elago FireWire 400 to 800 Adapter (White) for Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iMac and All Other Computers

The Firewire 400->800 and Apple Firewire 800 to Thunderbolt 2 arrived on time and as described in the product write-up. The Firewire 400->800 adapter is compact, and one of three or four adapters you'll need to chain together to convert DV Tape to digital movie for storage on an iMac or the cloud. Since I have an older and newer iMac, I already had some cables. First, I connected my JVC DV camera to the DV->Firewire 400 cable included with the camera. Second, I connected the Firewire 400->800 adapter. The fit from the Firewire 400 plug was tight. At first I thought it wasn't fitting correctly, but pushing it in firmly responded with a satisfying "click". Finally, the Firewire 400->800 adapter was plugged to the Firewire 800->Thunderbolt 2 adapter (also pictured in the second photo. This plugged into my older iMac. I turned on the camera's power, loaded a tape, and started iMovie on the iMac. Using File>Import in iMovie started a new window showing my JVC GR-DVL510U camera. iMovie provides all the controls for the camera. Total setup ~10 minutes. NOTE: Conversion is in Real time. The entire conversion worked flawlessly with the converter!

Okay, I use windows, Linux and Mac. For various different applications. And I want to continue using my excellent Canon Vixia HV-30 MiniDV camera that is ONLY 5 or 6 years old. To me that's NEW! I upgraded to a new Mac machine (which is my film- and infotainment only system) iMac 2,9 i5 and came upon Mac's backwards compatibility issue, this one of having NO FIRE WIRE PORTS at all. To say the least, I was sceptical. So I chained up the Thunderbolt to FW 800 Then this little "elago" adaptor FW800 to 400 And into it I stuck the old FW 400 cable to the camera. I had to "shove" it in, but that was ok. > BINGO! < The (newly bought) Final Cut program recognized the camera without a hick-up. Everything works smoothly and nice. I have only transferred 10 minutes of stuff onto the mac but this little piece works just fine and the small size is a plus. The price is ok, certainly more fair than the whatever $29 or $39 it would be from a mac store. Otherwise I have no tech specs to report regarding speed etc. It works for my filming-projects.

This product appears to be of very decent quality. It worked flawlessly as one segment of a 4-part daisy-chain to connect a 90's era Sony digital video camera with a firewire IEEE port to a Lenovo Yoga 730 Thunderbolt 3 port. Two of the four segments were Apple products. My Corel Video Studio Ultimate recognized the digital signal immediately and downloaded my video perfectly. The only issue I had was when I first tried plugging the firewire into it. It did not want to go in. Before "trying to fit a square peg into a round hole", I examined both pieces carefully. This connector has some "ribs" that poke into the firewire opening, and I decided that they were simply to hold the wire in place. Sure enough the firewire snapped in and was very snug. I decided to just leave it attached since that was its sole purpose!

The elago FW 400 to 800 adapter saves a lot of space in a laptop case. I've been carrying extra cables for different situations, but this adapter enables using one FW 400 cable for both kinds of drives. Why is it, however, that the computer designers are hellbent on crowding inputs together as closely as possible, but cable and adapter manufacturers (particularly USB flash drives) are making their devices bulkier. The one drawback with the elago adapter is the swathing of plastic wrapping the 400 to 800 connector. The elago crowds the adjacent USB ports on my Mac Book Pro so much that a flash drive cannot be used in that port when the elago is in place. Maybe careful whittling or filing would bring it down to the correct girth. On the plus side: the adapter works flawlessly and is priced right.

You correctly get what you order. Quality is good and service is excellent.

I bought this to use with my 2011 iMac and my 3rd generation iPod Classic, and it works great! the iPod can sync and charge just as it would if FireWire 400 was integrated straight into the iMac, and its build fairly well, which is to say it doesn't feel like it's going to fall apart with minimal effort. there is a bit of sprew on the mold lines, and you can tell around the stickers that they were just kinda slapped on there, but it's way more than what i expected for only $11. I can definitely see myself recommending it for someone or buying more for more situations myself. Overall: 9/10

Good

Works. Didn't break. Why 3-stars? Yes it worked without any issue at all. However, when I have this adapter plugged in, it is loose. I can wiggle the adapter about 10-15 degrees left or right. That makes me worry that it will damage the pins. Granted, the device I have plugged into this is stationary and does not move. I also do not plug and unplug the device - it stays plugged in. However, I do not get a secure "click" or firm attachment when I plug the adapter in. I would have liked to see a better, more stable design. The device works as advertised however - I have not had any cable-adapter related problems in two weeks of regular use.