Great for Portfolios, but is it necessary?

Fave 5 is a regular, pretty self-explanatory feature that runs every Thursday on TLF where I give you a list of my five favorite items on a given subject.

Like many others, I’ve been following the news  of Apple’s tablet device, the iPad, over the last several months and now that the product has been officially announced to the world, we can finally see what all the hype has been about and start to imagine the possibilities that it could create for us in the field of photography and in our lives in general.  Since yesterday’s release, I’ve read some things that others are saying about the device, played around on Apple‘s website, and watched several videos about it.  With that said, below are some thoughts that I have on the iPad and why I won’t be spending $499 to get one any time soon.

• Portfolio & Client Management

If you follow as many photography blogs and Twitter accounts as I do, then you probably know that the iPad received a predominately positive response from the photography community, primarily because the iPad will be an excellent tool for sharing portfolios with potential clients.  I tend to agree with that assessment, in that it offers a unique, simple and professional way to display literally dozens of photos in an organized manner without the need for bulky and cumbersome books or directing folks to a website.  It would also allow one to easily review images from photo shoots with clients for print considerations without the need for (or cost of) printing proofs.  I mentioned once before that I haven’t done a client shoot in probably eight or so years now, so although my portfolio pictures would certainly look nice on the iPad, the only people that would see them on the device would be family and friends.  I also mentioned that this may change in the near future, but I’d certainly want to wait and get the latest model of any device if I did decide to go back into that line of work.

• Importance of a Camera

One of the primary complaints that I’ve read about concerning the iPad is its lack of a camera.  While I understand this debate when it’s surrounding the iPod Touch (pretty please Apple?), I’m not the least bit bothered by the fact that the iPad doesn’t have one.  Quite frankly, just the thought of someone holding one of those things up in the air to take a picture is humorous to me.  I also understand why some would want a front facing camera for video chat reasons, but that’s not a feature that I would personally have any use for at this point in my life.

• Size & Portability

Now, I know that I said that it’s a simple, light-weight alternative to lugging around those big, bulky portfolio books, but to be quite honest, even at 9.7 inches, that’s really still a bit too large for me to really use it as an everyday item.  I like the iPod Touch because its smaller and lighter than a cell phone and easily fits into my pocket and I’ve still got both hands free to hold my camera or do whatever else that I need to.  If I did want to bring it along while I’m out on photo shoots, the iPad is too large to fit into my camera bag.  Also, since I would need to purchase an additional “Camera Connection Kit” to even transfer my photos from my camera onto the iPad, if I’m going to carry an extra bag, I might as well just bring my laptop since I’ve already got a dozen cords laying around my house that would allow me to transfer pictures to it, no additional purchase necessary.

• Applications & eBooks

I’ve had my iPod Touch for a while now, and let me tell you how many applications I have paid money for: Zero.  That’s not to say that I don’t have five pages worth of apps loaded on it at this very moment.  There is not a single application out there that costs real money that I absolutely must have for my photography or for my life in general, and I just don’t see that changing anytime soon.  Apple likes to promote the fact that they’ve got over 100,000 applications available, so chances are that there’s a free version of whatever it is that I might need.

As for eBooks, I don’t want to portray myself as a non-reader, but once again, I have paid for absolutely zero books from iTunes, Amazon’s Kindle shop or any other source.  My family and I visit the library regularly, and there are dozens of free eBooks available through free applications like Stanza.  Part of the joy of reading for me has always been the physical act of turning each page and seeing exactly how much of a book I’ve read and how much I’ve got left.  It’s the same reason why I’ve never been interested in eReaders like the Kindle.

• Video

Aside from the snazzy looking portfolio, the one thing that I do like about the iPad is the size of the video display.  Trying to watch a video on the iPod Touch is a depressing affair.  The larger screen size (even though it’s not a wide screen) would be much easier and more comfortable to use on those rare occasions that I would want to watch a video on the device.  The trouble, though, is that I’d ideally want to be able to play DVDs or Flash on the iPad, neither of which are supported at this time.  We pay monthly for a Netflix subscription, so there’s no way that I’m going to pay Apple money for a television show or movie that I’ve basically already paid for with Netflix.

Yesterday, after the iPad was officially announced, one of the websites that I visit regularly asked what were people’s initial reactions.  My response to the question was that I was interested, but not impressed.  After spending more time getting to know what the device is all about, that statement stills sums it up for me.  I believe that between the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and now the iPad, what Apple is doing is truly groundbreaking and will eventually shape the way we do things in the future.  For me, however, the iPad is simply a larger iPod Touch which offers nothing “magical and revolutionary” that would change my life in a way significant enough to warrant the expense.