Photo management and the iPad | Hacker News Reader

Photo management and the iPad

forums.camerabits.com

32 pointslazugod13 comments

Extraordinarily well written analysis of the market opportunities for ProImage management applications on the iPad.

What I found particularly interesting, was how, in it's "Focus on the experience and functionality" approach, that it, in many ways, mirrored Steve Jobs concerns about Flash on the iPad.

Apparently we read two very different articles. I read an article that showcased how the iPad's restrictive OS policies make it impossible to offer users a good, working solution to their problems in this particular area.

"In summary, thank you again for considering Camera Bits as a solutions provider for your mobile photo workflow. We will do our best to address your needs as much as possible with regards to an app for the iPad, but for now we suggest that you plan on using alternate, more open mobile solutions for professional apps."

I don't know where you found "market opportunities on the iPad" and Jobs-on-flash in that.

Possible interpretation: It's ironic that the same sort of problems Jobs sites for Flash are evident when trying to edit photos on the iPad.

I need to do a comparison of my tc1100 with the iPad for this purpose.

I can't comment on the specific flaws mentioned in this article, but it is a good anecdote to illustrate one of the general reasons that iDevice style platforms can't completely replace the old fashioned all-purpose home computer. Computers have acquired thousands of little niche uses like this and there's no way an iDevice could support them all without compromising its cherished simplicity. And I would speculate that a good chunk of the computer buying market belongs to at least one niche.

iPhone developer here. There are plenty of ways to get around this.

* Wait another two days for OS4 to drop. I'm under NDA about OS4, but suffice it to say you can expect some api changes that will help.

* Just roll your own file handling; don't depend on the Photo database. The app can pull from a webserver, etc. and totally bypass the CCK. Check out www.eyefi.com - it's pretty easy to integrate with their products. Maybe a little pricey, but if you're market is pro photographers, they're not going to whine about a $150 wireless SD card. Plus, you have the "wow" factor of magical wireless photo import.

* Use one of your support credits. Apple has been known to waive restrictions for good apps in the past.

* Memory issues can be worked around, just do all your calculations on disk. It's slower, but it's not the end of the world. If you depend on Quartz or something, that might require a rewrite; not sure how the existing Mac software is implemented.

5. Create your own hardware for the dock connector, including a card reader and additional memory.

Author of Windows app suggests customers choose a Windows netbook over an iPad - film at 11.

FWIW, I don't buy the claim that it's impossible for applications to get hold of photo metadata - I happen to know someone who is working on an iPad photo application and they don't seem to be having this problem (as evidenced by http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlitos/4669066513/ )

Camera Bits make both MacOSX and Windows versions of the Photo Mechanic, and even says so in the article. I thought the netbook bit was for people who're looking for lightweight solution, especially since there are many netbooks with built-in network capabilities?

Considering that Photo Mechanic is a fairly expensive piece of niche software for very specific use in the workflow of professional photographers, I thought the points they made were fairly valid. Maybe the EXIF copying can be worked around, but it still won't address the RAM size, no robust connection options for CF, no names for the pictures, and all the other little things that the article mentions that makes or breaks a software like that.

If you look in the flickr image you linked, I think the description basically makes the point made in the article - In the flickr description, the author describes 6 steps across 2 different apps to just take some pictures, upload it, and share it with friends. Camera Bits guys are saying that until that becomes a 3 step operation in a single app, it's a no-go in their specific niche market.

I pointed to that image only in relation to the EXIF metadata, since the original article suggested that this problem was the "straw that broke the camel's back" - i.e even if you were prepared to live with the 2-application workflow, even that was not possible. This appears to be false.

The comments on that flickr photo don't seem to contradict/disprove the points made by the Camera Bits post. It sounds like he still had to go through Photos and manually attach tag data like geolocation information.

Well, the point is that the photos didn't originally have geotag info, that came from the iPad - but the resulting photos have that and the original EXIF metadata.

Thank you. File management is the clearest way the iPad demonstrates that it is not a professionals tool, but a multimedia toy.

I'm hoping something is announced at WWDC that breaks the iTunes stranglehold on managing iPhone OS devices but I'm not holding my breath.

just like the thieves do to steal your photos and strip all of your metadata.

I stopped reading at this point. I normally use any possible opportunity to bash Apple... but this is called an API, not stealing. The only thing I hate more than Apple is bad programming and bad writing, and this one phrase captures both at the same time.

Yawn.

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