Tablets and Photography
2010 is going the be the year of the tablet.
Pumped by the success of the Kindle and the expanding market of EBooks, manufacturers are scrambling to flood the market with tablets. Its only the first month of the new year and the blogosphere is already clogged with tablets, couriers and slates. Steve Balmer recently unveiled the HP Slate and wednesday Apple is expected to announce their much awaited ISlate. Android tablets are hatching left and right, and rumor has it that Microsoft has another device, the “courier” slated for release in the near futuer.
I am photography addict, but I have been following these developments with great enthusiasm. Why? Simple. The tablets are going to be a super portable device, running atleast in the case of the HP Slate a full blown operating system (windows 7), quite possibly with USB ports and the ability to install 3rd party software.
Imagine tethering your camera to a 10inch portable lcd screen with a built in processor. You won’t have to care about a built in articulating screen, or a separate wireless module. It will take using live view to take a photo to a different level. A 10x zoom on a 10 inch screen will let you focus spot on. Macro photographers will love being able to shoot tethered with a tablet, it will at the very least be much easier on their back. No more hunching over while taking pics of little critters.
Timelapses, timed shooting will no longer require additional hardware, the tablet can do those minor time based calculations without breaking a sweat. The hard drive on these will probably not be too large, but it will be enough to backup those critical few photos on the field.
Laptops have been around for decades and netbooks for the last few years, both devices capable of doing anything that the tablet can possibly do, so why will this device be any different. Simple, it will be more convenient to take on the field and it will have a better battery life than a netbook or a laptop. It will be easier to slip into your bag than a netbook and I am hoping as they want to tread into the E-Reader market with these devices, that their visibility in bright sunlight will be much better than traditional LCDs.
All the rumors, atleast from Apple’s end will come to and end when they make the official announcement on Wednesday, and I am anticipating the year of the tablets with great hope!
