Geek question re firewire port for laptpo

[Skywatcher]

:geekon:

Ok a camera I am looking at for my astronomy only delivers its pics via a firewire port which I do not have on my laptop.

I do however have a card slot free

Is there such as thing as a crd that will give me firewire ports :unsure:

[catrancher]

Certainly is. I would imagine that you've got a PCMCIA slot on your laptop. Takes cards about the size of a credit card. There's bunches of PCMCIA Firewire cards. Keep in mind that Firewire comes in two speeds 400 and 800. See what speed the camera wants and buy accordingly. Many of the cards support both speeds. Check your friendly, local, neighborhood PC store.

Tom (:macwave:... that's enough geek for one day)

[Skywatcher]

:thumbsup: cheers mate

this camera looks luverly :D

[Keith]

yep two main options

1. a firewire card for your laptop something like this (although you'll get cheaper if you dont need the DV software)
http://www.keene.co.uk/electronics/multi.php?mycode=FWHCL

2. a firewire to USB cable/adapter/converter

[Skywatcher]

I thought Item 2 didn't exist in reality after doing some google searches as even the USB2.0 couldn't cope with the volume of data :unsure:

[Keith]

They exist since usb hi-speed in THEORY is 480mbs (nowhere close in practice though) but even with that being said, they exist to allow things to still work even if it has to limit the speed accordingly

The pc-card one still makes most sense IMHO

[Skywatcher]

Yeah will go for that then ,its a new camera to take pics of planets and the moon with a Huge chip in it :excited:

[Keith]

Yeah will go for that then ,its a new camera to take pics of planets and the moon with a Huge chip in it :excited:

OOOOOOOOOOOO! is there a link so we can all ogle it? :D

[Skywatcher]

When and if I get it I will of course share :D

Carpe diem

[Dizneyblonde]

This is interesting.

I didn't realise you could buy a card to give your laptop a firewire upgrade.
When Jack was looking for his laptop he specifically wanted one with a built in fire wire slot so that he can edit all our holiday videos.We waited ages for the right one to come along and paid a bit more for it too so it had everything he wanted!

[Skywatcher]

me either but you live and learn :D

[tb2830]

oh wow chris thanks for asking that question .........i was so disappointed to find my new laptop didnt have a firewire i really didnt think i could just buy a card......now i can take my camcorder back on holiday

[josh.p.]

Probably very predictable of me..... but but but you could always buy an iMac that has built in firewire and also iphoto etc.
http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_mac/family/imac?mco=MTE3MDM


Save your energy... I'll :slap: myself!

[Skywatcher]

:dozey:

yes thank you iJosh

[Britchick]

what is a firewire thingie? :unsure:

[Dizneyblonde]

It's how we connect the camcorder directly to the laptop to download the video we have taken so that Jack can edit it and turn it into a dvd.

[Britchick]

oh right, we haven't used ours in a few years now thanks

[ukwdwnut]

if i were you chris id go the pcmcia firewire card route, when i tried connecting mine thru the usb 2.0 route it wouldnt give me the best option for downloading the footage on to my pc for editing and that connection is way slower than firewire anyway

[ukwdwnut]

Probably very predictable of me..... but but but you could always buy an iMac that has built in firewire and also iphoto etc.
http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_mac/family/imac?mco=MTE3MDM


Save your energy... I'll :slap: myself!

bit more expensive than a firewore card tho josh lol my lappy has one built in and i do all my editing on it works a treat

[Skywatcher]

Thanks Mick the rate these films will be ziping off the camer I don't want any holdup writing to the disc erm... jow do I tell how fast my HDD is?

[josh.p.]

bit more expensive than a firewore card tho josh lol my lappy has one built in and i do all my editing on it works a treat
Just a *tad* more expensive :taunt:

[ieuanr]

Just a note - PCMCIA has been superseded by Expresscard so it may be worth checking that your laptop does support PCMCIA.

[ukwdwnut]

Thanks Mick the rate these films will be ziping off the camer I don't want any holdup writing to the disc erm... jow do I tell how fast my HDD is?

your welcome mate

it should have the tech spec in the manual hopefully or post the lappy details on here so i can look it up