So is it for Pros or is it not?

By now we have all seen it on the web and on TV.

By now, web forums and blogs are exploding with Cons and Pros. Some rave about this new device’s great potential and some complain that it cannot cook breakfast.

For photographers the iPad offers nothing and everything at the same time. It has what seems to be an excellent screen, so providing that image files that are viewed on it are of good quality, it can make a great tool for presenting/ reviewing one’s work, either from its own storage or over the net from one’s .me gallery.

A future version of the Leaf Remote Capture App if made for the iPad can become a very powerful and effective tool on set as the current version already proves to be on the iPhone/ iPod Touch. As wireless technology evolves (and becomes cheaper/ more accessible to small companies), we may well see more cameras (or camera backs) offering enhanced compatibility with such devices.

As a $500 USD consumer device, I would not expect the iPad to run a full blown operating system nor a powerful processor neither multiple USB/ FireWire ports, therefor it is not going to replace anyone’s Laptop…it cannot handle RAW file editing processing etc. but I don’t think it needs to either.

Once the Flash support issue gets resolved and viewing Flash-rich website becomes possible, this will further enhance the photographer’s ability to promote their work and develop their business.

As it is now, publishers are likely to be the great beneficiaries of the iPad’s ability to show 8″x6″ size, high quality pages and colour-rich images. They can now stop worrying about the need to run high cost printers and focus on developing new apps and content…(this of course has other implications on the print industry, but I digress…).

I can see, in the not-too-distant future, the “App” becoming the main product, so in the same way you now download Twitter’s or Facebook’s App, you will be downloading the “Le Chapelle” or “Roversi” app for $0.99 (iPhone version) or $4.95 (iPad version) to view their work, blogs, tweets etc.

You click “Install”, money goes from your .me account to their .me account, Apple get its cut as well and everyone is happy!

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Speaking of Le Chapelle, this short video has recently been added to the Phase One website:

It would be great to see the final files as they come out of Photoshop as these scenes are so rich in detail it must be quite something to see them as large prints in a gallery. In general, “the making of” is almost always interesting, be it a very simple setup or a heavily loaded such as the one in this video.

My next post will be published from a warmer place, we are going away for a couple of weeks, to charge the batteries and to see our family and friends.

Good weekend to everyone

Yair