Use your iPad to make the most of your camera when out in the field

Everyone with a camera loves taking photos on vacation. The prospect of sorting through hundreds of them when you get home, though, isn’t quite as much fun. However, with the iPad and Apple’s Camera Connection Kit, it’s amazing how much you can do on the move. Attach the CCK, plug in your camera or its memory card and pick out the good photos. You can then fix them with a few swipes in a simple program, and have them ready to email or share online instantly.

It must be said that if you want to do large-scale edits, apply more ambitious filters or have total precision, a computer and mouse beats the iPad any day. However, even if you’d rather die than give up Photoshop, your iPad remains a valuable tool for immediately seeing how pictures have come out. It has a far better screen than your camera offers, so you can quickly polish up a few on site and still have access to your originals when you get home. For more casual editing, the software you’ll need is usually cheap to the point of free.

The only potential sticking point is compatibility. Cameras shoot in two formats -- JPEG and the camera’s own custom raw format. The iPad converts the latter for you so that every application can work on your files, but that’s reliant on the iPad itself supporting your camera. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t offer a master list of which ones are covered, so you should do a quick Google to make sure yours is. If it’s a Nikon or Canon camera, you should be fine, though it could potentially take a while before a system update comes along for new models. You’ll still be able to import JPEG files, though.

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How to Make Your iPad the Ideal Photography Companion

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  Camera Connection Kit

  The official CCK costs $29 and is well worth buying. It comes with two units: one that takes a USB cable, and one that reads SD cards. The only downside is that – being small bits of plastic – it’s easy to lose them.

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  Hooking it up

  In most cases, it’s fastest to use the card reader. Slot the card reader into the bottom of your iPad and plug in your memory card. The Photos app will automatically load and show you the contents in a new Camera tab.

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  Importing files

  If you shoot JPEGs, importing should be quick. raw files have to be converted to JPEG format first. Once loaded, tap the images you want to work on to mark them with a tick, then tap Import, followed by Import Selected.

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  Keep or delete?

  After the import finishes, you can keep or delete the originals. Keep them! Even though you can connect your iPad to your PC or Mac when you get home and import your edited pictures from there, it’s good to have a backup!

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  Finding files

  On the iPad itself, your images will be put into three folders: All Imported, a dated Event, and (temporarily) Last Import. When you plug the iPad into your computer, though, you’ll just get them as a stack of files.

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  Sharing a moment

  Raw files rarely look great without a little TLC, but even if they do, don’t mail them out of Photos: they’re much bigger than JPEGs! Open them in an editor, if only to save a copy, and mail that version out instead.

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