Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit

The camera connector kit struck me as a perfect companion for holidays or trips. Or – put another way – one more in the growing list of things I can now do with my iPad, where I previously would have needed my MacBook Pro. I can view material at high resolution, prune the ones I don’t want to keep, and have a ready-to-sync folder for when I get home.

The kit comes with two adapters. Both fit into the docking port at the base of the iPad. They are made of a single piece of moulded plastic and feel well made. Each comes with a small pin protector to keep the USB connection protected when not in use. It fits securely enough that you wouldn’t worry about losing it in the bottom of the camera bag.

The first connector takes SD cards. It’s pretty straightforward – load the card into the connector, and plug the connector into the docking port on the iPad. A couple of seconds later an import window appears, with thumbnails of all the photos on the card. You can select or deselect all or individual images for import, and optionally delete them from the card when done. The thumbnails update with tick marks as each is imported. Photos go into a ‘last imported’ and then into an ‘all imported’ album so it’s easy to keep them separate from your other pics.

I tried cards from my old Fuji FinePix, my wife’s Kodak compact, and my Panasonic SD100 video camera and all photos imported fine.

Worth pointing out that it didn’t import the video from the Panny; it’s in AVCHD format (.mts) which the iPad can’t read natively.

The second connector gives you a standard USB cable port. Again, although a little slower than reading direct from the SD card, both the Kodak and Fuji imported fine via this method. I also imported from my Canon EOS 400 with no problems. On the EOS I had to switch the camera settings from PC Sync to PTP mode.

Both parts are solid, neat, and just get on with what they’re designed for. The limitations, such as they are, are within the iPad photo/video handling itself. If these were major issues they could be resolved in future iOS versions. However, for my, and I suspect most peoples’ purposes, it’s £25 well spent. …More

701 of 784 people found this useful

Just bought an iPad, and bought this kit add on too. Of course, it's a pain that Apple charge £25 for something that should be included as standard (USB connectivity) but once you get over that this product just works.

I shoot RAW + JPEG on a Nikon D700. The iPad handles them perfectly, and when I get back to my home computer I can import my files directly from the iPad into Lightroom 3 without the need to use iPhoto.

I was concerned about whether this kit would work, but it does, seamlessly, straight out the box and my photos look fantastic! …More

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