Photo Image Quality

[RAC]

I have my iPad with me on a trip expecting it to be great for viewing photos. I am shocked to find that the photos look better in my PC (which I have with me for business purposes). The colours are more true to life on the PC.

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

I have my iPad with me on a trip expecting it to be great for viewing photos. I am shocked to find that the photos look better in my PC (which I have with me for business purposes). The colours are more true to life on the PC.

Thanks for your very interesting observation. I've not really done such a thorough comparison - well, actually no comparison at all, so I'm going to have a look at this today.

Are you using any image processing software on the iPad - Photoshop, or something similar? What camera were you using and did you export the pictures in the same format to both platforms?

Tim
Scotland

 

[RAC]

Thanks for your very interesting observation. I've not really done such a thorough comparison - well, actually no comparison at all, so I'm going to have a look at this today.

Are you using any image processing software on the iPad - Photoshop, or something similar? What camera were you using and did you export the pictures in the same format to both platforms?

Tim
Scotland

No post processing in either case.

I actually thought, at that the photos were not very well exposed at first, unusual for an SLR camera.

After copying files on to a portable HDD using my PC (something that you can't do on the iPad), I decided to have a quick look at them an was quite surprised to discover that they were much better than they first appeared.

On the iPad, the pictures look underexposed and have an orange cast on beach sand foe example.

I have mentioned before my disappointment at not being able able to use the iPad to backup photos to HDD but I thought that at least it would be a great way to view photos, but apparently not.

 

[nateccnn]

I found that if you transfer photos through itunes, itunes will downsize the file and store it in a separate directory. It then uses that new file in the new itunes photo directory to copy to the iPad. If I want an original of the jpg I transfer it through dropbox. Unfortunately when you do it through dropbox there is no way to organize the photos so they all end up in the Saved folder.

Nate

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

Thanks for your very interesting observation. I've not really done such a thorough comparison - well, actually no comparison at all, so I'm going to have a look at this today.

Are you using any image processing software on the iPad - Photoshop, or something similar? What camera were you using and did you export the pictures in the same format to both platforms?

Tim
Scotland

No post processing in either case.

I actually thought, at that the photos were not very well exposed at first, unusual for an SLR camera.

After copying files on to a portable HDD using my PC (something that you can't do on the iPad), I decided to have a quick look at them an was quite surprised to discover that they were much better than they first appeared.

On the iPad, the pictures look underexposed and have an orange cast on beach sand foe example.

I have mentioned before my disappointment at not being able able to use the iPad to backup photos to HDD but I thought that at least it would be a great way to view photos, but apparently not.

There are a number of external HDDs for the iPad that you can use to store photos - thus removing the need to keep your PC with you. They can only be used to store videos and photos, i.e. not other documents, unless you jail break, but they might be what you are looking for.

Here's a link to one of them..

HyperDrive: iPad hard drive boosts your iPad storage to 750GB - Pocket-lint

Tim
Scotland

 

[madhatter61]

Extra storage for Photos

Thanks for your very interesting observation. I've not really done such a thorough comparison - well, actually no comparison at all, so I'm going to have a look at this today.

Are you using any image processing software on the iPad - Photoshop, or something similar? What camera were you using and did you export the pictures in the same format to both platforms?

Tim
Scotland

No post processing in either case.

I actually thought, at that the photos were not very well exposed at first, unusual for an SLR camera.

After copying files on to a portable HDD using my PC (something that you can't do on the iPad), I decided to have a quick look at them an was quite surprised to discover that they were much better than they first appeared.

On the iPad, the pictures look underexposed and have an orange cast on beach sand foe example.

I have mentioned before my disappointment at not being able able to use the iPad to backup photos to HDD but I thought that at least it would be a great way to view photos, but apparently not.

There are a number of external HDDs for the iPad that you can use to store photos - thus removing the need to keep your PC with you. They can only be used to store videos and photos, i.e. not other documents, unless you jail break, but they might be what you are looking for.

Here's a link to one of them..

HyperDrive: iPad hard drive boosts your iPad storage to 750GB - Pocket-lint

Tim
Scotland

Actually at $250 that is a bargain. Years ago, (5 at least) EPSON wanted $550 for 35 GB on a hand held storage drive. That was when I picked up a small laptop with 60 GB for about the same price, and then I had a full display screen to see the photos nicely. This of course, has changed a lot, but the idea has real merit.

 

[RAC]

Actually at $250 that is a bargain. Years ago, EPSON wanted $550 for 35 GB on a hand held storage drive. That was when I picked up a small laptop with 60 GB for about the same price, and then I had a full display screen to see the photos nicely. This of course, has changed a lot, but the idea has real merit.

Actually, I think $250 and counting is expensive when you think you can buy a decent capacity portable HDD for $100 or so.

I did look at HyperDrive and almost convinced myself that it was the answer but I don't think that it is.

Couple of years ago I purchased the cheapest Asus Netbook (Linux) for under $300 and used it with portable HDD thatI already owned. It alll works well I have even developed a Perl script to copy only new files into separate directories for raw and jpeg in a nominated directory.

The iPad just can't do that. Perhaps what is required is a "Photo Organiser app that does all of the above.

 

[Gabriel1]

OK, I have to admit that I know very little about this but couldn't the wifi be used to do what you want. I did a bit of googling and found this.....

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=104395&r=GOOG

Is there anyway something like this could be set up to use as external storage whilst travelling?

The Archangel

 

[RAC]

OK, I have to admit that I know very little about this but couldn't the wifi be used to do what you want. I did a bit of googling and found this.....

7dayshop.com - Online Store

Is there anyway something like this could be set up to use as external storage whilst travelling?

The Archangel

I agree that wireless HDDs may be part of the answer. The other part is software that can copy files from the Camera Connection Kit to the wireless HDD. I don't think that there is an app that does that yet.

The drive that you mention is a bit expensive, possibly because it is media player as well. It also has a 3.5" drive where 2.5" would be more portable. It's definitely a good thought though.

By the way, my iPad was set to low brightness to conserve power. Turning up the brightness improved image quality but there is still less detail visible in dark areas than on my PC.

 

[Gabriel1]

I actually searched for wifi HD's but to be honest, due to my lack of knowledge in this area that was the only one that jumped out at me as a possibility. If you know what you are looking at then I am certain you could find something cheaper.......that's it, I'm done, what little knowledge I have on this subject has all leaked out now!!

The Archangel

 

[gentlefury]

I have my iPad with me on a trip expecting it to be great for viewing photos. I am shocked to find that the photos look better in my PC (which I have with me for business purposes). The colours are more true to life on the PC.

I disagree, I sometimes put photos on the iPad specifically for viewing since it looks so good!

 

[jwt873]

I disagree, I sometimes put photos on the iPad specifically for viewing since it looks so good!

Those are my thoughts.. I'm a PC user (but I use Linux rather than Windows).. I find that Apple monitors generally do look better than PC monitors whether you're looking at an iPod, an iPad, or an iMac.

 

[RAC]

I actually searched for wifi HD's but to be honest, due to my lack of knowledge in this area that was the only one that jumped out at me as a possibility. If you know what you are looking at then I am certain you could find something cheaper.......that's it, I'm done, what little knowledge I have on this subject has all leaked out now!!

The Archangel

I have been looking for sometime and everything that I have found so far is on the expensive side, has features that I don't want to pay for or is (promoted at least) as having restricted functionality.

What I would like to see is a battery powered 2.5" device (either with or without the actual drive) with WiFi for about $100 (or less of course) above the USB drive equivalent.

I think that it is close to happening actually. Iomega has such a device that is advertised as a backup solution. It's not clear to me whether it will function as a normal hard drive although you would expect that it would.

THEN all that would be needed is a fairly simple app that would copy files from the Camera Connection Kit to the WiFi Portable HDD. Ideally it would allow you to specify a target directory and create subdirectories within that for jpeg and raw files. It would also be useful if there was an option to only copy photos that had been taken since the previous transfer. This is specialised functionality for photography, general file copy functionality on top of that would also be useful.

 

[RAC]

I disagree, I sometimes put photos on the iPad specifically for viewing since it looks so good!

Those are my thoughts.. I'm a PC user (but I use Linux rather than Windows).. I find that Apple monitors generally do look better than PC monitors whether you're looking at an iPod, an iPad, or an iMac.

I am genuinely surprised myself. I don't think it's just the my expectations were too high, I definitely see more detail in the darker areas of my photos on my Dell notebook than on the iPad, even with the brightness turned up.

 

[Phine00Del]

I have my iPad with me on a trip expecting it to be great for viewing photos. I am shocked to find that the photos look better in my PC (which I have with me for business purposes). The colours are more true to life on the PC.

I disagree, I sometimes put photos on the iPad specifically for viewing since it looks so good!

I agree, I was actually impressed at how good pictures looked on the iPad. I'm finding the iPad to be a great way to show my portfolio.