R.I.P Firewire

lynnb

lynnb

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Thom Hogan is a respected journalist who writes mostly on Nikon matters but also about other manufacturers and the industry in general. He has posted the following in this article, talking about what he has seen and learnt at the NAB show - the National Association of Broadcasters trade show in Las Vegas:

Oh, and by the way, Firewire is dead. Done. Toast. Nothing but ashes.

Here’s what I was told by multiple vendors: they simply can’t buy Firewire controllers anymore. When they run out their current stock of parts, any Firewire device they are making will have to be end-of-lifed. So those of you hoping to keep using your old Firewire drives on new and future docks for your computers, I’m sorry to dash your hopes, but it’s time to move on.

- Thom Hogan www.bythom.com
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This is not the sort of news I like to hear, but in the age of obsolescence I guess it was going to happen sometime. Time to start planning on a new generation of drives for my archives, once I am eventually forced to upgrade or replace my ageing Mac mini.

A heads up for all in a similar boat.
 
I've got those cables for my Firewire drives, so as long as Thunderbolt stays around, I'm good. After that, I guess it's back to the wet darkroom.

Best,
-Tim
 
johannielscom said:
Got any FW400 to FW800 adapters to go with those?
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A quick Amaz** search from here in the US shows a number of the Sonnet Tech adapters still in stock. Sonnet Tech's website lists them as a discontinued item, so it's a good idea to stock up now.

I've got both an adapter and a cable and have found that for some gear combinations, one will work and the other won't. My scanner, an older UMAX unit, is also not recognized using OS versions later than 10.5. I keep an older Macbook Pro around specifically for scanning.

Firewire. It was good while it lasted.
 
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I think FireWire cables and Cards will be around for a while, at least through Phase One. Many of their older backs, still valued in the many $ thousands, rely on the 12 vdc power from a fire wire cable along with delivering data when tethered to a Mac work station or Win rig with a FW card.
 
Now I've got to figure out what to do for my Nikon Coolscan 9000. Last time I used it was 4 years ago, and I had a Windows XP computer at the time. I had several job changes, and so the Coolscan has been boxed up all this time. I do want to revive it, but from what I read on the internet Windows 10 doesn't recognize firewire immediately.
 
Robert Lai said:
Now I've got to figure out what to do for my Nikon Coolscan 9000. Last time I used it was 4 years ago, and I had a Windows XP computer at the time. I had several job changes, and so the Coolscan has been boxed up all this time. I do want to revive it, but from what I read on the internet Windows 10 doesn't recognize firewire immediately.
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May be it will work On Windows 10
But it works certainty in Windows 7 x64
My Nikon coolscan 4000 is running flawlessly with FireWire card and cable attached.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Firewire has been on the way out for a few yrs now. It was originally made by Apple, and they were the main proponents of it, but they quit putting it on Macs a couple yrs ago in favor of Thunderbolt.

I'm still using a ten year old Mac Pro (Early 2008 model) that has both Firewire 400 and 800. I used a FW-800 CF Card Reader and it is super fast. Sad to see it going away.
 
Robert Lai said:
Now I've got to figure out what to do for my Nikon Coolscan 9000. Last time I used it was 4 years ago, and I had a Windows XP computer at the time. I had several job changes, and so the Coolscan has been boxed up all this time. I do want to revive it, but from what I read on the internet Windows 10 doesn't recognize firewire immediately.
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Partition a disk with a linux OS on it and run vuescan. Runs perfectly.

Phil Forrest
 
My FW scanner is also a Umax (PowerLook 1000, FW400) and I rely on it to scan 4x5 and bigger size negatives. Currently It is hooked up to a vintage Mac G4 with maxed-out memory.

Guess I need to stock up on a few adapters to get from FW400 to FW800 to ThunderBolt so I can keep running it in the future. Those G4s won't be around forever either!

Thanks all!
 
This was timely. My MacBook Pro just died. The adapter I used to connect the Firewire 400 on the Nikon scanner to the laptop is not supported on any computer made today. What I have found is that it will take 3 adapters: Firewire 400 to 800 (I got a 6 foot cable), Firewire 800 to Lightning 2 adapter, and a Lightning 2 to Lightning 3 (USBC) adapter.

The parts should be here next week. If the setup doesn't work with three adapters between the scanner and the computer, I'll write here again.
 
muser53 said:
Don't panic. Buy a few of these. They work!
https://express.google.com/product/...campaign=gsx&dclid=CKfT7Nn_udoCFUSTZAodOpgA_w
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I'm using one of those to connect our Imacon 848 scanner to our Late 2015 iMac's Thunderbolt port. It works perfectly well with the 848 and Hasselblad's FlexColor scanning software.

The adapters are limited by the Thunderbolt ports ablilities and can't provide the full range of voltages that Firewire supports and are limited to 7 devices in the chain (far less that a native Firewire interface).
 
Off topic a little bit, I am sorry.
But, anybody knows why FireWire was abandoned? Because of the USB or the Thunderbolt?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Go to Shenzhen, take a look there, and have confidence.

The scanner itself would be long dead before they exhaust that stock.
 
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