[DaveL]

I am seriously considering getting one.

I do have a (work) Blackberry. Currently using a d300s and Olympus OMD M5. Both use sd cards.

Appreciate your help.

DaveL
Toronto

[312Lorden]

Yes, I'd like to know also. I would especially like to know how JPEG photos are downloaded from a camera and can it be done? I have a Canon DSLR.
Also, can we create Folders inside the Camera icon?

[Angus_CB]

The only way to download directly from a camera to a Playbook would be to use WiFi enabled SD cards in your camera.
If you have a Blackberry Smartphone you could use microSD cards in your camera with an SD adapter. Then transfer the microSD to your phone and view or import the photos to the Playbook using Bridge.
In either case you would want to use a Playbook to proof every photo.

You can create folders under the Photos folder on the Playbook but when browsing photos you will see all photos at once with no distinction for the subfolders.

[FF22]

The PICTURES app (comes with the pb) will show subfolders under the Photo Folder as ALBUMS like YosemiteVacation, GrandmasBirthday, Thanksgiving, etc. But most other applications including the email app will ignore the folders and present all 3,000 photos for you to sort through to attach a photo to email.

[pacoman03]

But most other applications including the email app will ignore the folders and present all 3,000 photos for you to sort through to attach a photo to email.

Unless you use one of the android file browers (Ghost Commander, X-Plore, ES File Explorer) to attach photos or other files to emails rather than using the native File Manager.

[FF22]

Unless you use one of the android file browers (Ghost Commander, X-Plore, ES File Explorer) to attach photos or other files to emails rather than using the native File Manager.

Since you seem to be better informed on these various Android file managers (I just loaded x-plore last night) - do any of them allow MULTIPLE attachments in one email?

[Herve5]

(...) But most other applications including the email app will ignore the folders and present all 3,000 photos for you to sort through to attach a photo to email.

This is very true, and even worse when it is an (otherwise potentially useful) image processing app.
My experience:

- Eye-fi card in DSLR for jpegs only (raws take noticeably longer to transfer because of their size, and forget movies); you need to sideload the android eyefi card but that's easy and works on any 2.x system (at least)

- use "file browser" app for everything file-related (moving, renaming, folders, ftp) : the fastest one ; get "file and folders" in addition if you want cloud support (dropbox etc. but no ftp) : much slower on startup, a very efficient slidehow btw

- the most serious image processing apps (I mean, ones that don't autoresize your photo to 150 pixels by default, and are not just a bunch of abysmally immature bit filters with silly names) are Photo studio, Photo editor and Sumo paint, the latter with an unrescaled tiny interface but the only one to offer a real Curves tool, offline (for regular use uncheck real-time preview and consider buying a pen); let's mention too Photo sorter (that does just what it says, but does it well) and Star Capture if you wish to use the PB cam itself to get accumulated series of images (of fix scenes) with virtually zero noise.

[pacoman03]

Since you seem to be better informed on these various Android file managers (I just loaded x-plore last night) - do any of them allow MULTIPLE attachments in one email?

X-Plore and ES File Explorer do, though all images/files to be attached must be in the same folder (if you want to attach files from different folders, in X-plore it's easy enough to create a new folder and copy various files from other folders ito it). To attach multiple files in X-Plore, navigate to the folder they're in, then check the boxes on the right side of all the files to be attached, then press and hold on any of these checked files, then choose "Share", and then choose "Messages". Messages will open with the files attached to a new email. You can also attach any kind of file this way- not just vids, pics, music and documents, as the native browser only allows.

[pickles#WP]

For even a semi-serious photographer, the Playbook has little use besides the obvious one: showing pictures/videos that were taken with a more versatile digital camera, for example, downloading a selection of pictures to show the relatives on a vacation. It can display pictures up to 3.5 inches by 6 inches.

The Playbook camera, aside from its resolution, is more basic than modern cell phone cameras. It lacks a flash and timer. Pictures taken indoors under tungsten light are grainy and disappointing. Pictures taken outdoors are better, but really only useful for those times when you've forgotten to bring a digital camera with you or your camera's batteries have died. After all, you can't zoom in or change the focus/depth of field, etc with the Playbook's rudimentary camera. It's just an add on for convenience.

With the most recent update to 2.1, it has made finding photos taken with the camera more difficult; they used to be sorted in chronological order and numbered accordingly but not now. Where you have deleted a photo you took before, the Playbook will now use that file number to label your latest photo. There is no option to rename or sort them differently. So a picture you've taken of your Thanksgiving turkey in 2012 may be put with your Christmas 2011 photos to "fill the gap" where you had previously deleted the blurry picture of your tree. On a vacation, recently, I took 5 photographs at a family reunion. I had to scroll through my entire collection of camera pictures to find each one. This made showing the pictures to others extremely tedious. This unannounced and unexplained decision by RIM has decreased the convenience of the camera for the casual photographer.

[thecsman]

For even a semi-serious photographer, the Playbook has little use besides the obvious one: showing pictures/videos that were taken with a more versatile digital camera, for example, downloading a selection of pictures to show the relatives on a vacation. It can display pictures up to 3.5 inches by 6 inches.

The Playbook camera, aside from its resolution, is more basic than modern cell phone cameras. It lacks a flash and timer. Pictures taken indoors under tungsten light are grainy and disappointing. Pictures taken outdoors are better, but really only useful for those times when you've forgotten to bring a digital camera with you or your camera's batteries have died. After all, you can't zoom in or change the focus/depth of field, etc with the Playbook's rudimentary camera. It's just an add on for convenience.

With the most recent update to 2.1, it has made finding photos taken with the camera more difficult; they used to be sorted in chronological order and numbered accordingly but not now. Where you have deleted a photo you took before, the Playbook will now use that file number to label your latest photo. There is no option to rename or sort them differently. So a picture you've taken of your Thanksgiving turkey in 2012 may be put with your Christmas 2011 photos to "fill the gap" where you had previously deleted the blurry picture of your tree. On a vacation, recently, I took 5 photographs at a family reunion. I had to scroll through my entire collection of camera pictures to find each one. This made showing the pictures to others extremely tedious. This unannounced and unexplained decision by RIM has decreased the convenience of the camera for the casual photographer.

You should try that Sumo Paint application Herve5 just mentioned. It looks pretty decent for $1.99

ALL tablet/cellphone cameras (4S--I have one, 5, included) perform poorly under low light because of their tiny sensors (except for the Lumia 920, which seems to be a step forward). If you want performance, go DSLR (Mark II 5D, the now legendary D700).

Going through the files in the PB file explorer is for sure a PITA, it seems to be oriented to 'universal search' or something. They should correct this. The file numbering also is a horrid mistake, it doesn't follow digital photography standards. The only workaround at the moment is to do some batch scripting either in cmd or bash and arrange the file naming for your slideshows to work.

RIM please fix this.

[Herve5]

(...) I had to scroll through my entire collection of camera pictures to find each one. This made showing the pictures to others extremely tedious. This unannounced and unexplained decision by RIM has decreased the convenience of the camera for the casual photographer.

You definitely must forget both the built-in file manager and the original Photos app. But you indeed can buy file managers and photo (almost) processing apps that can almost solve serious image processing issues, at least slowly, at least once... Given that a 'large-memory' PB naturally becomes a storage backup, that counts.

[FF22]

For even a semi-serious photographer, the Playbook has little use besides the obvious one: showing pictures/videos that were taken with a more versatile digital camera, for example, downloading a selection of pictures to show the relatives on a vacation. It can display pictures up to 3.5 inches by 6 inches.

The Playbook camera, aside from its resolution, is more basic than modern cell phone cameras. It lacks a flash and timer. Pictures taken indoors under tungsten light are grainy and disappointing. Pictures taken outdoors are better, but really only useful for those times when you've forgotten to bring a digital camera with you or your camera's batteries have died. After all, you can't zoom in or change the focus/depth of field, etc with the Playbook's rudimentary camera. It's just an add on for convenience.

With the most recent update to 2.1, it has made finding photos taken with the camera more difficult; they used to be sorted in chronological order and numbered accordingly but not now. Where you have deleted a photo you took before, the Playbook will now use that file number to label your latest photo. There is no option to rename or sort them differently. So a picture you've taken of your Thanksgiving turkey in 2012 may be put with your Christmas 2011 photos to "fill the gap" where you had previously deleted the blurry picture of your tree. On a vacation, recently, I took 5 photographs at a family reunion. I had to scroll through my entire collection of camera pictures to find each one. This made showing the pictures to others extremely tedious. This unannounced and unexplained decision by RIM has decreased the convenience of the camera for the casual photographer.

I think I may have found a very convoluted method of closing the gaps but it would need to be redone each time you erase photos from the middle of the numbering sequence. I used Lupas Rename to access my pb's camera folder. I used it to CROP the rightmost 8 characters from the filename (basically all of the numeric characters), then told it to autonumber them after the remaining filename. But first I sorted them by creation/modified date. I was able to point Lupas at the ip address for the pb's camera folder.

Again, convoluted and who knows what the pb will do with the files afterward!

[madman0141]

Well let me tell you OP don't buy a PlayBook to use for photography I used mine in the past but now after BlackBerry upgraded there is a bug known as error. 4003 that kills the camera and cannot be fixed. If you are some sort of "Professional Photographer " I assume you need a device that is reliable and PlayBook isn't the answer. Cannon makes a good SLR digital that will work very well.

[notfanboy]

Until the Playbook gets USB OTG, transferring files from the camera to the tablet will be a tedious set of workarounds, more trouble than it is worth.

Also, apps are a big deal. A buddy is a photobug, and he's using apps such as those found here.

Another thing that USB host allows you to do is to control your Canon DSLR. I'm not convinced of how practical this is but the technology looks cool.

[Majestic Lion]

Right now, only for simple portfolio viewing/customer proofing. For anything else photography-wise the PB is severely crippled. No worthwhile native file management, still(!!!) no proper USB access, limited access to SD card files via Bridge, and on and on. There are Android ports and workarounds galore from what I've read, but I'm not using any of those, ever.

Truthfully RIM has struggled in a big way with providing functionality for photographers in particular and artistic stuff in general. Coming from a security-oriented standpoint it's understandable; artistic content has been a lot more open and with a share-anything-anywhere-anytime mindset, especially with the social media component. That's been a major factor in consumers gravitating toward other platforms. This is definitely an industry where you ignore the creative people at your peril(read: developer exodus). There's another perspective, however. For serious photographers who have an eye firmly on the legal side of things, content management and copyright issues, security is an essential variable to consider.


Hopefully RIM gets it right with BB10.

[Apelles123]

This is very true, and even worse when it is an (otherwise potentially useful) image processing app.
My experience:

- Eye-fi card in DSLR for jpegs only (raws take noticeably longer to transfer because of their size, and forget movies); you need to sideload the android eyefi card but that's easy and works on any 2.x system (at least)

- use "file browser" app for everything file-related (moving, renaming, folders, ftp) : the fastest one ; get "file and folders" in addition if you want cloud support (dropbox etc. but no ftp) : much slower on startup, a very efficient slidehow btw

- the most serious image processing apps (I mean, ones that don't autoresize your photo to 150 pixels by default, and are not just a bunch of abysmally immature bit filters with silly names) are Photo studio, Photo editor and Sumo paint, the latter with an unrescaled tiny interface but the only one to offer a real Curves tool, offline (for regular use uncheck real-time preview and consider buying a pen); let's mention too Photo sorter (that does just what it says, but does it well) and Star Capture if you wish to use the PB cam itself to get accumulated series of images (of fix scenes) with virtually zero noise.

I use Eye-Fi, Android gallery and also use my Box and Dropbox accounts. Box gives you 50 GB ! when you open an account after you buy your PB. Dropbox is only 2.5 GB

[LimeTripBlog]

double post sorry

[LimeTripBlog]

But most other applications including the email app will ignore the folders and present all 3,000 photos for you to sort through to attach a photo to email.

You could use the search button to search for photos quickly. Most photos clicked from a camera/playbook use numbers as file name [Ex:IMG_00000323] so if you input 300 in the search field you'll be able to find photo number 323 easily. I use this instead of scrolling all the way down, multiple attachments not a problem anymore

[DaveL]

Well let me tell you OP don't buy a PlayBook to use for photography I used mine in the past but now after BlackBerry upgraded there is a bug known as error. 4003 that kills the camera and cannot be fixed. If you are some sort of "Professional Photographer " I assume you need a device that is reliable and PlayBook isn't the answer. Cannon makes a good SLR digital that will work very well.

Used to have a business .. Photo Store (weddings, portraits, sports). A hobbiest now. haven't handled storage and display of images well, although otherwise committed to digital photography.

[robsteve]

I was thinking about this same problem the other day. I have a Nikon D800 coming next week and if it has the capabilities to shoot jpeg and RAW at the same time, I might be able to transfer the jpeg files to the Playbook using bridge.

In the past Bridge has been limited by the Bluetooth connection speed, but with the latest update the file transfer is made over wifi if both devices are paired and on the same wifi network. What made me think that the PlayBook is finally up to the task was a problem my wife was having. On the drive home Thursday she was reading a PDF on her phone. I asked he why she didn't just open it up on the PlayBook using the open on playbook option. She didn't know that existed. To make a long story short, we couldn't get it to work on the drive home. When we get home, I take a look at it and the PDF file was 7.5mb and it was probably just a slow file transfer that kept it from opening. On the home wifi network, using the new bridge, it opened the file on the playbook within seconds.

Back to the SLR problem. If you shoot with a micro SD, you can then put the micro SD into a BlackBerry phone and use Bridge over wifi to transfer the jpegs. I may explore it further and see if I can accomplish the wifi Bridge connection on a spare 9800 without a SIM in it and maybe a small router like an Apple Express, not even connected to the internet, but just turned on providing a wifi connection between the devices.

[Angus_CB]

The PICTURES app (comes with the pb) will show subfolders under the Photo Folder as ALBUMS like YosemiteVacation, GrandmasBirthday, Thanksgiving, etc. But most other applications including the email app will ignore the folders and present all 3,000 photos for you to sort through to attach a photo to email.

Yep, you're right F2. My mistake.
I was thinking of the Video folder, which I use more than photos.

[Angus_CB]

Well let me tell you OP don't buy a PlayBook to use for photography I used mine in the past but now after BlackBerry upgraded there is a bug known as error. 4003 that kills the camera and cannot be fixed. If you are some sort of "Professional Photographer " I assume you need a device that is reliable and PlayBook isn't the answer. Cannon makes a good SLR digital that will work very well.

DaveL isn't looking at the Playbook as a camera replacement but how it can be used in conjunction with a camera.
He already has a Nikon D300S and an Olympus OM-D E-M5.

[DaveL]

DaveL isn't looking at the Playbook as a camera replacement but how it can be used in conjunction with a camera.
He already has a Nikon D300S and an Olympus OM-D E-M5.

Thanks! My wife suggests my handle should be 2mnycameras ! Interests are storage, display. Backup? And less important...post processing.

[rob7100g]

I use the PlayBook for the business side of photography, great for email, lists, brainstorming, researching, web surfing, etc. For that it's superb.

As a tool for photography get an iPad - seriously. More apps, better software integration (Photoshop, Lightroom, Capture One) Snapseed, and better weather apps. The iPad has a better calibrated screen, YMMV but my PlayBook is way out for colour, Apple products are better in that respect out-of-the-box.

-- Robert.

[lotuslanderz]

What I do is put my camera's SD card into my laptop and upload the jpeg files to my Box account (50GB free space). I then use the Files and Folders app (worth every penny!) to view them on the PlayBook. Files and Folders will connect to Box, Dropbox, Skydrive, Google Drive and Sugarsync. It has a slideshow function. Of course, for "off-line" viewing, you can also just download the files directly to the PlayBook using Files and Folders.