Apple's iPad camera adapter supports USB audio, keyboards
Early adopters of Apple's Pad's Camera Connection Kit have discovered that the accessory can be used to connect a number of USB devices to the tablet device in addition to cameras.
Electronista provided a roundup of the findings yesterday, first noting that one test by TidBITS discovered that the kit will work with most any USB headphone, headset or microphone. This makes it possible to either listen to music or take a VoIP call through off-the-shelf computer accessories. The call quality via VoIP was reportedly "terrific," making it more appealing to use Skype if you don't have a Bluetooth headsets.
Meanwhile, TUAW found that USB keyboards will work as well, although this was partly expected given the functionality of the official iPad Keyboard Dock. The convenience of the USB keyboard is also reduced as there's no stand when using the adapter.
For its intended role, the adapter imports images to the iPad's Photos app when plugged in. Besides supporting RAW from high-end cameras, iLounge notes that the iPad will import any captured photos at full 2048x1536 resolution, including the EXIF metadata from the original shot.
Video is also supported with tools that let photographers trim videos much as they do with the iPhone 3GS' simple editor. Clips are cut short, however. Any video larger than 640x480 and 5MB will be shrunk in resolution and length to fit the length.
A video demoing the iPad Camera Connection kid can be seen above.
Electronista provided a roundup of the findings yesterday, first noting that one test by TidBITS discovered that the kit will work with most any USB headphone, headset or microphone. This makes it possible to either listen to music or take a VoIP call through off-the-shelf computer accessories. The call quality via VoIP was reportedly "terrific," making it more appealing to use Skype if you don't have a Bluetooth headsets.
Meanwhile, TUAW found that USB keyboards will work as well, although this was partly expected given the functionality of the official iPad Keyboard Dock. The convenience of the USB keyboard is also reduced as there's no stand when using the adapter.
For its intended role, the adapter imports images to the iPad's Photos app when plugged in. Besides supporting RAW from high-end cameras, iLounge notes that the iPad will import any captured photos at full 2048x1536 resolution, including the EXIF metadata from the original shot.
Video is also supported with tools that let photographers trim videos much as they do with the iPhone 3GS' simple editor. Clips are cut short, however. Any video larger than 640x480 and 5MB will be shrunk in resolution and length to fit the length.
A video demoing the iPad Camera Connection kid can be seen above.
Comments
Far out.
My daughter saw my post and said I was out of date - happens to the best of us I guess.
Peace. Keep on truckin!
P.S. Would it have been to oldster to say "what a rush man"?
It would enable the iPad to assume a light-duty desktop PC role. If the stand also had audio output, even more so.
A 10 watt desktop you can just grab and walk around with at any time. Truly a new class of device.
8
But a headset for Skype, etc.... awesome.
8
Pardon my ignorance, but why would headsets thru the 'audio out' not suffice for things such as Skype?
Add: Foo2 beat me to it....
Cool. This should open things up for a lot of stuff (as long as it does not require power).
My daughter saw my post and said I was out of date - happens to the best of us I guess.
Peace. Keep on truckin!
P.S. Would it have been to oldster to say "what a rush man"?
Fixed it for you. That expression is apparently immune to generational overuse and eschewing.
Can't the iPad use iPhone headphones with integrated microphone for Skype? Or ordinary 3.5mm headphones with the iPad's internal microphone? Avoids the dongle.
Yes it can, this is just another option. Frankly, I surprised that Apple even included this out of the gate.
Now they just need to make the dock connector mag-safe. Adapter sticks out too far to not be a hazard in breaking the unit...
I wouldn't be surprised to see a cheap 30-pin connectors to various other ports on Monoprice in short order as they already sell cables and adapters with the 30-pin connector.
Also, the cheapest option for many be to buy a cheaper USB-A(f)-to-USB-A(f) coupler for a buck or two. You'd have to carry your iPad cable and the cable or card reader you already have, but it all should work just fine since it's just USB signaling.
A video demoing the iPad Camera Connection kid can be seen above.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Apple is selling children now? You'd think with their child labor problems in China they'd avoid that.
Apple is selling children now? You'd think with their child labor problems in China they'd avoid that.
Those accessories are tiny. Who else is going to polish the inside of the connectors?
My daughter saw my post and said I was out of date - happens to the best of us I guess.
Groovy!
Now they just need to make the dock connector mag-safe. Adapter sticks out too far to not be a hazard in breaking the unit...
I'm looking at my iPad dock and that connector is pretty deep - not sure if it could be made magsafe given the length of the plug.
I'm just happy to see features that I may not want (a camera) offered to people who "have to have it".
I don't want a nose-hair cam "now". But if there's a need in the future it'll be nice to have - vs "having" to have.
Did anyone think of all the places that restrict cameras? Military? Hospitals? High security areas? I think that's the real reason it was left off.
Really good that it supports additional devices but no excuse for not having USB and SD Card on the device itself. Who wants to carry around an easy to lose expensive adapter to plug in peripherals.
Besides these accessories likely only appealing to a very small segment of iPad owners (seriously, how common will it be to sync to your images to an iDevice) I don't see a coupler being an issue when for people who are okay with removing SD cards to copy images. Just stick it in your camera bag.
Groovy!
Yeah,☮