Can the iPad Replace a Desktop for Photo Editing?

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.thetechblock.com/articles/2012/doing-the-math-iphoto-ipad-dslr/' target='_blank'>http://www.thetechblock.com/article...hoto-ipad-dslr/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Since Apple&rsquo;s first iPad came on the scene in 2010, people have wondered if tablets could stand in for computers. Few would argue they&rsquo;re not up to casual tasks like Web browsing and emailing, but what about the more demanding ones? What about, say, photo editing? Until recently, that was firmly out of the question. The graphics and processing power of even the top tablets couldn&rsquo;t hack it. But now, with the new iPad, I&rsquo;m not so sure."</em></p><p><img height="380" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1334162823.usr15670.jpg" width="600" /></p><p>Everyone likes to chase technology, I suppose, but really, editing photos on a potentially 6-bit screen on an OS without a visible file system, being limited in toolset due to lack of input depth (multi-touch isn't everything), and having limited software that might be nice to use (Snapseed, iPhoto), well, I'm going to pass on this for my serious work for now. I still think the devices need a lot more power too, especially given the new DSLRs are coming out with ever increasing mega-pixel count.</p>

[Jason Dunn]

I tried this with my iPad (the new one) over Easter, and it generally worked quite well. The editing was reasonably fast, fun, and easy. I was editing "snapshots", rather than photos that were incredibly important, so a tablet was just fine. Where this scenario failed though was exporting the images from iPhoto. That program is incredibly obtuse! For some reason, I could only get it to export each image to the camera roll one at a time, rather than all at once! I had 30 images, so that meant performing the export function 30 times in a row! :eek: :mad:

Oh, and the Facebook upload tool kept crashing. This app needs a lot of work. :rolleyes:

All that said, I do see significant potential here for the future.

PS: This entire post was written using the voice dictation feature on the new iPad, and I'm surprised how well it works in a quiet room! Eat Martha's socks. :D