Posted by Howard Cihak on December 7, 2010 at 12:28 PM
The iPad is a beautiful looking device. There's no question about that. Unfortunately, it's also kind of limited. I'm wondering if anyone besides me has fantasized an iPad equipped with 2gb of RAM, 128 to 256 gb of flash memory, and USB ports to permit loading Photoshop software and downloading RAW files.
I mean, we're all (a lot of us, anyway) dragging along keyboard equipped laptops on our shoots, but how often do we really use that keyboard? I yearn for smaller and lighter.
I resorted to a netbook for my travels and location shoots including an auxiliary DVD drive. Total weight only 3 pounds and all for under $500. Off course, I had to spend more than that on software to run bloomin thing!
I'm a devoted Mac user, and tilting at windmills (Windows) is making me nuts, but there didn't seem to be any functional way to make the iPad work for me. I'm also a writer and have to submit weekly newspaper columns while on the road, so the keyboard was important too. Much as I fight the keyboard on the netbook, it's still better than the on-screen version on iPad.
Like you, I'm doing a lot of "free" fantasizing. Of course, I had to buy the hardware and software to serve me in the interim.
BTW- One place the netbook has it ALL OVER mac laptops- The netbook has a very functional 14-hour battery life! Don't I wish a mac laptop could manage even half of that.
Posted by Howard Cihak on December 8, 2010 at 3:17 AM
Hank, were you able to load Photoshop on your netbook and get it to run effectively? If so, what brand did you buy, if I may ask?
Posted by Drew Fulton on December 8, 2010 at 9:04 AM
I am currently writing this from my iPad and am finding I use the iPad more and more these days, though less for photo editing work but I haven't really explored that avenue.
In fact, I am planning an upcoming 10-12 week trek in the new year and will be carrying a small camera kit (1 body, 2 lenses) and the only computer I'll have with me is the iPad. With only 64GB, I won't be downloading to it but instead I'll be carrying a ton of Flash Cards and downloading when met by my support team about every 3 weeks. However, I fully expect that I will use the camera connection kit and download images periodically, do some editing in one fo the numerous photo editing programs, likely the Photoshop App, and then upload to my blog via the Wordpress App. Sure, all of my true editing will be happening on my desktop when I get back home, but the iPad will enable me to do minimal editing, mostly for web purposes, without having to lug a computer and deal with teh power required of a full size computer. A nice little solar panel (<$100) with a USB port and I am good to go.
If I could connect an external Hard drive (USB port rumored to be on the iPad 2, possibly released in Feb 2011 if you want to look at the rumor mill), then I would be set and wouldn't even have to worry about resupply stops, at least for the photo side of things.
How's the keyboard for typing Drew? I didn't have long to try it, but couldn't make peace. If it's "no worse" than my netbook, I could be talked into the next version.
Posted by Drew Fulton on December 8, 2010 at 12:22 PM
I have mixed feelings about the keyboard. For quick things here and there I am fine with it. I don't use normal keyboard typing techniques and do some sort of combination of normal typing and hunting and pecking. More like three fingers on each hand... In vertical layout I end up with a lot of mistakes cause the keys are smaller. I have no idea how people use the iPhone keyboard! In horizontal, it goes a lot smoother.
That being said, I have purchased the wireless keyboard and end up carrying it with me. I do a lot of writing and with the full size keyboard I can type at full speed and not worry about it. It hardly weighs anything and is powered by 2 AA batteries. I am still using the pair that came with the keyboard now a good 3 months in with pretty much daily use.
Originally I bought the keyboard with dock attached but quickly realized that once you put the iPad in a case, it won't fit on the dock anymore. Apple switched it out for me with no hassle (aside from the hour drive back to the Apple store).
I love mine and while it lets me do a lot on the road and away from my desktop, I don't consider it a computer replacement by any means. I mostly got it for the portability. I bought the 3G model but haven't activated the 3G yet because I haven't been on the road in the last few months. It is fantastic for a mobile portfolio as well. My only disappointment is the lack of Flash support since I do a lot of 360° panorama work that requires flash to display but have found some work arounds that aren't perfect but still allow me to use it as a portfolio... Add to that the ability to use Kindle, Nook, etc on it and I use it all the time!
Yours is the first user report I've heard on the keyboard, Drew, and that settles it. I have to gin out 1250 words for my columns 3 times a week, over and above my personal writing projects. With my big hands small keyboards are killers.
And I knew there was a reason I had been waiting on a Kindle or some such. I wanted more from a piece of hardware that would have to go in my bag for travel, and iPod appears to deliver.
On a side note, I stopped by a Barnes and Noble on my last trip and they had a big display of their version along with a couple of sales reps. I stopped for a quick look, and got such a heavy-duty, pushy sales pitch that I was completely offended. That one was easy to cross off my list!!!
Looks like I'm going to be all over iPad2 and a wireless keyboard, if in fact it has a USB port.
Since you're experienced and widely read Drew, has anyone managed to use the Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit to connect a USB card reader or even a portable drive to the current iPad? It would seem to be a natural.
Posted by Drew Fulton on December 8, 2010 at 4:39 PM
Hank,
I plan on doing the whole Camera Connection Kit tonight.... My understanding is that there is a lot of random USB things that can be connected to the USB port in the Camera Connection Kit. The major limitation is that this is not a Powered port so you aren't going to be powering an external drive or something like that. That being said, it should be able to power a Card Reader but my understanding is that some work and some don't. I think I saw a compatability list out there somewhere but I have no idea where. I also don't think that iOS has any functionality built in for recognizing a second drive or partition. There might be additional functionality if you jailbreak it but I haven't looked into it as I really don't have any desire to go that route.
As far as iPad vs Nook vs Kindle vs Sony vs etc... To me, Kindle and iPad are on two wends of the spectrum. iPad does tons of different things and approaches a computer (but doesn't replace one for our puporses). Kindle does eBooks and it does it great. My father has one and I played with it for a few minutes and I liked it. Felt like reading a book. The Nook is somewhere in between and doesn't seem to either too terribly well. I think it is primarily an eReader but tries to do a few other things... If all I wanted was an eReader then I'd go with a Kindle. However, for the iPad you get all the functionality of the Kindle through the Kindle App but you get so much more. Granted, you pay for it too. I also have no problem reading on the iPad for hours on end like I don't like to do on a computer screen as much. One thing about the iPad as an eReader... its heavy compared to the Kindle. You do'nt want to be laying in bed and holding the thing up in the air for long. I end up laying on my side when I want to read or sitting up and propping it on my knees.
As I write this I am sitting in the food court in the mall waiting for my Mac Pro to get serviced in the apple store (regular kernel panics that I couldn't fix). There's a darn good chance I'll walk out tonight with a Camera Connection Kit to try tonight or tomorrow when I get home.
I'll report back when I know more about the Camera Connection kit tonight!
Posted by Drew Fulton on December 8, 2010 at 7:39 PM
I can relate. When i lived in texas it was 2 hours to the nearest store. Now it is only about an hour. I cant imagine what it is for you! Right now I wish I could walk away! I've been walking the mall while they try and fix my comouterfor 5 hours now! Still have an hour drive home too.
I did think of you as I just walked into a big best buy and they had all of the popular ereaders right next to each other. Kindle, nook, Sony, and a couple off brands with Mac stuff across the store. It was kind of nice to see altogether.
Anyway it will probably tomorrow before Ivey to play with the camera connector!
Posted by Drew Fulton on December 9, 2010 at 9:46 AM
Camera Connection update...
I shoot with a Nikon D3 so I am using Compact Flash cards which makes things a little more complicated. Here are the basics. THe Connection Kit comes with two small plugs that go in the dock. One is an SD card reader and one is a USB port. If your camera uses SD cards (like so many do to day) the you simply plug your SD card in and away you go. For CompactFlash things are different. Apple recommends that you plug the actual Camera into the iPad via USB. While this is fine, I would rather use a card reader. So, I tried plugging in all three of my card readers (all different brands) and it came back with the same error each time... "Cannot Use Device: The connected USB device requires too much power."
I have read that some card readers work, apparently none of mine do. I'll continue investigating and see what I can find. In the meantime, I guess I'll just be plugging in my camera if I ever need to do this and am not near a computer (like while backpacking for 3 months).
Best,
Drew
Posted by David Schoen on December 9, 2010 at 10:37 AM
Check out Lenovo. They make some powerful 3 pound laptops that will run CS5 fully loaded for under $2K. Yea, thats a lot but how much did you pay for that nice piece of Nikon or Canon glass?
Geez.... That's about twice the cost of a basic iBook, which will do the same, and more than the cost of a fully featured MacBook. I'm too much Mac impaired ever to spend $2k for a PC, much less even $1k. But it may be a good solution for folks who can't make the switch to Mac.
Posted by Howard Cihak on December 9, 2010 at 3:47 PM
Right now, I'm taking a hard look at a Toshiba Portege R705-P35 at Best Buy for about $780. The specs are nice. 4gig ram, 64 bit i3 processor, 500 gig HD, 13 inch screen, 2.7 pounds.
"The iPad is a beautiful looking device. There's no question about that. Unfortunately, it's also kind of limited. I'm wondering if anyone besides me has fantasized an iPad equipped with 2gb of RAM, 128 to 256 gb of flash memory, and USB ports to permit loading Photoshop software and downloading RAW files. "
Dude you need to get a laptop. An iPad is what it is. It is not limited in use. It does everything an iPad is supposed to do. Don't bitch at your bicycle because it has no engine or windshield. Just buy a car.
Posted by Howard Cihak on December 14, 2010 at 9:45 PM
Jeffrey, you need to read the other postings, and not just the first one. Take a look at the one just before yours. I wrote that one, too. Dude.
Posted by Paul DeCesare on December 17, 2010 at 6:11 PM
For CompactFlash things are different. Apple recommends that you plug the actual Camera into the iPad via USB.
Are you telling me that I can preview my shots on my iPad from my 5D2 with the Connection Kit and my USB cable??
That's what I've been wanting to do while on location! Canon RAW files will show up on screen? Oooo, I need to investigate this.
Discussion
17 repliesI mean, we're all (a lot of us, anyway) dragging along keyboard equipped laptops on our shoots, but how often do we really use that keyboard? I yearn for smaller and lighter.
Oh, well. Fantasies are free.
I'm a devoted Mac user, and tilting at windmills (Windows) is making me nuts, but there didn't seem to be any functional way to make the iPad work for me. I'm also a writer and have to submit weekly newspaper columns while on the road, so the keyboard was important too. Much as I fight the keyboard on the netbook, it's still better than the on-screen version on iPad.
Like you, I'm doing a lot of "free" fantasizing. Of course, I had to buy the hardware and software to serve me in the interim.
BTW- One place the netbook has it ALL OVER mac laptops- The netbook has a very functional 14-hour battery life! Don't I wish a mac laptop could manage even half of that.
In fact, I am planning an upcoming 10-12 week trek in the new year and will be carrying a small camera kit (1 body, 2 lenses) and the only computer I'll have with me is the iPad. With only 64GB, I won't be downloading to it but instead I'll be carrying a ton of Flash Cards and downloading when met by my support team about every 3 weeks. However, I fully expect that I will use the camera connection kit and download images periodically, do some editing in one fo the numerous photo editing programs, likely the Photoshop App, and then upload to my blog via the Wordpress App. Sure, all of my true editing will be happening on my desktop when I get back home, but the iPad will enable me to do minimal editing, mostly for web purposes, without having to lug a computer and deal with teh power required of a full size computer. A nice little solar panel (<$100) with a USB port and I am good to go.
If I could connect an external Hard drive (USB port rumored to be on the iPad 2, possibly released in Feb 2011 if you want to look at the rumor mill), then I would be set and wouldn't even have to worry about resupply stops, at least for the photo side of things.
That being said, I have purchased the wireless keyboard and end up carrying it with me. I do a lot of writing and with the full size keyboard I can type at full speed and not worry about it. It hardly weighs anything and is powered by 2 AA batteries. I am still using the pair that came with the keyboard now a good 3 months in with pretty much daily use.
Originally I bought the keyboard with dock attached but quickly realized that once you put the iPad in a case, it won't fit on the dock anymore. Apple switched it out for me with no hassle (aside from the hour drive back to the Apple store).
I love mine and while it lets me do a lot on the road and away from my desktop, I don't consider it a computer replacement by any means. I mostly got it for the portability. I bought the 3G model but haven't activated the 3G yet because I haven't been on the road in the last few months. It is fantastic for a mobile portfolio as well. My only disappointment is the lack of Flash support since I do a lot of 360° panorama work that requires flash to display but have found some work arounds that aren't perfect but still allow me to use it as a portfolio... Add to that the ability to use Kindle, Nook, etc on it and I use it all the time!
Drew
And I knew there was a reason I had been waiting on a Kindle or some such. I wanted more from a piece of hardware that would have to go in my bag for travel, and iPod appears to deliver.
On a side note, I stopped by a Barnes and Noble on my last trip and they had a big display of their version along with a couple of sales reps. I stopped for a quick look, and got such a heavy-duty, pushy sales pitch that I was completely offended. That one was easy to cross off my list!!!
Looks like I'm going to be all over iPad2 and a wireless keyboard, if in fact it has a USB port.
Thanks!
I plan on doing the whole Camera Connection Kit tonight.... My understanding is that there is a lot of random USB things that can be connected to the USB port in the Camera Connection Kit. The major limitation is that this is not a Powered port so you aren't going to be powering an external drive or something like that. That being said, it should be able to power a Card Reader but my understanding is that some work and some don't. I think I saw a compatability list out there somewhere but I have no idea where. I also don't think that iOS has any functionality built in for recognizing a second drive or partition. There might be additional functionality if you jailbreak it but I haven't looked into it as I really don't have any desire to go that route.
As far as iPad vs Nook vs Kindle vs Sony vs etc... To me, Kindle and iPad are on two wends of the spectrum. iPad does tons of different things and approaches a computer (but doesn't replace one for our puporses). Kindle does eBooks and it does it great. My father has one and I played with it for a few minutes and I liked it. Felt like reading a book. The Nook is somewhere in between and doesn't seem to either too terribly well. I think it is primarily an eReader but tries to do a few other things... If all I wanted was an eReader then I'd go with a Kindle. However, for the iPad you get all the functionality of the Kindle through the Kindle App but you get so much more. Granted, you pay for it too. I also have no problem reading on the iPad for hours on end like I don't like to do on a computer screen as much. One thing about the iPad as an eReader... its heavy compared to the Kindle. You do'nt want to be laying in bed and holding the thing up in the air for long. I end up laying on my side when I want to read or sitting up and propping it on my knees.
As I write this I am sitting in the food court in the mall waiting for my Mac Pro to get serviced in the apple store (regular kernel panics that I couldn't fix). There's a darn good chance I'll walk out tonight with a Camera Connection Kit to try tonight or tomorrow when I get home.
I'll report back when I know more about the Camera Connection kit tonight!
Drew
How I wish I could walk into an Apple Store!
I did think of you as I just walked into a big best buy and they had all of the popular ereaders right next to each other. Kindle, nook, Sony, and a couple off brands with Mac stuff across the store. It was kind of nice to see altogether.
Anyway it will probably tomorrow before Ivey to play with the camera connector!
I shoot with a Nikon D3 so I am using Compact Flash cards which makes things a little more complicated. Here are the basics. THe Connection Kit comes with two small plugs that go in the dock. One is an SD card reader and one is a USB port. If your camera uses SD cards (like so many do to day) the you simply plug your SD card in and away you go. For CompactFlash things are different. Apple recommends that you plug the actual Camera into the iPad via USB. While this is fine, I would rather use a card reader. So, I tried plugging in all three of my card readers (all different brands) and it came back with the same error each time... "Cannot Use Device: The connected USB device requires too much power."
I have read that some card readers work, apparently none of mine do. I'll continue investigating and see what I can find. In the meantime, I guess I'll just be plugging in my camera if I ever need to do this and am not near a computer (like while backpacking for 3 months).
Best,
Drew
Geez.... That's about twice the cost of a basic iBook, which will do the same, and more than the cost of a fully featured MacBook. I'm too much Mac impaired ever to spend $2k for a PC, much less even $1k. But it may be a good solution for folks who can't make the switch to Mac.
Dude you need to get a laptop. An iPad is what it is. It is not limited in use. It does everything an iPad is supposed to do. Don't bitch at your bicycle because it has no engine or windshield. Just buy a car.
Are you telling me that I can preview my shots on my iPad from my 5D2 with the Connection Kit and my USB cable??
That's what I've been wanting to do while on location! Canon RAW files will show up on screen? Oooo, I need to investigate this.