iPad mini/week trip to Italy/photo storage and viewing

[mini user]

Hello again and thanks in advance for the information and advice I hope to receive. I have not yet been disappointed with the spot-on info I have received from this group.

I will be traveling to Italy in a few weeks on a photography tour. I am not a pro, but do exhibit and sell my work, and use what is termed 'prosumer equipment (upper mid-level equipment). I shoot mainly in RAW format, files averaging @ 20 MB each. I may shoot 100-200 photos daily as we will be out from dawn to dusk. We will be doing a critique each evening of each day's shoot, so I will need a way to review my photos. I do not have a laptop; just my 16 GB mini purchased in Oct. (not Retina…;^(

Here is my plan: I have a small external hard drive on which I will back up each day's shoot. Then I will download photos to my iPad using a card reader. My concern is that I will fill my mini's storage capacity..…and having to delete early photos from the Mini before being able to download & check the external drive's contents concerns me. I would then hook my Mini to my Big Mac when I get home and synch the photos over to the big boy..I have very little on my mini other than a few eBooks for the long flights. Very few apps.

I thought I might could use the iCloud…but cannot incur other expenses right now for something I would only use for a week….but I don't I believe I quite understand how all that works.

I may be going about this all wrong. I am SO open to suggestions.

Thanx,

mini user

 

[Tigerclaw]

You could think about sites like "Flickr" or "Photobucket" to up load your shots to, then it won't matter if you need to delete the photos from your Mini. You get limited storage on those sites unless your ISP gives you an account with them like mine does. Another option is possibly "Drop box" there's an App you can get for that. Again, the basic storage is limited, but maybe worth checking out.

I'm not sure how the iCloud works either, but I think the photos need to stay on the iPad, iPhone or whatever. Don't quote me on that though. Maybe someone else will have some more suggestions for you?

Regards, Tony

 

[giradman]

Hello MiniUser - welcome to the forum! NOW, a rough calculation, 20 MB/RAW image x 150 pics/daily x 6 days = 18 GB - first thought, why buy the lowest capacity iPad Mini?

SO, as you've already determined these daily images need to be preserved & backed-up in their RAW format - one concern is when images are transferred to the iPad, their size may be 'optimized' for the device (and your iPad is not retina which has 4x the screen pixel resolution) - my point is that you need to make sure that you preserve those original RAW images rather than exchanging back & forth, i.e. you might lose a lot of pixels w/ compression manipulations - I don't use RAW, so an issue for you to explore.

Now, I'm assuming that your camera(s) are likely using SD cards which have high capacities these days - I use an 8 GB SD card in my 'amateur' Panasonic Lumix camera, so why not just get a bunch of SD cards - 2 or 3 might just be enough? Another issue is how you are getting these images from your camera's storage cards to your iPad? I'm assuming using the CCK (Camera Connection Kit) - correct? If so, there are some 'wireless' options which will accept storage cards - below are the AirStash & the Apotop Wi-Reader (do a search on Amazon) - I own the AirStash - an SD card plugs into one end; the device sets up a 'personal' Wi-Fi network which the iPad can join; a free app on your device will allow transfer of your pics - just another thought.

Let me stop there to see if any of these thoughts & ideas might work for you and if you have other questions - Dave

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[mini user]

Thank you, Tigerclaw.

 

[mini user]

***Dave, You inspired me to total up my cards...I have mega SD (all Sandisk Extreme) cards…2-16Gb (just bought these), 3-8GB, 2-4GB, 4-1GB for a total of 68 GB. I bought the lightning to SD card reader to transfer images from the cards to the iPad. Looks as if I may have enough media….
One thing I must try is( from what the previous writer mentioned) is to take a RAW photo, transfer it to the iPad, then synch it to my Big Mac & see if the format remains RAW.

***I didn't know I was going to Italy when I bought it…and I never planned to use it for photos as my cameras are so much better…Oh, WELL!


That AirStash looks cool…more innovative than my card reader….thanks! mini


.

 

[giradman]

***Dave, You inspired me to total up my cards...I have mega SD (all Sandisk Extreme) cards…2-16Gb (just bought these), 3-8GB, 2-4GB, 4-1GB for a total of 68 GB. I bought the lightning to SD card reader to transfer images from the cards to the iPad. Looks as if I may have enough media….
One thing I must try is( from what the previous writer mentioned) is to take a RAW photo, transfer it to the iPad, then synch it to my Big Mac & see if the format remains RAW.

***I didn't know I was going to Italy when I bought it…and I never planned to use it for photos as my cameras are so much better…Oh, WELL!


That AirStash looks cool…more innovative than my card reader….thanks! mini

Well, appears that you have plenty of SD storage for your trip - I would certainly bring along as many of those cards as needed and make sure that your original RAW images are on them - also, check out the idea mentioned above - my feeling is that transferring images from a SD card in RAW format to an iPad non-retina device will likely cause a loss of information (just a guess w/o checking the web), SO putting them back onto another storage device may lead to a loss of quality.

The CCK that you own should work fine to transfer your images for review on the iPad Mini; of course, the AirStash that I mentioned is a wireless alternate that may be of interest?

Now, I've been to Italy twice (1971 & 1996) and there will be PLENTY of photo opts, so bring along a LOT of storage! Dave

 

[mini user]

I'll report back tomorrow about the photo on SD card-to-Mini-to-Mac transfer and whether the format changes.

Looks as if I'm in the market for a few more SD cards ;^) Better to have 'em & not need 'em...then need 'em & not have 'em.

On the trip I'll download everything daily to my Hyperdrive Space...then put 'em on the iPad to view....&. delete on the iPad.....if space runs out...

Many thanks to the advice....I'll keep checking back..and when I return I'll post about how it all worked out.

mini

 

[mini user]

Hello, all,

First let me apologize for not getting back to the Forum sooner. It just got very busy for a time.

Here is the scoop!

IPad mini WILL support RAW (photographic) files IF iPhoto is installed and files are downloaded to it. When the card reader is connected via the lightning port (did I get that right?) files automatically go to iPhoto & also some other mini Photo app that is on my mini. they are notated that they are in the RAW format.

THEN…! connecting the mini to my Big Mac via USB, Mac does what it does best…reads your mind…..and downloads the photo files to iPhoto. Now that they are on my computer, I can then import the ones I want to manipulate into Lightroom.

so!

We're good…I hop this helps anyone interested in using Mini as a storage device when traveling.


NEW QUESTION!

How do I find out how much space is available on mini? My RAW files average @ 20-25 MB each. I will toss some apps to free up as much space as possible.

Leaving in a week…PHEW! Good to have this one behind me!

 

[giradman]

IPad mini WILL support RAW (photographic) files IF iPhoto is installed and files are downloaded to it. When the card reader is connected via the lightning port (did I get that right?) files automatically go to iPhoto & also some other mini Photo app that is on my mini. they are notated that they are in the RAW format.

THEN…! connecting the mini to my Big Mac via USB, Mac does what it does best…reads your mind…..and downloads the photo files to iPhoto. Now that they are on my computer, I can then import the ones I want to manipulate into Lightroom.

We're good…I hop this helps anyone interested in using Mini as a storage device when traveling.

NEW QUESTION - How do I find out how much space is available on mini? My RAW files average @ 20-25 MB each. I will toss some apps to free up as much space as possible.

Hi again - seems like you've learned a LOT! Great - Please keep in mind that iPhoto relies on the contents of the standard photo app in iOS 7, i.e. 'links' are usually simply put into the app (there's just so much room on these iDevices; now there are 3rd party apps, such as My Photos which can import images into their own 'sandbox - I own that one). Please check to make sure that when you put the RAW images on the iPad Mini and then put them back onto your Mac that file size was indeed maintained? I'm not sure - look @ the quote below from HERE.

As to remaining storage on your iPad, just goto Settings > General and look at what remains on your already minimal capacity device. I would still strongly encourage you to take along plenty of SD cards and keep ALL of your RAW images on them; don't rely on your iPad to be your main 'storage' device; there is not enough room and the true RAW data is likely not really transferred to the iPad - have a great trip! Dave

From a digital camera

• Import photos to your iPad from a digital camera or an SD memory card, using the iPad Camera Connection Kit (for more information, see the iPad User Guide). Your photos are imported at full resolution.

Note: If you import RAW photos into your device, you can view them in iPhoto, but only the embedded JPEG file in each RAW file is displayed. The resolution of the embedded JPEG file depends on your camera. In iPhoto, RAW-format photos have a RAW label.

 

[mini user]

Remember I do have my 40 GB Hyperdrive Space (portable hard drive) on which I will download all my files first…it just attaches to Big Mac via USB & I'll transfer files when I get home. iPad is just for viewing….
Each file did have the RAW tag..was I wrong to assume that it was the RAW file?

thanks for the direction for storage info…I have 11.3 GB available…so If I use 10 GB….(1000MB=1 GB)?…10 x 1000=10,000MB. 10000 div by 25MB =400 photos…? 400 div by 6 days = 66 per day…….that won't work. I can easily do twice that…..Did make a mistake?

mini

 

[giradman]

Remember I do have my 40 GB Hyperdrive Space (portable hard drive) on which I will download all my files first…it just attaches to Big Mac via USB & I'll transfer files when I get home. iPad is just for viewing….
Each file did have the RAW tag..was I wrong to assume that it was the RAW file?

thanks for the direction for storage info…I have 11.3 GB available…so If I use 10 GB….(1000MB=1 GB)?…10 x 1000=10,000MB. 10000 div by 25MB =400 photos…? 400 div by 6 days = 66 per day…….that won't work. I can easily do twice that…..Did make a mistake?

mini

OK - good luck! Just did not want you to use the Mini as your main storage device! You seem ready to go! My first trip to Italy was in the summer of 1971 (graduation present to my spouse & I from my FIL) - I was not into photography @ the time, but my father gave me a 'used' Leica camera - decided to use slide film then and tested, seemed OK - however on our return and after taking a dozen rolls of slide film, I anxiously sent them away for development - NONE came OUT! My whole trip was lost as to pictures - I learned quickly - BUT you seem to have a LOT of redundancy in your plan - looking forward to your results! Dave

 

[mini user]

Thanks, Dave. If I can figure out how, (and am not brain dead from the crazy shooting schedule we are on, I'll post some photos to the Forum. Otherwise, I'll post a few after i return...by the end of March or so.

Dave& all, thanks for all the help.

mini

 

[mini user]

Update....after discussions w/the photography professional leading this trip, I have decided that the Mini will not be adequate for the critiques of the photos that he has planned. So old Mac Pro will be lugged along along...

 

[Plainsman]

I use a Seagate 1T drive that sets up its own wifi spot for the Mini, allowing me to transfer pix to it using the CCK. But I do not take the pix off the SD cards after the transfer. I take enough cards (16,32,64) for a trip of any length and many thousands of pix. All pix stay on the cards, the wifi drive, and selected ones on the Mini (mine's Retina/128g). When I get back to base I transfer everything to desktop and to two or three HDs. Seems anal but better to be too careful that to bemoan the loss of pix that cannot be replaced. Cards are cheap these days. Take lots!