Customize the iPhoto import camera icon

Jan 12, '04 08:43:00AM

Contributed by: Anonymous

I've been using iPhoto a lot, but was always a little dissatisfied that the camera it displays on import didn't look like my camera. So I've found a hack that will replace this image with one that you have created (presumably that looks like your own camera!); like this.

Note: Make sure you have a good 72dpi photo of your camera. I suggest visiting your manufacturer's web site or a good camera review site such as dpreview.com to get one.

To create the large image:

  1. Make photo background white
  2. Resize your photo to 59 pixels wide
  3. Pad photo with white space to 59x58
  4. Set white background to be transparent
  5. Save as "camera.tif": (LZW TIFF, with alpha channel to preserve transparency)
To create the small image:
  1. Use camera.tif as source image
  2. Resize to 20x20 pixels
  3. Save as "camera_small.tif" (same settings as above)
Note: I use Graphic Converter which makes all this very simple indeed -- even the alpha channel gubbins which is done when you try to save a TIF with transparency selected.

Using OS X:
  1. Quit iPhoto
  2. Make a backup of iPhoto (always!)
  3. View contents of package (use contextual menu on iPhoto)
  4. Copy images to Contents/Resources folder
  5. Confirm replacement of the two files
To check:
  1. Load iPhoto
  2. Click the import tab
Here are some quickly produced sample files for my camera -- the Pentax Optio S4.

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Mac OS X Hints
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