Canon EOS download to tablet.

Every now and then there is a problem to solve. This week was how to get my photos from my Canon EOS 400D to my Android tablet so I can view them wherever I am, that way if I haven't got the photo I want I can try again before I leave. 

The 400D does not have a screen that shows a live image, only shows the photo once it's taken and in strong sunlight, the small screen can be difficult to see clearly. So, the idea of downloading them to my tablet and viewing them over a cuppa sounded like a good plan. 

And that was where the first difficulty came. Because I don't have a live screen I couldn't find an app to allow me to transfer the photos. After trying a combination of cables and a number of apps we came to the conclusion the easiest route would be a card reader. I found one on Ebay for £2.95 (Free P&P) and it arrived a couple of days later. 

I put the CF card in and cabled it up to the tablet and tried to work out how to get the photos from the card to my tablet. Again, I downloaded a variety of apps and none of them worked. I eventually got the card reader to be acknowledged by the tablet, but it would show any files. After a further 15 minutes trying all kinds of things, it occurred to me to check whether there was anything on the card. A swapped it to the laptop and discovered the card was blank.

A few more minutes and I had several shots of Brandy to try moving onto the tablet. This time it saw the files straight away but couldn't display them. A bit more head scratching and break for a cuppa and I had a brainwave. I shoot my photos in Raw format, maybe I needed an app to deal with that. I bit more Googling and I downloaded RawDroid, a free app, and hey presto, there were my photos of Brandy, neatly arranged on my tablet. I could open them up, view them in enough detail to know whether I have the photo I want or if I need to try again before I leave my chosen place.

It's very satisfying when things finally work how they should. Now I just need somewhere to go and try it out. Oh, and I now have another item to make sure is fully charged before I leave the house.