Seven Hidden Features of the iPad Camera Connection Kit

If you want to remove only select photos, tap the photos you wish to delete and then press the "Delete Selected" button that appears at the top-left of the import section of the Photos application.

Importing Photos from your iPhone or iPod touch - Savings: Hassle of syncing photos from your computer



Because the iPad doesn't have a camera, you will either need to sync your photos from a computer, or connect your camera through the camera kit. But what if you don't want to carry around a camera and already have an iPhone or iPod touch with your photos on it?

Once again, the Camera Connection Kit has you covered because you can sync photos taken from your iPhone or synced to your iPod touch with a few taps. To do this, you will need an iPhone/iPod sync cable and the camera kit's USB port dongle.

Unlock your iPad and plug in the cable. After a few minutes, you will see the import section of the Photos application appear and display the photos on your iPhone or iPod touch. You can select the photos you want and then click the import button in the top-right of the application window to begin the import process.

If you have a pass code on your device, the photos will not be displayed until the device is unlocked. In testing, we found that we needed to sleep our iPhone 3GS in order for the images to display. As soon as we awoke the device, the import pane disappeared from the Photos application. We assume this is because the iPhone was drawing too much power from the iPad.

External Hard Drive Support (Jailbreak Required)


There has been a lot of talk of people wondering if the iPad with the Camera Connection Kit will support external hard drives for storage of files. And while this technique isn't supported by Apple, a few iPad jailbreak developers have figured out a way to do this.

This hack does require you to jailbreak your iPad and follow a rather lengthy guide on the iPad hacker Maxwell C. Shay’s website. The hack isn’t for the feint of heart, however, as it does require some Unix monkeying around.

To learn more about the jailbreak hack, please visit: http://time-more.com/ipad

USB Hubs - Multi-device hookup

If you need to hook up several different low-powered USB devices (i.e. camera, headphones, keyboard) at once, we found that you can add a USB hub (depending on the types of accessories being added, you may need a powered hub) to extend the amount of accessories being used simultaneously. Keep in mind though, the more items drawing power from the iPad, the less battery life you're going to have. We were able to plug in an Apple keyboard, then attach USB headphones and an iPod touch without any problems. Your mileage may vary.

So, there you have it. Seven things that you can do with the optional iPad Camera Connection Kit. All in all, you could save some significant dough: roughly $169 over purchasing Apple's accessories that will do the same things as the gear you may already own. Plus, the simple $29 kit will give you some additional functionality that you would normally need to break out the laptop or camera for. There's no denying that this accessory is a must have for many iPad owners.