Review of iPad Camera Connection Kit

The iPad camera connection kit (approx $30) is purchased separately from the iPad2. The kit consists of two adapters. A USB adapter from connecting your camera straight to the iPad and a SD card adapter to read SD cards.

Both the camera USB adapter and the SD card adapter work the same way. Attach the designated media to the iPad (powered up iPad), and the menu will load as soon as you open the photo app. When connecting the camera directly the camera must also be powered up of course.

The camera connection worked fine with the photos from the camera being read as soon as all devices were turned on, the photo app selected, and the camera menu choice tapped. However, after moving back to one of the other menu options, the program crashed when I tapped back to the camera menu. Further experimentation did not reproduce the glitch reliably so I can only believe it is an intermittent problem which does not cause any data loss.

The SD card adapter works in the same manner with quick load times and no noticeable glitches.

It bears noting that both adapters stick out from the iPad considerably so caution is advised to prevent accidentally knocking the adapters out of the iPad.

There has been a lot of speculation about whether or not you can use the USB adapter meant for camera connection for other USB devices. With the exception of very low capacity flash memory I was given "iPad cannot power this device" messages. This includes a USB mobile broadband stick for those of you wanting to avoid the built in broadband option. (Note that if you are dead set on avoiding the built in broadband you should still be able to use a mifi wifi hotspot device.)

This also means that those who use CompactFlash and other memory types will likely need to use the direct camera connect rather than attaching a memory card reader to the USB adapter.

The download process to transfer your photos from the camera or memory card is relatively straightforward. Upon clicking the "camera" menu option at the top of the screen, all photos (standard JPEG or RAW format) appear in thumbnails on the screen. Taping a photo once adds a check mark to show it is selected. Selecting upload at the bottom of the screen brings up the option to import selected photos or all photos. While photos are being saved, a small spinning wheel appears in place of the selection check mark on a photo (see example at top left of screenshot).

If some of the photos have already been saved, then previously saved photos have a green check mark and new selections have a blue check mark.

Once photos are imported you will be given the option to delete imported images from the camera/SD card or leave them alone.