Photostream Questions From Sr. Citizen

[Robert11]

Hello,

Have a new iPad, and am trying to understand, and to get working, PhotoStream/iCloud.
I would like to be able to send photos and videos I take with the iPad to my son, who has a
Windows 7 (64 bit vers.) PC.

Having all sorts of problems doing so.

a. My understanding is that ALL Photos and Videos you take with the iPad are automatically sent to the iCloud
(assuming it is enabled in the iPad Settings).
Is this true ?

b. When does what you take with the iPad appear in Photos, and/or when in PhotStream ? Both automatically ?

c. It seems that a video I took appears in "Photos", but not in "Photostream".
Why might this be ?

d. Can I transfer between them ? Photos to Photostream, or Albums to Photostream ?
Or, shouldn't I have to, as the contents of all of them should also be in Photostream automatically ?

Any hints, etc. would be much appreciated. I know these are pretty basic questions, but I have spent a lot of time in trying to understand all the nuances, read the Help files, but have not had much luck. Will blame it on my age now.
If anyone could help me out a bit with all of this, would be most appreciative.

BTW: I removed Bonjour from my son's PC per several Posts to do this for Windows7 64 bit PC's. O.K. ?

Thank you very much,
Bob

 

[petermillard]

Hi there.

I'm not a Windows user, so my knowledge of that side of things is a little sketchy, but perhaps I can help with a few general pointers? Firstly, Photo Stream is a convenient way for you to 'get at' photos you have taken on all your devices, so you can shoot pictures on e.g. your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, and view them on your other devices without having to sync or transfer anything. But iCloud and PhotoStream are not for general photo-sharing; if that's what you want then you'll be better served with one of the photo-sharing sites like Flickr, Photo Bucket or Google Picasa Web.

a. My understanding is that ALL Photos and Videos you take with the iPad are automatically sent to the iCloud
(assuming it is enabled in the iPad Settings).
Is this true ?

Photos only, not videos - presumably due to their size.

b. When does what you take with the iPad appear in Photos, and/or when in PhotStream ? Both automatically ?

Both automatically, but you have to be on wifi for photo stream to work - again, presumably due to file sizes. Also, it can take a little while for photos to appear in photo stream - I've had them arrive immediately, and also take a few hours...

c. It seems that a video I took appears in "Photos", but not in "Photostream".
Why might this be ?

Photo Stream supports photos only, I'm afraid, not video; annoying, I know!

d. Can I transfer between them ? Photos to Photostream, or Albums to Photostream ?
Or, shouldn't I have to, as the contents of all of them should also be in Photostream automatically ?

Photo Stream stores your 1000 most recently taken photos for 30 days. As far as I know, you can't 'add' photos or albums to Photo Stream, you have to shoot them on a device with photo stream enabled. As I say, it's meant as a convenient way of seeing photos you've shot on all your devices without having to sync or transfer; you can copy photos from your Photo Stream onto e.g. iPhoto on your Mac (and PC, presumably) or (certainly on the Mac) have this done automatically if you want to post them online or email them, but AFAIK you can't share photos in your Photo Stream - unless of course, your son is logged in as you??

Hope this helps, Peter

 

[twerppoet]

If you would prefer not to use a photosharing site, then DropBox's new automatic photo upload feature might work well for you.

Your photos, simplified (Part III) – The Dropbox Blog

Disclaimer: I have not used this service myself.

 

[Hayz]

I for one recommend DropBox, I use it to store my photos, I gt slightly paranoid about my laptop, and also you can share it with who you like, so your son could see the photos if you invited him to DropBox. I highly recommend it.

 

[Robert11]

Hello,

Thank you all for the help.

If I don't want to go the Dropbox route, is there any practical way to get a video that is on my iPad to a DVD or a memory stick ?

Thanks, Bob

 

[twerppoet]

Hello,

Thank you all for the help.

If I don't want to go the Dropbox route, is there any practical way to get a video that is on my iPad to a DVD or a memory stick ?

Thanks, Bob

Well, there's the computer, if you have one. The iPad mounds as a USB drive on Windows. You can go into the DCIM folder and copy any pictures or videos that are on the Camera Roll (or Imported Albums).

The only other method I can think of involves special hardware like the AirStash. That would allow you to copy pictures from/to an SD card. There are a couple of similar devices, but I can't remember their names at the moment.