how to transfer pictures from laptop to ipad?

It seems only work with iTune.

You use the device's Photos tab on your computer's iTunes to sync photos, in a similar way as for syncing other content : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4236 . You will need to sync all the photos that you want on the iPad in one, as only the most recent photo sync remains on the iPad - not including photos in a subsequent sync is how you delete them from the iPad.

Here is a link that will help http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4236

you can only do this through iTunes.

Within iTunes, in the photos tab for your ipad, add your picture folder from your laptop to the sync libraries.

then sync.

your photos will be transferred to ipad.

use the digital camera transfer utility to manually transfer the images from your ipad's camera roll to your laptop.

this was always apple's intended workflow.

A non iTunes solution is to use an app called Photosync - download the app from the app store onto your iPad and go to their website to download a version onto your laptop.

http://photosync-app.com/photosync/en/downloads.html

This is a great app and I've used it many times to sync photo's from my Mac to my iPad / iPhone and vice versa. Nothing gets deleted.

You need to sync all the photos that you want on the iPad together, as only the most recent photo sync remains on the iPad - this only applies to synced photos (those taken with the iPad, transferred to it via the camera connection kit, or saved from emails/websites etc are not affected by this). Not including photos in a sync is how you delete those photos from the iPad.

if your ipad 2 was sync with other computer, and the photos you want add to your ipad was in diffrent computer, you may need authoriz the new computer under your apple store ID, when you connect your ipad 2, you will able to back up your ipad to the itunes with this computer, than you will have all new photos and old photos.

That won't work - only the most recent photo sync remains on the iPad, so syncing photos from a different computer will overwrite those synced from the first computer, not add to them.

Yes, you are right. but if autoriz the new computer under the same ID, will alow you to back up your iPAD to the new computer before do the syncing. each ID can autoriz 5 computers. also, you can use iPAD 2 to take an photo, than connect your iPAD to computer, iPhoto will auto oppen for you to save the photo from ipad to iPHOTO. chose all you want to save.

iPhoto will allow you to transfer photos from the iPad that weren't synced from a computer originally i.e. those taken with the iPad, transferred to it via the camera connection kit or saved from emails/websites . Photos that were originally synced from a computer can be copied to a computer via third-party apps such as Simple Transfer (but as photos are 'optimsed' when they are synced to the iPad, any copied back to a computer may not be exactly the same as they originally were on the computer)..

An iTunes backup also doesn't contain synced photos, only those photos in the Camera Roll/Saved Photos album.

i pad air

NIce, but it does not answer the question asked. Nor do all the suggestions to buy new HW and SW, and/or to "sync".

How do you transfer FROM laptop TO iPad or iPhone? Should be just a matter of connecting the lightning to USB cable and dragging from finder window on laptop to symbol for connected mobile device... but in this brave new world such a reasonable thing is broken by design, right along with fonts. Too many former MSFTies and H-1Bs on what passes for a design staff.

iOS has *never* exposed the file structure, as I'm sure you know. There is a mechanism for exchanging data and files between iOS devices and desktop computers, and that's synchronisation.

You can create albums or folders of pictures and sync them to photos on the iPad easily enough. I do it all the time. The assumption is that you sync your camera roll to the desktop, organise your pictures and then decide what ones you want on the device.

If you want to just connect and drag, you'd be better with Android or Windows Phone. And since MSFT always did allow drag and drop from desktop/laptop to mobile device, I'm not clear why you'd think that ex-MSFTers would have designed things this way?