Belkin Digital Camera Link for iPod 3G (White)

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Product Details

Product Manual [968kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 5 x 7 x 9 inches ; 3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000290ZG8
• Item model number: 2530-DCLI
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 3, 2005

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Storing digital photos is fast and easy using the Belkin F8E477 Digital Camera Link for iPod with Dock Connector. Now you can leave your PC at home and stop worrying about using up your camera's memory. With this portable innovation you'll easily transfer thousands of digital images from your camera to your iPod, and free up disk space to take more pictures. Belkin brings a new dimension to your iPod device; it's not just for tunes anymore.

The Belkin digital camera link is easy to use, requiring you to simply connect it to your iPod via the attached dock connector, and connect your USB mass-storage-class camera device. Using software support that's already built into your iPod (software version 2.1 or later), your pictures transfer quickly and easily, leaving you ready to start shooting again! And when you get home, just link your iPod like normal to your computer to retrieve all your images. The Media Reader for iPod lets you take advantage of its massive storage space for all your photos, regardless of the size of your camera's storage.

The Belkin F8E477 indicates power and data transfer status via a built-in, 3-stage LED indicator, and conveniently stows your cable to keep things tidy when not in use. This unit provides easy connection to your camera when used with your camera's USB-A to 5-Pin Mini-B cable, and supports all mass-storage DCF-format cameras and PTP-compliant cameras. The Belkin camera link works with iPods running version 2.1 or later software, and activates data transfers easily with a recessed transfer button.

Compatible with third-generation iPods or later with a dock connector--including iPod 3G, iPod 4G (Click Wheel), iPod color, and iPod 5G/5.5G Video--the Belkin F8E477 reader is powered by two (included) AA batteries, and is backed by a manufacturer's 3-year warranty.

What's in the Box
Belkin F8E477 digital camera link with dock connector, 2 AA batteries, 1 type A USB connector, user's manual, and warranty information.

Product Description

Storing digital photos is fast and easy using the Digital Camera Link for iPod. Now you can leave your PC at home and stop worrying about using up your camera's memory.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Stopped working halfway through vacation, September 28, 2004

By	Brad West (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

You take your iPod everywhere you go. You'd think it'd be the perfect place to store your photos. For the time being, I'd recommend finding another solution.

For one, this device is slow. This is not terribly surprising given that it transfers via USB, but still it's very slow. And because the iPod is spending all of this time writing to its HD, a transfer will completely drain the iPod's battery (and probably your camera's).

Your photos will appear on your iPod as opaque "rolls." The only way to verify that all of your pictures have transferred is to compare the picture count on the iPod to that on your camera.

I knew of these limitations when I bought the product, so none of these were disappointing (though my wife was surprised at how clunky a process it was).

The frustration came when, halfway into our month-long vacation, the Camera Link was convinced my iPod was full and refused to make any more transfers. When I checked, my iPod had 4 GB free. I tried transferring from my camera. I tried from my wife's. Nothing. The device suddenly became a useless brick.

After a bit of panicking, we found a department store with kiosks that would copy your memory card to a CD. This is, IMO, a much better solution. It was faster to walk to the store, insert the memory card, and burn a CD than to stay in the hotel room and wait for this thing to work. Cheaper, too. Next vacation, I'll just do that.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Solid Product, One Fault, November 30, 2004

By	R. Gordon "Tech Enthusiast" (Decatur, GA United States) - See all my reviews

The Belkin Digital Camera Link is to date the best way to back up photos directly from your digital camera to your iPod. I use my DCL with a 20GB 4G iPod, and it works well. Because it relies on USB 1.1, transfers are not as fast as a FireWire card reader plugged into my G4, but the speed is respectable.

You plug the DCL into the iPod, then you plug in your camera. Once the camera is ready, press the button on the DCL and the LEDs on the front start an animation which indicates that it's transferring. When the animation stops, the transfer is complete. If the LEDs turn red, theres a problem. Only turned red for me when I tried a MicroDrive in a card reader (see below).

This works well on my Canon PowerShot S50. It also worked with a CompactFlash card plugged into a generic USB card reader. It did not work with an IBM MicroDrive. It transfers photos and movies with no problem.

One fault: It doesn't remove the photos from the camera after downloading. You have to do that on the camera.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Works perfectly!, March 6, 2005

By	Greg - See all my reviews

I found this product to work efficiently and exactly and described. It is truly 'plug-and-play' - plug it into your iPod, plug it into your camera, and press 1 button. Watch the indicator light as your files transfer - that is it! This gadget will also verify the files were transferred properly afterwards. I used this while on vacation and was able to fill my 256MB card up every day, download all my pictures at night, and go back to shooting more pictures the next day as if I had a brand new memory card. The transfer took only minutes AND it worked when my iPod and camera batteries had a very low charge. This is MUCH cheaper than purchasing additional memory cards. Once I got home and connected my iPod I was able to transfer my pictures to my PC in minutes. This is a sleek and very useful item especially when you want to take lots fo photos but do not have many memory cards or access to a PC to download them right away.