Our friends are going with us to Paris this fall and want to bring their iPad type device that they say takes wonderful pictures to use as a camera. I'm trying to discourage them but they were in Italy and saw lots of people using them as cameras. I think A) it is bulky to carry around B) makes you a theft target. Am I off base? Thnx.

No more a theft target than a camera or phone. I have a mini and on most trips I take more photos w/ it than with a camera. Some trips I only take the iPad (no phone or camera)

Now - if it is a full sized iPad it will be bulkier. But IMO it it really none of your business. Save you battles/advice to ones that really matter.

BTW - it takes totally acceptable photos, as good or better than most point and shoot cameras.

Oops, that should say >>. . . save your battles/advice . . .<<

I love taking the iPhone/iPad as a camera simply because it's one less thing I have to carry and I don't have to carry an additional camera.

I find the Apple devices take better pictures than point & shoot cameras (you can buy small lenses for each).

I don't think any of is a target for thieves moreso than anything else.

Thnx for your thoughts on the subject. I just want them to have the best trip to Paris. Probably be the only time they are ever there and don't want anything to go wrong or for them to get injured. and I do want them to get the best pictures!

In fairness they will probably take very decent pictures - however they are a right pain for other people as having a load of ipads held up in front of you partially obscures the view - much more so than a standard camera. You also get lots of big lit up screens showing up in your photos, particularly in night shots. I noticed this especially at the magic fountains in Barcelona.

The quality of a photo has far more to do with ISO sensitivity and sensor size then with the lens, but having the right lens is important. An add-on lens for the iPhone simply magnifies or widens the view. It doesn't add to the quality of the image.

No iPad, iPhone/Android or any of the smaller/cheaper point-and-shoot cameras take high quality photos, but for most people they are acceptable.

But an iPad, mini or not, is not something I would want to drag along when trying to enjoy Paris. Something like the Nikon Coolpix S9900 would be far better, and fit in your pocket. It also has built in WiFi so you can upload your photos to your favorite social media site via your iPhone or iPad sitting back at the hotel.

Agreed Robert - there are enough good quality pocket sized cameras these days that no-one need make do with a phone or tablet cam.

A few years ago, my husband & I attended a classical concert in a church in Lucca, Italy. Photography was allowed - cameras with no flash. Sitting behind & beside people using their devices (tablets, phones) to take photos during the performance, we found the bright light from the tablet screens & the audible 'click' from phone cameras distracting. What should have been an enjoyable evening for us turned out not to be.

It is my hope that users of devices as cameras at sights, at events and in restaurants would be a little more aware how intrusive they (tablets, phones) can be.

Thanks for the tips! I told my husband I want a Nikon Coolpix S9900. I'm tired of using my phone.

I wouldn't want to use it myself, but if they want to, I can't see that it would make them a target any more than a phone or conventional camera.

Tablets for photos have joined phone selfies for really dumb-looking behavior among tourists. But if not those, then it'll be something else. Better to go for a long walk and get away from the hoards than try to figure out human behavior.

On the point about using phones as cameras at concerts, I attended a performance at a small venue in Paris where a member of the audience was standing in the front recording the concert on his phone. The singer kicked the phone out of his hand and over the heads of the audience. The audience cheered.

"The singer kicked the phone out of his hand and over the heads of the audience. The audience cheered" I've seen that happen in Donostia during the Jazz Festival (at the Kurassal) and in a couple of other venues. Everyone stood and applauded the performer.

People who do this are nothing are simply ignorant and purely self-serving, and should be put down like the slime they are (Egon: I'd like to run some gynecological tests on the mother).

My daughter has used her Ipad to take photos on our last 2 trips to Paris and we never had any problems.
She is 14 and she said its easier to use then the camera.
We will be in Paris again for the last stage of the Tour De France and im sure she will use it again.

"and im sure she will use it again" Yes, I'm sure she will.

This from someone not used to using commas and apostrophes.

I use both an iPad mini and camera. The camera is used more than the iPad but on my last trip, the flash broke on my brand new Nikon S9600. I had a backup camera but it only worked when it wanted so I was left with the iPad. The only person who disapproves of me using my IPad for pictures is my one friend. However, she doesn't like looking like a tourist.

"..she doesn't like looking like a tourist."

We all look like tourists sometimes and some places. I suspect it's a goofy-looking tourist she'd rather not look like.

While I take my iPad with me on trips, I only take my camera with me while out site seeing. Never thought of it being stolen over my camera but I don't like the weight of carrying the iPad around all day.

I do take the iPad with me to dinner for reading my books and planning the next day's adventures.

<The quality of a photo has far more to do with ISO sensitivity and sensor size then with the lens,>

Uhm, respectfully, and as a photographer: No!

Lenses are all important, cameras are just boxes you stick a lens on. You have to remember that in phones or tablets everything is small, and that limits a phone cameras possibilities: small sensor, limited lens, limited exposure options. What you can do is buy a good camera app that gives you access to more settings and buy a clip on lens, such as the Olloclip, to give you a better lens (more wide angle for instance, or macro). That will immediately improve your results for casual shooting.

And also, consider the camera on your phone or tablet to be a toy camera, nothing more, noting less. Years ago I showed photos at LA Photo, amongst which a good number of iPhone shots. Those sold better than my work with a "proper" camera. Go figure.

Your choice of what to photograph and the way you do that will have the biggest impact on the quality of your photographs.