I have had my iPad for 6 months now and it is a great piece of hardware, but the interface of working with photos on the iPad is one of the most frustrating things I have ever done with a computer. It is impossible to integrate photos to the iPad! There is nothing intuitive about using the iTunes interface and trying to manage images on my iPad. I am a photographer and for the last few months I have been strongly encouraging fellow photographers from purchasing or using an iPad for photos.

It amazes me that Apple has gone so backward in their interfaces with managing files. It used to be so easy. Windows Explorer is much more intuitive now than Apple.

If anyone knows of a simple way to integrate albums of photos from a Mac to the iPad, I would sure love to find out. I have tried Dropbox and other online systems, but I can't understand why a person has to pay money every month to transfer files from one piece of equipment to the next.

Come on Apple!! There is a large industry of photographers out here that would be happy to have iPads, if only they would work!

Sorry about the venting, but I have spent way to many hours on this issue and expect to see the iPad tossed out the window some day soon!

There is a program that most all iPad users have called GoodReader. It's the 'Swiss Army Knife' for the iPad and it can store files all together and in folders - or however you want them - and can transfer files to and from your PC using either WiFi or USB without the need for iTunes. It's built in web-browser can download files too, something that Safari doesn't offer - except for PDF format. From within GoodReader you can open those files in any app that supports that type of file. Having said that, though, when a compatible app does open that file it makes a local copy that it works on, so the original copy in GoodReader is left untouched. If you want to store the modified file in GoodReader you have to transfer it back there by some means.

GoodReader can also attach several files to an email and then send them using the iPad's native Mail app - something you can't do from within Mail itself. It also gives you the opportunity to annotate PDF files and save the resulting file so that it can be read on a PC or Mac.

Tim

Hey Tim,

Thanks for the input. I researched this app, and it seems like it is designed as a PDF reader. I am not really interested in viewing PDFs. I typically set-up image file folders with jpegs sized for the iPad screen at 1024 pixel resolution. I have purchased numerous apps, without success so far. I may give this one a try, and cross my fingers, but it seems like it is not really designed to manage files other that PDFs.

After further review it appears that you cannot transfer folders without creating a ZIP archive, which means that the only way I can transer files is to drop all photos into the iPad, then I have to sort and arrange those images into sub-folders after downloading. It just amazes me that a person can't just drag and drop a folder into the iPad. It is like the dark ages all over again. I found it easier to learn DOS after having started on the 128 MACs in the mid-1980s. File management was easier in the early days!

As long as you keep trying to manage files on the iPad like a computer, you are going to remain frustrated. Computers have become file centric devices, where the file is important, and the app is just a way to do something to the file.

The iPad is app centric. The app is important, and files just something you put in them.

This means that instead of concentrating on a way to organize files the way you want on the iPad, you need to look for an app that does what you want. Like organize and display photos with a convenient way to transfer them from the computer to the app, and back.

I did a little research to get you started.

Stash Pro looks like a good candidate. It has the ability create and organize photos, and wireless import/export ability.

Pad Folio look promising. Might wait to see what they do with it, since it is fairly new.

Best Album (+Transfer) for iPad, also looks promising.

Others:
Portfolio for iPad
PadFolios

I didn't even consider apps that had less than a four star rating, tho some were skimpy on reviews. Sometimes 3 star apps are great, but the people rating them are expecting something other than what the apps does.

There are several photographers in the forum. If you hang out you're bound to find some tools you'll like. One was suggested today, but I can't find the darn post.

Still, all said, the iPad may not be the tool you want/need. But since you have it you might as well stick around for a while and get a better idea of how other's are using it. We're mostly friendly here.

This is PC centric, but should work on the Mac with just minor adjustments to folder names.

First, you should remove the pictures currently in the Camera Roll (Photos), so you won't be duplicating everything. You can do this by connecting the iPad to your computer and then going into iTunes, and under "Devices" on the left hand side of the screen, click on your iPad name. A window will open up with tabs on the top. Select "Photos", under "Photos", un-check "Sync Photos from..." , and sync, this will delete all of the photos on the iPad

You need to setup a folder, on your PC under "My Pictures", such as "iPad Pictures" and make all of the folders you want, with the pictures you want in them (copy, move or drag and drop, your choice), under that folder. Then go into iTunes, under PHOTOS and select "Sync Photos from" and change "My Pictures" to "Choose Folder" and then choose the folder you created "iPad Pictures" open it and select the folders you want to sync to the iPad. Then sync them.

Just remember that to transfer or keep, a photo or album, to/on the iPad, they must have a check next to them. If it's not checked it will be deleted from the iPad if it's already on it.

I'm a photographer and that's the way I do it on the PC, I also have a MacBook Pro, but I don't use it for photography as it's too slow for PP, though it's OK for simple field work.

I bought this iPad 2 for sorting and managing photos. Unfortunately I don't think a lot of these forums are getting that we do not want to use iTunes. It is unwieldy, and does not work most of the time for photos. There has to be a better app for creating albums and sorting photos, one that DOES NOT rely on iTunes.

Thanks Twerppoet, StashPro so far looks the go.

Firemonkey2011 puts it right, as I can stand to use iTunes for this management. I think it is stupid for Apple to try to manage everything through the control systems of iTunes. Thanks for all the feedback and support. I did however give my iPad away to my daughter who is headed for college. Until Apple moves away from their control of users, the iPad isn't for me!

Originally Posted by HarveyA

Firemonkey2011 puts it right, as I can stand to use iTunes for this management. I think it is stupid for Apple to try to manage everything through the control systems of iTunes. Thanks for all the feedback and support. I did however give my iPad away to my daughter who is headed for college. Until Apple moves away from their control of users, the iPad isn't for me!

Lucky daughter! I'm a visual arts student and have thousands of images on my iPad 2. The photo management issue is the biggest problem that I have with it. I want to be able to rename individual images and folders and move the images between folders as suits my current needs. I love my iPad and won't be giving it away, but I wish that this were simpler. I have 64 G but I worry about the capacity of the iPad if I am forced to duplicate all these photos.