The Apple iPad is the perfect display and presentation device and many have wondered if it could replace their laptops for serious workflow in the field. Many photographers have found the iPad a very useful device in the field: as a portfolio to present to clients, as a display and control device tethered to your DSLR, etc. and could not think of not having one with them now. But they still have their laptops with them, too. Will we be able to one day replace the laptop by the iPad for all the complex workflow we do in the field?
Not being one having an especially heavy field workflow, I’ll instead let Thom Hogan share his views with you on whether the iPad and other tablets (Xoom/Galaxy/etc.) are ready for serious field work.
Read the article at: byThom. [You may need to search for “Tablets and Photography June 7 (commentary)” in the archives if the article has moved off the front page.]
Apple has made the tablet so desirable that it might become the device of choice instead of a laptop. I was surprised yesterday when I walked into my neighborhood Best Buy and the laptop shelf was filled with tablets and one lone laptop! I believe that more and more, photographers — and everyone else for that matter — will be clamoring for a tablet computer.
It’s not that it can’t be done, and we have a few already today, but who will be the first to deliver one that is slick enough, powerful enough, user friendly enough to challenge the iPad? And by this, I don’t mean just throw an OS in and provide features on paper. No, a real slick machine that works just as well as your laptop does, running all the heavyweight software that you need to run, and more. I believe the tablet manufacturers need to be more targeted in their offerings. For example, target photographers: find out what professional photographers’ workflows are and build a tablet that answers all that need to the “t”. If you’ve done it well, with input, rework, and quality testing, you will quickly find an evangelist online who will leave his laptop home and use your tablet and proclaim it to the rooftops.
Then, target teachers and students and schools…
I mean, if we can take the clunky DSLR and reduce it into a compact mirrorless…
But what do I know?