Is my Toshiba PDR-M4 a paper weight now?

[bluemonkey]

I have a Toshiba PDR-M4 digital still camera that's about 4 years old. I have a G4 ibook that runs Panther (love it by the way), and I can't get my camera to work at all with OS X. I had mainly used Macs for professional stuff before, and they have worked beautifully, but now I am getting into the fun stuff you can do (itunes, etc...), and I would like to get my images into my laptop without having to buy a new digital camera. Anyone have any idea how to do this?

If you need more info, just ask. I'll be glad to help any way I can.

-Jason

[wrldwzrd89]

I have a Toshiba PDR-M4 digital still camera that's about 4 years old. I have a G4 ibook that runs Panther (love it by the way), and I can't get my camera to work at all with OS X. I had mainly used Macs for professional stuff before, and they have worked beautifully, but now I am getting into the fun stuff you can do (itunes, etc...), and I would like to get my images into my laptop without having to buy a new digital camera. Anyone have any idea how to do this?

If you need more info, just ask. I'll be glad to help any way I can.

-Jason
If I was in that situation, I'd bypass the camera and use one of those readers for whatever storage method your camera uses. To do this, I'd take the storage media out of the camera, put it in my reader, and access the photos from there. If you don't have a reader and don't have enough money or would rather not buy one, then I'm not sure what to suggest, since I don't own a digital camera.

[mkrishnan]

Can you tell us a little bit more about "at all"? Specifically:

1) Does your camera get power through the USB port? When my Canon Powershot S50 is plugged in, there's a light that lights up. Also, do other things work on your USB port? When I first got my iBook, one of my two USB ports mysteriously did basically nothing. The camera is pretty much the only thing I ever use them for, cuz my printer is on the AEBS. This mysteriously went away after a little while and never resurfaced, so I don't know what caused it. Along the same lines, does the cable you use to connect work on any other computer besides your Mac?

2) When you plug it in, assuming you get a light, what software have you tried to use? You sound Mac savvy, so I'm just making sure. Have you only used iPhoto, or only tried to get photos off by expecting the camera to mount on the desktop, or have you also tried Image Capture, which is in your Utilities folder? Image Capture sometimes seems to support cameras when iPhoto does not.

[bluemonkey]

I tried image capture and iphoto. I suppose I will have to get a USB smart media card reader. Thanks for the advice, guys.

-Jason

[Makosuke]

According to Apple's officiall list, it looks like iPhoto doesn't support any Toshiba cameras at all. Guess they're not popular enough...?

In any case, considering that an iPhoto compatible media reader can be had for around $15, it's not a big expense to make them compatible.