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ftaok

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jan 23, 2002
6,486
1,571
East Coast
Had a quick question for folks that are running 13

Does an iPhone connected directly to a digital camera via usb-lightning show up as external storage? I'd love to be able to quickly grab photos shot with my dSLR and airdrop or share them quickly.

Wifi SD cards don't work that smoothly. If plugging in a cable and opening the Files app is the solution, I'd be super happy
 

KrisLord

macrumors 68000
Sep 12, 2008
1,741
1,873
Northumberland, UK
Had a quick question for folks that are running 13

Does an iPhone connected directly to a digital camera via usb-lightning show up as external storage? I'd love to be able to quickly grab photos shot with my dSLR and airdrop or share them quickly.

Wifi SD cards don't work that smoothly. If plugging in a cable and opening the Files app is the solution, I'd be super happy

Not tired it with the camera direct, but there’s lightning to SD card reader that works perfectly.

I don’t like the idea of plugging my expensive camera into my expensive tablet and having them connected.
 

ftaok

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jan 23, 2002
6,486
1,571
East Coast
Not tired it with the camera direct, but there’s lightning to SD card reader that works perfectly.

I don’t like the idea of plugging my expensive camera into my expensive tablet and having them connected.
Thanks.

My projected workflow would be for situations like at my kid's soccer games. I like using my dSLR because I have a good telephoto zoom lens on it. There have been times where I wanted to quickly share a photo with other parents on the sideline or to my wife (who doesn't normally come to the games).

My old work flow was using a Toshiba FlashAir card, but it's such a hassle to keep swapping between the Toshiba's wifi network and LTE. Plus it kills my Canon's battery.

I had thought about using the SD card adapter, but that's a hassle to keep pulling the SD card out of the CF adapter (yes, my camera is OLD).

I've thought about doing all sorts of other hacks, such as bringing a portable wifi router (on battery) that both my iPhone and Toshiba card can connect to. Didn't work.

Connecting a USB cable directly from the Canon to the iPhone seems like the best possible solution. Plus, I'd expect that the transfer to be much faster than via a wifi connection.

Question - why wouldn't you like connecting your camera to your iPad? Are you concerned that you'll break either? Just curious about that last line.
 

ftaok

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jan 23, 2002
6,486
1,571
East Coast
UPDATE - I got the Lightning to USB adapter the other day and updated my iPhone to OS13 last night.

TLDR - it didn't work.

So I attached the adapter and tried many different USB storage devices. None worked. Every time I was presented with the "Accessory not supported. Too much power" blah blah blah...

Here are the things I tried.

1. A few Sandisk flash drives. 16GB and 32GB didn't work.
2. Canon Rebel XTi with a Sandisk 16GB SD card, using a generic Chinese SD-Compact Flash adapter.
3. Fuji digital camera (the waterproof yellow one that Costco was selling).
4. The SD card from my Canon via a Vivatar 6-1 USB adapter

I was going to try mounting a powered USB hard drive, but lost interest. I guess I could try a USB keyboard or mouse at some point. Maybe hook up my Yamaha guitar amp's USB connection.
 

iMacDragon

macrumors 68020
Oct 18, 2008
2,355
703
UK
Anything that is self powered should work, but anything wanting power from usb port in general will not.

T
 

ftaok

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jan 23, 2002
6,486
1,571
East Coast
Anything that is self powered should work, but anything wanting power from usb port in general will not.

T
Yes, that's the idea. But for whatever reason, my thumbdrives aren't working. I'm thinking that they don't need much power, just enough to power the LED light on them. Also, my digital cameras are on battery power when connecting, but nada.

I'll try it on my iPad (iOS12) to see if that makes a difference. Also, I was using the Files app. I'll see if my iPhone behaves differently if I use the Photos app.

In any case, it looks like it's a $30 bust on my end. You win some, you lose some. Oh well
 

iMacDragon

macrumors 68020
Oct 18, 2008
2,355
703
UK
Thumb drives need power from device, thus won't work, as most thumb drives need 300-500mA usb supply, and connector will only give 100mA iirc.

By self powered I mean have their own power supply.

Digital camera /should/ work, unless it's one that expects power from usb to charge.

I'll try mine in a few days when I'm back home.
 
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chris4565

macrumors 65816
Sep 22, 2018
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Thumb drives need power from device, thus won't work, [...]
iOS 13 will work with any thumb drives/SSDs etc. without any problem as long as you have a USB-C iPad as far as I know. If you have a lightning iPad (or even iPhone?) and the SSD etc. requires too much power I read on Reddit that it will also work when using the Apple Camera Adapter (edit: the powered one) so that you can plug in your iPad to power while being connected to the external media device.
 
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iMacDragon

macrumors 68020
Oct 18, 2008
2,355
703
UK
iOS 13 will work with any thumb drives/SSDs etc. without any problem as long as you have a USB-C iPad as far as I know. If you have a lightning iPad (or even iPhone?) and the SSD etc. requires too much power I read on Reddit that it will also work when using the Apple Camera Adapter so that you can plug in your iPad to power while being connected to the external media device.

Yeah, the USB C ipad pro will, but none of the lightning devices will.
 

chris4565

macrumors 65816
Sep 22, 2018
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Yeah, the USB C ipad pro will, but none of the lightning devices will.
According to Reddit a Lightning iPad will be able to connect to SSDs etc. as long as you get the Apple Camera Adapter (edit: the powered one) (so that you can simultaneously plug in the iPad to power).
 
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iMacDragon

macrumors 68020
Oct 18, 2008
2,355
703
UK
According to Reddit a Lightning iPad will be able to connect to SSDs etc. as long as you get the Apple Camera Adapter (so that you can simultaneously plug in the iPad to power).

The powered camera adapter, likely, yes, I only have the standard one.

And this still requires external power of some sort, so can't use a thumb drive portably, at least without extra equipment.
 

chris4565

macrumors 65816
Sep 22, 2018
1,009
481
Yup, that’s true. The only portable solution would be to bring a power bank with you ?
 

T-Will

macrumors 65816
Sep 8, 2008
1,042
433
Canon 5D (original model) connected via USB cable to the Apple Lightning to USB Camera Adapter (Model A1440) to iPhone, does allow photos to be imported into the Photos.app. The Files.app does not show external storage or camera attached though. Hope that helps!
 
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