Can I use my iPad as an external monitor 4 my Canon t4i?

[cashonly]

While out in the field, I'd like to review my pictures on a bigger screen (aging eyes and all that, ya know). Is there a way to hook up my iPad to my t4i so that I can see the images that are showing on my t4i?

 

[Light Guru]

Have you search the forum or google? this has been talked about several times on here.

 

[cashonly]

I have searched here and google. I find wifi cards - not the solution I want as I'm already going through 2 64GB cards in a shoot and they are twice as much for 32GB. I've also found $200-$300 wifi devices. I'm just looking for something cheap and simple like a USB tether solution.

 

[Dao]

Not sure about ipad, but you can use a small laptop and use the software that came with your camera.

 

[Light Guru]

I have searched here and google. I find wifi cards - not the solution I want as I'm already going through 2 64GB cards in a shoot and they are twice as much for 32GB. I've also found $200-$300 wifi devices. I'm just looking for something cheap and simple like a USB tether solution.

Now your first post did NOT say that you didnt want a wifi card solution.

If you are shooting 128GB of photos per shoot an iPad is NOT going to help you. Yes they sell 128GB iPads but not all of that is available space.

There is also no USB tethered shooting option for the iPad. You can connect the iPad via USB after shooting. but when you plug in your camera via USB to the ipad the camera is not going to let you keep shooting shoot.

Because you are shooting 128GB per shoot if you want to shoot tethered I would not even consider the iPad as an option. You are going to need a laptop and external hard drive.

128GB of photos per shoot is a LOT, what are you shooting that you need to shoot that much per shoot. Perhaps you are shooting a lot more images per shoot then you need to.

 

[Juga]

The 6D and the upcoming 70D are the only ones to have built it wifi. So your answer is just lugging around your laptop, wifi card, or wifi attachment. 128gb per shoot is extremely high. I am curious about what type of shooting is involved where you find it necessary to review on the go and using that much memory especially on a T4i. When I had one the RAW file was 22mb and shot a wedding using two 16gb cards.

 

[TCampbell]

I have searched here and google. I find wifi cards - not the solution I want as I'm already going through 2 64GB cards in a shoot and they are twice as much for 32GB. I've also found $200-$300 wifi devices. I'm just looking for something cheap and simple like a USB tether solution.

What are you shooting?

Two 64GB cards sounds very high. Assuming you're shooting in RAW, a RAW file on a T4i will be between 25-30MB. Assuming 25MB, that'd be about 5,000 images in a shoot.

An EyeFi ProX2 card is about $100. The card is 16GB but it has an "infinite" mode where it just starts spooling the images off the card to a computer and then deleting the images to clear more space (so you never have to change the card.) EyeFi does have an iPad app to receive the images you're shooting.

But the downside is, these things eat battery power and the transfer speed isn't fast. If you're shooting JPEG, it'll be several seconds after shooting before the image shows up. If you shoot RAW then the delay is fairly substantial. When I shoot tethered via USB, the image shows up in Aperture after just a second or so. If I were working with a model, the wifi delay time would long enough that it would be disruptive to the shoot (you don't want to shoot, then stop everything while you wait the better part of a minute for the image to show up.)

But if you're really shooting through 2 64GB cards, you'll likely discover that an iPad just doesn't have enough free space for all those images.

If you want light and portable, get a MacBook Air and shoot tethered via USB. They all have SSD drives (so they're extremely fast) but they only come in 128GB and 256GB versions. That means if you're really shooting that many images, you'll need external storage and will need to unload the drive at the end of the day -- you'd need some large storage... either Thunderbolt, USB, or NAS (network attached storage.)

The Canon 6D and 70D support an app called "EOS Remote" which is made by Canon. Oddly... they only make an iPhone version and not an iPad version. While you can use an iPhone app on an iPad it doesn't take advantage of the larger screen size and resolution. What's _particularly_ odd is that Canon also makes an app called "CameraWindow" which DOES run on the iPad and takes advantage of native iPad screensize... but it only supports some of the PowerShot camera. Basically PowerShot users are getting better support than EOS users.

I don't know that this would work for you because you say you're going through 128GB of storage and that wont fit on an iPad. They do make a 128GB model... but that wont have 128GB of "free" space... some of that space will be used up by the operating system and apps. I suspect you're not _really_ going through that much space... if you thinking about it, suppose you work a 14 hour session (that would be a VERY long day, but I've done 14 and even 16 hour days of weddings (usually it's a saturday where I did a morning wedding (which might last until 2pm or 3pm) and then an evening wedding (which might start at 4pm). Those were LONG days. But to shoot about 5000 photos in 14 hours would require that you're taking 360 images per hour. That's at least 1 image every 10 seconds... sustaining that rate for 14 hours.

 

[Buckster]

Probably no help to your actual problem, but I use an Android based tablet, the Samsung 10.5" Galaxy Tab, and it's easy as pie to do what you want to do.

I tether it with a USB cord to the camera and use an app called DSLR Controller. Rather than transferring the data to the tablet, which would encroach on the tablet's limited storage, as noted by others above, it leaves it on the camera's memory card and reads it from there. I can also control nearly all functions of the camera from the tablet's app, like shutter speed, aperture, white balance, ISO, focus, and more. Works great for me:

 

[cynicaster]

Just get an android tablet with an SD card slot. This is one of the reasons I'm thinking of trading up my iPad; it's a good product, but I'm just fed up with it. There are too many limitations intentionally engineered into it for the sake of Apple's interests, and it comes at the expense of limited utility for me as the user. The worst part is, it doesn't need to be that way--these are not technological limitations, they are sketchy strong-arm marketing tactics. I can't believe more people aren't bothered by this, but hey, at least the devices are shiny and "stylish".

EDIT: Just saw Buckster's post. Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

Looks like I'm going shopping this weekend. Anyone want to buy an iPad?

 

[wyogirl]

Buckster... that is awesome! I'm going to try this with my Nexus7. Hope it works.

 

[munecito]

It does Amanda.

cynicaster: I always found apple to be greedy and to design all their products in a way you would need to create a full apple system in order to get functionality that would cost you less and work better if you went with other brands.

 

[Patrice]

Camranger works with iPad. Expensive but not any more than a new tablet.

 

[cashonly]

Wow!
Great info here guys! TYVM!

To answer some questions:
1. I'm shooting marathons and other such races. They can have a few thousand people in them. I pick a spot a mile or so from the start, and try to capture as many people as I can, but miss a lot due to the bunching of crowds of runners. I then hop on my bike and ride to a spot a few miles from the end. By this time people are mostly unbunched and here I try to get a few shots of each person... full body, waist up, and face. Of course, as these are moving objects, they aren't all in focus, nor all in frame even and it's usually a scramble on my part to even get a shot of the person. So, this usually generates 3-8 shots/runner depending on the situation.
2. I want to have the bigger images so I can see some sample shots while waiting for the next runner(s) so I can make any adjustments as the light is always changing and once I pick a spot, I often need to change it for various reasons. That's why I was looking for the link to my iPad.

Buckster, I *LOVE* your solution. That's exactly what I was thinking of! I've always been annoyed at the lack of USB port on the iPad for reasons just like this. I think the DSLR Controller app would be ideal and it would be worth popping for an Android tablet to get it as I (or my family) could use it for other things when I'm not shooting.

I'm not making great art here. Sometimes it's non-stop firing getting off 6-10 shots just hoping the runner's expression will change. They want the smiles, I want to capture the pain they're experiencing.
As it is, it's tough enough to get the 3-4 shots of each runner that I want that are in focus, in frame, and not blocked by another runner. By having the tablet setup, I will be able to make more adjustments during the event (as time permits) and hopefully get even better pictures.

TCampbell, the EyeFi ProX2 card with an "infinite" mode is intriguing! I like the idea of not having to do a separate batch upload to my PC. That could make it even faster to upload my pictures to the web for runners to get even sooner! I'm going to have to investigate that. The only potential downside I see is transfer speed from the camera to the card (I need my rapid fire!)... I'm not concerned about transfer speed from the camera to the tablet/PC. Thank you for enlightening me to that!

 

[Buckster]

Here's something that's not available yet, but coming down the pike:

Weye Feye - Live.Capture.Share

It's likely that other manufacturers will come up with similar solutions.

 

[Gregsl]

You can get a Camera Connection Kit for an ipad for $5 of ebay. Although not instantaneous viewing, you can plug it in and insert your SD card and import your pics to your ipad easily. Just watch out because it will fill the ipad's storage quickly.