Question would like advice on transferring photos

[RosemaH]

Hello everyone. I just joined the forum to seek some help from the experts on here. I have an older android tablet to which I would periodically like to transfer some photos from my digital camera when away from my home PC . Both the camera and tablet have the regular MicroB USB ports. I am trying to find a cable to connect the two, but all I can seem to see online are the "OTG" cables. I had previously purchased an "OTG" style adapter which turns out to have a different shaped slot inside where the pins are, and it will not fit into the Micro B port on any of my devices. In the photo, the blue male is the regular Micro B that I need....the black is the adapter with the Micro male that will not fit. ...note slot thickness difference. What I would like to find is a cable with both ends being the regular MicroB USB males as shown on the blue in photo.....is there such a thing? I cannot seem to find that. Any help is appreciated! Thank you!

 

[rvbfan]

Use Google photos at original resolution on both. Presto, download any photos you would like to your tablet.

 

[B. Diddy]

Use Google photos at original resolution on both. Presto, download any photos you would like to your tablet.

I think the issue is that the OP wants to transfer photos from a digital camera (not a phone) to the tablet, so there'd be no way to upload the photos from the digital camera to Google Photos.

RosemaH, welcome to Android Central! I'm pretty sure OTG microUSB plugs should still fit, so it makes me wonder if there's something a bit off about the ports in either your phone or your camera -- maybe the central pin is a little bent? Do those plugs not fit in both devices, or only in one of them?

 

[rvbfan]

I think the issue is that the OP wants to transfer photos from a digital camera (not a phone) to the tablet, so there'd be no way to upload the photos from the digital camera to Google Photos.

RosemaH, welcome to Android Central! I'm pretty sure OTG microUSB plugs should still fit, so it makes me wonder if there's something a bit off about the ports in either your phone or your camera -- maybe the central pin is a little bent? Do those plugs not fit in both devices, or only in one of them?

Oops misread it. My bad. Although my newer cannon eos r5 will upload to google photos. Not everyone has $4k for a new camera though.

 

[SpookDroid]

Also check that your camera port/cable doesn't have a proprietary connector (that just happens to look like a microUSB connector). OTG cables/adapters are the only thing that would allow a connection between devices, BUT that's not the only thing you should check. You have to ensure the tablet supports data connections and not sure charging through the USB port and that the camera you're using supports a generic file transfer profile connection (otherwise it would require special software on the device; think drivers on a PC).

 

[RosemaH]

I think the issue is that the OP wants to transfer photos from a digital camera (not a phone) to the tablet, so there'd be no way to upload the photos from the digital camera to Google Photos.

RosemaH, welcome to Android Central! I'm pretty sure OTG microUSB plugs should still fit, so it makes me wonder if there's something a bit off about the ports in either your phone or your camera -- maybe the central pin is a little bent? Do those plugs not fit in both devices, or only in one of them?

Thank you, B. Diddy for trying to help me! The "OTG" male will not fit into any of my 3 devices that have MicroB ports. I have a few other cables with MicroB males on one end and they all fit and work perfectly on all my devices, so I had already eliminated a port problem. I have a feeling this new "OTG" male with the shallow pin slot are just defective design? Do you know if there is such a thing as a MicroB male to MicroB male cable? I also tried to find a card reader with plain MicroB male, but all seem to be "OTG" now, which I'm not having any luck with. Grrr.

 

[RosemaH]

Also check that your camera port/cable doesn't have a proprietary connector (that just happens to look like a microUSB connector). OTG cables/adapters are the only thing that would allow a connection between devices, BUT that's not the only thing you should check. You have to ensure the tablet supports data connections and not sure charging through the USB port and that the camera you're using supports a generic file transfer profile connection (otherwise it would require special software on the device; think drivers on a PC).

Thank you, SpookDroid for your comments. The port is a true regular MicroB type, verified in the manual, and my other MicroB male ends all fit in. My tablet is capable of data transfer, as I have always been able to transfer photos to my PC using a MicroB /USB-A cable. A mystery still.

 

[SpookDroid]

Thank you, B. Diddy for trying to help me! The "OTG" male will not fit into any of my 3 devices that have MicroB ports. I have a few other cables with MicroB males on one end and they all fit and work perfectly on all my devices, so I had already eliminated a port problem. I have a feeling this new "OTG" male with the shallow pin slot are just defective design? Do you know if there is such a thing as a MicroB male to MicroB male cable? I also tried to find a card reader with plain MicroB male, but all seem to be "OTG" now, which I'm not having any luck with. Grrr.

The OTG moniker is just a way of stating that the pinout inside the cable is different than a standard one, and like mentioned above, is the only way you can connect a mobile device to other peripherals. If it's a microUSB cable, it should fit the port, so I think the adapter you got is just either defective or poorly designed.

For the above (data transfer to a PC), the pinout is already taken care of since you're using a microUSB to USB-A cable.

I would suggest getting a different OTG cable and just ensuring that your camera will not require a driver to transfer files (if you can connect the camera to any computer and see the files without the PC installing anything, you should be good to go).

 

[RosemaH]

The OTG moniker is just a way of stating that the pinout inside the cable is different than a standard one, and like mentioned above, is the only way you can connect a mobile device to other peripherals. If it's a microUSB cable, it should fit the port, so I think the adapter you got is just either defective or poorly designed.

For the above (data transfer to a PC), the pinout is already taken care of since you're using a microUSB to USB-A cable.

I would suggest getting a different OTG cable and just ensuring that your camera will not require a driver to transfer files (if you can connect the camera to any computer and see the files without the PC installing anything, you should be good to go).

Thank you, SpookDroid. Yes, my understanding was that the OTG cable should still fit. But the fact that it does not fit the port leads me to believe it's just a bad one. I will give another shot at it with a different brand. Thanks again for your time replying! Much appreciated!

 

[hallux]

Why not just get a card reader and take the card out of the camera to be read on the phone? You may still need the OTG cable to plug the card reader into the phone unless you find one that connects to Micro-B USB.

 

[RosemaH]

The OTG moniker is just a way of stating that the pinout inside the cable is different than a standard one, and like mentioned above, is the only way you can connect a mobile device to other peripherals. If it's a microUSB cable, it should fit the port, so I think the adapter you got is just either defective or poorly designed.

For the above (data transfer to a PC), the pinout is already taken care of since you're using a microUSB to USB-A cable.

I would suggest getting a different OTG cable and just ensuring that your camera will not require a driver to transfer files (if you can connect the camera to any computer and see the files without the PC installing anything, you should be good to go).

Thanks again. Yes, I did obtain a different new cable and it works great. The previous must have been faulty. All good now. Thanks everyone!