All iPads What's the main camera like on iPad these days?

[MR_Boogy]

My wife runs a small nursery school (daycare/kindergarten in US I think) and they use an app for tracking kids' progress - taking photos is a big part of this.

Currently they use a phone but it's a bit old and due for replacement. Using a phone is convenient but has to be done very strictly for privacy reasons e.g. can't be her personal phone. So it's quite expensive to have an iPhone basically for just this purpose.

I wondered if we might use a modern iPad... substantially cheaper and also more useful for typing notes, etc. But is the camera any good? I'm sure it's nothing as good as a modern iPhone but we don't need that. I think my question is basically "which iPhone camera is an iPad comparable to... iPhone 4, 6, 8, ...?"

iPad Mini might be the perfect form factor but I feel like this hangs behind and Apple don't really care about it.
Well, the iPod Touch would've been ideal - phone without the phone - but that doesn't exist

 

[AutomaticApple]

My wife runs a small nursery school (daycare/kindergarten in US I think) and they use an app for tracking kids' progress - taking photos is a big part of this.

Currently they use a phone but it's a bit old and due for replacement. Using a phone is convenient but has to be done very strictly for privacy reasons e.g. can't be her personal phone. So it's quite expensive to have an iPhone basically for just this purpose.

I wondered if we might use a modern iPad... substantially cheaper and also more useful for typing notes, etc. But is the camera any good? I'm sure it's nothing as good as a modern iPhone but we don't need that. I think my question is basically "which iPhone camera is an iPad comparable to... iPhone 4, 6, 8, ...?"

iPad Mini might be the perfect form factor but I feel like this hangs behind and Apple don't really care about it.
Well, the iPod Touch would've been ideal - phone without the phone - but that doesn't exist

The iPad Air and iPad Pro have significantly better rear cameras than the iPad mini and the regular iPad, so keep that in mind.

 

[MR_Boogy]

The iPad Air and iPad Pro have significantly better rear cameras than the iPad mini and the regular iPad, so keep that in mind.

I hadn't realised that but at those price points might as well get a phone
Usage for photos is all close - a child playing or their hands painting, etc. My guess is that even if iPad8 camera is not great by modern standards, it's actually still quite good for recording this sort of thing?

I think my personal iPad is the previous gen - just before they added Pencil support - has the camera changed since? If the answer is 'not much' I can try some pictures on that and see.

 

[*~Kim~*]

The iPod Touch does exist - updated in May 2019, though I don’t think the camera changed from the 2015 version. I think it’s an iPhone 5 camera, possibly minus the flash on the Touch. From the back it looks as if it could have one, but I can’t find any reference to it with a quick search. This also seems to be the same camera as in the iPad mini, base iPad and the Air 3. It doesn’t seem to have changed since the Air 2 (2014.) Your iPad sounds like it is the Air 2’s successor (in base iPad terms), the 5th Gen from 2017. It is the Air 4 that gets the upgrade (8MP to 12MP.)

No iPad has a flash except the Pros. With a 12MP camera and a flash, might a Pro 9.7” suit? It has 2GB RAM which is less than any iPad released since 2019, but if your main purpose is pictures and notes, it should do fine.

Alternatively, have you considered a digital camera? Any spare memory card you might have could be reformatted to use with it to keep costs down, and you could probably get a decent enough camera for under £100.

 

[MR_Boogy]

Thanks Kim, interesting stuff. A Pro is way over spec/price so I think we'll either stick with a phone or consider a regular iPad... I hadn't considered flash but if this has the iPhone5 camera it's hardly terrible for basic snaps... These are for journaling the kid's day not photos to go on the wall.

A basic camera would be cheaper and probably better, but having the camera on the same device as the app is a huge plus for productivity... This was my suggestion originally too but being able to upload directly into the app saves a lot of time.

 

[*~Kim~*]

No problem.

The 9.7” Pro is from 2016 so you could probably pick one up used/refurbished for less than the cost of the new base iPad. They started at 32GB (same as the new base iPad) storage which means not paying for extra storage that you won’t need. Depends how you feel about going that route vs brand new.

If you prefer to stick with iPhones, the original SE from 2016 and the 6s from 2015 also have the 12MP camera.

 

[MR_Boogy]

No problem.

The 9.7” Pro is from 2016 so you could probably pick one up used/refurbished for less than the cost of the new base iPad. They started at 32GB (same as the new base iPad) storage which means not paying for extra storage that you won’t need. Depends how you feel about going that route vs brand new.

If you prefer to stick with iPhones, the original SE from 2016 and the 6s from 2015 also have the 12MP camera.

Oh sorry I hadn't realised this was a previous model. Interesting idea.

 

[rui no onna]

Have you considered getting the iPhone SE 2020? In the US, it's $399 iPhone SE vs $329 iPad 8 so not a big difference and the camera on the SE should be much better. It's probably better than any iPad except perhaps the 2020 Pro.

Pictures taken with the iPhone SE 2020

I’m sure others will want to see examples of others photography from the SE. I’ll start with one of mine, second version is edited in Focos to give portrait mode to things that aren’t people...

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