Nikon Coolpix connects as "imaging device", Irfan Thumbnails cant see it

[richlach]

(Windows XP Pro)

My new Nikon Coolpix L18 shows up on Windows Explorer as an "imaging device" rather than a drive letter. Since Irfanview thumbnails sees only drive letters, I cant seem to access the camera using Irfanview.
It can be found by Windows Explorer under "My Computer" but shows up as "L18" below all the drive letters and right underneath "control panel".
Clicking on it gives some built in windows app for filing and sorting your
photos but it is junk; renames the files etc...
Much better to use Irfanview.

Never had a digital camera that came up any way other than as a
drive letter.

-Anyone know of a camera driver that will make the camera act as a
drive?
-anyone know how to make Irfanview thumbnails folder tree show
an "imaging device"?

[MItaly]

1) Try to mess up with the options of the camera, look for a "connection method" option or something similar and change it to "mass storage device".
2) I don't think it is possible.

[Mij]

I have not been able to find a way to do it.

My Canon camera does the same as richlach's Nikon. If I click on Computer in Windows Explorer with the camera connected through USB, it is listed there below the other drives as an Imaging device. I can Open or Explore from the right click menu and see what is on the camera flash card but if I try to open a .jpg file it either declares that it is an empty image or it disconnects the camera and switches it off. The same thing happens if I try to download directly into IrfanView using the Twain driver. The camera does not appear in Drive Manager, so I cannot allocate a drive letter to it there.

I had it in mind to post to one of the photographic forums to see if anyone there knew of a solution; another of those things I will get around to one day. The camera came with a proprietary piece of software called Camera window that does allow me to download or upload files to the camera, so this issue is not top of the agenda. If I want to work with it as a drive I can take the card out of the camera and plug it into a card reader anyway.

[Mij]

Right, I have found out a bit more. My Canon A570 does not appear to be fully compatible with the standards and only works with the Canon supplied software. It almost works but the camera keeps shutting down as I said previously.

The Imaging device entry in Windows Explorer, I understand, is supposed to work as a virtual drive. You can only open images through it in applications that support WIA. To use IrfanView you will need to copy the folders or files you want to another (real) folder by dragging them there. Then you can open and work with them normally.

Xnview does support WIA. Sorry, I cannot tell you how well because it won't work with my camera either, nor will Windows Photo Gallery or the free program WIA-loader. I think you will need to see what works with your camera, unless someone else can tell you more.

[richlach]

forced to use proprietary download software; typically junk

After years of most digicam manufacturers adopting common sense standards
it seems like a step backwards. New cameras using the "PTP mode" rather
than a MSC (mass storage) emulation are attempting to force the user to take advantage of some junky bundled software to download your photos:
typically into some desktop/user folder buried 8 folders deep and in some cases
renaming each file (file001, file 002 etc).
Examplesof this: Nikon Transfer Copy
The manual for the L18 camera instructs you specifically to use the
bundled program exclusively.
I attribute this to arrogant programmers of the microsoft mentality.

As most people have done when encountering goofy connection problems
like this; just use a card reader.

Only problem, with this Nikon camera, the SD card is behind the flimsy
battery door, and hard to get to without removing the batteries and a
service bulletin from Nikon notes that putting the batteries in backwards
can result in over heating and possibly melting the camera.
Nice camera, but if Nikon wont remedy this connection thing,
it will be my last purchase from Nikon!

Thanks for the help.
RichLach

[Sam_Zen]

A camera shown as an "imaging device" rather than a drive letter.
What a pathetic development. And the concept is not correct either.
The camera has a memory with some data, which can be read or transferred. No matter which device saved the data.

I fear that next the morons will come up with an audio CD as a "sounding device" instead of a drive letter..

[Skippybox]

I fear upgrading my camera, which quite easily is recognized as a drive, even its own internal memory. The future looks scary!

[Jon_J]

PTP cameras and gphoto/gthumb (Linux)

After years of most digicam manufacturers adopting common sense standards
it seems like a step backwards. New cameras using the "PTP mode" rather
than a MSC (mass storage) emulation are attempting to force the user to take advantage of some junky bundled software to download your photos:
typically into some desktop/user folder buried 8 folders deep and in some cases
renaming each file (file001, file 002 etc).
Examplesof this: Nikon Transfer Copy
The manual for the L18 camera instructs you specifically to use the
bundled program exclusively.
I attribute this to arrogant programmers of the microsoft mentality.

As most people have done when encountering goofy connection problems
like this; just use a card reader.

Only problem, with this Nikon camera, the SD card is behind the flimsy
battery door, and hard to get to without removing the batteries and a
service bulletin from Nikon notes that putting the batteries in backwards
can result in over heating and possibly melting the camera.
Nice camera, but if Nikon wont remedy this connection thing,
it will be my last purchase from Nikon!

Thanks for the help.
RichLach

I am not trying to steer you away from this wonderful IrfranView software, but there is a way to connect your Coolpix L18 to a computer and transfer your photos via USB, and not need to open the battery door.
I have a Coolpix L16, which is not much different from the L18 (less megapixels, smaller viewscreen).

1) You need a machine with Linux installed
2) get gphoto2 (It uses libgphoto2 to interface with the PTP function of many cameras)
3) get gthumb (It is thumbnail browsing software that also transfers your photos to your PC)

Links:
gphoto2 http://www.gphoto.org/
gthumb http://gthumb.sourceforge.net/

Pic below shows gthumb with gphoto on my Zaurus PDA, but should work very well on any modern desktop or laptop with Linux installed.

It supports at least 1,000 cameras, many with the PTP function.