With the current v. of Windows Camera Manager (3.2.0) you can unplug and replug the FW cable without affecting Camera Manager. (Sadly not so with Mac v. 3.1, though.) It is listed as a "functional improvement" in the software info. So even if you have a loose FW connector, this shouldn't cause more than a momentary problem - unless, of course, the camera is writing to the computer at the time. I'm certain _that's_ not a supported function. Oddly, you can't turn the camera off and back on again while connected, that loses the connection. But you can yank the plug, turn the camera off and back on, and then replug, and all's fine.
To take some of the strain off the cheesy little 4 pin connnector, what about finding an old flash bracket and cutting it down so there's a little stub suppporting the cable and strapping it to that. Or better still, forming a little fork in the bracket to hold the body of the plug in towards the camera? Well, whaddya expect for half the price! On the Mac laptop front (G3 Pismo) - I did have a problem a couple of weeks ago where I dutifully connected and started the camera in proper order, but Cam Mgr (3.1) would "find" the camera, but fail to start giving an error message. After several tries, I pulled out the CF card, and it started fine. Card back in - same problem. I reformatted the card in the camera and all was fine. The only thing I can think of was I had taken the card out and used a USB Jumpshot cable to download some files to the laptop, but didn't delete any or modify the card in any way, as far as I can remember. --------------- Jay Busse Photo Illustrators =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
