Review

It’s almost impossible to go thru-hiking without taking plenty of photos and videos and for a YouTuber, it also means bringing a separate camera. The Apple Lightning to SD card reader is essential to my kit list for video editing.

Why the Apple Lightning to SD card reader?

I take a lot of videos while hiking on my iPhone 11 Pro Max to make YouTube videos, but I also carry with me a separate camera, my Sony RX100 V which is great for putting down on my mini tripod. In order to quickly get the photos off the camera and onto my phone without using the extra battery on the camera, I like to carry the SD card reader to plug straight into my iPhone and quickly retrieve the photos and videos I’ve taken throughout the day. On the Pacific Crest Trail, I was editing way more on the trail and on zeros, so this was an important bit of kit.

How well does it work?

It works as well as it should, however, a few years ago, Apple didn’t support file formats other than H.264 and MP4 when exporting video through the reader, however, this may have changed. It just meant I needed to make sure all footage on the Sony RX100 was being taken in those codecs or I couldn’t retrieve it through iOS.

What’s there not to like?

The price. Here’s a third-party Lightning to SD card reader I found for just a 10er which probably works just as well.

Value for money

While it’s expensive, I’m just one of those folk who is “Apple till they die” so I’ll tend to swing more toward the official hardware intended for my devices. But for others, the cheaper option above is probably just fine.

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