Nikon CP8800 crashes on import

I'm new here, so please be kind.

I have a Nikon CP 8800. On my old iMac (2006) running Snow Leopard and iPhoto '09, imports went flawlessly. I recently bought a 2011 iMac running Mavericks. Same camera, same version of iPhoto, same USB cable. I connect, iPhoto opens to the import screen, the beach ball goes around for a few seconds, and the camera crashes. I get the dreaded "you didn't eject this device properly" message. I can only shut off the camera if I disconnect it from the cable.

I know it's an old version of iPhoto, but everything else on it works. Also, I tried Image Capture, Lightroom (the latest) and just the Finder, same thing. The camera pops up, I see the images ready to import, then click, lights out.

Any ideas as to whether it's the camera or Mavericks? I reset the camera, but same results.

Thank you both. It's not iPhoto. As I mentioned in my original post, iPhoto imports just fine under Snow Leopard. And I had checked that the camera was supported by it and Lightroom. It must be something in Mavericks. Once I get the photos off the camera on my old Mac, they behave fine on the new.

So if I get a card reader, everything should be fine, right? I usually shoot in jpg, but occasionally in RAW. Are any card readers better than others? I've never had one.

Thanks for the recommendation. Someone once let me borrow a card reader that had been used on a PC and it totally screwed up my memory card. I have steered clear of them ever since!

The E8800 takes a CF card. I had no idea system software could affect which cameras are connected, but apparently that's the way it is. A new camera isn't in the budget, so a card reader it's going to be, as I need to sell that older iMac.

I do erase the downloaded photos with the camera and reformat every 6 months or so. I learned the hard way that when iPhoto asks if you want to erase the photos, you need to say no. So you think it's better to not erase and reformat every time?