Tag Archives: Aperture

The Apple iPad is a terrific device for reading magazines (and great for photography in general), and a lot of magazines are now starting to publish iPad customized versions. If you haven’t tried it, do. It’s very natural to flip through the pages on the ipad. You can read horizontally or vertically, and you can easily enlarge your view of photographs and other content. It works very well, whether you’re just browsing or reading intently.

I have looked around the web for reviews of photography magazines on the iPad and not found anything. So, I’ve put together this survey of some photography magazines I think are good with some reviews and comments. (All my opinions exclusively! And the list is far from exhaustive. Post comments, feedback, and suggestions!)

Zinio

Anyone interested in using the iPad for reading magazines – whether by subscription or not – should certainly investigate Zinio. Zinio has been around for quite a while, with a website-based application before developing for iPad. The iPad app went through some initial periods of bugginess, and some strange user interfaces, but they seem to have it all cleaned up now and running quite smoothly. And the user interface is also very nice. Zinio have definitely gotten their act together and they give Apple’s new subscription magazine store a run for its money in many ways. (And there are few photo magazines available in the Apple store.)

Most Zinio magazines can be bought as single copies or subscriptions, subscriptions are easily managed, and prices are (mostly) very reasonable. Quality is excellent, while the specific design of each magazine is determined by that magazine. Some magazines are simply copies of print versions, while others feature distinctive features and interactivity unique to the iPad version. All magazines can be previewed. All magazines can also be bookmarked with some annotation, but other interactivity and features vary. Most magazines have extensive live links to advertiser and resource websites as well as websites of authors. (Zinio also provides free a great – large – selection of selected articles from magazines for reading, updated regularly.)

The first group of photo mags reviewed will be those on Zinio: Focus Magazine; Digital Photo Pro; Digital Photo; Outdoor Photographer; Shutterbug; Aperture; Digital SLR; ProPhoto. All are subscribed from within the Zinio app. I will also list websites for each magazine – In many cases, the website includes much more content and is a great resource in it’s own right.

Zinio →Website  →iPad app

Much more after the jump! Click through to start reading reviews…

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