# Export from camera to USB flash drive



## Lelander (May 12, 2014)

Does anyone know of a way to export RAW files from the camera directly to a USB flash drive? I have the necessary connecting cable.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (May 13, 2014)

I don't believe its possible.


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## Lelander (May 13, 2014)

I was afraid of that. It would be a matter of convenience, not a necessity.


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## Orangutan (May 13, 2014)

Lelander said:


> I was afraid of that. It would be a matter of convenience, not a necessity.



Yes, I believe one of the devices needs to be able to act as a "host," which neither of these can do. If it were possible, there would be less market for things like this: http://www.adorama.com/alc/0011757/article/The-Best-Portable-Storage-Right-Now


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## DRR (May 13, 2014)

As stated, you need a host. When you plug a camera into a computer it generally recognizes it as a USB mass storage device. When you plug in a USB stick, it also recognizes it as a USB mass storage device.

So you're essentially trying to plug two usb sticks together and get them to copy files to each other. ;D

Now if canon were to implement this feature in firmware, using the camera itself as the host, then it would easily be possible, but you'd need Canon to update the firmware, or write your own.


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## East Wind Photography (May 13, 2014)

Well you have a couple of options but no direct path to a usb stick. You can use a mifi card if your camera has an sd slot. The other option is to export to a tablet. Apple makes a connecting cable and has software built into ios to dump raw down to the tablet. I cant speak for android or windows based tablets but would assume they have some similer capability.

Not exactly what you were asking for but its the smallest usb storage i can find that works.


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## East Wind Photography (May 13, 2014)

DRR said:


> As stated, you need a host. When you plug a camera into a computer it generally recognizes it as a USB mass storage device. When you plug in a USB stick, it also recognizes it as a USB mass storage device.
> 
> So you're essentially trying to plug two usb sticks together and get them to copy files to each other. ;D
> 
> Now if canon were to implement this feature in firmware, using the camera itself as the host, then it would easily be possible, but you'd need Canon to update the firmware, or write your own.



Maybe a feature request for magic lantern is in order!


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## DFM (May 13, 2014)

If you have a cellphone with USB OTG support, it can act as the host. You'd plug the phone, camera and the flash drive into a USB hub, and copy between the two drives using a file manager app on the phone. Note that most phones with OTG still need the peripherals to be powered.


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## Kevin Sanders (May 14, 2014)

The MFT device I used on my 1D Mk III could write to a USB device as well as hook-up wirelessly to a tablet or computer. It didn't need to be hooked up to save photos to the USB stick.


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## privatebydesign (May 14, 2014)

Kevin Sanders said:


> The MFT device I used on my 1D Mk III could write to a USB device as well as hook-up wirelessly to a tablet or computer. It didn't need to be hooked up to save photos to the USB stick.



That would be a WFT device and you can't put a USB stick directly into it, well you can but the camera won't write to it, it has to be a self powered USB storage device, an old reformatted iPod works well.


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## privatebydesign (May 14, 2014)

East Wind Photography said:


> Well you have a couple of options but no direct path to a usb stick. You can use a mifi card if your camera has an sd slot. The other option is to export to a tablet. Apple makes a connecting cable and has software built into ios to dump raw down to the tablet. I cant speak for android or windows based tablets but would assume they have some similer capability.
> 
> Not exactly what you were asking for but its the smallest usb storage i can find that works.



You probably mean an Eye-Fi card, and for writing RAW files they are unworkably slow.

Are you sure you can shoot tethered to an iPad? My Camera Connector Kit, the dongle that gives you a USB port on the iPad, only recognizes the camera when in playback mode.


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## LookingThroughMyLens81 (May 14, 2014)

A device used to be available for this purpose years ago. It was essentially a USB bridge, powered by AC adapter with a small embedded CPU to serve as a host. You could connect USB flash drives or optical disc burners to it and transfer files. Now, with the advent of high-capacity flash memory, it became largely redundant. The best option for field backups now is something like the HyperDrive but with an SSD inside.


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## East Wind Photography (May 14, 2014)

privatebydesign said:


> East Wind Photography said:
> 
> 
> > Well you have a couple of options but no direct path to a usb stick. You can use a mifi card if your camera has an sd slot. The other option is to export to a tablet. Apple makes a connecting cable and has software built into ios to dump raw down to the tablet. I cant speak for android or windows based tablets but would assume they have some similer capability.
> ...



Oops you are quite right. I meant eye-fi. I had wireless on the brain...now a mifi with an eye-fi might be actually very helpful... But yes it would be slow transfering raw files.

On the ipad yes it only supports play mode not full remote shoot tethering. However the discussion was about connecting a usb drive to the camera. With the ipad at least...probobly ipod too, in playback mode you can transfer jpg or raw from the camera to the ipad as well as optionally delete them off the camera. Not sure which version this started in. Has been useful at times when i need to grab a shot, process it with Snapseed and send it on its way to the client.


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## East Wind Photography (May 14, 2014)

DFM said:


> If you have a cellphone with USB OTG support, it can act as the host. You'd plug the phone, camera and the flash drive into a USB hub, and copy between the two drives using a file manager app on the phone. Note that most phones with OTG still need the peripherals to be powered.



Now that sounds like an interesting plan. Hell id carry a powered usb hd around if i could get that to work. . I now have a mission for the next week.

Any ideas which phones support OTG?


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## ScubaX (May 14, 2014)

East Wind Photography said:


> DFM said:
> 
> 
> > If you have a cellphone with USB OTG support, it can act as the host. You'd plug the phone, camera and the flash drive into a USB hub, and copy between the two drives using a file manager app on the phone. Note that most phones with OTG still need the peripherals to be powered.
> ...



Lots of them do, in my case I use the Google Nexus 7 Tablet. I use DSLR Controller App http://dslrcontroller.com/ Check them out for some help in looking for the OTG cable and devices.


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## 278204 (May 14, 2014)

I use the Nexus 7 but had to root it to use the OTG. Then with StickMount and a simple file manager I copy the CF contents across with a card reader plus OTG cable. I find it fails a bit though - presumably files have been copied so I take out the cable, only later to find the last 2-3 files to be empty. Mostly happens with copy, not move, and not always. Still working out when and why, quite annoying. Shoot raw+jpeg. I move from CF to Nexus, so normally no problem there. Then copy jpegs to small USB for backup - this is the bit that sometimes fails. Then move raw+jpeg to big USB, usually OK.

Not sure why I have to root the Nexus for proper OTG, maybe there is an easier way. Tried synching but the simple app I used only copied jpegs, not raw.

If you have SD there are some cool cards (though not amazingly fast) which double up as USB, so no need for card reader.


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## 3kramd5 (May 21, 2014)

DFM said:


> If you have a cellphone with USB OTG support, it can act as the host. You'd plug the phone, camera and the flash drive into a USB hub, and copy between the two drives using a file manager app on the phone. Note that most phones with OTG still need the peripherals to be powered.



Funny, I've been trying to get this to work for a few weeks now. I have an OTG cable and a device that has USB host mode (HTC One). I can successfully read a memory stick, but when I plug in either of my 5Ds, I can not see them from any file manager. I tried the demo of an app called (I believe) CR2 Thumbnailer, and it would list the camera make and model briefly, but then say "unable to connect." 

Any ideas? Is it a settings (PTP) thing?


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