Connecting to Canon Cameras

Top  Previous  Next

 

Installing the USB or Firewire Drivers

You may need to install the Canon USB or FireWire drivers on your computer depending on the camera model and the version of Windows you are using:

 

Windows 7, Windows Vista: most recent Canon EOS cameras don't require separate drivers to be installed. Older camera models may not be supported on Windows 7 or Vista.

Windows XP: The Canon drivers need to be installed on your computer if you are using an older EOS camera or an older PowerShot camera. Newer Canon EOS cameras do not require separate drivers to be installed.

Other versions of Windows: The Canon drivers need to be installed on your computer for all cameras. Newer camera models may not be supported on older versions of Windows.

 

The drivers can be found on the software CD that comes with your camera. You can also download the latest drivers from Canon's website at http://consumer.usa.canon.com (click on the "DOWNLOAD LIBRARY" heading and then select your camera model).

 

 

Check the camera communication setting

Some cameras have different camera settings which can be set from the camera menus. This should be set to "Normal" as opposed to "PTP". Some cameras give the settings different names e.g. the Canon EOS 350D/Rebel XT should be set to "PC Connection".

 

20dmenu

Canon EOS 20D menu showing the correct communication setting to use

 

Check the image source setting in Downloader Pro's preferences

The image source setting is in Downloader Pro's Preferences under the General tab. This should be set to "Camera (Canon cameras connected by USB or FireWire only)" if you are only downloading directly from the camera. If you plan to also use a card reader for downloading images you should set this to "Auto-detect camera or card reader at startup". When this option is selected Downloader Pro will attempt to connect to a camera when it starts up and will only connect to a card reader if it can't connect to a camera.

 

Cameras with FireWire and USB connections

Some cameras (e.g. Canon EOS-1D Mark II and Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II) have both a FireWire and a USB connection. With these cameras you can only download images with Downloader Pro using the FireWire connection. (The USB connection is only intended for connecting to printers to allow direct printing from the camera).