Posted by Allen Brooks on April 10, 2012 at 10:41 PM
Has anyone been using the IPAD as a storage device for their photos-downloading their camera to the IPAD in the field and then transferring them to their main computer for processing?
It's certainly possible to do so, but you don't have a lot of room to store photos on the iPad, unless it's a short trip or you're shooting smaller Jpegs. I use the iPad to process photos on the road which I can immediately upload online, but not for any massive longer-term storage.
I've been watching the iPad with interest, but I don't think it's yet a useful field tool. The storage is still comparatively small. In those situations where it might be most useful - long field trips with lots of photos - it's not got adequate storage. The second problem is getting photos out of the iPad; unless you have a very broadband connection indeed, or are in love with iTunes, getting a lot of big photos off to another device is a bit tedious.
I agree the other pieces - image quality, processing tools and convenience - are certainly there. When the iPad has 300-400GB and not 64 GB, it will be useful to me in the field. In the meantime, my MacBook Air does pretty well, although it's a lot more expensive.
Posted by David Chauvin on April 11, 2012 at 7:49 AM
My seven year old travel laptop recently died and I did a lot of searching into whether or not a tablet could take its place. I like the idea of smaller and lighter but it's still just a tool so it needs to perform certain tasks. I do not want to do any heavy processing when traveling, just image review, storage, email, etc. With no usb port (without an adapter) or additional storage capability the ipad does not meet my needs (at least without some expensive additions which defeat the advantages of a tablet). During the search I ran across the 10" Toshiba Thrive. Standard usb port, SD flash slot for cards up to 128GB and a replaceable battery make it much more suitable for my needs. An app to directly review RAW images from my Canon cameras (using the Canon supplied cable), the ability to back up images to the SD card and the replaceable battery were the main selling points. I found a 16GB refurb unit for $250 and decided to give it a try.
The good,,,,,,it works as advertised. This is my first android device so it took a day or so to get the feel of it but the OS is fairly intuitive. Direct file transfer to and from the device is as straight forward as from Win or Mac.
The bad,,,,,,transferring large numbers of files from the camera to the SD card is slow. If you are shooting many gigs of large files per day this is not the tool for you. It is WiFi only so if you want 3G or 4G service you are out of luck. The display is 1280x800 and looks great (comparable to the ipad2) but the new ipad smokes it in this regard. It is not color managed but the colors are fairly true and not over saturated like some other devices I have seen. It is not as thin or pretty as the ipad. No extra points for style. Typing is what you would imagine for this type of device. The one major gripe I have is that the battery must be charged in the tablet but does not recharge through usb. It requires a laptop type brick charger. Bad oversight by the designers since every other tablet uses a lightweight usb cable.
I've used it for about a month and so far I'm satisfied. Battery life is good. I just returned from a 3 day/2 night trip with normal use (reviewing images, checking email, light net surfing, ebook reading) and still had ~40% on the battery. For ~$350 (tablet, 64GB card, spare battery) I've gotten a light weight travel device with 80GB expandable storage that's also great for general use around the house.
Posted by Allen Brooks on April 11, 2012 at 10:43 AM
Thanks for all your input. I'll take a look at the Toshiba Thrive, David.
On our recent 2-month sojourn we were visited by a friend with an iPad and plans to use it for photo stowage. Sum total of the experience, my wife had several sessions burning DVD's for her. The iPad quickly filled and the friend had to move to my wife's Mac Air for downloads. Though light as a feather and small, the Air no monster storage-wise, but 256GB fills a lot slower than 64GB.
Net result, the friend has an iPad for sale and an Air on order.
Discussion
5 repliesThanks for your input.
Max
I agree the other pieces - image quality, processing tools and convenience - are certainly there. When the iPad has 300-400GB and not 64 GB, it will be useful to me in the field. In the meantime, my MacBook Air does pretty well, although it's a lot more expensive.
The good,,,,,,it works as advertised. This is my first android device so it took a day or so to get the feel of it but the OS is fairly intuitive. Direct file transfer to and from the device is as straight forward as from Win or Mac.
The bad,,,,,,transferring large numbers of files from the camera to the SD card is slow. If you are shooting many gigs of large files per day this is not the tool for you. It is WiFi only so if you want 3G or 4G service you are out of luck. The display is 1280x800 and looks great (comparable to the ipad2) but the new ipad smokes it in this regard. It is not color managed but the colors are fairly true and not over saturated like some other devices I have seen. It is not as thin or pretty as the ipad. No extra points for style. Typing is what you would imagine for this type of device. The one major gripe I have is that the battery must be charged in the tablet but does not recharge through usb. It requires a laptop type brick charger. Bad oversight by the designers since every other tablet uses a lightweight usb cable.
I've used it for about a month and so far I'm satisfied. Battery life is good. I just returned from a 3 day/2 night trip with normal use (reviewing images, checking email, light net surfing, ebook reading) and still had ~40% on the battery. For ~$350 (tablet, 64GB card, spare battery) I've gotten a light weight travel device with 80GB expandable storage that's also great for general use around the house.
Net result, the friend has an iPad for sale and an Air on order.