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Ropie

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 6, 2007
184
0
England
Hello all,

with a budget of approximately £600 / $950 what would you recommend for a device to be used primarily for viewing and editing of photographs? I have a 2007 MBP that's finally on its way out, and I have an external monitor already. My questions I suppose are really:

1. Is the portability of the iPad a real bonus for a photographer, vs. the extra power of the mini?
2. Are there really any reasonable photo editing apps for the iPad (I'm not looking for Photoshop, just something to twiddle brightness, rotate and crop)

I know I'd need an adaptor to plug my SD card into an iPad, and I'm not worried about the size or spec of the machine at the moment, just looking for some opinions or experiences.

:)
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,245
12,388
I say that you should get the Mini.

It has the SD slot built right into the back.

Much more power for editing, processing, etc.

Having said that, it might be nice to eventually pick up an iPad Mini as a picture viewer!
 

c1phr

macrumors 6502
Jan 8, 2011
352
4
Hello all,

with a budget of approximately £600 / $950 what would you recommend for a device to be used primarily for viewing and editing of photographs? I have a 2007 MBP that's finally on its way out, and I have an external monitor already. My questions I suppose are really:

1. Is the portability of the iPad a real bonus for a photographer, vs. the extra power of the mini?
2. Are there really any reasonable photo editing apps for the iPad (I'm not looking for Photoshop, just something to twiddle brightness, rotate and crop)

I know I'd need an adaptor to plug my SD card into an iPad, and I'm not worried about the size or spec of the machine at the moment, just looking for some opinions or experiences.

:)


1. I would say for sure the Mini. In the long run, I think you'll be glad you had the extra storage space, the fact that it's a real computer and the expandability of the Mini, plus I'd imagine you'll get more life out of it.

2. Very much so, I love Snapseed by Nik software. It works well with the RAWs from my S100 when I'm on vacation and it's super intuitive in my opinion.
 

thekev

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2010
7,005
3,343
You're going to want more than the ipad can give you at some point. If you're even considering going solely ipad, you have to do your own research. You cannot just let the topic decide it. You must establish a list of requirements for storage, editing, etc and figure out if each can be satisfied in a way that will satisfy you. It's just not possible to fully conclude from a forum question.
 

Ropie

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 6, 2007
184
0
England
Thanks for all the valuable opinions.

Of course I'll be doing some research of my own - I'm going into town tomorrow so I'll try and stop off in Covent Garden for the full store experience ;)
 

GoCubsGo

macrumors Nehalem
Feb 19, 2005
35,741
153
The Mac Mini is going to be your best bet. Though there are some good editing apps available for the iPad, for "heavy" lifting you really would want an actual computer. There's really no comparison quite frankly.
 

MonkeySee....

macrumors 68040
Sep 24, 2010
3,858
437
UK
Thanks for all the valuable opinions.

Of course I'll be doing some research of my own - I'm going into town tomorrow so I'll try and stop off in Covent Garden for the full store experience ;)

Snapseed is a very good app. See if they have it on one of the iPads and give it a go :)
 

MattZani

macrumors 68030
Apr 20, 2008
2,554
103
UK
The fact you consider yourself a photographer, then wonder if you could work with an iPad instead of a computer infuriates me.

Go for the Mini, I've just ordered one, 2.6Ghz i7 Quad, will be more than enough for PP and also video work will be pretty quick too.
 

Ropie

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 6, 2007
184
0
England
The fact you consider yourself a photographer, then wonder if you could work with an iPad instead of a computer infuriates me.

99% of my photos leave the camera as the finished article - I do minor adjustment on just very few of them. So for my photographic use the iPad may be fine. What I hadn't mentioned here so as not to get extra recommendations to begin with was that I'll be upgrading my MBP at some point late next year anyway.

----------

Snapseed is a very good app. See if they have it on one of the iPads and give it a go :)

Will do, thanks!
 

AppleRocks2011

macrumors member
Apr 21, 2011
90
33
Ontario, Canada
iPad

Hi there,

I think you have two very interesting choices. To be honest, it's a bit of what you need. If you're looking for a computer to replace your MBP, then you should get a Mac. Another option for you could be the MacBook Air 11". You can find them on Apple's refurbished site for about $799 in some cases.

However, the iPad is a marvelous device! There are tons of apps to edit and whatnot. Photoshop Touch ($9.99) and Photoshop Express (free) are perfect for you. Also, nothing can compete with the portability of an iPad. The new iPad 4 would be great for you, especially with its Retina Display.

I hope that helps!
 
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