iPad CompactFlash Reader

It's doubtful that a CF reader will come out since CF is getting less and less common in digital cameras.

We'll have to wait and see if you can directly connect a digital camera to the iPad but it's doubtful since Apple is offering a special card reader for the iPad.

We'll have to wait and see if you can directly connect a digital camera to the iPad

Apple's ipad/features/photos page says you can do that and has a picture of it: "You can import photos directly from your camera or its SD card using the optional iPad Camera Connection Kit."

Thanks for the update. That wasn't there the last time I looked at the accessory page.

The iPad Camera Connection kit allows only for a SD card (or direct camera connection). CF cards are not supported. As for the idea that no CF card reader will be offered to work with iPad, this would be surprising. Just about all Canon DSLRs use a CF card and there is a long history of Canon and Apple suppliers trying to promote each other. Photo pros favor both Canons and Apple computers. So keep watching. Belkin or someone like that will offer an adapter that allows CF cards to be downloaded into the iPad.

The newer Canon DSLRs seem to support SD now in addition to CF.

+"The Camera Connector features a USB interface. Just plug it into the dock connector port on your iPad, then attach your digital camera or iPhone using a USB cable (not included)."+

That also means that if you're willing to put up with a slow transfer rate and use your camera battery, you can transfer them that way. Alternatively, I wonder if a USB2 CF card reader would work in this scenario.

Tamara wrote:
The newer Canon DSLRs seem to support SD now in addition to CF.

CF cards are becoming less and less common in consumer digital cameras - current max data transfer speeds for CF cards are 3 times those for SD cards, which is important for high-end dSLRs that shoot high megapixel images at high frame rates (a Class 10 SDHC card at 30 Mb/s would become rate-limiting shooting 18 megapixel images at 8 fps on my Canon 7D, for example).

They support SDHC as a convenience (you write to both cards at once, or copy from CF to SDHC, or use the SDHC as a second card once the CF is full). The SDHC card cannot keep up with the 10 fps burst rate once the buffer fills up.

Canon's own press release for their newest high-end (1-series) dSLR states, +"Full compatibility with the latest UDMA 6 standard Flash memory cards also ensures that image data is *rapidly written* to the EOS-1D Mark IV’s *CF memory card*. In addition, the flexibility to also record to a Secure Digital/SDHC memory card allows photographers to keep shooting for longer until they get the shot they need."+

Bottom line, the pros will want an easy way to get CF card images into an iPad, if they're going to use an iPad for storage/display (instead of the other standalone devices for that). But, it's a small market...

I'm also interested in this topic. I shoot with a Nikon D700, a professional level camera and it uses Compact Flash. Pro level cameras is not such a small market as you would think. Some might be surprised at just how many high end Nikon's and Canon's are sold, and they use CF. I'm counting on a 3rd party to enable this because it would be so much convenient to travel with an iPad for downloading instead of a MacBook. Even a USB port would be a solution. If either doesn't materialize, I doubt I will get an iPad.

They can always use the camera's USB cable to connect to the iPad adapter and transfer that way. That's what I would have to do since my Canon prosumer digital uses CF.