you Taiwan! I love your little Taiwanese widget and the workers who assembled it and the president of the company and anyone else that played a part in getting this sanity saving technology into my grateful hands!

It was priced at NZ$51.99 (Smileez Kodak Express in Taupo) but was discounted to me for $40 - I'm not quite sure why. Perhaps I looked desperate; perhaps I reminded him of his dear ol' grandmother. It comes with the reader ( cigarette box size), a cord and very little in the way of instructions. The instructions - such as they were - were in 8 different languages and I'd swear that all the other languages were longer than the English version!

The only thing that seemed to apply to a Vista was the information that "no driver is required". I'm not a geek so I would have liked a wee bit more than that (Mac users get a little more but don't they always) but it really is completely straight forward. The hardest bit was wrestling the dam thing out of the packaging without stabbing myself with the scissors!

Plug the small end of the cord into the reader, plug the large end of the cord into a USB port on your computer (that's one of those "holes" round the back of your computer box that you have been plugging your camera into). A message on screen assured me all necessary drivers etc where connected (I can't remember the exact words but to that effect.) I inserted the memory card into the reader - nothing appeared to happen but when I opened my picture folder, there were my long-lost images.

I've since discovered that if you go into ZoomBrowser, on the left hand side you'll see "Acquire & Camera Settings". Click that and you'll see "Acquire Images From Memory Card". Click on that and you're home and hosed!

So there you go, possum. If you ever get those dreaded words "cannot detect camera" you are going to know exactly what to do.