Best method to load Z6 images on an iPad

[alecdann]

I have a student who wants to load images from his Nikon Z6 into his iPad when traveling.  Using a card reader, it appears that he'll have to load the images into the camera roll first and then import into Lightroom CC (which he will sync with Classic when he gets home).

I understand that another path is through devices like the Lacie Copilot or WD Passport Wireless.

Would appreciate your experience with these if you've used them or recommendation on other devices to consider.

[langier]

My info may be out of date, but it may still work in this case.

For several years, I hit the road with an iPad 2 and a Nikon D800. Shot only raw files and simply used a USB 3.0 cable and adapter. For redundancy, I shot my cards only once and downloaded to a Hyperdrive.

My goal was to save weight and bulk during my travel. At the time, my iPad was the largest I could get, 128GB, and my Hyperdrives were designed to interface with my iPad.

I didn't use LR, just Apple photos for minimal processing. The iPad allowed me to check my photos along the way, cherry-pick images I could email and post to social media and I could carry my portfolios with me conveniently.

This worked great for about 3-4 trips. However, there were major issues.

The USB connection to the D800 was always quite fast and Apple Photo handled the files just fine. For my needs, I didn't need to spend a bunch of time editing and the output for my use at the time was fine.

However, I added a card reader and started shooting M43 for my street work.

Here's where things started to get bogged down. Whenever I'd make the connection, Photos would start from the start of the card and render thumbnails from the start, each and every time. Though the downloaded photos were checked-marked, it still wanted to thumbnail all the images. The limited space in the iPad was another issue along with once home, having to reprocess the files from the originals. The storage on the iPad was also an issue. One evening, I started to download from a half-filled 64GB card. An hour later as it was still downloading thumbs, I bumped the connection and the iPad suffered from amnesia...

I've also used a CamRanger as a wireless device to control and download from my D800 though an ad-hoc network.

Since my workflow doesn't use LR, I can't share any insight.

After the "amnesia" with and the long waits for thumbs, in addition to needing faster/better editing capabilities and also adding motion to my mix, the iPad got replaced by an iPad mini for my portfolios and now I drag along a MBP 13, i7 with SSD, SD slot and the current Photoshop CC. Though it's more weight and much larger, it's a time saver and much more practical solution to my travel needs.

Much of my travel work is now captured using M43 so at least the camera & lens weight and bulk is less than the Nikon system! I think that my present system can transfer wirelessly, but rather simply download from the cards for simplicity.

Maybe now that the iPad Pro is now bulked-up with more storage and power and Abobe has a version of Photoshop that will function on it, I may need to give the new tech a try!

[alecdann]

Thanks, Larry.

After testing the workflow with my iphone I'm going to recommend my student buy a lightweight notebook PC instead of an ipad.  I think he is much better off staying within a LR Classic workflow in the windows environment since he works on a PC.

I've had good success using Goodsync to mirror my raw files between a Lacie RAID and a Buffalo portable drive.  I take the portable with me on trips and it syncs everything up with the RAID system when I get home.

[Telecaster]

I avoid dumping all my pics into the All Photos (formerly Camera Roll) folder on my iPad by copying instead to a WD My Passport wireless SSD gizmo via its SD slot and then importing directly from the SSD into Affinity Pro on my iPad or Photoshop on my laptop (the latter only when printing). This means taking the SSD on trips, but I used to do the same anyway with a backup hard drive.

-Dave-

[alecdann]

Thanks Langier and Telecaster.

After doing some testing and help on a post in another forum, here's the workflow I worked out (assuming LR Classic is my final editing environment but LRCC is my conduit to get the photos from camera to iPad to laptop in office:

Workflow without a laptop (using an iPad Pro, 1 lb, ~$900):
Connect camera to the iPad.

• I have used an SD card reader with Lightning connector successfully
  Another photographer used a Sony XQD reader connected via an Apple USB-3 to Lightning so he could run power through the connector -- apparently the card reader draws more power than the iPad can provide.
• As you mentioned, Telecaster, photographers who want a back-up or don't want to load their enrire shoot in LRCC download to an external drive.  The WD Wireless card-reader / drive and the Lacie Copilot get mentioned a lot.  Neither gets great reviews on Amazon or B&H but the bad reviews seem to come from people downloading drone video.

Import to photos to camera roll. (Apple doesn’t allow direct uploads to Lightroom CC -- the external drive may work around that but I haven't confirmed it)
Open Lightroom CC and import.
Delete photos off Camera Roll (optional but saves space)
Put the photos into a collection, choose picks/rejects, make any edits, etc. in Lightroom CC.
At home, once things have synced up, locate the files in the mobile sync folder in Lightroom Classic and move them to a folder in your preferred hierarchy.
If you no longer want the photos to sync, turn off syncing for that synced collection in Classic.
 
Here’s the workflow using a laptop (3 lb / ~$550).
Connect card reader or camera to the Computer.
Open Lightroom Classic and import the photos.

You would think Apple would wake up and make this easier.

[bassman51]

I use the LRCC on iPad / WD Wireless Pro setup while traveling, but they are separate flows.

SD cards get backed up to the WDWP daily (or more if I’m free midday). That’s most of what I use this device for. Cards never get reused while on the trip.

I use the Apple SD/Lightning connector to import images into the iPad.  But I only import those that are likely to be selected for editing and sharing that day. With the current iOS release and SD reader, you can enlarge the thumbnails to full screen and scroll through them extremely quickly, only importing those out select.  Even with thousands of raw images on a card, I can get to the end of the thumbnail list quickly enough (why won’t Apple give an option to show the most recent first?). The import of a dozen, or a couple of dozen images, takes no time. 

From there I can import and edit the images in LRCC, and they will sync via Adobe cloud if I like. 

Last week I was on a workshop and used the WDWP to write select edited images to a thumb drive for discussion in the class each day.  That worked effectively as well.

[Telecaster]

Now that iPhone sales are tailing off (market saturation, China issues) maybe Apple execs will remember they also make other products and so will give those products more attention & resources. 

-Dave-