Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
02-14-2013, 12:01 PM   #1
Forum Member




Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 64
Field Tablet Recommendation

I'm looking for a tablet that I can take to a photo shoot. I want to be able to pull my SD card out of the camera, put the card into the tablet, and instantly view the photos. (I realize this is a tougher challenge for RAW, but let's leave the RAW issue out of the conversation for now and assume JPG.)

I have combed through the B&H tablet filters a hundred times, and there are very few tablets with full-size SD slots. That wouldn't matter to me if could plug a card reader into the tablet's usb port and know that I could instantly view the photos. I don't want to have to transfer the photos to the tablet first. I want to be able to view them right off the card.

I have read in these forums about the Eye-Fi cards, but I don't think the read/write speed on those cards are high enough for continuous shooting.

I prefer the following features too, but I can compromise on those:
  • Prefer a slate-style table
  • Prefer Android
  • Prefer 7 inch, but 10 is ok
  • Prefer at least 16GB capacity
  • Prefer wi-fi and bluetooth (don't care about 3g/4g)
  • Must have front-facing camera, but don't care about rear camera

Any help is appreciated ... thanks.

cm

Currently shooing with K-7, K-x, and K100D Super

02-14-2013, 12:44 PM   #2
Veteran Member




Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: East Bay Area
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 811
You might look into Nexus 7 and the app called Nexus Media Importer. Basically, buy yourlself a USB OTG cable ($1-5) and plug your reader in there and then connect to tablet. I usually root my tablet to do it natively without the app so you might want to look up on the limitations using the app.

If you want something with better screen, Nexus 10's screen is phenomenon.

Last edited by ruggiex; 02-14-2013 at 12:50 PM.
02-14-2013, 01:21 PM   #3
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
jatrax's Avatar

Join Date: May 2010
Location: Washington Cascades
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 12,991
I have the ASUS TF700T and have used it for exactly that. You will need the keyboard as well as the full sized SD slot is in the keyboard but it is worth it for the keyboard anyway. I shoot RAW, and used a couple of apps to display the RAW files. The one I used the most was called RAW Gallery.

Worked just fine, not as fast as a full laptop but certainly fine to show what you just took.
02-14-2013, 01:37 PM - 1 Like   #4
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
davidreilly3207's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: South Jersey
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 720
Why not try a 10" netbook. Not much bigger than a tablet, screen is protected when closed without buying a third party cover and has the capability to run windows programs. I actually run Lightroom 3 with decent results on my XP equipped netbook from Acer. Virtually all have sd & usb slots.

02-14-2013, 07:12 PM   #5
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: May 2012
Location: Adelaide
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 1,364
Buy a microSD card with an SD adaptor. Sandisk now do Class 10 in microSD. I bought a 32Gb one for a recent trip where I took my Asus TF300 tablet.

Use with adaptor in the camera, pull out, remove micro SD card, insert microSD card in tablet. Voila!

Now if someone would only make an Android tablet with a good colour gamut and accurate calibration...
02-14-2013, 11:28 PM   #6
Forum Member




Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 64
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by jatrax Quote
I have the ASUS TF700T and have used it for exactly that. You will need the keyboard as well as the full sized SD slot is in the keyboard but it is worth it for the keyboard anyway. I shoot RAW, and used a couple of apps to display the RAW files. The one I used the most was called RAW Gallery.

Worked just fine, not as fast as a full laptop but certainly fine to show what you just took.
Thanks for replying. I probably prefer not to have to lug the keyboard around just so I have an SD slot. I might as well bring a laptop if I have to use both the tablet and it's native keyboard.
02-14-2013, 11:31 PM   #7
Forum Member




Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 64
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by ruggiex Quote
You might look into Nexus 7 and the app called Nexus Media Importer. Basically, buy yourlself a USB OTG cable ($1-5) and plug your reader in there and then connect to tablet. I usually root my tablet to do it natively without the app so you might want to look up on the limitations using the app.

If you want something with better screen, Nexus 10's screen is phenomenon.
I like the Nexus tablets because I'm a big Google fan, and these integrate so seamlessly with Google tools. Strange that Nexus tablets don't have even a micro-SD slot, which is not a showstopper, but it would make me want to buy at least a 32GB tablet since there is no card slot to expand storage. All that said, it seems your overall solution is a good one. Thanks for replying.

02-14-2013, 11:34 PM   #8
Forum Member




Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 64
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by mdave13 Quote
Why not try a 10" netbook. Not much bigger than a tablet, screen is protected when closed without buying a third party cover and has the capability to run windows programs. I actually run Lightroom 3 with decent results on my XP equipped netbook from Acer. Virtually all have sd & usb slots.
I agree that a small netbook might be the best options, and in fact, I already have one. I don't at all disagree with you, but I'd like to see if a tablet can adequately replace the netbook. The idea here is to replace the netbook.
02-14-2013, 11:45 PM   #9
Forum Member




Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 64
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by southlander Quote
Buy a microSD card with an SD adaptor. Sandisk now do Class 10 in microSD. I bought a 32Gb one for a recent trip where I took my Asus TF300 tablet.

Use with adaptor in the camera, pull out, remove micro SD card, insert microSD card in tablet. Voila!

Now if someone would only make an Android tablet with a good colour gamut and accurate calibration...
Thanks for the reply. I was actually unaware that micro-SD cards were up to class 10 doing 95 MB/s. That's good information. It would be costly to replace all my full-size SD cards with micro-SD cards, but on the other hand, there are many more tablets with micro-sd slots than there are tablets with full-size SD slots. A quick look on Amazon, however, shows that there are no class 10 micro-sd cards that can hold more than 16GB, so that might be a problem. But thanks for the info.
02-28-2013, 06:43 PM   #10
Forum Member




Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 64
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by ruggiex Quote
You might look into Nexus 7 and the app called Nexus Media Importer. Basically, buy yourlself a USB OTG cable ($1-5) and plug your reader in there and then connect to tablet. I usually root my tablet to do it natively without the app so you might want to look up on the limitations using the app.

If you want something with better screen, Nexus 10's screen is phenomenon.
Just wanted to say, I bought the Nexus 7, and I installed the Nexus Media Importer. It all works perfectly just as you said it would. The OTG cable, together with the USB card reader, works like a charm. Thanks for your advice.

cm
03-06-2013, 11:04 PM   #11
Veteran Member




Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 1,352
QuoteOriginally posted by charlestm Quote
Thanks for the reply. I was actually unaware that micro-SD cards were up to class 10 doing 95 MB/s. That's good information. It would be costly to replace all my full-size SD cards with micro-SD cards, but on the other hand, there are many more tablets with micro-sd slots than there are tablets with full-size SD slots. A quick look on Amazon, however, shows that there are no class 10 micro-sd cards that can hold more than 16GB, so that might be a problem. But thanks for the info.
I have several 32GB and 64GB Micro SD cards.



As for tablets, I recommend one of the Atom powered Asus Vivotab models running regular Windows 8 (not the crippled RT versions).
03-10-2013, 06:51 AM   #12
Veteran Member




Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: WV
Posts: 1,495
I have a couple of USB converter drives. You slip the SD card in and plug directly into a USB port. No cables. One is a Vivitar SD Card Reader, the other is a Digital Concepts SD/MMC Reader/Writer.
03-10-2013, 07:21 AM   #13
PEG Moderator
Loyal Site Supporter
Kerrowdown's Avatar

Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Highlands of Scotland... "Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand" - William Blake
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 57,760
You could alway use an iPad with an Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit (about £20 ish).

Makes it incredibly easy to download photos and videos from your digital camera to your iPad. It gives you two ways to import photos and videos from a digital camera: using your camera’s USB cable or directly from an SD card. iPad and the Camera Connection Kit support standard photo formats, including JPEG and RAW, along with SD and HD video formats, including H.264 and MPEG-4.
03-10-2013, 06:52 PM   #14
Veteran Member
tclausen's Avatar

Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 1,397
QuoteOriginally posted by kerrowdown Quote
You could alway use an iPad with an Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit (about £20 ish).

Makes it incredibly easy to download photos and videos from your digital camera to your iPad. It gives you two ways to import photos and videos from a digital camera: using your camera’s USB cable or directly from an SD card. iPad and the Camera Connection Kit support standard photo formats, including JPEG and RAW, along with SD and HD video formats, including H.264 and MPEG-4.
That is my workflow, except that I use EyeFi to transfer photos...and I only shoot raw.

Caveat: while the iPad will import RAW quite nicely, the built-in photo-app (& the bulk of the apps accessing photos, such as PhotoShop Touch and iPhoto and most of the others, using the Apple photo API) will access only the embedded preview in the RAW.

Works quite nicely, and if the goal is to simply view a version of the photo, or upload it to one of the numerous privacy-stripping-sites (also known as "social networks") this is largely sufficient.

To do manipulations on the RAW files, I use an app called PhotoRaw (I think about 7Eur) -- it access the actual RAW file, not "just" the embedded preview. Reading/processing a RAW on a tablet does take some time....but it does accord you some better control.

So, I second the iPad suggestion.
03-11-2013, 03:21 AM   #15
Veteran Member




Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 1,352
QuoteOriginally posted by kerrowdown Quote
You could alway use an iPad with an Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit (about £20 ish).

Makes it incredibly easy to download photos and videos from your digital camera to your iPad. It gives you two ways to import photos and videos from a digital camera: using your camera’s USB cable or directly from an SD card. iPad and the Camera Connection Kit support standard photo formats, including JPEG and RAW, along with SD and HD video formats, including H.264 and MPEG-4.
Or Apple could have put a Micro SD card slot in their iPads. No chance of that.

I used to be the biggest Apple fan. I still have 3 black and white classics. I type this on one of our 4 MacBook Pros.

Apple's contempt for their customers has nearly driven me away. I'm buying a 15" retina next and then we'll see after that. For phones and tablets, no chance.
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
camera, card, cards, care, field tablet, photo industry, photography, photos, sd, tablet, view
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Field Tablet Recommendation charlestm Ask B&H Photo! 2 02-20-2013 11:36 AM
Using tablet for in-field view jerbro Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 10 02-16-2013 02:26 PM
Field Tablet with raw imaging software Iksobarg Pentax Camera and Field Accessories 12 01-31-2013 12:05 PM
RAW file transfer to tablet in the field ARA Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 3 01-23-2013 09:37 PM
Tablet PC's for field use BigE Ask B&H Photo! 1 07-10-2011 08:31 AM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 06:17 AM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top