The Microtech
USB CameraMate
|
Features
|
The
Board
|
- Provides transfer
rates of up to 1.2MB/sec.
- Dedicated CompactFlash
and SmartMedia slots
- SmartMedia supports
3.3v and 5v cards up to 128MB
- Mechanical CompactFlash
ejector
- Spring-loaded
SmartMedia ejector
- For Mac OS 9
& 8.5 or Windows 98
|
|
Microtech
has always been a well-known name in the digital photography industry; they
manufacture quality photography equipment and personal computer memory upgrades.
Their Digital Photography equipment includes an extensive line of PC Card
readers and stand-alone media.
Microtech International is a member of the CompactFlash
Association and the SSFDC Forum, ensuring 100% compliance with all standard
media formats. Established in 1985, Microtech is a majority owned subsidiary
of ADO Electronic Industrial Co., LTD, a Tokyo-based public company.
Technical Impressions
The USB CameraMate was designed to run on G3
Macs, iMac’s and PC’s running on windows 98 and windows 2000. The compact
size of the unit and the use of a USB connection makes this product not only
a great digital reader but also a good storage device. The CameraMate Provides
transfer rates of up to 1.2MB/sec.
The CameraMate comes with a 1m long USB cable,
giving you the possibility to keep the unit close to your work desk. The front
of the unit includes a separate CF II slot with a mechanical ejector button
and a Smart Media slot with a spring-loaded mechanism.
A distinguishing feature is the unit's ability
to work with both leading formats of digital film being used today. Smart
Media in 3.3v and 5v up to 128MB, and Compact Flash cards including the new
thicker (5mm) CF II form-factor cards in any capacity.
The USB CameraMate is one of the first digital
film readers compatible with the IBM family of microdrives.
The new IBM 340 MB microdrive and IBM 170
MB microdrive are miniature hard drives in the CF+ type II CompactFlash format.
Microtech offers six different kinds of film
readers to fit your needs, supporting all major connections and form factors.
The newly announced Digital PhotoAlbum Pro desktop unit offers two separate
PC Card slots including a dedicated SmartMedia slot and independent SCSI addresses.
Other digital film units deliver internal, external, and portable form factors,
in Parallel, ISA, and SCSI configurations.
The Installation
As expected, the installation went without any major hassle. As with most
USB devices, your first step will consist in connecting the USB cable to your
PC. Windows 98/2000 will automatically detect the CameraMate and will ask
for the required drivers. We recommend you to ignore this detection and continue
by inserting the installation CD. In the setup process, everything will be
re-detected and automatically configured.
After the installation, your windows based machine
will add two new drives to your system; one for the Smart Media slot and the
other for the Compact Flash slot. The great part about this unit is that you
can always disconnect it while you are using your system; windows will simply
suspend the drives. You can then reconnect the unit without the need of restarting
your system.
Conclusion
Selling at a reasonable $90USD, the CameraMate
can be considered as a solid storage choice for people planning to use the
new MicroDrive or any other large flash media. Of course, that’s not everything
the CameraMate has to offer. If you are an owner of an older digital camera
featuring the parallel connection and want to speed up your transfers then
we highly recommend you to look at this product. It not only will save your
time but also will eliminate the use of your camera transfer software.
