iPad Camera Connection Kit Notes and Demo Video

[trsnrtr]

Do any of you own an iPad?

Typing this on one.

All those complaining about the lack of an USB port, I have a question for you.

Where will it fit?

The iPad is too thin to house an USB port. End of debate.

Yes, I'm typing on one in motel room at the moment. I've had it since 4/3 and couldn't be happier. OK, flash would have been nice but I've already noticed that some sites are changing away from flash.

Love this thing. 🙂

 

[random person]

Ok, there is someone on the apple discussion forums that claims that they were able to load RAW images to the iPad using the kit, then connected the iPad to the mac and were able to access the full resolution RAW files with Lightroom (with iPhoto and Aperture also recognizing the iPad). The resulting files were the full resolution and file size that were on the camera.

So maybe we need a little more clarification...

Thanks so much for posting this! If it works as you describe it would be perfect. I am a semi-pro photographer and just came back from a shoot in the desert with my iPad and no computer for the first time. I used my portable hypspace color drive to dump my images into but the viewing screen is small and with a blue cast. If instead I could have used the iPad for primary storage and viewed the JPegs but could keep and transfer the raws into aperture well then i think that is just killer for a serious photographer! No need for an external hard drive except for a "belt and suspenders" additional backup plan!

 

[random person]

Ok, so on a Nikon D3 with both cards in the slots, it only wants to read card 2. You have to pop card 2 out for it to see card 1. (via USB from camera...something I've NEVER done before)
RAW - good resolution at full screen (D3 has a 900,000 dot LCD so the RAW attached jpeg is bigger than my other camera). No enlargement capability. File transfers into LR as full sized RAW file (4256X2832 for D3)
TIFF - high resolution enlargement possible. File transfers into LR as full sized TIFF file (4256X2832) Believe me, I had to hunt to find this, I've never switched it off RAW in 2+ years.
RAW+JPEG - at least 4x enlargement possible. RAW file transfers into LR.
Other Camera... DNG - file transfers into LR as DNG (5212X3468)
LR= Adobe Lightroom 2

Thanks for this fellow nikon user! When you view the images are you viewing the raws or the embedded jpegs?

 

[random person]

Which only lets you view your MobileMe galleries, but not upload to them AFAIK.

And the mobile me gallery app has not been updated for ipad! A damn shame if you ask me!

 

[DakotaGuy]

Do any of you own an iPad?

Typing this on one.

All those complaining about the lack of an USB port, I have a question for you.

Where will it fit?

The iPad is too thin to house an USB port. End of debate.

I own an iPad. Actually I am typing this on my iPad. I think there is plenty of room on the side for a USB port and an SD card slot. I don't think room was the issue. I think Apple designed it to be nothing more than a media consumption device, a big iPod Touch. If the iPad was more capable then it starts to take sales away from a very profitable notebook computer business.

The idea is to move people up from the iPod not to move people down from a Mac notebook.

 

[MisterK]

But it does other stuff

I don't think Apple needs to add USB, HDMI, SD Card slot, Cameras, Compact Flash Card slots. For me, this is a travelling entertainment device that I can do some light computing on. Unlike software, I can't just turn off stuff I don't use – I have to live with 5 ports junking up my sleek gadget, adding weight and taking up room, and just making it uglier. I'm going on a cruise later this year and I can't wait to take my iPad on board. SO much better than carrying a laptop around. I think the great mind hurdle for a lot of people is trying to define what a computer is.

It turns out that the iPad is a new sort of device. Just get it if you want it. If it doesn't do it for you, then get a netbook or something else. What Steve Jobs said is right... "netbooks AREN'T a new category between laptops and cell phones. They are just small laptops." That's no insult to netbooks, just that if you want a new product class it has to be different enough from the existing products. You might have to accept that this "other thing" doesn't do stuff your computer does, but it does do other stuff.

Where are all the people complaining that netbooks don't have accelerometers, touch screens, any applications actually made for them (you'll never find a new racing game that runs well on a netbook, because who is developing that?!), an app store with the simplest uninstalls, or that you can't read an e-newspaper on a netbook while standing up in the subway?


If you want a really good device, you have to decide what it is NOT. A fork doesn't become better if you tape a knife to it. Being true to what the device is and not trying to be for every geek actually makes it better for your intended customers.

 

[chaosconan]

You can already share files over WiFi between the iPad and Mac/PC using one of the third-party apps like AirSharing. No need for a USB port or a memory card slot. Of course, this type of file sharing is sandboxed so it isn't completely open to all potential functions but that's the way Apple probably wants it.

I don't call that sharing when its restricted only to AirSharing app.

What I was proposing is a Documents folder thats shared and can be accessed by all applications. Of course this folder can only store data files created by applications and cannot have any executables. What I mean by that is that the device cannot launch any applications from the documents folder.

If Apple wants to exclude their apps (Music, Photo, and Video) from storing or accessing any files from the Shard Documents folder, thats their call. But at least let the apps be allowed to share it. And at the same time make this Shared Documents folder available to be accessed through iTunes...

Better yet a new version of iTunes called iTunes Wireless (connects to your device by using ad-hoc wifi connection, bluetooth file transfer services, or bluetooth ip service).

 

[kilofox]

RAW Info

Someone on YouTube asked if the iPad reduced RAW images when importing from the iPad to Aperture.

I took a test photo with my Olympus E-P2 Camera set in RAW mode. The test shot reported by the camera was 12.91 MB, 4032x3024. After importing the shot into my iPad via the Camera Connection Kit SDHC Card Reader, I connected my iPad to my iMac and launched Aperture (I dont use iPhoto). I selected Import and choose the iPad.

I selected the test photo I shot and Aperture reported the same size and dimensions - 12.91 MB, 4032x3024. There appears no degrade from the original shot taken with the camera. Metadata was also untouched.

Someone earlier reported that the iPad converts a RAW to jpg before import. They are mistaken. The iPad imported the exact same RAW file into Aperture that was taken with the camera.

Those of you that shoot RAW+JPG, when importing into the iPad, the iPad will indicate that the photo to be imported is RAW+JPG with white lettering across the thumbnail of the photo to be imported.

 

[technobear]

Ok, so on a Nikon D3 with both cards in the slots, it only wants to read card 2. You have to pop card 2 out for it to see card 1. (via USB from camera...something I've NEVER done before)
RAW - good resolution at full screen (D3 has a 900,000 dot LCD so the RAW attached jpeg is bigger than my other camera). No enlargement capability. File transfers into LR as full sized RAW file (4256X2832 for D3)
TIFF - high resolution enlargement possible. File transfers into LR as full sized TIFF file (4256X2832) Believe me, I had to hunt to find this, I've never switched it off RAW in 2+ years.
RAW+JPEG - at least 4x enlargement possible. RAW file transfers into LR.
Other Camera... DNG - file transfers into LR as DNG (5212X3468)
LR= Adobe Lightroom 2

Thank you, some solid experience with the Camera connection kit.
sounds like it will be useful to us photographers, if we have both raw and ability to connect to LR! thank you again!

(after 11 pages of "i think the ipad should be..." , someone actually posted a comment about the topic 🙂

 

[harley3k]

That is so awesome to have a fat white dongle connected to the sleek ipad.

This is one of the more useful things I can imagine owning an iPad for, but why they couldn't include a USB port or SD slot baffles me. Having those ports on my MacBook doesn't make it any less of a "magical" device.

 

[michelle21]

So far the only logical voice in this thread. Look Apple wants to make money no doubt, but they do it by making "insanely great" products with healthy fat margins, not by dongling (is a new word for the grammar police) you to death.

If you haven't figured it out yet, the iPhone/iPad and all Apple mobile OS devices have moved away from a file metaphor and will likely never embrace one.

This means bye bye to SD and USB ports. Having an SD card slot or a USB means having a to provide a file manager and having to embrace the file metaphor. Otherwise, you would stick in the SD card and say why can't I find/open this file type, or worse sticking in the SD card and nothing happening because there are no photos on it and there is no file manager. Imagine how confused a user would be. Likewise a USB port would mean you could attach a bunch of peripherals (e.g. GPS) that won't do anything.

This way the added on functionality is clearly defined by the add-on dongle.

Now make no mistake that Apple saw $$ in this approach as well, but I think its just to make money is rather narcissistic and fatalistic. Apple likely has better things to do than just whore you over for $30 🙄

So everyone repeat after me...

The file metaphor is dead on Apple's mobile devices.
The file metaphor is dead on Apple's mobile devices.
The file metaphor is dead on Apple's mobile devices.

There is nothing to support that assumption.

More likely.. why include a port only a small percent of your users are likely to use when you can provide it to those users at a premium.

 

[casloncastle]

Bonus points

IMO, the reason why Apple didn't place a USB port directly into the iPad is because if they did so they'd potentially have to support every type of device that could attach to that port. They didn't want to do that so they offer a "camera connection kit" that is warranted to work only for the transfer of images from a camera. If it had a standard USB port everyone would be wanting to connect their keyboards, mice, printers, hard drives, video cameras, etc. and if those didn't work there would then be a loud outcry asking why not. Thus, by not providing those ports Apple keeps the system closed and avoids all kinds of compatibility and device support issues.

Furthermore, if they allowed the attachment of just any type of read/write storage over USB or even through a built-in SD card slot then there would be all kinds of issues about file systems and questions as to why you couldn't use the external disk or SD card for application storage or any other type of data that you might like to offload from the internal flash memory. Note, in any case, that the iPad/iPhone has a file system structure that is sandboxed and quite different in layout from the desktop versions of Mac OS X or Windows.

Sure, having a built-in USB port and/or flash card slot would expand the range of options that could be offered on the iPad but it would also mean that Apple would have to support those options and they probably don't want to do that (for a variety of reasons).

Apple is often wiser than many will give them credit for. I agree with the reasoning you present here. I makes perfect sense.

 

[Surely]

An sd card slot would be nice, but you guys do realize that having one would involve more than just cutting a hole in the side of this thing, right? I don't know that there is any room for the actual sd reader inside the iPad.

Same goes for a USB port.

 

[FoxMcCloud]

An sd card slot would be nice, but you guys do realize that having one would involve more than just cutting a hole in the side of this thing, right? I don't know that there is any room for the actual sd reader inside the iPad.

Same goes for a USB port.

I dont think space is the issue.

 

[IlluminatedSage]

they need an integrated Camera, flash and... SD card slot.

 

[RafMac]

I wander if the iPod Camera Connector that looks the same from the past as the current iPad Camera Connector will work with the iPad since they both have the same purpose, to connect the digital camera.

 

[Compile 'em all]

1 USB and 1 SD ports, right? I completely agree. This is just total SJ. The fewer holes I can have in my devices, the better. And it does make them look sleek, but really so less practical then they could have been to start with.

Anyway, I am obviously getting the camera connection kit.

You, like many other posters on this thread, still miss the point.

The iPad might have room for a USB port but once you put a USB port, the avg. joe will expect anything he plugs into it to work. I bet the first thing a normal user will attempt to do is plug in his external drive or usb drive and try to may be transfer some files to the iPad. Or may be connect their camcorder. Adding the port will simply open the flood gates of hell. Because now people will expect the iPad to behave like a computer or a laptop (which it is not supposed to). There is a reason Apple explicitly calls that Adaptor a Camera adaptor. Not a USB adaptor.

 

[FoxMcCloud]

You, like many other posters on this thread, still miss the point.

The iPad might have room for a USB port but once you put a USB port, the avg. joe will expect anything he plugs into it to work. I bet the first thing a normal user will attempt to do is plug in his external drive or usb drive and try to may be transfer some files to the iPad. Or may be connect their camcorder. Adding the port will simply open the flood gates of hell. Because now people will expect the iPad to behave like a computer or a laptop (which it is not supposed to). There is a reason Apple explicitly calls that Adaptor a Camera adaptor. Not a USB adaptor.

My Xbox has a USB port
I cannot connect anything I please.
This does not cause the world to end, as you all think will happen if the iPad had a USB port.

People seem to brown nose and defend Apple to high heaven saying WE DONT NEED THIS THING DUDE DONT BE SILLY, till Apple finally releases the thing that has been missing then they go YEY THIS IS THE BEST THING EVAR!!

Having the SD Slot at the very least will allow me to take the iPad and a digicam on holiday, and not require a silly adapter. Imagine that, an adapter-less feature!

Like the integrated webcam in laptops and monitors these days (and imacs). Think about it. Doing this wonderful little thing reduced the need to have an external accessory. It made life better. For Everyone.

 

[Master Chief]

And the HP slate will probably run less than half the time of the iPad on a normal charge. How stupid is that?

Looks like both manufacturers made compromises in the design of their device...

Apples and oranges i.e. that is a technical limitation, unlike the missing USB and SD ports – there is plenty room for them in the iPad (even for a twice the battery capacity).

p.s. Dongles are so 1980's. Very much like anything but Apple.

 

[Master Chief]

You, like many other posters on this thread, still miss the point.

The iPad might have room for a USB port but once you put a USB port, the avg. joe will expect anything he plugs into it to work. I bet the first thing a normal user will attempt to do is plug in his external drive or usb drive and try to may be transfer some files to the iPad. Or may be connect their camcorder. Adding the port will simply open the flood gates of hell. Because now people will expect the iPad to behave like a computer or a laptop (which it is not supposed to). There is a reason Apple explicitly calls that Adaptor a Camera adaptor. Not a USB adaptor.

Please, read the USB 2.0 specification and come back... in a year from now. Thank you.

 

[Surely]

I dont think space is the issue.

I'm very happy that you think that. Source?

 

[I WAS the one]

Can you import other files with the USB connector? I mean, If I want to import PDFs or Word docs, or maybe Pages or Numbers files, it can be done or not?

 

[jediknight0]

I just tried the camera connector with my iPhone 3G. It works. The iPad photo app launched and I was able to import photos taken with my iPhone. I also tried using a wireless USB keyboard with the kit. I plugged the keyboard's USB IR receiver into the USB camera adapter. Although the iPad popped up a warning that the USB device wasn't supported, I was able to use the keyboard anyway. A nice unexpected plus as I won't have to buy a bluetooth keyboard now for my iPad.

Sorry, but I'm a bit confused - you say you tested the iPhone then everything else you say mentions the iPad.

I'd love to know if the USB adapter works with the iphone for keyboards...

Thanks.

 

[Sean4123]

I think they care. But it's a tradeoff between cost and the risk of too much complexity versus trying to please most people.

If Apple tries to please everybody they'll end up with an overly complex device that is too expensive and difficult to use. It wouldn't sell and nobody would benefit.

Oh absolutely. Nothing says complex like a usb port. 🙄

 

[The Mad Hatter]

Hmm. A lot of stupidity in this thread, as usual when talking about why Apple products don't feature a mainstream ...feature.

So people are being "stupid" when they don't agree with your opinion? Hmm, now who's being stupid?

I waited a long time to buy another Mac, just so that I could have an SD slot on it, and I believe the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros are now a lot better with this new feature.

If that is why you've held out from getting a Mac, I feel sorry for you. You have missed out on a lot of great computers waiting so long. As for the MBs and MBPs. I'm actually thinking twice before I buy another MBP BECAUSE it has the SD slot. They took out the Express slot for that little ditty. Sure, put one in the MB since it is a consumer level laptop, and SDs are primarily in consumer level cameras. However, the MBP is supposed to be a Pro level laptop, and should have Pro level features. Most Pro level cameras have CF cards. Do I want a CF card slot? It'd be nice, but I know there are more people out there than just me. So an Express slot makes more sense because you can get an adaptor to match your card needs (ie. CF, Memory Stick, etc.)

SD is a big format now, and CF is not.

Wow, it's a big format now? I guess I should sell my Nikons (that are less than a year old) and buy new ones right now.

That is why you don't see CF slots of any PC, Laptop, Mac or MacBook.

Maybe it's because the CF crowd didn't bitch-n-moan as much as the SD crowd?

What about hte people who buy the iPad as their only computer? This would be perfect for the grandparents. However, they cannot plug a printer into it, or a card from their digicam without an add-on.

In case you haven't figured it out yet... This Is Not Meant To Be Your ONLY Computer! These things have a finite amount of storage. You'd need another computer to off-load your photos, files, what have you.

Would it not be better to have a discrete SD slot (like what is on the Macs already) and a discrete USB slot (which is on the Macs already) on the iPad in order to increase usability without detracting from design?
They can go on the bottom, next to that other port which doesn't detract from design.

This is entirely your opinion. I like the the way it's designed. However, if they make the USB functions more wide spread, then a USB port would come in handy.

Front facing camera + SD slot + 3G/Wifi/GPS as standard.
This is when I purchase an iPad.

Have fun waiting. I'll be happily using mine once the 3Gs come out.