Extending the functionality of ArcGIS to include basic/common tasks such as managing photography was definitly overdue but is now thankfully part of the core application.
Unfortunately, the use of the attachments functionality within these tools is limited to the licensing scheme for attachments (not available with a basic (arcview) license).
As the COTS photo toolset does not allow for storing the images as raster attributes, nor can Basic license (ArcView) users leverage attachments, they are forced to continue using file based hyperlinks for managing photography.
ESRI should extend the Attachments functionality to the basic license level.