OK!

It's all very well but OP has yet to tell us / describe which one he bought.

EDIT: It was Apprentice who spec'ed the K�NIG USB 2.0 SD/SDHC/MMC CARD READER .

Edited by XRaySpeX (Fri 20-Jul-12 00:38:22)

Try Connecting Camera to PC. If not detected try going to
Accessories in Prrograms and open Scanners and Camera program.
I believe some cameras store in unreadable format on Cards..

Edited by flippery (Fri 20-Jul-12 09:19:21)

Certainly some cameras will connect over usb and the contents of a memory card can be read once the camera is powered on. This I've found with some cameras that use SD cards but with cameras that use CF cards it may also be necessary to install a driver. The driver can be downloaded or usually found on a CD that is supplied with the camera.

The reader is a Konig "USB 2.0 Hub Card Reader" --- it says it reads & writes and supports all common memory card. I regard Type One Compact Flash as being acceptable. These are the thin 'uns, the much later Type Two was slightly thicker and only when Type Two was introduced did it become necessary to dub the originals Type One. The left slot is marked CF/MD and SD/MMC whereas the right slot is marked SM and MS/MS-PRO. It also has 3 USB ports (not of value to me as it happens)

When the Konig is connected to any of my XP tower's USB2 ports it always produces the message (on exploring the detected E-drive) that I should insert a card. But a card is already in it. Same message if I fired it up empty. Inserting any of several Type One (the thin cards) to hand yields the same message. The card cannot be forced in further so I assume even a light push is engaging the pins.

I think this item will be winging its way back to that widely-known south american river

From what I understand Type 1 and 2 are electrically identical with same pin connections. A Type 1 will fit Type 2 slot but not neccessarilly the other way round. Sounds like you may have bought a dud. Have you tried other card types including CF 2, SD etc?

I do believe the reader itself is a dud but might still question its cable. However have now abandoned the need for a card reader anyway! But thanks for all your interest.

My Nikon Coolpix has "inept" Nikon software. Nikon UK told me they knew this and their CEO instructed his lab staff to prepare me a special transfer CD-ROM --- this worked but has always been tetchy, needing frequent re-installation. Hence my thoughts of a card reader.

However a friend with an identical camera (his Nikon software croaked in my XP tower) showed me how to transfer the Coolpix 256MB card's images straight into a USB2 port. Easy --- after opening DCIM then 100NIKON folders. Only caveat is that these are temporary holding "storage" which vanish as soon as camera-upload-cable is disconnected so SAVE 'em pronto.

No camera software and no card reader needed. Job done. Works for me.

A bonus of this chastening experience was to learn (from Nikon UK) that my Coolpix lacks a processor able to handle CF Type One cards larger than 256MB --- which is quite adequate for my modest needs anyway.

In reply to a post by Littleseen:

However a friend with an identical camera (his Nikon software croaked in my XP tower) showed me how to transfer the Coolpix 256MB card's images straight into a USB2 port. Easy --- after opening DCIM then 100NIKON folders. Only caveat is that these are temporary holding "storage" which vanish as soon as camera-upload-cable is disconnected so SAVE 'em pronto.

It's interesting that perhaps you don't need a camera driver to read and copy the JPEG's (?) from the CF card to another drive when the camera is connected over usb - thanks for that info regarding the Nikon Coolpix

Essentially the camera it's self is being used as a card reader and you can navigate to the folder(s) containing the JPEG's (?) in the same way that one would do with a card reader. It is possible though that a camera driver was installed on your pc from the Nikon software that you were previously using and hence the camera is recognised as a drive.

In reply to a post by 4M2:

It's interesting that perhaps you don't need a camera driver to read and copy the JPEG's (?) from the CF card to another drive when the camera is connected over usb

You generally don't! The camera's store is just mounted as a removable drive.

The software supplied with the camera is usually bloatware for doing fancy things like editing the photos.

Thanks for the clarification XRaySpeX

Generally I always use a card reader because several of the cameras that I use, e.g. Panasonics, are not recognised as removable drives by my XP machine without a driver installed which comes with bloatedware.

Camcorders over firewire allow DV video capture with XP Movie Maker by default though...for video (and still photos - RAW and JPEG) from a memory card I would always use a card reader rather than have a camera powered on and connected over usb2. However I do have one camera which doesn't require a driver with XP, that writes to a SD card, which can be powered off once it's recognised as a removable drive and it acts just like a card reader over usb2.

In reply to a post by 4M2:

several of the cameras that I use, e.g. Panasonics, are not recognised as removable drives by my XP machine without a driver installed which comes with bloatedware.

I can read my Panasonic TZ6's SD card via USB on my XP PC w/out any extra software.

Admittedly, that is the only digital camera I have experience of.