Every USB device that exists identifies itself to the OS with an embedded string like "ImageMate CF" (my CF card reader) or "Apple Extended USB Keyboard" -- but that doesn't mean that the OS will support that device. The OS has to have the drivers specific to that device installed in order to be able to use the device in addition to being able to identify it. Windows is the same, there's just more drivers out there that are written for Windows.
What kind of low-level support do you want from the camera? Each camera out there uses its own way of "talking" to the computer over USB -- perhaps the camera you got uses nonstandard protocol over USB or something.
It's best to check first and make sure any device you purchase is going to be compatible with the OS you intend to use it with before you go ahead and make the purchase. I did the same thing with a Nokia 6610 mobile phone recently, except it still retains much functionality even though it doesn't work with OS X/iSync (yet). I expected that since the 6600 was compatible that the 6610 would be also, but if I would have just checked Apple's compatibility site first, I would have seen that it is not supported. Still, the phone is not completely useless, much as your camera is unless you've got a Windows machine around to use it with.
