Two weeks with the iPad, … the good, the bad, the honest.

I've now had the iPad long enough such that I finally feel comfortable writing about the thing.

Initial reaction was good. It's basically a giant iPod touch, so there were no surprises as far as shape, fit & finish, etc. It's kinda heavy, so that, coupled with the smooth glass screen and smooth aluminum case makes for something of a precarious user experience. I'm always afraid that the thing is going to squirt out of my hands like a giant bar of soap. And at $700 for the 64GB model, dropping it is pretty much unacceptable.

I got a great leather slipcase for it, which is an lovely way to store the thing, but I'm most looking forward to the Apple case I've ordered, which is more like a notebook cover. That style of case seems far more useful. I'm kinda disappointed about just how tough the naked iPad is too hang on to; I don't want to pinch the edges of the screen for fear of damaging some delicate internal stuff, but I want to drop it even less.

Onward. It took all of 10 minutes to set up to my liking, as it's pretty much exactly like my iPhone. There are some nice interface tweaks in the menus, such as settings (pictured), and mail, which I'm still not sure I completely like but they all do work nicely.

All my iPhone apps work on the iPad, save for those relying on GPS or cell-tower triangulation, so Navigon is useless, but it would be really cool to see Apple add GPS to a future iteration so we can navigate from the large screen.

Apps that have not been optimized for the iPad show up iPad size at first, but there's a button labeled "2X" that scales the app to fit the iPad's much larger screen. While this is cool, the scaled app looks like hammered shit; everything is pixelated to the point that it offends my eye so much I go back to the smaller native size.

And don't get me started about Flash not working. I can't view my expensively-designed, beautiful portfolio Web site on my iPad. Well, at least not the Flash portion. I don't really care why Apple is in such a pissing contest with Adobe over Flash. I'm not a developer, I'm not a designer, I'm a photographer who wants to show off his work, and Flash does an amazing job. I rely on my designer to make decisions as to what technology to use in order to provide the best, most consistent viewing experience possible, and he chose Flash, just like the zillions of other designers who've done the same. 

From what I've read, the much-vaunted Flash killer that is HTML 5 will be really good, but it's gonna take years, as in three to five years, in order for it to fully supplant Flash. So why pull the plug now, so far in advance? This is the angriest I've been with Apple since I owned a Performa. And not even Steve Job's recent explanation of why he hates Flash can soothe that frustration.


Enough about that. The iPad is a lovely device, filling a niche squarely between my iPhone and my MacBook. The iPhone is a device I would prefer not to be without, like, ever. I'm still not so sure as to whether I'll get to feel that way about the iPad. Perhaps next week when my iPad Camera Kit arrives in the mail next week (it's been shipped; the tracking info shows it as having left Shenzen, China, a couple days ago and it's now sitting in Hong Kong, no doubt awaiting customs clearance). I've spoken with folks at Apple and the kit is supposed to support Canon RAW files, so perhaps it'll at least make a decent photo-storage device/viewer. I'm a relatively deliberate shooter, so it'll take a long time to max out 64GB of space.

iPhone - the best camera to have is the camera ya got in yer pocket

Every now and again, I am fortunate enough to be able to travel for both work and for fun. Being a pro photographer does has its perks regarding having ready access to lots of swell gear, but all that equipment does tend to get heavy and bulky after a while, so it's sometimes nice to leave the big stuff at home and travel light. The old adage "it's a poor craftsman who blames his tools" couldn't be more apt when applied to photography as well. 

A camera is nothing more than a tool. Sure, some cameras are definitely nicer than others, but they all really do the same relatively simple thing: transfer reflected light to either a piece of film or a digital sensor. Optics and digital sensor quality aside, the best camera to use for a given situation is the one you happen to have with you, because if there's no camera there'll be no picture anyway. 

I may not always have my nice Canon DSLR with me, but I do always have my iPhone in my pocket. Candidly, the 3G's camera is sorely lacking from a technical standpoint, but that doesn't make the thing any less convenient and handy. I actually like the challenge of trying to take a good photo with a middling camera. There are also plenty of free/99¢ apps to compensate for some of those technical shortcomings.

The real magic of photography is, and always has been, content and composition. Technical prowess certainly has it's place, but having technical skills without a good eye will only get you lots of nicely-exposed, boring photos.

This gallery is of panoramic photos were all taken with my iPhone and stitched together with a $1.99 app called AutoStitch, and subsequently enhanced with either the free Adobe Photoshop for iPhone app, or perhaps another free app; I can't always remember which combination of apps I've used for an image. Taking the panos is pretty simple; it just requires looking at a scene as a larger image and then, using a steady hand, photographing the entire scene one frame at a time from left to right, then feeding those frames to the stitching app. Easy, and fun!

The importance of stability

Stability, .... in this case, I'm talking about camera stability, not emotional stability, which will be addressed in a future post.

Lugging around a tripod can definitely be a drag, especially when it weighs in at 13 lb., but when the wind kicks up or there's heavy traffic nearby, nothing beats a stable platform.

The tripod on the left is a Gitzo aluminum G1415 with a G1527 column and Manfrotto 405 head. It's my favorite working rig, as it's incredibly stable and the head is basically three micrometers on three different axis points to make precision adjustments a breeze.

It definitely is something of a beast to travel with, though, as the tripod and it's padded bag weigh about 15 lb. and need to be checked when flying. Unless it's going to be absolutely necessary for the particular shoot, I usually pack a Gitzo GT2942 Basalt tripod with it's Frankensteinian pano rig: an Acratech leveling base, a Manfrotto QTVR pano rotation head, an Acratech Ultimate Ballhead, all topped off with a Really Right Stuff Precision Plus pano kit. The head assembly outweighs the tripod legs by quite a bit, but it all disassembles and fits quite nicely into my carry-on sized roller bag, which, honestly, usually gets checked anyway but that's only one checked bag even for a week of shooting. I also stick a Benro TRCB069 tripod in the carry-on bag, too; it's awesome to have a back-up tripod, or sometimes I like to shoot with two cameras on their own tripods.

None of that stuff was cheap, but the cost is pretty much forgotten, becaus it's the right set of tools for the kind of work I do and it all just works very well.

Over the past six weeks I did three shoots that required air travel; I've got the whole packing thing down to a science. My camera and lenses go into the Crumpler Karachi Outpost backpack I've written about before and absolutely love. The laptop and all necessary cables, chargers, manuals, spare hard drives and snacks go into a giant, elderly Timbuk2 courier bag, and both bags go on the plane with me. The camera bag goes in the overhead and the computer goes under the seat. The tripods, clothes and toiletries all go into the one checked bag. Everything essential to the shoot is on my person; worst case is that, if the checked bag goes astray, I can get some T-shirts, a pair of jeans and a toothbrush pretty much anywhere, and even a cheap tripod can be pressed into service if need be. There's a Walmart just about everywhere; I can't say the same about a camera shop that happens to stock a Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5, which is, without question, my most-used lens.

It's definitely tiring lugging all that stuff through airports, especially on a flight with lots of connections, but the comfort of knowing I can complete the job even if my bag gets lost definitely makes it worthwhile. Besides, the extra weightlifting involved helps offset all the less-than-healthy food I inevitably eat while traveling.