Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit (MC531ZM/A) - The iPad 2 Camera Connection Kit retails from apple for $29.00 from the Apple store. To have the freedom to load your pictures from a SD card or a USB drive makes the price alone worth it in our opinion.
The USB connector is the answer to get photos or videos transferred from any device that uses a USB cable, this includes USB drives, iPod or iPhone. Once these devices are connected via the USB connector you just follow the same procedure for importing pictures as the SD adapter. Once again Apple makes these tasks very simple to perform. Now comes the part we really enjoy about the USB connector, the fact that you can use the USB connector to connect various USB devices you have laying around. Keep in mind that Apple does not support this experiment, although it has been done and well documented on You Tube and various iPad related sites on the web. I was able to connect my logitech USB headset with microphone using the camera connection kit without any problems, I plugged in the usb headset and waited 10-15 seconds for the iPad 2 to recognize the device and at that point I was able to use the USB headphones as my sound source, I was able to record my voice using a microphone enabled app as well (think Skype). USB keyboards have been mostly working by plugging into the USB connector, if your iPad 2 is jailbroken there have been documented proof of a USB hard drive working as well. Caution though, as I stated before- Apple does not support these devices so use at your own risk.
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If you are an iPad 2 owner and you are searching for another way to transfer pictures or video other than iTunes, then you are looking at the right device. The iPad 2 Camera Connection Kit is really just two devices, one being a SD card reader and the other being a USB connection adapter. The SD connector portion of the camera connection kit plugs into your iPad 2 with ease, just insert the SD card from the camera an wait a few seconds for the iPad 2 to recognize the device. Once the SD connector is recognized the iPad will automatically display the pictures and videos from the SD card on the screen. Once the pictures are loaded you have two simple options on the bottom of the iPad screen, one being to import all pictures, or the other option to import selected pictures. Keep in mind that you are only shown a thumbnail image for each picture and will not be able to view the full picture unless they are imported to the iPad 2. If you are only wanting to import specific pictures it is as easy as tapping the ones you want to import, and then tapping on the import selected button on the screen. The whole process is very simple and works extremely well, even with videos. Once the photos and videos are imported using the camera connection kit, just go to your photo library and tap on the imported photos, at this point you can manipulate the photos and videos in a normal manner.
