I've searched so many forums and come to the conlusion that only by buying third party software and/or mobile apps is it possible to do so.
If third parties can do it why can't Apple?
It's even possible to connect and tranfser files by connecting to a Windows 7 PC, copy to a USB stick and then onto the iMac, but not directly to Apple OS X 10.7, 10.8 or 10.9 ... talk about shooting themselves in the foot.
Of course I could spend hours, or days transferring all the photos and videos by email to myself where upon I would receive them back on my iPhone as well as in Mail on my iMac. However, many would be considered too large to send this way by the email server.
I even tried transferring using my wife's much newer Macbook Pro but that didn't work either as it says the iPhone is locked with a passcode, err yes, so where is the option to type in that passcode after I had tapped "Trust" this computer? Nowhere, just the options in iTunes (why? it's not music) to disconnect or reset the phone...
I am sat at my desk, my iPhone is 10 cms away from my iMac, Bluetooth enabled, wifi enabled on both devices but I am having to transfer all the files to DropBox using wifi then once there download to the iMac and move to a local folder, thereby freeing up space on DropBox again.
Ludicrous.
Don't tell me that my OS X 10.8 is too old and I should upgrade. Why should I? The iMac works fine with the software I use daily, and at a speed that is acceptable. Upgrading to the latest OS X (Sierra) would certainly slow down my workflow to the point that the advice woud then be to buy an new iMac.
So how many thousands do I have to spend then to enable me to connect two Apple 'compatible' devices to share files between them? If I did how could I be sure that it would then actually work and for how long before the next IOS or OS X version would mess it up again?
No. Next big purchase will be Windows or Linux.
Another Solution... While I was waiting
I discovered another more direct solution that Apple doesn't mention... or at least I cannot find on their support site... USE IMAGE CAPTURE. A little-talked-about application coming with the standard install of OS X 10.6, 10.7, 10.8 and possibly later versions too. Simply launch the software, it detects the connected device and lists all images and videos on the iPhone. Select a destination folder on the iMac and click Import All.
I used to use it with 10.7 but didn't always work with importing from my iPad so had ignored that possibilty this time.
The only thing about doing this is that Image Cature does not use the file naming system from iPhone, that is using the date and time. Instead it merely uses IMG_0000.jpg
