Snow Leopard: How to make camera show up on desktop like external hard drive

I just upgraded to Snow Leopard last week and I am still having growing pains.

When I plug in my camera I expect that it will show up on the desktop. (Like a hard drive shows up.) I expect that I will be able to interact with the media on the camera.

Unfortunately the camera does not show up on the desktop. I Can get the photos through iPhoto, but this is not what I always want to do.

(My camera is a Canon PowerShot A480. I am connecting it to the computer with a USB plug.)

How can I make my camera show up on the desktop like a USB stick or external hard drive?

sixtyfootersdude

Posted 2010-11-10T02:26:55.690

Reputation: 6 399

Has it worked like this for you before? I've never seen that work with any of my Canon cameras. You could always use "Image Capture" and disable iPhoto from automatically starting. It's much more lightweight than iPhoto. – EmmEff – 2010-11-10T03:25:41.127

My old camera used to show up on the desktop before I upgraded to snow leopard. Changing two variables here so isolating the problem is a little bit tricky. – sixtyfootersdude – 2010-11-10T11:51:49.667

Use Image Capture in Applications. No need for iPhoto. – None – 2010-12-05T19:50:59.417

Answers

If your camera has a "USB mass storage" mode, you could try setting it before connecting the camera to the Mac.

This thread also suggests that you could achieve the same results using the Canon software included in the CD that came with your camera.

m.capobianco

Posted 2010-11-10T02:26:55.690

Reputation: 521

Hmmm, maybe I will have to crack open the cd. I was hoping that I would not have to... – sixtyfootersdude – 2010-11-10T11:50:29.340

@sixtyfootersdude: Have you had any luck? – m.capobianco – 2010-11-16T17:30:38.317

If you use a separate card reader, the card will show up on the desktop and appear like a thumb drive in Finder. Bonus: a much higher transfer rate.

JRobert

Posted 2010-11-10T02:26:55.690

Reputation: 6 128