Why does my Canon Rebel XTi download so slowly to my Mac?

November 9, 2009 5:05 AM

Why does my Canon Rebel XTi download so slowly to my Mac?

Canon Rebel XTi downloads perfectly fine to my PC at home (1 sec or less per pic), but when using it at work on a mac, it takes about 10 seconds to download a single large sized JPG. This becomes a big problem when I return from a sporting event with 500 pics and it takes over an hour to get my shots downloaded.

I've also used a Rebel XT (the earlier model) on the same computer and I do not have this problem. With that camera, it's 1 second or less per pic. It's not the cord because I've tried several.

My work computer is an iMac (? no tower, just a silver screen, sorry, I don't have a mac fetish) with Mac os X 10.4.10 with a 2GHz intel core duo.

posted by Brodiggitty to Technology (10 answers total)

Best answer: I really have no idea why that's happening, but I will say that both my previous XT and current XSi are really slow on my Mac as well. Because of that, I always use a USB card reader and that is plenty speedy.
posted by alaijmw at 5:22 AM on November 9, 2009

seconding the recomendation for a card reader. Superfast and easily portable.
posted by extrabox at 5:25 AM on November 9, 2009

Are you plugging the camera into the keyboard?
posted by starman at 5:28 AM on November 9, 2009

Starman: he's getting decent performance with a different camera, so it's unlikely to be a USB1.1 vs 2 issue.

Brodiggitty: Seriously, get a card reader. You'll be much happier. Dealextreme has them for less than $5.
posted by dmd at 5:32 AM on November 9, 2009

Response by poster: Card reader sounds like my best option. Nice to know I'm not the only one with this issue. No, I'm not plugging into the keyboard. I haven't tried using Image Capture, which is something I might try. I always use the Canon software. Just thought there might be some little detail I'm missing. Thanks everyone.
posted by Brodiggitty at 6:01 AM on November 9, 2009

I have a Rebel XTi, and I never bothered to install any of the Canon software. Picture transfers from the camera to my Mac (not using a reader, importing directly into iPhoto) are speedy.
posted by emelenjr at 6:11 AM on November 9, 2009

I'd try iPhoto or Image Capture just to rule out the the Canon software being the bottleneck.

My faulty brain seems to remember years ago that the Canon software was very slow, Image Capture less slow, and iPhoto was the fastest. Again, this was years ago, so things have certainly changed, but it's worth a shot.
posted by The Deej at 6:25 AM on November 9, 2009

Response by poster: Just FYI, once I finally finished downloading my 508 pics, I tried ten with Image Capture and it was MUCH faster. I will probably use that from now on. Don't know why I didn't try it sooner. I dont seem to have iPhoto, but I will have a look for it in the apps folder.
posted by Brodiggitty at 6:41 AM on November 9, 2009

I haven't noticed slow downloads from our XTi. In fact our Windows machine used to go MUCH slower, using the card reader, that my MacBook Pro does using the USB cable directly to the camera. Maybe I am just comparing speed vs. the Windows machine, but both were using the Canon software. YM obviously V.
posted by caution live frogs at 10:56 AM on November 9, 2009

Another iPhoto user here who doesn't have problems. I installed the Canon software once to get a firmware upgrade, and quickly abandoned it as crap.
posted by sbutler at 10:58 AM on November 9, 2009