IPad vs Laptop

I'm thinking of getting the IPad to view images while on location. Do you recommend it over a laptop? I don't need the power of a laptop, just a viewer. Is the IPad hard to see outdoors?

Have you considered the challenge of moving photos to a device which fails to have an industry standard I/O port (simple USB or a memory card reader)?! While it has WiFi and a docking connector, that is problematic for a digital camera user.

I believe it has a plug that connects to an external CF drive. Not my idea of convenient but it's doable.

The camera connection kit is not out yet... How were you planning to transfer the images to the iPad?

I believe there are currently two choices:

1) a usb adapter that connects to the camera. This does not enable tethered shooting, but the IPad can extract the images from the CF card while the CF card is in the camera.

2) Insert the CF card into an external CF reader drive, then connect the CF reader drive into the IPad adapter, then connect the IPad adapter to the IPad.

I hope anyway.

Camera connection kit IS out now. They started shipping them last week but they are still difficult to find as not many stores got them & the ones that did only got a few. Apple IS back to a 2-3 week back order though.

Tex, I was going to do the same thing but have recently decided against it. A netbook is cheaper & you can get more use out of it. It won't be as good for media consumption but for potentially less than half the cost, it's a big difference to me. I was really excited about the iPad but it's just not there for me yet.

What about a Canon M80 or something similar?

I know you don't need lots of power, but an ipad might be pushed when rendering previews of large images. You wouldn't be able to shoot raw either. You would look really cool though!

texshooter wrote in post #10097705
I'm thinking of getting the IPad to view images while on location. Do you recommend it over a laptop? I don't need the power of a laptop, just a viewer. Is the IPad hard to see outdoors?

do you care about screen resolutions? i'm unsure of the ipad's resolution but thats one thing i would be comparing if i were looking for a viewer.

reddyroc007 wrote in post #10097806
do you care about screen resolutions? i'm unsure of the ipad's resolution but thats one thing i would be comparing if i were looking for a viewer.

1024x768, slightly larger than most of the budget netbooks.

sam80 wrote in post #10097791
What about a Canon M80 or something similar?

I know you don't need lots of power, but an ipad might be pushed when rendering previews of large images. You wouldn't be able to shoot raw either. You would look really cool though!

It imports/converts RAW from my nikon just fine. You won't be able to do much real serious editing with what is currently available in the app store, but as a large photo storage/review device it seems pretty good so far...

If your shooting in RAW and using a FF body you will run out of hard drive space really fast as the top iPad has only 64GB. For the asking price of $900.00 for the iPad I would probably look at something else.

Take Care,
Cheers, Patrick

received my 3G iPad today along with the camera
connection kit. grabbed the CF card out of my camera
and the iPad downloaded the .CR2 files (from a 1D
MK3) without issue. was able to view the RAW files
perfectly. I can't answer the question as to how the
iPad will look in daylight as Houston's weather is
rather wet today.

Two wrote in post #10098095
received my 3G iPad today along with the camera
connection kit. grabbed the CF card out of my camera
and the iPad downloaded the .CR2 files (from a 1D
MK3) without issue. was able to view the RAW files
perfectly. I can't answer the question as to how the
iPad will look in daylight as Houston's weather is
rather wet today.

Congrats!

I also found that emailing imported raw images results in the original raw file being attached rather than any lower res converted bit...it's working better than I could have hoped!

AngryCorgi wrote in post #10098039
It imports/converts RAW from my nikon just fine. You won't be able to do much real serious editing with what is currently available in the app store, but as a large photo storage/review device it seems pretty good so far...

Can u edit RAW images? I looked at one today and fell in love. I'm looking for a reason to buy it.

bbarnett51 wrote in post #10098250
Can u edit RAW images? I looked at one today and fell in love. I'm looking for a reason to buy it.

Not sure, but someone will probably make an app for that.

Here's a bit on the camera connection kit from Apple's website. The camera kit includes two connectors, one for accepting an SD card (not CF!), and the other to connect a cable to your camera.

Patrick is right, though. The device doesnt have enough memroy to accomodate a lot of RAW files. Once they upgrade it (maybe in time for Christmas?), you will be able to get 128 or 256 GB. I can see myself using this thing while I travel. I can watch movies or read books or listen to music in the airport or on the plane, keep up with email from the office, access the web, and backup and share photos/videos. Fun!