I've been asked by a lot of people how I set this up. Well, really the title says it all. But I'll go through the steps here and give you some insight into some of the problems I had to deal with.

What You Need: 

1. Eye-Fi SD Card (Or a canon or nikon wireless transmitter. Eye-Fi was much cheaper)
2. iPad or iPod
3. router
4. ShutterSnitch app
5. compatible camera

The legwork is going to be done by an Eye-Fi memory card. These are SD cards with a built-in Wi-Fi that will transfer images from your camera to your computer, or to an iPad or iPod. Kind of. You will still need some sort of router to act as the network which will bridge the files from the Eye-Fi card to your iPad. In my case, I used an Apple Airport Express. You do not need an internet connection. In fact, it might be more stable not to use one (unless you have set up your Eye-Fi to post to the web.)

*Note - If your camera does not take SD cards then you can get a compact flash card adapter like the one I used for the shoot. (Thanks to Ryan Jackson for the loan of all the cool tools). I was using a Nikon D3 which has two compact flash (CF) slots. Your camera must be able to take CF Type II (the fatter one). I found out quickly that this wouldn't work with a Nikon D3S. Although someone has pointed out this adapter that might work.

The other important piece of the puzzle is an app called ShutterSnitch which you can download from the iTunes app store. I also highly recommend visiting the ShutterSnitch site for great information if I start to ramble you run into any problems. It's this app that runs on your iPad or iPhone to receive the images. Important When you first open the app, write down the password. I was so excited to use the app I skipped past this page. The password apparently allows you to use other advanced features.

The Set Up:

Set up the Eye-Fi card and add a network for your router. In my case, I plugged an ethernet cable to my Apple Airport Express. You have to be hooked up to an internet connection for just the first time to set up the network (to introduce your router to the Eye-Fi card). This gets the Eye-Fi talking to your router. After, you do not need an internet connection. Next, you need to set up ShutterSnitch to talk to the Eye-Fi card. For this you need an "upload key" which will be on your computer (assuming you've set up your computer with an Eye-Fi already). This is the info from the ShutterSnitch site:

If you're on WinXP the key is in the C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Eye-Fi\Settings.xml file.
On Vista it's in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Eye-Fi\Settings.xml.
On a Mac it's in /Users/<username>/Library/Eye-Fi/Settings.xml.
Search for <UploadKey> and there's your key. If you don't find anything, make sure that you've had at least one transfer directly to your computer via the Eye-Fi Center server.

Open the Settings app and enter this key into your ShutterSnitch settings.

Note: Make sure that the Eye-Fi Center is not running on your computer while using ShutterSnitch. All "talk" is done over your wireless network so having two Eye-Fi servers will just confuse your card.

(I used a text editor to read the XML file.)

Make sure your iPad is also using the network you set up. This can be changed in the Wi-Fi settings.

Setting Up Your Camera:

For the Nikon D3 I was using, which has two CF slots, I set it up so that the first slot would receive raw files and the second slot (with the Eye-Fi card via CF adapter) was a copy but set for small jpegs. I used small jpegs because the I wanted fast transfers and it was good enough for what I was doing. You might want to play with the medium or large size if you expect people to zoom in on the photos using the iPad.

Auto-meter off Delay - You need to change the default setting on your camera to allow for a full transfer of files. This setting on Nikon cameras is in the pencil graphic/timers.

Is it working:

Once you have everything set up, and have started a collection in ShutterSnitch, you should see a blinking text in your ShutterSnitch app that says Eye-Fi supported. When you take a photo, it will say Active and then Analyzing Photo.

Extra Help:

The ShutterSnitch forums are useful if you run into problems.

First Impressions:

People love playing with the iPad. And this set-up will really get people's attention and allow them to be more interactive. I usually tether to a computer and my Apple Cinema Display, but these can be intimidating to people especially kids (well their parents anyhow). I want people to be able to swipe through photos and have fun on shoots. This set up is especially great for any type of event photography or wedding photo booths.

Warning:

Don't reformat your Eye-Fi card and use with the same collection on your ShutterSnitch. The images will pop up out of order. And again, make sure your computer is not on as it will compete for the Eye-Fi connection.

Have fun with it. And if you get a chance visit my site or link back to me. Cheers.