diogenis Posted July 28, 2009 Share #1 Posted July 28, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Or even, if there are plans for an updated M8, please someone in Leica don't forget to dump that useless USB sideport for a decent Firewire II. I never understood what was the need for a USB port in such a camera.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted July 28, 2009 Posted July 28, 2009 Hi diogenis, Take a look here If that rumoured M9 finally arrives.... I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
andybarton Posted July 28, 2009 Share #2 Posted July 28, 2009 Even Apple have started dropping FW ports on their computers, so I don't think that's a viable option to be honest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcuthbert Posted July 28, 2009 Share #3 Posted July 28, 2009 Actually Andy, that's not really correct. The only model that doesn't have the FW ports is the Macbook air, for obvious reasons. Every other Mac (latest models) have FW and will continue to have FW 400 and USB 2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonoslack Posted July 28, 2009 Share #4 Posted July 28, 2009 Actually Andy, that's not really correct. The only model that doesn't have the FW ports is the Macbook air, for obvious reasons. Every other Mac (latest models) have FW and will continue to have FW 400 and USB 2. Well, I think you're both right! Actually, my mbp 17" has one FW800 port + 3 USB, whereas the previous one had 1FW400 and 1FW800, so that sounds like a dropped port. Also, the new 24" monitors now only have 3 USB ports, whereas they used to have firewire as well. Picking Nits perhaps, but I'd agree with Andy, I think changing the USB port for a FW port would irritate many more people than it pleased. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
noah_addis Posted July 28, 2009 Share #5 Posted July 28, 2009 Does anyone actually use the camera port? I'd rather have it left off, or at the very least put it under the baseplate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bybrett Posted July 28, 2009 Share #6 Posted July 28, 2009 Mac Book Pro's now have a built in SD card slot. Cheers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
diogenis Posted July 28, 2009 Author Share #7 Posted July 28, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Even Apple have started dropping FW ports on their computers, so I don't think that's a viable option to be honest. So, because Apple *might* have dropped that FW, (which it didn't : Apple - MacBook Pro - Features - Now there?s even more innovation.) we aren't supposed to see a FW port in Leica??? Apple will never drop FW from it's line of pro products, and FW has a couple of two really strong advantages: one is lack of drivers, much like ethernet, the other is speed. Speed beyond anything USB. You and I guys, don't use that usb port in M8, simply because I suspect its protocol is the old USB1, or I can't understand why it is so slooooooooooooow. If I ever had FW in my Leica, I would have never used those readers... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJP Posted July 28, 2009 Share #8 Posted July 28, 2009 While we are at it telling Leica what they should do:D How about a menu selection for the usb port: - camera mode (the current implementation) - removable drive (M8 acts like a memory stick) Bingo - no need to remove the baseplate anymore and you can ditch your cardreaders. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted July 28, 2009 Share #9 Posted July 28, 2009 I stand corrected re FW on Macs, and apologise to the House. My DMR connected to the Mac via FW. The one and only time I connected it to the Mac. From then on, the card was only ever connected via a reader. Given the take up of FW on PCs (i.e. pitiful), and the ubiquity of USB2, FW is going the same way as Betamax. Better technology against the might of marketing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmk60 Posted July 28, 2009 Share #10 Posted July 28, 2009 I thought FW400 and USB2 are pretty much the same in rated speed. I never use the USB connection on my M8. I use an exp card reader on my MBP. Having FW800 might be a good change but I would not use it. Just do not want to connect the camera directly to the comp. Just in case... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venkman Posted July 28, 2009 Share #11 Posted July 28, 2009 So, because Apple *might* have dropped that FW, (which it didn't : Apple - MacBook Pro - Features - Now there?s even more innovation.) we aren't supposed to see a FW port in Leica??? Yes, because it is a dead system Apple catered to the fact that many Apple users have firewire HDs in use - fair enough. Outside of the Apple world, I haven't seen much of firewire at all (in the last couple of years). Honestly, the port is useless as hell - can we please leave it out on any future releases or at least combine it with some useful tethered functions/software and not that pos software that was delivered with the M8? Dirk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vish Posted July 28, 2009 Share #12 Posted July 28, 2009 The port isn't entirely useless, there's times you may be without a card reader and need to access the pictures - I have been there many times. Cameras are usually pretty slow at file transfer, in my experience, and the process saps precious battery power. So it's not a first choice, to be sure, but useful, nonetheless. Let's not forget it's a diagnostic port, and one for controlling the camera too with the right software Data goes in as well as out! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
diogenis Posted July 28, 2009 Author Share #13 Posted July 28, 2009 Dirk, how the heck can you say it is useless, is beyond me: have you EVER seen FW in action? do you like the speed that you get from current USB port from an M8?... Your reasoning is pretty much what you hear from someone using a DSLR: because 90% of the supposed pros know how to press the button and take the pic, that 10% remaining are useless... Let's dump M8 all together. It's oboslete, it's betamax The rest of you that still believe the M8 is a useful camera, you dont use that port, simply because it is slow. If it was fast like a card reader, then you would use it instead of taking off that baseplate. And FW 800 is twice as fast as usb2 will ever be. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
super7668 Posted July 28, 2009 Share #14 Posted July 28, 2009 Even Apple have started dropping FW ports on their computers, so I don't think that's a viable option to be honest. Are you kidding me? Apple dump the FW400 but never the FW800! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfarkas Posted July 28, 2009 Share #15 Posted July 28, 2009 USB 3.0 is slated to start appearing in computers by the end of 2009. It supports transfers of up to 625MB/s (vs. 98.5MB/s for FireWire 800). I'd say 6x faster is pretty good. For faster speed today, there is eSATA (300MB/s) which comes built-in on some laptops or added through an ExpressCard HBA. Both my 9-month-old 14" travel laptop (Dell Latitude E6400) and my new 17" mobile workstation (Dell Precision M6400) have eSATA ports built-in (in addtion to USB and Firewire). The only problem with eSATA is that it provides no power through the bus, like USB and Firewire do. So, seems to me that the most future-proof solution is USB 3.0. Fast, ubiqutous, and backwards compatible with just about everything. As far the USB port on the side of the M8, I have never used it in over 2 years. Not even once. I have latops with SD card readers built-in, I have USB stick-style readers in my laptop bag and camera bag as backups. The M8 is not really a camera of the tethering kind. My vote is to do away with it on any future camera. Or use USB 3.0 and provide power to charge the battery inside the camera, just like a Blackberry. This way, you have a backup to your charger. David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted July 28, 2009 Share #16 Posted July 28, 2009 I thought FW400 and USB2 are pretty much the same in rated speed. I never use the USB connection on my M8. I use an exp card reader on my MBP. Having FW800 might be a good change but I would not use it. Just do not want to connect the camera directly to the comp. Just in case... I know that FW400 and USB2 are supposed to be similar speeds but that does not seem to be the case in real life. I have two back up drives which have both FW(400) and USB2. When I want to do a large data transfer, I would guess that FW400 runs at about 2 to 3 times the speed of USB2. When I recently changed my Macbook 13" to a Macbook Pro 13", I did not have an FW800 to FW400 lead, so after doing my migrate to the MBP, I started to run my first back up via a USB2 cable to a Freecom Datatank. It was so slow, I went out and bought an FW800 to FW400 lead and thereafter the back up zipped along. That said, I am still perfectly happy taking out an SD card and loading direct, especially now I have an SD reader in the MBP. I now keep a full operating system on a cheap class 4 16MB (€19 from Amazon) SD card, so if I need to do a HD repair or have a problem, I can start my MBP from an SD card. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lxlim Posted July 28, 2009 Share #17 Posted July 28, 2009 FW400 is faster than USB 2 on the mac and more reliable too in large data transfers(in my experience). But like most, I use the card reader. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Posted July 28, 2009 Share #18 Posted July 28, 2009 My vote is to do away with it on any future camera. +1 perhaps provide a sexy little Leica cardreader instead Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
diogenis Posted July 28, 2009 Author Share #19 Posted July 28, 2009 There is no comparison between USB and FW. FW will always be better, and it's not just instant throughput that counts. We don'tuse that god damn tether cable simply because somehow that USB leica uses is still uSB1 and that is a pain in the ... to use. I prefer 100x to open that little port and connect a cable (provided I have something fast to work with) than taking out all that plate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephengilbert Posted July 28, 2009 Share #20 Posted July 28, 2009 Diogenis, You are missing or ignoring the fact that many users don't want to attach their camera to a computer. Not because the connection is too slow, but because they are concerned about causing a problem in the camera's firmware. I wouldn't use FW 800 or USB 3, however fast they might be. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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