Apple's iPad
As I followed today’s announcement of the new Apple iPad, I began to imagine how, if at all, it could make photography easier. I already have its tiny older sibling, the iPod Touch, which I am using to compose this post. The iPad looks to be mostly a jumbo version of the Touch. The Touch has not been a big aid photographically, but the iPad really could take that step.
The photography blogger. Scott Bourne, has already expounded about the iPad’s potential as a digital portolio. Via What the Apple Tablet Will Mean to Photographers « Photofocus, “(t)he portable portfolio will get an amazing jump-start because of the new tablet, and all the competition that follows it.” As a visually impaired photographer, I see a different possibility. One of my biggest difficulties using a camera is its tiny LCD screen. I can not use it for instant feedback. I can not review images as I make them. Waiting until I can upload the photos to my computer (and its large monitor) is both tedious and burdensome. At a minimum, the iPad would make a great device for quick, if not quite immediate, feedback. Withe the large, high-resolution screen, the iPad would make for a great way to quickly review photos in detail, particularly with others. There are related dedicated devices, the so-called portable media storage devices, available now, such as the Epson P-3000, but the screen sizes are a puny four inches. The iPad has more than twice the screen size at a comparable cost.
The main obstacle is getting photos from the camera to the iPad. Apple has not added any external memory card reader, though there are iPod accessories, like thei Belkin Media Reader, that offer this functionality. According to Apple’s iPad web site, there is an official Camera Connection Kit which “gives you two ways to import photos and videos from a digital camera”, meaning a USB port and an SD care reader. Even better would be a wireless connection. The iPad, like the Touch, has both Bluetooth and wi-fi built in. Until camera manufacturers build in wireless capabilities, devices like the Eye-fi wi-fi card could make this wireless connection. We would just need an eye-fi app for the iPad. An early version of such an app is PhotoUpLink for iPhone, which allows “(f)ree, easy WiFi photo sharing between iPhones and iPod Touch” and is “(a)vailable at the iTunes App Store“.
Eventually, if Nikon and canon and the rest build in Bluetooth, the iPad could also begin to augment the viewfinder. With a remote camera control app, the iPad could assist in framing and composing images directly. Apparently, remote camera control apps already exist. DSLR Remote offers some of these features, though it appears to require that the camera be tethered to (i.e. plugged into) a computer loaded with DSLR Remote software.
With the right app and connection, the iPad offers to expand the world if photography even more to partially sighted. I, for one, will keep my fingers crossed. If anyone needs a beta tester for any related apps, you know where to find me!
P.S. Check out this video demonstrating PhotoUpLink’s iPhone image sharing:
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for photo sharing, i’d recommend cs photo share, it’s pretty good
Thanks for this article, I too love my Touch, and salivate evertime I see ads for the iPad, but have wondered if buying it would be too self-indulgent. This gives me all the excuses I need to get one, whenever they become available in Canada, and to hell with my credit score!
Wondering if perhaps having a laptop with you, transfer the pics to it, then sync iTunes (it adds new photos automatically now), then with ipad. Of course you can do this without the pad, but having something more portable to hold in your hand while shooting would be even better, and the screen on my HP TouchSmart is not the best outside because of the touch technology. I love the contrast of my Touch, but not always the size, though I do fall asleep with it under my pillow while I listen to a talking book.
If I am waiting and bored, I will use some of the photo apps to see what looks good on a photo that I have yet to edit, or just have some fun with special effects or frames. The ones I use the most are “Photo Studio”, “DXP” for trying out textures, “Slideshow”, “Color Splash” “Collage” and “Light”. It would be great to do these on the iPad, but not a deal breaker.
I can’t even read phone numbers inb “Contacts” unless I go into editing mode where they are made larger, but I can use the keyboard and write an email, or look through my or my contacts photos using “Darkslide”.
I hope the do develop the technology to upload ohotos straight to the iPAd, I would then have a great reason to buy it, and that’s all I need
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