Android Tablet for Photography

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koffiejunkie

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Hi guys,

Is anyone here using an Android based tablet for photography related activities? If so, I have a few questions?

1. Which tab?

2. Which Android version? Or Cyanogenmod?

3. Jailbroken? If so, for a reason related to photography?

I won't ask you to list everything you use. Just give me your opinion on the following:

4. I want to be able to plug my card reader in and have it recognised

5. I want to be able to copy photos off a card to the internal storage

6. I want to be able to copy photos from the internal storage to a card

7. I want to be able to view my photos (raw format - Canon CR2 right now, but there may be other brands in my future)

8. Bonus points for something that will allow me to keyword, name and geotag photos, and embed the metadata in the raw file, so that the metadata is in tact when I bring it into Aperture. [edit: ...in the CR2/RAW file]

9. Extra bonus points for exporting jpeg files and uploading to flickr/facebook/whereever.

I know this is taken care of on the iPad side (I'll just search bwana's posts) but I have reasons outside of photography to want this. Too bad Photosmith is not available for Android...

Thanks
 
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You should check out my post over here, I think it should answer most of your questions.

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=456899

Feel free to ask any questions regarding the tablet I'm using. I'm using the Samsung Galaxy Tab II and it runs on ICS.

I can basically do everything that's asked in your post, although I haven't tried number 8 myself.
 
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Long post Koffie!

You want a tab running ICS that has OTG built into the kernel and a suitable OTG adaptor cable. I have no problems accessing my card reader. No rooting, stock kernel.

You can transfer photos using ES file explorer and view RAW files with RawDroid beta (unfortunately, RawDroid does not yet register itself as a RAW file handler with the kernel, so you can't tap on a .cr2 to open it from a file explorer. The author says this is not very high on his list of priorities :(). I haven't checked the geotagging as it's not important to me. I mainly use the tablet as a viewer, not a storage device.

My phone (Galaxy Note) has a very basic photo editor app as standard. I haven't even thought of looking for an editor for my tablet as the screen resolution is too low.
 
koffiejunkie said:
I know this is taken care of on the iPad side (I'll just search bwana's posts) but I have reasons outside of photography to want this. Too bad Photosmith is not available for Android...

Thanks
Click to expand...
:D

Or you could just ask. :) Since I got the third gen iPad I've been pushing it hard.

Were you thinking of switching to Lightroom too?
 
The asus infinity has an IPS display and a nice high res (not the retina of the ipad 3 but pretty damn good). It should pretty much do everything you listed there.
 
Thanks for all the replies, and sorry for the late response - it's been a crazy week!

Dom1n8tr1x said:
You should check out my post over here, I think it should answer most of your questions.

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=456899
Click to expand...

Thanks. I did look into both those apps. RawVision doesn't mention anything about keywording. Photo Mate Pro does mention it, but from what I gather it will only export jpeg images. What I really want is for my keywords (and possibly rating, if there's a metadata standard for it) to be attached to the RAW file, so that I can import it into Aperture and have the keywords show up.

Dom1n8tr1x said:
I can basically do everything that's asked in your post, although I haven't tried number 8 myself.
Click to expand...

Aah that pesky point 8... I updated my post to include the RAW file bit. The jpegs are not of much help to me.

BigAl-sa said:
You can transfer photos using ES file explorer and view RAW files with RawDroid beta (unfortunately, RawDroid does not yet register itself as a RAW file handler with the kernel, so you can't tap on a .cr2 to open it from a file explorer.
Click to expand...

I see the RawDroid documentation does mention keywording (in fact, that's all it mentions). The article explains how to import pre-defined keywords. Can you type in keywords within the app? Or can you only select from what it knows?

bwana said:
Were you thinking of switching to Lightroom too?
Click to expand...

I wasn't, but it 's starting to look inevitable. When I first looked at Lightroom, it was the original release, and I wasn't that impressed. It didn't offer anything Aperture didn't. But these days the image quality at high ISO, and in particular its noise handling, seems a lot better. I'm finding myself being able to save images in LR that I would have outright rejected in Aperture.

I know I can solve this with plugins, in fact, I'm able to get slightly better results out of Noise Ninja than I get in LR, but I really don't like the way it works in Aperture. I use Aperture for viewing/displaying as much as working in it, and if I had to round-trip each image I end up with a bunch of huge TIFFs for each image.

Noise Ninja appears to have been discontinued, btw. PictureCode now only has a program called Photo Ninja, which seems more of an alternative to Aperture/Lightroom.

As an update to my orignial request, i have spent some quality time investigating available tablets, their features, dimentions, weight, and price. iPad with Photosmith wins hands down. But I'm planning to travel for all of December and a bit of January - about 5 weeks in all - and I'm concerned with the space available. 16GB definitely won't cut it, 32GB might or might not. The 64bit probably will, particularly if I can delete the bad ones as I go. But that takes me £559 and 662g, which brings me uncomfortably close to an 11" MacBook Air (which I just want an exuse to buy anyway).

This sent me looking at netbooks. After my disappointment with the netbook experience 2 years ago, I thought there should be a bit more CPU juice to go around now, so maybe running LR on one might not be too bad. But two problems became evident: CPU options have hardly changed - they're still selling with single core Atom N455 chips! The other problem is, while being small, they're not exacty light. Most are indicated as between 1.1 and 1.4kg, but that always excludes the battery. So what about Ultrabooks? There are a few nice options, all with the exception of one, heavier than the MBA, but at least they come with i7 processors. The Gigabyte X1 is lighter (975g vs 1080g), has a carbon fibre shell, which suggest at least reasonable build quality, and it comes with i5 or i7 processors. This seems like what I want! Just two problems: not available anywhere, and *more* expensive than the MacBook Air.
 
Does it have to be android? I would suggest getting an intel powered windows 8 tablet instead. You have full photoshop and other programs on the go. Also has a proper usb port
 
At the end of the day a tablet is just not a suitable device for this. I would rather invest in an Air or an Ultrabook. My device for this atm is the Lenovo X201 which works brilliantly (dock with DVD at home) ... small and light almost like an Ultrabook on the move. Will have a Dell XPS 13 soon. More expensive than tablet but worth it.
 
The problem I have with a netbook is that Canon's DPP won't run on it (it wants a minimum resolution of 1024x768). Any other RAW viewer gives my 40d's pics a red cast because of the way they use dcraw (I don't use adobe's stuff).

I just tried RawDroid's tagging and it's non-existent at the moment.
 
BigAl-sa said:
The problem I have with a netbook is that Canon's DPP won't run on it (it wants a minimum resolution of 1024x768). Any other RAW viewer gives my 40d's pics a red cast because of the way they use dcraw (I don't use adobe's stuff).

I just tried RawDroid's tagging and it's non-existent at the moment.
Click to expand...

Netbooks are not suitable for this line of work. The atom processor, poor resolution and Windows basic edition sux donkey balls.
 
BeVonk! said:
Netbooks are not suitable for this line of work. The atom processor, poor resolution and Windows basic edition sux donkey balls.
Click to expand...
Been using my Samsung NC10 for just the purpose Koffie wants it for for more than three years. I use Linux anyway.

Koffie, have you considered a portable storage device? It could work with an Android tablet if you find the right app.
 
koffiejunkie said:
I wasn't, but it 's starting to look inevitable. When I first looked at Lightroom, it was the original release, and I wasn't that impressed. It didn't offer anything Aperture didn't. But these days the image quality at high ISO, and in particular its noise handling, seems a lot better. I'm finding myself being able to save images in LR that I would have outright rejected in Aperture.
Click to expand...
I'm more than happy with the way Aperture is handling high ISO shots these days - and doubtless it's only going to get better. I rarely find myself having to roundtrip to dfine, even at 6400. Then again I'm probably less pedantic than some when it comes to noise. I've sought the opinion of my various editors and they all agree the images are good enough to be published and that's what counts in my books. Aperture is also fast, Photomechanic fast, which might not be important to you but for me it's one reason why I could never switch to the lethargic Lightroom.

When I travelled to the UK a few months ago for a month I mostly ignored the MBP in my bag and relied heavily on my iPad. With selective importing and a good supply of CF cards at my disposal I didn't have to dump any of my cards while I was away. Next time I'm leaving the MBP at home. Editing on the new iPad is a dream plus it's got all the tools I need.

One thing I still need to get is a cf card reader that is compatible with the camera connection kit.
 
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AlphaJohn said:
Eee Pad TF300 + DSLR Controller seem to work for my Canon controlling and image transfer via USB.

DSL Controller Home
PhotoPoint written by a MyBB member covers the Geo tag issues, forgot who it was but I am sure if you search the Android section you will find him.
Adobe Touch = seems to work for touch ups & editing.
Click to expand...
Are they still limiting photo size? That was my only major gripe with the app and the only reason why I haven't bought it yet.
 
bwana said:
Are they still limiting photo size? That was my only major gripe with the app and the only reason why I haven't bought it yet.
Click to expand...

Do not know if they fixed it in an update, the "demo" version has the size constraint but that is fine for pictures that I normally upload as I never upload full sized pictures, that I leave for home+desktop editing any way.
 
AlphaJohn said:
Do not know if they fixed it in an update, the "demo" version has the size constraint but that is fine for pictures that I normally upload as I never upload full sized pictures, that I leave for home+desktop editing any way.
Click to expand...

I prefer to work with full size images and then resize on output. The more pixels you have the easier and better the results.

How well does it handle RAW?
 
bwana said:
I prefer to work with full size images and then resize on output. The more pixels you have the easier and better the results.

How well does it handle RAW?
Click to expand...

Do not know, never shoot in raw, will go take some picks later to see how it works for feedback.

Pity Android do not have apps like Filterstorm Pro or Snapseed & iPad's method to control a camera comes out a tad to costly. (Need to buy 3rd part app and connectors at a proper sum) Maybe Windows 8 Tablets will come save the day with full OS + proper USB support.
 
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AlphaJohn said:
Do not know, never shoot in raw, will go take some picks later to see how it works for feedback.
Click to expand...
Thanks - it would be handy to know. :)

AlphaJohn said:
Pity Android do not have apps like Filterstorm Pro or Snapseed & iPad's method to control a camera comes out a tad to costly. (Need to buy 3rd part app and connectors at a proper sum) Maybe Windows 8 Tablets will come save the day with full OS + proper USB support.
Click to expand...
Filterstorm is fantastic. Snapseed is fun to play with but not something you'd even consider doing serious editing with. Now that google has acquired Nik I'd expect to see it on andriod in the near future.

I see TriggerHappy should be shipping now. If I was looking for a remote solution on iOS that would be it - $50 seems pretty reasonable too. Maybe I'll get one just for S&Gs. :D

I live in the Mac ecosystem so my day doesn't really need saving - it will be interesting to see however what Windows 8 brings to the table for those less fortunate than I though. :)
 
AlphaJohn said:
That is not control, that a trigger. Control for me is changeing f stops, manual zoom with live view and so on.

Something like http://www.ononesoftware.com/products/dslr-camera-remote/ seems a lot better.
Click to expand...
According to their website it seems to do a lot more than just tripping the shutter.

The TriggerHappy App includes:
Simple camera trigger
Bulb functionality for long exposures
Time-lapse mode (intervalometer)
HDR mode with up to 9 shots and 16 stops of dynamic range
Bramping (Bulb Ramping) for time-lapses from day to night, etc.

The TriggerHappy team is currently working to add these features:
A way to trigger the camera when the accelerometer data of the phone changes.
Face detection. When a face enters the phone's view, the camera can fire.
Lightning detection.
Audio waveform detection
Click to expand...
 
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