ManhartPhotography

Maybe.

Before you pull the trigger and buy a new computer with Windows 7 for christmas, you might want to make sure that new camera will work when you connect it.  Sadly, we’ve come along way from the time when hardware and software manufacturers felt the need to make sure their product was ready as soon as the newest Microsoft offering came out.

The reasons whey they don’t feel that need to update are complex, and chief among them may be the failure of Vista to catch on. However, Windows 7 is a much better product and worth the upgrade.

There are hundreds of Digital cameras out there, and I cant write about all of them, but I’ll cover the six major manufacturers here.

Canon – If you buy any Canon Camera this season, it will have Windows 7 support, any camera more than a year old will need testing. Most cameras less than two years old will work.

Nikon – General support for Windows 7 not available till January 2010. New camera’s may or may not work until general support is offered.

Olympus – With probably the best Windows 7 support among these manufacturers, Olympus stands out. Unless you’re using Camedia Master 4, or Studio 1 and older your Olympus camera should work with Windows 7.

Panasonic - Almost all Panasonic camera’s have been supported since October 27th, 2009, but there are no plans to support the 64 bit versions of Windows 7.

Sony – Because Sony only provides support on a per-camera basis, I cant provide a list here. In general, newer camera’s are supported. You can find more specific information here.

Pentax – General support provided as of November 11th, 2009. New camera’s all supported, older units will need testing.

At this point I feel obligated to warn you that the only way to find out if your camera/software will actually work on Windows 7 may be to try your camera, and your software on Windows 7.

Even if the manufacturer says it will, there are so many combinations of hardware and software that they can’t all be tested. A third party connection can always cause a problem.

If you have a question about a specific camera, feel free to email me at travis@manhartphotography.com or visit www.ManhartPhotography.com.

If you liked this article you can read more at Sacramento Photography Examiner.