The Ipad for photography

When the Ipad came out last year people wondered what it can do for all of us...or at least find a use for it...hahaha. I personally told myself that I'd rather get a laptop than a tablet. Went to a trip last year during summer and we had to bring along a laptop and an external hard drive...the laptop that we had had limited space in it so I had to bring along an old 20gb hard drive with us. Of course, setup was clunky. I had to plug the laptop into the wall, plug the hard drive into the laptop, plug the card reader into the laptop, then copy the files into the external hard drive. Setup was really a hassle.

Then the Ipad 2 got released this year. It's got dual processors, it's lighter and the exterior got an overhaul. So I considered getting one. Though I'm still not really impressed with the entry level storage for it. 16gb is like a single 16gb card for my slr...which holds around 500 images in raw file format. I needed something bigger than the 16. So I decided on the 32gb. Not bad for almost 2 16gb cards when were out away from home...of course you'll never really get to have the full capacity of the storage to yourself as you have to put into consideration the amount of space the operating system takes up...and of course, Angry birds.

So I got the 32gb Ipad and I was happy with it. Then IOS 5 came out...which made it even better. Wireless syncing, and wireless photo sharing with all my IOS 5 devices.


My very own Ipad2...Can't get my hands off of it.

Question is...how is the Ipad useful for photographers?

The Ipad is really small and thin. It's the same thickness and size of a magazine. Just put it in your camera bag and you are set. You don't even feel it's in there. 10 times better than a laptop sizewise. Setup is a no brainer, get the Apple camera connection kit and your Ipad instantly has a usb port and an SD card reader. I use cf cards for my cameras and the camera connection kit doesn't have a cf card reader, though the usb port allows me to attach my dslr to my Ipad to copy files into it. There are a lot on misconceptions about the usb adapter though. The usb adapter does give the Ipad a usb port, though it is not a usb port for everything. I've heard that you can actually plug in keyboards and other devices into it, I personally haven't tried this myself. I use the usb port just to plug in the camera and it works...and that's all I need it for.

Does the Ipad read RAW files? Of course it does. Does it resize it to be a file compatible to the Ipad? It does create a file for previewing but your RAW file stays untouched. How do you extract the files from your Ipad? Simple...plug it in your computer, open up Lightroom and Lightroom sees it as an external storage space. Grab files from there and save. It's really simple. The awesome thing about it is that, from camera to the Ipad, a 21mp dslr RAW file takes about 2.5 seconds to copy. That's even faster than my card on a card reader in my mac. If you're a casual photographer just taking snapshots in jpg format, you'll love the Ipad more as it can store more jpg files as this file format is considerably smaller than a RAW file.


The Ipad2 with my Canon 50d attached via the Apple camera connection kit. Still the best way to transfer files from camera to Ipad.

The preview in the Ipad is unbelievable. It's basically viewing it from your 27 inch Imac scaled down. And basically you can bring it anywhere, without the hassle of a laptop.

The 64gb one is the best one to get if you're a photographer. I got the 32gb and so far it works for me. Maybe my next one will be a 64.

The limitations of the Ipad against a laptop for me is negligible. Of course I cannot do full edits on it as opposed to a laptop...personally, I like doing my photos on a desktop...with a huge screen. Also the storage space is limited, but how much space do you really need?

What are the apps I use for it? I personally love PS express and Photogene. Two of the best mobile photo editing apps around. Wanna bring your online portfolio with you all the time? If you have a Smugmug account, download the Smugmug app for the Ipad. It is excellent!

So is it really worth getting it if you are a photographer? If you know it's limitations and it's runarounds you'd love it. I personally love it myself and I can't put it down.