Mac OS 10.6 cannot recognize Aptus 65

[evgeny]

It's probably a power problem.
I've had a similar problem.

When I used my Aptus22 on the AFD/II with a 10mtr firewire cable to a repeater (without power) and the original leaf cable it all worked flawless.
When I switched to the RZ the orange light would come on, the back would spin up but no connection and no connection on my macbook pro, on my macpro it did work.
When I powered my repeater it did work.
I changed the 10mtr firewire cable for a 5 mtrs and now both cameras work without any problem.

You're response that it's all the fault of the Leaf is not correct.
When a camera works on another system it's always something else that is going wrong, it's very simple when a camera works it works.
When it doesn't work under another OS or on another computer you have to look for the problem somewhere else, in this probably power.

In this case the problem is I THINK a power problem, if you want to be sure buy for a few dollars a power firewire hub/repeater and try if it works than with the other camera.
I think it will.
I know there have been serious problems tethering digital backs to Macbook pro's 17" in the past.
I know my MBP will only last 45 minutes before giving me "stripes" in my images, that's why on location we run from the applejuicze batteries which gives me app 4 hours of working time with the back connected.

Frank, can you provide a link where I can read/buy about these batteries and how to connect them to Macbook Pro 17"?

Regarding power, lets look at these simple schemas:

Apple MBP -> OWC Adapter 800 -> Leaf Cable 400-400 -> Leaf Aptus 65 -> Camera A
Apple MBP -> OWC Adapter 800 -> Leaf Cable 400-400 -> Leaf Aptus 65 -> Camera B

Macbook Pro provides power to Aptus via the same Adapter 800 and Leaf FireWire cable 400-400 (4.5 meters, not very long).
This part of the electrical schema doesn't change.
The only difference is the Camera A and Camera B, which are not connected to the FireWire power.
So, I can theoretically accept that it could be somehow relative to the FireWire power, however I don't understand how.

[Frank Doorhof]

Frank, can you provide a link where I can read/buy about these batteries and how to connect them to Macbook Pro 17"?

Regarding power, lets look at these simple schemas:

Apple MBP -> OWC Adapter 800 -> Leaf Cable 400-400 -> Leaf Aptus 65 -> Camera A
Apple MBP -> OWC Adapter 800 -> Leaf Cable 400-400 -> Leaf Aptus 65 -> Camera B

Macbook Pro provides power to Aptus via the same Adapter 800 and Leaf FireWire cable 400-400 (4.5 meters, not very long).
This part of the electrical schema doesn't change.
The only difference is the Camera A and Camera B, which are not connected to the FireWire power.
So, I can theoretically accept that it could be somehow relative to the FireWire power, however I don't understand how.

Your cable is indeed much shorter than what I used but you use a convertor.
Problem is I had the same problem with a different camera with the same back so it does not sound impossible at all.
But it is weird, I agree.

The applejuicze is sold in the UK via peartree.
I don't know for other countries.

[evgeny]

Frank, if it happened to your Mamiya\s, then it may apply to my Contax\s, too.
Do you use repeater also on location (in field) ?

[Frank Doorhof]

Frank, if it happened to your Mamiya\s, then it may apply to my Contax\s, too.
Do you use repeater also on location (in field) ?

It was a 645AFD/III vs a RZ67ProII.
The AFD worked the RZ not.

In the field I use a NON powered repeater with 2x original 5mtr Leaf cables.
That works great.

[UlfKrentz]

Frank, if it happened to your Mamiya\s, then it may apply to my Contax\s, too.
Do you use repeater also on location (in field) ?

Hi,

we use a non powered repeater, too. (Data Video DV Repeater) Works fine in the studio tethered to MacPro and in field tethered to MacBookPro. We use a small UPS with the MacBookPro, so it is AC powered, but it also worked fine on its own battery, but we didn´t try this excessive, because we always store on mirrored extern drives and use a calibrated display. We use standard 4.5m FW cables, rock solid, never had a problem tethering in this combination. We have had problems with older iMacs, couldn´t get them to work without a powered repeater, and with an 24" first intel iMac it refused working reliable completely. So it seems there are some unlucky combinations, but once you found a good hardware set we experienced it to work really rock solid. We usually don´t have a single crash or any other issue when we are working with our system, even if we are shooting a lot of frames. I am sorry to read about your troubles, but I think Leaf firmware has nothing to do with it, hope you get it working with both cameras!

Cheers

Ulf

[Carsten W]

10.6.2 is out. Has anyone tested if the problem is still there?

[yaya]

10.6.2 is out. Has anyone tested if the problem is still there?

If a laptop does not produce enough power how would an OS update resolve it?

[Carsten W]

If a laptop does not produce enough power how would an OS update resolve it?

If that is the problem, then it clearly cannot. However, the title of the thread implicates Mac OS X 10.6, and in this case the update could help.

[asf]

10.6.2 is out. Has anyone tested if the problem is still there?

Has anyone else had this problem? I've used 2 backs on 4 different Macbook Pros and not had a problem. I haven't heard of any other reports of a similar problem.

[Fritzer]

Macbook Pros can be very finicky when it comes to supplying power via Firewire, I can't use mine even with a powered repeater to connect two 5m Leaf cables, which works just fine on any MacPro.
To my knowledge, the FW ports have been slightly underpowered in the MBPs since the switch to Intel.

I assume that any camera which connects electronically to the back can make the back draw just a little too much power for the Mac's port to work.
There have been a few reports of FW issues in Snow Leopard .0 and .1 , for what it's worth; as OS updates often go down to the kernel level, 10.6.2 might or might not help.