praktica dcz 4 vr connection problem

[liamslardies]

hi every one
having a slight problem conecting camera to pc. all was ok when drive disc was started. no error messages or anything.then i tried to aquire pictures from camera and got the message failed to connect to camera please try again.
i am running windows xp pro.
im quite a novice on my pc apart from very basic stuff
can anyone help???????

sorted thanks downloaded new driver works fine now

[NooNoo]

Welcome to Windrivers liamslardies

Glad you got it sorted... can you post where you got the driver from please?

[liamslardies]

Welcome to Windrivers liamslardies

Glad you got it sorted... can you post where you got the driver from please?

all i did was to go on google type in praktica dcz 4 vr/ drivers then i found it in one of the links not sure which one hope this helps
shane

[peterlindley]

all i did was to go on google type in praktica dcz 4 vr/ drivers then i found it in one of the links not sure which one hope this helps
shane

i am having the same problem and have followed your advice, but do not seem to be able to find the right link to get the driver. can you please provide more inf. about the link?

[NooNoo]

Welcome to Windrivers Peter

drivers for the dcz 4 vr are here - right click this and save target as

If dcz4 vr is not your model go to http://www.praktica.de/, click on service and driver at the top of the page, on the left, choose download - the drivers are in no particular order.

[liamslardies]

i am having the same problem and have followed your advice, but do not seem to be able to find the right link to get the driver. can you please provide more inf. about the link?

looks like noo noo beat me to it go on praktica site service/ drivers then downloads this will take you to the list of drivers hope this helps
also i find that you have to plug into the computer first then the camera then select mass storage( not pc cam )

[peterlindley]

looks like noo noo beat me to it go on praktica site service/ drivers then downloads this will take you to the list of drivers hope this helps
also i find that you have to plug into the computer first then the camera then select mass storage( not pc cam )

many thanks for both replies. unfortunately my problem has not been sorted. i have been to the praktica website and driver downloads for my model, DCZ 6 VR, are not available there. i have sent an email on their contact us facility and am awaiting a reply. i am not sure how to select mass storage. any idea why the problem suddenly started yesterday?

[driver]

sorry cant help not familiar with your model.have you tried somthing else in the usb port to check it is working??? worth a try if you havent already. i find my dcz 4 vr quite tempramental??( is that spelling right) i also told you wrong , i conect to my camera first then the computer then when i switch it on mass storage and web cam flash up, i select mass storage and away we go. sorry i cant help any more. a mate of mine repairs pcs i will ask if he has any ideas. let us know if you sort it i would like to know how for future reference. catch ya later

[peterlindley]

sorry cant help not familiar with your model.have you tried somthing else in the usb port to check it is working??? worth a try if you havent already. i find my dcz 4 vr quite tempramental??( is that spelling right) i also told you wrong , i conect to my camera first then the computer then when i switch it on mass storage and web cam flash up, i select mass storage and away we go. sorry i cant help any more. a mate of mine repairs pcs i will ask if he has any ideas. let us know if you sort it i would like to know how for future reference. catch ya later

I am very grateful for your help. I have now sorted the problem with the help of another thread on this website for my cam model and user steveouk. Basically before connecting to the usb port, you turn the cam on using PC mode and select mass storage. It would help if these steps were recommended in the manual!! I received a reply from the German website, which boils down to the above steps.

[cookees]

just purchased a DCZ 6VR on ebay from a photoshop in Germany.
Can't seem to download pics. Used the software provided with camera but still no luck. Any help would be appreciated!

[peterlindley]

just purchased a DCZ 6VR on ebay from a photoshop in Germany.
Can't seem to download pics. Used the software provided with camera but still no luck. Any help would be appreciated!

With the camera in PC mode, select mass storage and not PC Connection; that worked for me. The manufacturers website help address is: [email protected] <[email protected]>. Another possibility might be to email the website you purchased the cam from.

[keithwarren]

With the camera in PC mode, select mass storage and not PC Connection; that worked for me. The manufacturers website help address is: [email protected] <[email protected]>. Another possibility might be to email the website you purchased the cam from.

I have also been fighting with the provided driver for the DCZ 6 VR and am grateful to members here for various suggestions. No, the driver isn't on the Praktica website (why not?) but switching to PC mode 'mass storage' (what the hell's that mean? no explanation in manual) and THEN plugging in the USB seemed to work last night after I'd battled with it for 3 hours. Even then, the camera didn't want to know about their software package which aeems to be utter cr4p, but I managed to get it to download as above through Adobe Photoshop Elements. Not sure yet whether this will work for all time - too chuffing tired to try again.

The problem seemed to emerge at point of trying to download the driver when my 'wizard' (some bl88dy magician!) told me that the driver did not have a microsoft signatory or some such gobblydegook.

The Praktica Manual is hopeless: fine detail on how to attach the strap (chuffing obvious I would have thought) or insert batteries (ditto) but NO explanation of how to download pictures which is, after all, the whole point of the b-stewarding camera in the first place. One would have thought that connecting to 'PC camera' in PC mode would have been correct, surely? Further, the translation from the original German leaves something to be desired at critical moments where precision of language is required. OK, their English is far superior to my German, but I only use mine to order beers, not to translate effing camera manuals.

[cookees]

I concur with your posting. As a suggestion I have found a freeware program that is very useful. I downloaded the free photo program
" Picasa" from www.google.com. It is fantastic! Once the program is up and running, simply switch on the camera in the PC setting, select mass storage, connect the usb cable to your computer then to your camera, click on "import photo's" in the program, select the storage port, ( In my case "drive F") and the program does the rest. It even has an "enhance" feature that automatcially compensates and corrects any exposuer problems. Best of luck!

[keithwarren]

I concur with your posting. As a suggestion I have found a freeware program that is very useful. I downloaded the free photo program
" Picasa" from www.google.com. It is fantastic! Once the program is up and running, simply switch on the camera in the PC setting, select mass storage, connect the usb cable to your computer then to your camera, click on "import photo's" in the program, select the storage port, ( In my case "drive F") and the program does the rest. It even has an "enhance" feature that automatcially compensates and corrects any exposuer problems. Best of luck!

Thanks. I may try that although in fact I have no problem with Adobe Photoshop Elements which is a pretty good package for the relatively inexperienced digital twiddler such as myself. It too has the sorts of facilities that your Picasa does (and more) of which I guess I have mastered about 20%!!

[keithwarren]

I concur with your posting. As a suggestion I have found a freeware program that is very useful. I downloaded the free photo program
" Picasa" from www.google.com. It is fantastic! Once the program is up and running, simply switch on the camera in the PC setting, select mass storage, connect the usb cable to your computer then to your camera, click on "import photo's" in the program, select the storage port, ( In my case "drive F") and the program does the rest. It even has an "enhance" feature that automatcially compensates and corrects any exposuer problems. Best of luck!

Incidentally (further thought) before I found this very helpful website, I emailed Praktica through their website to seek advice and assistance. This was three days ago and so far I have had no reply. Not very impressive there, then.