the daily flashkube

(screen shot from Apple.com)

Yesterday I spent a few hours listening to the Apple announcement and soaking up all the punditry before and after. There are very mixed reviews for this new device, but I haven’t heard anything specifically from a photography perspective. So, here goes. I won’t go into the specs because that has been done elsewhere. (If you want the best run down Apple has put up a comprehensive website for the iPad along with two videos.) What I will do is just give a brain dump of my first impressions:

• At it’s most basic level, it is a large iPhone. In fact, it’s running a version of the iPhone OS.
• It runs all apps from the Apple App Store natively. This means it will be immediately usable with no ramp up to developer adoption like with the first iPhone.
• It is much larger than, but only slightly thicker than, the iPhone. I think this is an incredible accomplishment.
• It performed extremely well even with graphics intensive applications. There appeared to be no lag between touch and motion on the multi-touch screen and the games shown ran at high FPS.
• The price of the device itself is way under what I expected.
• The data plans are reasonably priced. Best of all is that they are month to month with NO CONTRACT! It would be silly to buy one without the 3G radio since there is no obligation to pay for service right away.
• I am very surprised that there is no camera like almost all other Apple devices. (I’m thinking user-facing like a webcam.) They already have the software to run it. Steve must have decided that it would bring the cost up too much.
• I am dissappointed that there was no announcement of Flash support. In fact, he pulled up a website that required flash and it showed an error. (Linked image from engadget’s great coverage of the event.)
• I am also disappointed that there was no mention of multi-tasking. It’s one thing to prevent multi-tasking on an underpowered handheld device. It’s another to prevent it on an obviously well-powered one.
• This device is going to be a game changer for the netbook market because of its low price, stunning design, and 3G integration.
• It will be a game changer for the eBook reader market because of its size, high-res display, and eBook apps.

So let’s get to why I think the Apple iPad is going to be a friend to photographers.

Tethering

Professional studio photographers (and sometimes even on-location photographers) tether their DSLR to a laptop for immediate viewing of images on a large screen. It allows them to see what is actually coming out of the camera without having to squint at the much smaller LCD on the back. While I’m not a tethered shooter, I imagine that not much typing is done during a shoot. So a full laptop is not necessary, just a large display. Imagine using the multi-touch during a shoot for zooming in and moving an image around to check sharpness/exposure instead of fiddling with a touch-pad or mouse. The other reason to tether is camera control. And there are already apps for the iPhone OS that do this. Apple has an accessory on their site called the iPad Camera Connection Kit (pictured below).

(screenshot from Apple.com)

Image Backup and Viewer

Many photographers carry these portable hard drives that have LCD screens on them such as the Epson P-5000 (see below). This allows them to immediately dump their cards to a disk for backup and view them on a larger LCD than on the back of their camera. The iPad would be perfect for this (provided you get the 64GB model) because of its large screen. You would just need the iPad Camera Connection Kit (mentioned above).

(screenshot from Epson.com)

Portfolio Viewer

Imagine bringing this to meetings with clients as a way to showcase your portfolio. It’s sleek, well designed, and professional. The only thing Apple would need to include is an iPhone OS version of ColorSync for color management.

Blogging and Social Media

As I write this I am fantasizing about blogging from an iPad instead of a bulky laptop. The key here is the on-screen keyboard in landscape mode. Apple says it is “near full-size.” If that is true and it’s responsive, the iPad will be my blogging platform of choice. Most photographers today understand the importance of social media and connecting with others online to promote themselves. The iPad is going to be a great tool for updating Facebook and Twitter. You could even upload pictures to Flickr or a website from your camera using the Camera Connection Kit. Apple has also announced the iPad Keyboard Dock (see below). This thing is genius. It works in both landscape and portrait mode and will be great for long periods of typing.

(screenshot from Apple.com)

Photography Magazines and Books

E-book readers like the Kindle are great for novels and newspapers. (Even if I get an iPad I won’t give mine up.) But for photography books and magazines it just doesn’t work. I can’t imagine that even the color readers coming out will render photographs very well. The ability to read magazines like Aperture or Popular Photography in all their full color, high resolution glory is very enticing. And imagine reading Scott Kelby’s latest and greatest Photoshop book while actually using the software on your main machine! I could even see fine art photography books being released in this format.

(screenshot from Apple.com)

Digital Picture Frame

This one is kind of a novelty. When I saw the iPad on its dock I couldn’t help but see it as a great digital picture frame while not in use (see below). Although pictured in portrait orientation, I’m pretty sure it can dock in landscape just like it can on the Keyboard Dock.

(screenshot from Apple.com)

I think I just convinced myself to buy one. Now I’ll just need to convince my wife. I’d love to hear the thoughts of other photographers. Chime in if you can think of more photography related uses or if you just want to talk me out of getting one.

UPDATE 1:

After writing this I found two great posts from a photographic/design perspective about the new device. Check out Scott Kelby’s post here. Check out Terry White’s post here.

UPDATE 2:

Here are some more links to posts by photographers on the Apple iPad.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/revellphotography/XmEp/~3/OL4g4A36xRw/

http://photofocus.com/2010/01/27/what-the-apple-tablet-will-mean-to-photographers/