Using iPad as hard drive for photo shoots - possible?

HI there,

I'm a professional photographer and I will get an iPad 2 soon. I hadn't planned on getting one, but one of my colleagues is selling it for very little money, so I can't resist.

I have a brand new iMac at home and my old MacBook is pretty much broken and horrible to work with. So I was thinking: Is it actually possible to use the iPad on set instead of the Macbook? Is there any way to transfer my RAW files directly from a CF-card or USB-Port of the camera to my iPad, for later editing at home? Also, will there be the possibility to organize and even view them on the iPad itself?

Has anyone ever tried it? What apps, accessories and possibilities are there in general, or am I simply disillusional?

Help is much appreciated!

Cheers,
Sandra

Hi Sandra, and welcome to the Mac Forums! Yes, what you want to do is entirely possible. In fact, you can shoot tethered (wirelessly) with an iPad while your client holds it, and soft proofs in the process. First, let me point you to an CF card adapter: http://store.micgadget.com/card-readers/280-ipad-2-cf-card-camera-connection-kit.html

Then check out this video by Lee Morris, which goes over tethered shooting with an iPad. There are some great apps out there that are used for keeping an portfolio during the process, which I believe he also goes into a tad.
http://fstoppers.com/ipad

One thing I'll say about tethering, is that it's going to be a pain in the rump to do with an CF card, since there are no manufacturer's that produce the same type of Eye fi card as the one you'll see. They only deal with SD cards. It's possible to get an adapter, but it is said that the adapters kind of kill the range of your wireless signal, as well as shorten the life span of the actual CF card.

Doug

Forgot to mention. That first method for tethering required one to jailbreak their iPad. This new method does not: http://fstoppers.com/how-to-tether-your-camera-to-an-ipad-without-jailbreaking


And the adapter to go from CF to SD http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0016G8DBA/?tag=macforums0e4-20
Doug

shuttersnitch is also a good companion app to run with this as well

I use the camera kit and it works fine for transferring media to the iPad. You'd probably want to use the USB connection - with the camera self powered - unless your camera uses SD directly (or if you use Doug's adapter to put an SD into a CF camera) The reason I say this is - the camera kit is a bit touchy about draw power so everything connected to USB camera kit adapter needs to be self powered. I've gotten the SD card reader to work with adapters for smaller SD standards - but I've never gotten the USB to work with anything other than powered cameras.

The iPad uses the default photo app for organization and viewing.

Doug - I'd give you more rep for the eye-fi hint but I need to spread around more rep before it allows me to give you more - so all I can give is a virtual pat on the back.

Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit - Apple Store (U.S.)

Shutter snitch is a good suggestion, I'll second it. I would not, however, recommend transferring files directly from the camera to the iPad via any USB source. Chances of data corruption are quite high doing things that way. That certainly includes using the camera connection kit.

Doug

I've not experienced any problem with data corruption with the sd card reader (several gigs of photos and movies since the iPad 2 came out).

The direct USB - I don't use except when I was testing out the power limits.

IvanLasston said:

I've not experienced any problem with data corruption with the sd card reader (several gigs of photos and movies since the iPad 2 came out).

The direct USB - I don't use except when I was testing out the power limits.

Click to expand...

Using the SD card reader is fine. I was speaking strictly about using the USB port directly from the camera. That's when most data corruption occurs, if it's going to occur at all.

Doug