iPhoto overhead and the iPad I have been delaying switching to iPhoto on OSX. A quick experiment had shown that the overhead (actual storage / bare file storage) is too high, although I do not have a concrete number to mention at this time.

Now that I have an iPad, I am stumped by how to get my photos onto the iPad by a simple file copy. Do you have an opinion one way or the other? Did you for instance find a decent way to get your photo library onto the iPad without first handing the photos to iPhoto? Or did you find that the overhead of iPhoto is tolerable in the long run?
The easiest way is probably the camera connection kit: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC531ZM/A?fnode=MTc0MjU4NjE

But, depends on the app. I've found drop-box to be very easy for simple file transfers.

If you open iTunes you can also configure which files can be copied into which app under the App tab when you control the device.