Traveling with iPad and 4G phone for backup

Rhuarc

For the first time I will be taking a trip with only the iPad and a 4G phone to back up photos. Has anyone tried using the iPad connection kit to copy raw files from memory cards and upload them to a cloud storage location every night?

The lack of ability to plug in a USB hard drive is severely hampering my ability to just carry the iPad as a travel computer.

Any suggestions people have would be greatly appreciated.

Pupator

Bandwidth caps are the problem. I have an iPad 2 and a camera connection kit. I can put the RAW files on the iPad and then I have several options for putting them online until I get home (dropbox, sugarsync, photostream). But even my 4G LTE Verizon data card has a 5GB monthly cap. This is why I always take the laptop with me. If I was only taking <1GB of pictures on a trip (never happens for me) I'd probably go the iPad & upload route.

On my D7000 I find it easier to just use the second SD slot as a backup card. Obviously, it doesn't help me if my camera gets stolen with both the cards in it.

Rhuarc

I am grandfathered into an unlimited 4G data plan. I have actually just discovered that I can use a MicroSD to SD to CF adapter, and then use that MicroSD card in the phone to upload to a site.

Rhuarc

Has anyone had any success stacking adapters to go from MicroSD to CF? I tried it out using e nonSDHC MicroSD card and it seemed to work fine. When Itried to format the card it said there was an error, but when I turned the camera off and back on it seemed to have correctly formatted and allowed me to take more shots.

pmaxwell

I have used the camera connection kit to get the raw files onto the iPad, but have never needed to use the iPad to get them to an online backup or back to my laptop. I'm curious how that works. Does the raw file get used in iClouds Photo stream? I wouldn't have thought so, so i'm curious to find out how you are doing it, as I'd love an easy backup method like this for travel as well.

cmason

My biggest issue with the iPad as a travel computer is that its not a computer.

It does not work like one in any way, and as a companion for my camera: stinks. Now, I love my iPad, use it every day and is the perfect travel device, but it stinks for photography.

In order to be useful for photography, it needs to be able to 1)transfer photos from cards to the device, 2) act as backup storage, 3) view images, 4) edit images, 5) share images.

This is my experience:

1) Transferring over the camera connection kit works ok. I used the USB adapter and my USB multi card adapter for my CF cards. The RAW imported fine.

2) However, at any time I have about 7GB of memory left on my iPad. In order to give room for 8GB+ for images, I have do delete apps, and movies/music. Not a big problem really, as they are backed up on iTunes, but still a pain. Frankly, CF cards are far cheaper, I just buy extras.

3), 4) Viewing images is where the iPad clearly excels. Now if you are importing RAW, you are stuck basically with the embedded JPEG, but it still looks pretty good. However, the included Photo app can not edit in any way, and while there are apps, like PS Express that can edit images, they are destructive. So basically, editing is really out until I get to my laptop and Lightroom.

5) Where the iPad really stinks is in sharing images. Sure you can email and image, and even post them to Facebook and Twitter. So social network share is good. But, when your Aunt Bettie wants a print of the photo on the iPad, or you no one else has a CF card or adapter, and you need to get many images to another PC, then its really a pain in the a$$ to get files off the iPad. I can recommend Photosync, and app that works pretty well, with companion apps for Mac, Windows and iPhone to help transfer photos to those devices. It even has a webserver built in to share with others.

So I love my iPad, but when I need to do photography, the laptop is mandatory.

Rhuarc

pmaxwell wrote: »

I have used the camera connection kit to get the raw files onto the iPad, but have never needed to use the iPad to get them to an online backup or back to my laptop. I'm curious how that works. Does the raw file get used in iClouds Photo stream? I wouldn't have thought so, so i'm curious to find out how you are doing it, as I'd love an easy backup method like this for travel as well.

I would be planning on tethering my iPad2 to my 4G phone over WiFi, and then using the phone connection to upload the RAW photos. My iPad2 is jailbroken, so I would be using a program called iFile to upload the RAW images over FTP. There are a few apps that claim to do this without being jailbroken, but I am not sure.

cmason wrote: »

My biggest issue with the iPad as a travel computer is that its not a computer.

It does not work like one in any way, and as a companion for my camera: stinks. Now, I love my iPad, use it every day and is the perfect travel device, but it stinks for photography.

In order to be useful for photography, it needs to be able to 1)transfer photos from cards to the device, 2) act as backup storage, 3) view images, 4) edit images, 5) share images.

This is my experience:

1) Transferring over the camera connection kit works ok. I used the USB adapter and my USB multi card adapter for my CF cards. The RAW imported fine.

2) However, at any time I have about 7GB of memory left on my iPad. In order to give room for 8GB+ for images, I have do delete apps, and movies/music. Not a big problem really, as they are backed up on iTunes, but still a pain. Frankly, CF cards are far cheaper, I just buy extras.

3), 4) Viewing images is where the iPad clearly excels. Now if you are importing RAW, you are stuck basically with the embedded JPEG, but it still looks pretty good. However, the included Photo app can not edit in any way, and while there are apps, like PS Express that can edit images, they are destructive. So basically, editing is really out until I get to my laptop and Lightroom.

5) Where the iPad really stinks is in sharing images. Sure you can email and image, and even post them to Facebook and Twitter. So social network share is good. But, when your Aunt Bettie wants a print of the photo on the iPad, or you no one else has a CF card or adapter, and you need to get many images to another PC, then its really a pain in the a$$ to get files off the iPad. I can recommend Photosync, and app that works pretty well, with companion apps for Mac, Windows and iPhone to help transfer photos to those devices. It even has a webserver built in to share with others.

So I love my iPad, but when I need to do photography, the laptop is mandatory.

I agree. The frustrating thing for me is that I think Apple could have easily added a feature here or there to mek this kind of thing more doable. I would love to be able to plug in a USB hard drive and copy the RAW files onto that, but you can't do that either.

This trip is not something that is soley photograph related, but I hate not having my photos backed up anywhere. By uploading them online overnight I would have the peace of mind that they were backed up somewhere not on my person. Now to bite the bullet and pay $30 for a peice of plastic an inch long.