Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit (MC531ZM/A)

Product Details

• Item Weight: 2.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B003K1EYM6
• Item model number: BT-MC531
  

By : Apple
List Price : $29.00
Price : $23.24
You Save : $5.76 (20%)

Product Description

With the iPad Camera Connection Kit, it's incredibly easy to download photos from your digital camera to your iPad so you can view them on the gorgeous iPad display and share them with family and friends. The kit includes two connectors, each with a different interface: The Camera Connector features a USB interface. Just plug it into the dock connector port on your iPad, then attach your digital camera or iPhone using a USB cable (not included). Use the SD Card Reader to import photos directly from your camera's SD card. Connect it to your iPad, then insert your digital camera's SD card into the slot. After you make the connection, your iPad automatically opens the Photos app, which lets you choose which pictures to import, then organizes the selected photos into albums. When you sync iPad to your PC or Mac, the photos on your iPad are added to your computer's photo library. iPad and the Camera Connection Kit support standard photo formats, including JPEG and RAW.

 

Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit (MC531ZM/A)

 

Technical Details

• import photos and videos from a digital camera: using your cameras USB cable or directly from an SD card
• iPad and the Camera Connection Kit support standard photo formats, including JPEG and RAW
• Compatible with ONLY iPad

Customer Reviews

This WAS an excellent product. Now, for many of us, it's worthless. In May, I took it with my iPad to the Amazon jungle in Peru and was able to read the CF card from my Canon DSLR using a small CF card reader. It was brilliant. I could review my day's photos and decide where to shoot the next day based on whether or not I was happy with my results.
Then came the updated iOS 4.2 operating system for the iPad right at the beginning of December, and now this kit cannot read a CF card using an external reader. This is because Apple reduced the power to the port that this plugs into specifically to prevent people from plugging useful things into the USB connector. That's why I say to ignore any review before that time. Earlier reviews are talking about a product that actually works as designed. Only reviews after that tell you what it can do if you buy it now.
Still, this might work for some people, depending on your needs. Here's where you stand.
1. You only have SD cards in your cameras. You're probably fine. The SD dongle still reads most of those.
2. You have CF cards and need to read them with an external reader. You are completely out of luck unless you use a powered USB hub. At that point, you're carrying so much junk around, you may as well just take your laptop, and you must be near an electrical outlet for it to work at all.
3. You have CF cards and can attach a USB cable directly to your camera. This is a crap shoot. Some cameras work and some don't. You can either borrow a CCK from someone to see if it works with yours or you can just buy it and hope.
Some may wonder if my one-star is a little too harsh, given that this device still works in some situations. Normally, I would agree, but there's another point at work here. This isn't about a device that never had the capacity to do something you might want it to do. For that you knock it down a star or two. This is a device that worked perfectly when it was released and that the manufacturer has intentionally crippled. Both the iPad and this kit are capable of working, but Apple has removed that functionality in software. When a company breaks their own product on purpose, I think that deserves one star.

While I agree on the outrageousness of the opportunistic pricing by marketplace vendors here at the moment, it does NOT mean this product should get a one star rating.
That being said, the connection kit (if you can get ahold of one) works as described. I've tested it with Nikon RAW NEF files and it works beautifully. It maintains the original untouched NEF through the camera - iPad - iPhoto on Mac path without compromising the RAW image - this was a major concern for me.
A friend has a DSLR that takes Compact Flash and after a great deal of research was able to find a USB card reader that was compatible with the USB connection adapter so she could view/transfer the images without having to tether the camera over USB! The biggest issue was finding a CF card reader that did not draw too much power from the iPad.
My only gripe, and the reason for the deduction of a star is the performance / ease of quickly reviewing images. I find the highest utility of this device is to quickly review a photo on a much larger screen while on location. When you first put the card in, the Photo app generates thumbnails of the images on the card. These are of a fixed size and to view the image any larger you must fully import the image into the Photo library on-device then view it. There is no way to view a larger image directly from the memory card. This makes the process of reviewing a few images amongst many pretty cumbersome.
For fun, I tried hooking up a USB keyboard to the USB adaptor and can confirm it works like reports elsewhere have said. 3rd party apps don't have access to all of the function keys/control key combinations yet but built in Apple apps do. Maybe in a future OS release?

 

Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit (MC531ZM/A)