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Canon OS X Image Browser Very Slow?

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Brian Pylant

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Hello everyone! I originally posted this in the Canon Talk forum (with no responses); in hindsight i think this was the more appropriate place, but I hadn't seen this one until now!

So anyway...

I downloaded and installed the OS X version of Canon's Image Browser to use with my new G2, and I noticed that it takes forever to start up - well over a minute, regardless of whether I launch the app or if it happens automatically (I set OS X's Image Capture to open Image Browser by default whenever i connect the G2). I also get the "spinning beach ball" whenever I switch to another app and then switch back to Image Browser, almost as if it's searching for something or rebuilding all the thumbnails each time (the screen display doesn't change, however).

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this, and if you've found a way to prevent it... I'd really prefer to use Image Browser (as opposed to iPhoto or Image Capture) to download the images from the camera since it's the only app that seems to retain all the image info (date, time, camera settings, etc.) but the delays are a bit annoying.

On a similar topic I have found a very nice, simple, freeware image browser, Curator - while it doesn't have any capacity to connect to the camera it works very well for browsing images already on the harddrive (or CD-R/DVD-R): http://www.caffeinesoft.com/

Thanks in advance for any info!

Brian
Canon Powershot G2
Mac G4 (933, 1GB RAM)
OS X (10.1.5)
 
I allways copy strait the files from my camara (usb autoconect) to a directory on my network then y do editing on them. I will try that curator because I need a fast image viewer. iPhoto is just not what I need on an Image viewer.
Brian Pylant said:
Hello everyone! I originally posted this in the Canon Talk forum
(with no responses); in hindsight i think this was the more
appropriate place, but I hadn't seen this one until now!

So anyway...

I downloaded and installed the OS X version of Canon's Image
Browser to use with my new G2, and I noticed that it takes forever
to start up - well over a minute, regardless of whether I launch
the app or if it happens automatically (I set OS X's Image Capture
to open Image Browser by default whenever i connect the G2). I also
get the "spinning beach ball" whenever I switch to another app and
then switch back to Image Browser, almost as if it's searching for
something or rebuilding all the thumbnails each time (the screen
display doesn't change, however).

I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this, and if you've
found a way to prevent it... I'd really prefer to use Image Browser
(as opposed to iPhoto or Image Capture) to download the images from
the camera since it's the only app that seems to retain all the
image info (date, time, camera settings, etc.) but the delays are a
bit annoying.

On a similar topic I have found a very nice, simple, freeware image
browser, Curator - while it doesn't have any capacity to connect to
the camera it works very well for browsing images already on the
harddrive (or CD-R/DVD-R): http://www.caffeinesoft.com/

Thanks in advance for any info!

Brian
Canon Powershot G2
Mac G4 (933, 1GB RAM)
OS X (10.1.5)
Click to expand...
--
E-20, C-3030 and E-100rs happy owner
 
Brian Pylant said:
I downloaded and installed the OS X version of Canon's Image
Browser to use with my new G2, and I noticed that it takes forever
to start up - well over a minute, regardless of whether I launch
the app or if it happens automatically.
Click to expand...
Brian,

Something is definitely wrong. My ImageBrowser for Mac OS X opens in six seconds on a G3/450! I use ImageBrowser for Mac OS X because it is faster at downloading photos from my camera than other software I've tried, and, as you said, it displays the most EXIF data.

Try trashing and reinstalling ImageBrowser. Be sure to trash the four ImageBrowser files inside your Users/Library/Preferences folder.

If that doesn't work, perhaps prebinding can fix your problem. Go to http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=14836&db=mac and download SpeedMeUp Pro. Product Description: SpeedmeUp Pro is an AppleScript Studio App that will help your OSX applications launch faster since the application will spend less time looking up and "binding" with various libraries and frameworks. Run the app about once a month (more often if you install/uninstall a lot of software) and then restart your computer.

This may fix things. Caution: The process is not "reversable". If you have stability problems after prebinding, it is extremely likely that you have bad memory in the system or your filesystem is corrupt.
Good luck,
Jeff H.
 
Luis E Limon said:
I allways copy strait the files from my camara (usb autoconect) to
a directory on my network then y do editing on them.
Click to expand...
I was doing that for a little while, but Image Capture doesn't retain the EXIF data.
Luis E Limon said:
I will try
that curator because I need a fast image viewer. iPhoto is just not
what I need on an Image viewer.
Click to expand...
let me know how you like it; it's certainly not the most feature-packed image viewer available, but it's simple and free, and you can't argue with that!

8^)

I agree, iPhoto is slow, and I hate that it will only show you images in its own folder (i.e. you can't show thumbnails from an archive CD-R, for example).

Brian
 
jhersco #101013 said:
Brian,
Something is definitely wrong. My ImageBrowser for Mac OS X opens
in six seconds on a G3/450! I use ImageBrowser for Mac OS X because
it is faster at downloading photos from my camera than other
software I've tried, and, as you said, it displays the most EXIF
data.
Try trashing and reinstalling ImageBrowser. Be sure to trash the
four ImageBrowser files inside your Users/Library/Preferences
folder.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply & info -- strangely enough ImageBrowser is functioning just fine now, and i didn't even do anything! Gotta love it...

I can't recall if I restarted at any point between installing the app and posting to the forum (I don't normally shut down on any sort of frequent basis -- man I love OS X more and more every day!) but I definitely shut down last night, and started up this evening before checking ImageBrowser again. Maybe that was it.

I any case it looks like the problem resolved itself - ImageBrowser launches as fast as I could've hoped for (about three and half seconds when I tried just now, no camera connected) and I no longer get the spinning beachball (whatever Apple officially calls it) when I switch to another app and then switch back to IB.
jhersco #101013 said:
If that doesn't work, perhaps prebinding can fix your problem. Go
to http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=14836&db=mac and
download SpeedMeUp Pro. Product Description: SpeedmeUp Pro is an
AppleScript Studio App that will help your OSX applications launch
faster since the application will spend less time looking up and
"binding" with various libraries and frameworks. Run the app about
once a month (more often if you install/uninstall a lot of
software) and then restart your computer.

This may fix things. Caution: The process is not "reversable". If
you have stability problems after prebinding, it is extremely
likely that you have bad memory in the system or your filesystem is
corrupt.
Click to expand...
I'm going to look into this anyway, if for no other reason than to lean a bit more about what's going on under the hood... I am certainly not a neophyte computer user (Mac or PC), but Unix is a strange new animal to me and I'm learning a lot, more and more every day!

Thanks again for the reply, I really appreciate it! Hopefully I can return the favor someday...

Brian
 
Just a quick follow-up:

Since my last post (where I reported that the problem seemed to have gone away all on its won) I've experienced sporadic recurrances, seemingly patternless. I rooted through everything on the system, and I think I found the true culprit here:

I had installed Sharity to connect to my Windows machine (I didn't know at the time that I could just use the Connect to Server command under the SMB protocol to accomplish the same thing). I think ImageBrowser was trying to search my network servers (in this case, my PC) and that was causing the delay.

Why the inconsistency of occurances? My PC is dedicated for audio work (I have a modest but pro-level home studio for my own use), and I don't leave that machine on 24/7. I think ImageBrowser had difficulty understanding when the PC was off (which is 180 degrees opposite of what I would have thought, but then again this whole thing was kinda screwy!) because, due to how Sharity operates, even when the PC is off I had a "mounted" CIFS volume in the Finder. Once I removed Sharity I no longer have this volume, and ImageBrowser (knock wood) seems to be launching properly, consistently.

OK, enough of my rambling... just thought you might like to know!

Brian
 
I've tried 'em all. Graphic Converter is the one that I like best. I currently own Graphic Converter, iView Media Pro, ACD See, and Curator (that was free, of course). Currently have a demo copy of Portfolio 6.1 Alpha 1, too. So far, Graphic Converter is the best browser, albeit not perfect (it'll even show Genuine Fractals files' thumbnails - but won't open them). There's a bug that won't let me delete files from within the slideshow. The author says only that, "I don't have the problem on my machine," which doesn't help me at all. I've written him on 3 occasions about this problem and get the same brief-type response. He doesn't seem too interested in getting to the bottom of the problem I am having. Anyhow, I've developed a work-around. The application is, in fact, worth buying. Try it for free and see for yourself.
Brian Pylant said:
Brian Pylant said:
I allways copy strait the files from my camara (usb autoconect) to
a directory on my network then y do editing on them.
Click to expand...
I was doing that for a little while, but Image Capture doesn't
retain the EXIF data.
Brian Pylant said:
I will try
that curator because I need a fast image viewer. iPhoto is just not
what I need on an Image viewer.
Click to expand...
let me know how you like it; it's certainly not the most
feature-packed image viewer available, but it's simple and free,
and you can't argue with that!

8^)

I agree, iPhoto is slow, and I hate that it will only show you
images in its own folder (i.e. you can't show thumbnails from an
archive CD-R, for example).

Brian
Click to expand...
--
Mike Flaherty
http://imageevent.com/mflaherty/mikesgallery
 
Interesting thread,

Brian, I didn't know there was an OSX version of the Canon Image Browser, I use the original under classic.

I use the OSX image capture in conjunction with a card reader, the full EXIF data is retained and can be accessed using Image Browser or other software.

I find that different software displays different data mostly less than Image Browser.

Brian.
Brian Pylant said:
Just a quick follow-up:

Since my last post (where I reported that the problem seemed to
have gone away all on its won) I've experienced sporadic
recurrances, seemingly patternless. I rooted through everything on
the system, and I think I found the true culprit here:

I had installed Sharity to connect to my Windows machine (I didn't
know at the time that I could just use the Connect to Server
command under the SMB protocol to accomplish the same thing). I
think ImageBrowser was trying to search my network servers (in this
case, my PC) and that was causing the delay.

Why the inconsistency of occurances? My PC is dedicated for audio
work (I have a modest but pro-level home studio for my own use),
and I don't leave that machine on 24/7. I think ImageBrowser had
difficulty understanding when the PC was off (which is 180 degrees
opposite of what I would have thought, but then again this whole
thing was kinda screwy!) because, due to how Sharity operates, even
when the PC is off I had a "mounted" CIFS volume in the Finder.
Once I removed Sharity I no longer have this volume, and
ImageBrowser (knock wood) seems to be launching properly,
consistently.

OK, enough of my rambling... just thought you might like to know!

Brian
Click to expand...
 
Brian Thomas said:
Interesting thread,

Brian, I didn't know there was an OSX version of the Canon Image
Browser, I use the original under classic.
Click to expand...
I don't think there is one.. at least not that I know.. I'm not even able to use the Imagebrowser neither with OSX nor with OS Classic (when OSX is running) : when I try to lauch it, I receive an error box stating that the OS is not compatible with it...

I can access to the Raw Image Converter however, which allows me to work in OS X using a card reader which is detected by Image Capture and which can read the EXIF dat and transfer it to Iview Media Pro which I find fast compared to the Image browser of Canon..

I'd be interested to know whether other people are able to use the Canon Image Browser in Mac OS 9.2 Classic when OSX is running ? and what configuration you have (I've just updated to Mac OSX 10.1.5).
Brian Thomas51205 said:
I use the OSX image capture in conjunction with a card reader, the
full EXIF data is retained and can be accessed using Image Browser
or other software.
I find that different software displays different data mostly less
than Image Browser.
Click to expand...
--
Christiane
 
Image Browser 2.3 runs fine by itself in OS X (10.1.5), but if you want to convert raw files then it calls on RIC (2.0), which only runs in classic mode. Still waiting, waiting, waiting... forevr it seems for Canon to release an OS X version of RIC.
 
I tried it and found it tried to do to much for simply
browsing. I like "lighter" single minded apps:-)

Steven
Mike Flaherty said:
Brian Pylant said:
Mike Flaherty said:
I allways copy strait the files from my camara (usb autoconect) to
a directory on my network then y do editing on them.
Click to expand...
I was doing that for a little while, but Image Capture doesn't
retain the EXIF data.
Mike Flaherty said:
I will try
that curator because I need a fast image viewer. iPhoto is just not
what I need on an Image viewer.
Click to expand...
let me know how you like it; it's certainly not the most
feature-packed image viewer available, but it's simple and free,
and you can't argue with that!

8^)

I agree, iPhoto is slow, and I hate that it will only show you
images in its own folder (i.e. you can't show thumbnails from an
archive CD-R, for example).

Brian
Click to expand...
--
Mike Flaherty
http://imageevent.com/mflaherty/mikesgallery
Click to expand...
--
---
My really bad summer pictures:
http://www.pbase.com/snoyes/summer_travels
 
Christiane,

I'm running OSX 10.1.5 on a G4 933Mhz and also the Image Browser works fine on my iBook running the same system and software.

Image Browser 1.4.0.22

Christiane ROH wrote:
I'm not
Christiane ROH said:
even able to use the Imagebrowser neither with OSX nor with OS
Classic (when OSX is running) : when I try to lauch it, I receive
an error box stating that the OS is not compatible with it...

I can access to the Raw Image Converter however, which allows me to
work in OS X using a card reader which is detected by Image Capture
and which can read the EXIF dat and transfer it to Iview Media Pro
which I find fast compared to the Image browser of Canon..

I'd be interested to know whether other people are able to use the
Canon Image Browser in Mac OS 9.2 Classic when OSX is running ?
and what configuration you have (I've just updated to Mac OSX
10.1.5).
Christiane ROH said:
I use the OSX image capture in conjunction with a card reader, the
full EXIF data is retained and can be accessed using Image Browser
or other software.
I find that different software displays different data mostly less
than Image Browser.
Click to expand...
--
Christiane
Click to expand...
 
Jeff H. said:
There is a newer version of ImageBrowser (v2.3) which works in Mac
OS X (without going into Classic,) and also in Mac OS 9. It's
available for download at:
http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/customer/ibmacupdate.html
Jeff H.
Click to expand...
Hi Jeff,

Many thanks for your precious link, I knew they had a place for downloads, but I wasn't able to find it. Alas, this didn't solve the problem for me : I had that 2.3 version installed with the original Canon Disk when I got a D60 in may (yeah.. I was lucky).. At that time, I had 9.2.2 installed and zoombrowser was installed in that folder. I've just checked your URL and it says that the 2.3 version is only for the Powershots models, not for the D30-D60 and that there will be a new version for the SLRs at the end of July.. may be that explains my problems ?!

Anyway, here is the situation : the image browser works as ususal if I boot from OS 9.2.2; but if I try to launch it from within Mac OSx, Mac Classic is launched and then comes an error box telling : "this version of the OS is not supported"; So I tried to reinstall Image browser using the Canon Solution disk, the Mac Classic application is booted again and then I get the error : "cannot be installed on this version of the OS" I get that anyway, whether trying to install the whole package, or just trying to install the Imagre Browser app.. So may be it's compatible with the Powershots cameras but not with the EOS D..

Any one has tried that as well ? I've just updated to the last version of Mac OS X : the 10.1.5

Anyway, thanks for the links and the help..

Christiane
 
Christiane said:
Anyway, here is the situation : the image browser works as ususal
if I boot from OS 9.2.2; but if I try to launch it from within Mac
OSx, Mac Classic is launched and then comes an error box telling :
"this version of the OS is not supported"; So I tried to reinstall
Image browser using the Canon Solution disk, the Mac Classic
application is booted again and then I get the error : "cannot be
installed on this version of the OS" I get that anyway, whether
trying to install the whole package, or just trying to install the
Imagre Browser app.. So may be it's compatible with the Powershots
cameras but not with the EOS D..
Click to expand...
Christiane,

The D-60 may not be supported yet, but that only has to do with connecting the camera itself. (If you were to use a card reader, the software would work, and would transfer to your Mac faster than with a camera.) Version 2.3 of ImageBrowser does work in Mac OS X, without Classic (unless you convert RAW images, which automatically opens RAW Image Converter in Classic.) You may still have some leftover files from a bad install. Try this: Search for ImageBrowser (one word) in Sherlock. Drag everything you find to the Trash and emapty it. Download ImageBrowser v2.3 from the link I posted and run the installler. It should not open Classic. Once installed, go to the ImageBrowser app and doubleclick it. It should open in Mac OS X (slight delay.) If you attach a card reader, ImageBrowser will be able to download your photos.

As far as card readers go, I recommend the Microtech FireWire Cameramate. Any unit shipped to the retailer after May 31 is completely compatible with Mac OS X. It's pricey (about $100) but worth it, speedwise, if you shoot lots of pics. Otherwise, check at http://www.apple.com/iphoto/compatibility/ for compatible USB readers.
Good luck, Jeff H.
 
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