How can I map an "imaging device" to a drive letter?

[Todd]

Hi All,

Have a customer with a new digital camera. She
has a program that read the images from a drive letter.

Problem: the new camera mounts as an "imaging device"
(like a scanner) and not a drive letter.

Is there some utility that will map an imaging device
to a drive letter?

Many thanks,
-T

yes, I know, pull out the SD card and stick it into
a card reader. Would like to not have to do that.

 

[Paul]

Hi All,

Have a customer with a new digital camera. She
has a program that read the images from a drive letter.

Problem: the new camera mounts as an "imaging device"
(like a scanner) and not a drive letter.

Is there some utility that will map an imaging device
to a drive letter?

Many thanks,
-T

yes, I know, pull out the SD card and stick it into
a card reader. Would like to not have to do that.

Have you checked the digital camera for an OSD option
that sets the camera "mode" ?

For the PC to have exclusive USB mass storage access to
the camera, the camera must be told to stop using the
flash memory. That may require putting the camera in
a mode, after which the PC will be able to mount the
USB flash.

A second standard, is MTP or media transfer protocol.
It's a scheme invented by Microsoft, for adding DRM to
portable devices, and restricting what you can do with
files. For a camera, that wouldn't make much sense, except
as a transport protocol (all the pictures taken by a camera,
belong to you, and not to Hollywood, so no need for the DRM
component).

MTP allows the camera to continue to use the flash memory, at
the same time as the camera "serves" files to a PC. So if a
device uses MTP, then no special operating mode is required.

If you'd stated the make and model of the camera, we
could go have a look in the manual, and see what
I/O options it's got. I'd start by reading the
section that describes transferring files, to see
if the camera must be placed in a special mode
during the transfer session.

A "scanner" type option, would be something like
WIA (Windows Image Acquisition) or Twain. Perhaps the
camera can be used as a web cam or something ?

Paul

 

[Todd]

Have you checked the digital camera for an OSD option
that sets the camera "mode" ?

Yes. And I even called Canon tech support. They
said "no" too: no drive letter possible. They asked
around and put me on hold for about 10 minutes.

For the PC to have exclusive USB mass storage access to
the camera, the camera must be told to stop using the
flash memory. That may require putting the camera in
a mode, after which the PC will be able to mount the
USB flash.

A second standard, is MTP or media transfer protocol.
It's a scheme invented by Microsoft, for adding DRM to
portable devices, and restricting what you can do with
files. For a camera, that wouldn't make much sense, except
as a transport protocol (all the pictures taken by a camera,
belong to you, and not to Hollywood, so no need for the DRM
component).

MTP allows the camera to continue to use the flash memory, at
the same time as the camera "serves" files to a PC. So if a
device uses MTP, then no special operating mode is required.

If you'd stated the make and model of the camera, we
could go have a look in the manual, and see what
I/O options it's got. I'd start by reading the
section that describes transferring files, to see
if the camera must be placed in a special mode
during the transfer session.

Canon power shot 3500IS. I did look at their manual.
Maybe I missed something.

 

[Paul]

Yes. And I even called Canon tech support. They
said "no" too: no drive letter possible. They asked
around and put me on hold for about 10 minutes.


Canon power shot 3500IS. I did look at their manual.
Maybe I missed something.

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consu...meras/powershot_sd3500_is#BrochuresAndManuals

Pg.21 Setting the Display Language

"Enter Playback Mode. Press the |> (triangle) button"

Pg.37

"You can transfer images without installing the included software by
simply connecting your camera to a computer. There are, however, the
following limitations.

After connecting to the camera, it may take a few minutes until you
can transfer images."

I wasn't able to find any elaboration on what protocols the camera uses.
The "few minutes" either implies some kinda Autorun or automatically
installed software is coming off the camera. Or, it could mean the
camera first tries one protocol, and if receiving no response from
the computer, concludes the protocol is not supported, and then switches
to USB Mass Storage. You can try setting the camera to Playback mode with
the triangle shaped button, and see if anything happens. (Power it
from the adapter, so run time is not an issue.)

If they used simple USB Mass Storage mode, there wouldn't be any issues.
The camera does use Autorun, to trigger the software you install on the
PC. And Autorun can be blocked on the computer (Microsoft has issued
many different patches, that play around with the preferences, leaving
this largely out of the user's control. Last change was a month or two
ago.) If there is no response, they suggest running the installed camera
software. But the bit I transferred from page 37, implies eventually
the camera will be using USB mass storage.

If the camera doesn't have a drive letter, you could try
entering Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc in the Run box). Don't
change anything in there, but start by noting whether a new
device of some sort has appeared. Some cameras are sensitive to
things like the user running "format" or the like from Windows,
so don't rush off and do something rash or be in a hurry. The
camera itself may have its own format function, for putting the
internal storage in the right condition. It is preferable to
do that, then try and modify it externally.

You can use programs like UVCView or UVCView2, but since most
users don't get any value from that, I don't bother suggesting
it any more. In any case, I wasn't able to find any examples of
people dinking around with the IXUS 210 (alternate name for the
camera), so it's pretty hard to "compare notes".

PTP (Picture Transfer Mode) is related to MTP (Media Transfer
Protocol) in some way. Wikipedia is good for finding information
on what those protocols entail. This article, actually mentions
PTP, MPT, and USB Mass Storage in passing. USB Mass Storage
is the one that "gives you a drive letter".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picture_Transfer_Protocol

Paul

 

[SC Tom]

Hi All,

Have a customer with a new digital camera. She
has a program that read the images from a drive letter.

Problem: the new camera mounts as an "imaging device"
(like a scanner) and not a drive letter.

Is there some utility that will map an imaging device
to a drive letter?

Many thanks,
-T

yes, I know, pull out the SD card and stick it into
a card reader. Would like to not have to do that.

Don't know if this will work for her software or not (don't know what she's
using), but I tried this with my Canon PowerShot SD700 IS and was able to
map it (sort of).

Connect the camera and turn it on. If autostart or the prompt window comes
up, close it without doing anything. Open My Computer, right-click on the
camera, and select Create a Shortcut. It'll say it can't create one here, do
you want it on your desktop. Click OK.
Create a folder under your C: drive (or whatever drive that's used for
pictures) and name it whatever you want (for this example, I called it
SD700). Move the camera shortcut you created on the desktop to this folder.
Right-click on C:\SD700 and pick Sharing and Security. Share the folder.
Apply and OK out.
In Explorer or My Computer, click on Tools. . .Map Network Drive. Browse to
the shared folder you created and click Finish. I mapped mine as W:, and
when I go to Explorer and open W:, it shows the camera shortcut (which I
renamed to just Canon). Clicking on it shows all the pictures that are on
it.

She might be able to access them that way if you feel like trying it.