So after all the complaining and all the controversy about Apple’s decision to eschew a camera in the first-gen iPad, how many people are actually using it now that a camera comes equipped in the iPad 2?
Almost no one… at least on Flickr.
According to data culled together by the guys over at Electric Pig, just 22 Flickr users out of more than 40 million are actually using their iPad 2’s camera to take snapshots.
That makes the iPad 2 more than two hundred times less popular than the iPhone 4. Still, at least the iPad 2 photographers are prolific: they’ve already managed to rack up 12,570 photo uploads between them.
Why isn’t the iPad 2 catching on as a photography device? Most likely because the ergonomics of taking a screenshot with a gadget the size of a photo album doesn’t make sense, although I’m guessing the fact that the iPad 2’s camera quality totally blows has something else to do with it.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
50 responses to “Pretty Much No One’s Using The iPad 2’s “Much Anticipated” Camera [Flickr]”
What we really wanted on the iPad 1 was a front facing camera for video chatting. We got that on the iPad 2. And I do use it, a lot.
I have to say “crappy quality” **must** be part of it.
i use the camera for face time as well. outside in great sunlight the camera can take a decent shot but that’s about it.
I the numbers for Skype users using an iPad2 are different. At least that is why our family didn’t buy an iPad1.. the missing camera.
Apple gave it such a mediocre quality camera! It’s only barely acceptable for Facetime. Most telephones have a much better quality camera these days!!
Yeah, the crappy quality is definitely a bust. Considering they could have used the iPhone’s camera I really don’t know why they are piecemealing us to death.
It’s funny — I was just reading an article online the other day that said how the iPod nano probably wouldn’t be getting a camera because the iPad 2 was so much better at displaying hi-res images. Hmm, where was it I read that again…?
How many people are using it to scan bar codes or for augmented reality or for OCR? Taking pictures is pretty low on my list of uses or a camera on an iPad. is pretty low on my list of uses or a camera on an iPad.
Totally agree. On the iPad, it’s for augmented reality apps & games. And the front camera is for video chat. That’s that. It isn’t a video/photo device. It’s an optical recognition device. Soon, I think you’ll be able to login using your face.
Yeah, the iPad2 camera is pretty bad for stills but it’s passable for FaceTime. We got the elderly parents an iPod Touch to see how they’d take to video calls and it’s going well enough that we’ll probably upgrade them to an iPad for Christmas.
exactly…. people just like complaining about things they really don’t want, but they should have anyway. Next thing you know, they would complain about the iPad not having flash built-in for the camera.
exactly…. people just like complaining about things they really don’t want, but they should have anyway. Next thing you know, they would complain about the iPad not having flash built-in for the camera.
I believe the ergonomics is the biggest factor. What would be interesting to find out is how many YouTube videos are made with the iPad, a use case for a tablet the size of the iPad’s that makes much more sense than snapshots.
The IPad 2 as far I am concern is just two awkward to use as a camera. As a potographer the only way I could conceive of using the IPad as a camera is to put a super huge sensor( 40 plus megapix) , a way to mount on a tripod and use as a large format camera. You already have nice size screen, the only other thing you need is way to mount high quality optics. As straight point and shot camera is just to awkward to use.
The only camera I wanted on the iPad was a front facing one for video chat. I could have cared less about a rear facing camera. For real pictures I’ll use my SLR. But your comment about people in general is correct.
We have an app for iPad2 that lets users record themselves reading children’s books (http://www.astorybeforebed.com). As other users have pointed out, the valuable camera on the iPad2 is on the front, not on the back. :)
“two awkward”? “to awkward”? You used both, but not the correct usage.
“potographer”?
You asked “why,” John? Well, for the same reason I’ve not yet purchased an iPad at all — the camera stinks. I mean it really stinks. It stinks so bad a skunk’s aroma starts to smell sweet.
I live in Japan, so I will admit that we have some premium cell phones here; but honestly, the iPad2 camera doesn’t hold a candle to even the built-in cameras of the worst Japanese cell phones. I held off buying an iPad1 because I wanted a camera for “decent” stills and video. And while excited about the camera when the iPad2 came out, I was immediately turned off by the reports of how bad the built-in camera is. For me, it has absolutely NOTHING at all to do with how “awkward” it may be to use the iPad to take a photo. It’s all about QUALITY. Sure, the iPad is not a dedicated photographic camera or video camera. But neither is the camera in any cell phone. And again, I can get much better video and still quality from my 1 year old Japanese cell phone’s 8MP camera than I could from the iPad2 camera. It’s the mobile cameras of other cell phones that I am comparing the iPad camera with, not with my Lumix GF-1 with 20mm pancake. Therefore, it cannot be argued that my expectations are “too high.”
It’s also rather odd to see Apple actually improving the cameras in recent MacBooks (upgrading them to HD quality) while the iPad2 camera stinks like a dead fish that sat under my bed for a week.
Give iPad users a decent low-light camera that takes great stills and shoots HD video and I guarantee people will post more on Flickr and YouTube. It’s not like Apple can argue that such technology doesn’t exist for mobile devices or that the cost is too high. A decent camera will also give me the final reason I need to buy an iPad.
Well they’ll need something better for the iPad 3. They can’t just boast improved speed.
I didn’t wonder why people complained so much of this. I could understand using the Facetime feature if it is sitting on your desk in a stand, but otherwise I think the camera is pretty useless.
Fully agreed. Taking photographs to put on Flickr isn’t what it is made for…
If one considers the shockingly pathetic quality of the camera itself, it really is “pretty useless.” But in terms of practicality, that depends on the user.
For example, I live in Japan with my wife and two young children. I use iChat to video conference with my parents in California once a month, via my 27″ i7 iMac. But there are times when the kids run out of the room or we want to show my folks something that is not sitting nearby the iMac. Sometimes I want to show them something outside the house. Such is impossible to do with my iMac, especially with it sitting in a room on the second floor of my house. Had I an iPad with Wifi and FaceTime though, I could go anywhere within range of WiFi to show something to my family or friends. Heck I could even benefit from that at the office too.
I simply refuse to buy an iPad yet due to the poor camera — quality so bad Apple should be embarrassed to put their logo on it.
So does that mean you do or don’t like the quality of the iPad 2 camera?
I was my iPad 2 camera, just for quick photos
I have a question…what did this add to the discussion?
Quite frankly, because the camera on the iPad2 … well… stinks.
It’s decent for 720p video, which I think was Apple’s focus.. so to speak. But most users already have either a good quality digicam, or a smartphone with a good quality camera… including the iPhone 4, which are much less cumbersome form factors. Like drawing with a mouse, taking a picture with a tablet presents logistic challenges.
But if certainly feels like a cheapskate move on Apple’s part considering the quite decent camera on the iPhone4. But seriously the sample photos in the iPads Photos app could not POSSIBLY have been made with the iPads current camera.
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