2021 iPad Pro for travel photo work?

[Macshroomer]

Hi,

I’m a full time pro who has done advertising, editorial and fine art for over 33 years. I work in both film and digital and will continue to.

In the fall, I am going to be doing some work in some fairly remote North Atlantic islands for 2 months and while the majority of that work will be on film, I will have a 50MP digital back with me along with a Leica M10-P for some occasional digital work.
I currently use a high spec iMac Pro and 16” MacBook Pro for my digital work but I want to really shrink my footprint down for this project in the Fall.

I am considering one of the new iPad Pro’s with a keyboard for some of this work. But I want to understand some of the limitations. I would hope to be able to use some of my OWC 1 and 2TB SSD Thunderbolt drives to move images around, stock, ongoing assignments and other. I would also hope to be able to reasonably and occasionally process 24-50MP raw files if need be if the need arises.

From what I am seeing, it looks like the new M1 based iPad Pro’s could do this to a reasonable degree. Again, this is not meant to replace my hardware for heavy lifting, just be a super lightweight option to bringing a comparably heavy laptop. The applications I typically run are Photo Mechanic, Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop and Final Cut Pro.

I have never really considered an iPad before because I just don’t spend a lot of time on electronic devices as a consumer of content, I am usually too busy creating it. But for conducting business, doing daily life stuff like banking, mapping, planning and occasionally adjusting and moving images for clients, maybe the iPad now has enough going for it that I would consider one.

Given all this, anyone have any thoughts?

 

[cupcakes2000]

Depends greatly on the software you use. There is a general limitation with iPados that doesn’t really allow you to work off an external drive as a scratch disk (as of now- I hope it changes).

due to that you must consider internal storage a premium. Take enough for you to dump a day or threes shoot on. Import, edit and then export on to externals - therefore freeing space for the next dump.
if you use lightroom, it’s actually quite comparable to classic in ability- though different to work on. I turn off sync (well, perpetually pause at least), import, work on it, export as dng to externals (therefore a RAW which includes LR readable edits (cc or classic) and then delete.
If you use affinity photo then tha same mentality works there too. A point to note here though- an exported dng (containing LR edits) won’t show the edits in AP. You must export as a tiff to continue working in AP. This is only an issue if your workflow is generally LR based but with occasional edits requiring a more advanced editor. Photoshop on the iPad isn’t really a serious option for photographer yet- again this will change in time, but for me LR plus AP works pretty well.

It’s a different workflow, but with practice it’s Pretty good. It really lacks some of the traditional simplicity when compared to a laptop, but it does gain speed (in some cases) and pencil support with edits. Of course, it’s also a lightweight fanless long lasting editing surface which can certainly replace a laptop for expeditions.

 

[Macshroomer]

Thanks, I don’t think I am looking to work directly off of externals per se but use them to carry existing client work with me and move stock in and out of Dropbox as per requests. Like I said I highly doubt I will be doing much digital work while on this project but it could allow me to at least deal with the occasional use.

Quick question, does working with the iPad and LR or Photoshop allow one to use dodge / burn and even perhaps lasso tool like adjustments with the pencil?

I am looking at the 11” 1TB model.

 

[cupcakes2000]

Thanks, I don’t think I am looking to work directly off of externals per se but use them to carry existing client work with me and move stock in and out of Dropbox as per requests. Like I said I highly doubt I will be doing much digital work while on this project but it could allow me to at least deal with the occasional use.

Quick question, does working with the iPad and LR or Photoshop allow one to use dodge / burn and even perhaps lasso tool like adjustments with the pencil?

I am looking at the 11” 1TB model.

Photoshop on the iPad for a photographer is a bit of a non starter at the current time. Look into Affinity Photo. It can export (or import) psd’s and is a great Photoshop alternative. Here you can use the lasso etc. Pencil is a must buy.
Edit* Lr on the iPad has the same localised adjustment tools for d and b etc that classic has. For any object removal whilst it works, you really need a Photoshop-esque product such as AP. But that’s the same with Lr classic too.

 

[HDFan]

I am going to be doing some work in some fairly remote North Atlantic islands for 2 months

move stock in and out of Dropbox as per requests.

Have you checked to see whether the islands have an internet structure that will support it? On Easter Island the internet infrastructure was, to put it mildly, basic. Couldn't really do anything.

 

[cupcakes2000]

Have you checked to see whether the islands have an internet structure that will support it? On Easter Island the internet infrastructure was, to put it mildly, basic. Couldn't really do anything.

Out of interest- no 4g either? Wouldn’t surprise me of course but out of interest.

 

[Macshroomer]

Have you checked to see whether the islands have an internet structure that will support it? On Easter Island the internet infrastructure was, to put it mildly, basic. Couldn't really do anything.

Internet is good on these islands, it’s not that remote really. I am thinking of going with the Wi-Fi only version and just tethering off the phone for the occasional upload. Most things will be done on my phone.

Regarding my phone, 12 Pro, it handles 50MP Hasselblad jpegs and raws with ease and allowed me to work directly with my client in Costa Rica last month. For a 10 day shoot I only brought my iPhone and it was incredibly liberating.

 

[Slartibart]

same camera here (and others 😎) while going “outback” with an iPad Pro (in my case usually somewhere in northern Scandinavia where fast cellular coverage isn’t a problem) developing RAWs isn’t problem. Anywhere.
If you do compositions, stitch panoramas etc. Affinity Photo and Designer are must haves (basically because Photoshop and Illustrator aren’t there yet… not even close.)

Lightroom isn’t quite closely integrated with iPadOS but gets the work done. For no factual reasons - okay, they are a galaxy ahead regarding iOS/iPadOS integration 😎 - but “feel”, I personally prefer RAWPower as well as Pixelmator Photo on iPadOS (the latter for the machine learning based functions, RAWPower because it’s Aperture on iPad. I have an Adobe subscription and use Lightroom&Co. on my desktops).

To be clear: the iPad Pro will do whatever you throw at it. If your workflow requieres working with external media you have to get additionally FileBrowser Professional. It makes copying from, to and between external media reliable (in contrast to Apple’s Files).

EDIT: While RAWPower, Pixelmator Photo and Affinity Photo allow working direktly on external media like SD-cards - anectdotically I can’t recommed that. FileBrowser is the reliable choice when copying data TO, FROM or BETWEEN different external media.

 

[Macshroomer]

So far, I like what I am hearing and seeing.

The cameras that will go on this trip will be a single Leica M10-P with a 35mm 1.4, two Hasselblad V system film bodies, several backs, 6 lenses and the CFVII 50C back with the 907X and 45P combo.

Hasselblad Phocus works really well on the iPhone 12 Pro so I imagine it will be great on the new iPad. I have not looked into Affinity Photo yet but I will.

So I just put my order in today, 11" iPad Pro, 1TB, wifi, pencil, Logitech keyboard. Worse case I give it a whirl and if I find it does not make the mark, I can use the return window and call it good.

 

[mollyc]

Why not just get an M1 MBA? Pricewise and sizewise it would be about the same but you wouldn't lose any functionality by going to an iPadOS version of anything.

 

[Macshroomer]

Why not just get an M1 MBA? Pricewise and sizewise it would be about the same but you wouldn't lose any functionality by going to an iPadOS version of anything.

I thought about it to eventually replace my wife’s 2013 MBP 13” but it is nearly triple the weight of the 11” iPad and is physically larger.

For this project in particular, digital anything is going to be a mere afterthought so I want it in as small a footprint as possible. I might not even take the Leica digital on this trip.

 

[Slartibart]

Why not just get an M1 MBA? Pricewise and sizewise it would be about the same but you wouldn't lose any functionality by going to an iPadOS version of anything.

This is obviously right. On the iPP a workflow is much more “sequential”. E.g. when you batch develop RAWs, stitch panos, apply LUTs, etc. there isn’t much you can do in parallel. Additionally switching between the file system access via Apple’s Files or better FileBrowser Professional and Apple Photos requires a much more “disciplined” work flow. in a way it is completely different and requires adaptation and time.

To give an “while somewhere in the outback” example: after a shooting I usually do first a backup of the SD cards to a Samsung T5 or T7 using a hub (Filebrowser Professional allows copying directly between external devices).

I then presort my photos directly on the SSD using Pixelmator Photo or RAWPower.
Then I import all remaining photos (RAWs) onto the iPP and develop them. I save 16bit TIFFs.

If stitching or more advanced compositing etc. is required I use Affinity Photo. The results are exported to Apple Files. Usually I delete the composites or stitched panos in Affinity Photo after that.

While I have have iCloud sync enabled I use FileBrowser at the end of the day to copy the final images from Apple Photos and Files to a Samsung T5 or T7.

On a iPP 11” or 12.9“ 2020 all copy operations are significantly slower than on a MacBook. I mean SIGNIFICANTLY slower. Copying TO a USB-3 stick = 5Mb/s; copying to a T5 = 100 Mb/s.

 

[Macshroomer]

This is obviously right. On the iPP a workflow is much more “sequential”. E.g. when you batch develop RAWs, stitch panos, apply LUTs, etc. there isn’t much you can do in parallel. Additionally switching between the file system access via Apple’s Files or better FileBrowser Professional and Apple Photos requires a much more “disciplined” work flow. in a way it is completely different and requires adaptation and time.

To give an “while somewhere in the outback” example: after a shooting I usually do first a backup of the SD cards to a Samsung T5 or T7 using a hub (Filebrowser Professional allows copying directly between external devices).

I then presort my photos directly on the SSD using Pixelmator Photo or RAWPower.
Then I import all remaining photos (RAWs) onto the iPP and develop them. I save 16bit TIFFs.

If stitching or more advanced compositing etc. is required I use Affinity Photo. The results are exported to Apple Files. Usually I delete the composites or stitched panos in Affinity Photo after that.

While I have have iCloud sync enabled I use FileBrowser at the end of the day to copy the final images from Apple Photos and Files to a Samsung T5 or T7.

On a iPP 11” or 12.9“ 2020 all copy operations are significantly slower than on a MacBook. I mean SIGNIFICANTLY slower. Copying TO a USB-3 stick = 5Mb/s; copying to a T5 = 100 Mb/s.

It does sound like a bit of a kludge to be sure, but then again I doubt I make even 200 digital images on this two month project. I'll have the iPad in about a month and will be able to see how it stacks up then.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

If you're saying you don't expect it to do that much heavy lifting, I think it will work just fine. iPads Pros are plenty powerful for image editing, it's when you're working in bulk that they can become slower due to the touch-centric OS. Even copying files over has gotten better, open 2 instances of files, do a split screen, and drag 'n drop. Files has cloud-storage integration, so once you download Dropbox, check Files and enable Dropbox for you to explore from one UI.

 

[Abazigal]

Hi,

I’m a full time pro who has done advertising, editorial and fine art for over 33 years. I work in both film and digital and will continue to.

In the fall, I am going to be doing some work in some fairly remote North Atlantic islands for 2 months and while the majority of that work will be on film, I will have a 50MP digital back with me along with a Leica M10-P for some occasional digital work.
I currently use a high spec iMac Pro and 16” MacBook Pro for my digital work but I want to really shrink my footprint down for this project in the Fall.

I am considering one of the new iPad Pro’s with a keyboard for some of this work. But I want to understand some of the limitations. I would hope to be able to use some of my OWC 1 and 2TB SSD Thunderbolt drives to move images around, stock, ongoing assignments and other. I would also hope to be able to reasonably and occasionally process 24-50MP raw files if need be if the need arises.

From what I am seeing, it looks like the new M1 based iPad Pro’s could do this to a reasonable degree. Again, this is not meant to replace my hardware for heavy lifting, just be a super lightweight option to bringing a comparably heavy laptop. The applications I typically run are Photo Mechanic, Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop and Final Cut Pro.

I have never really considered an iPad before because I just don’t spend a lot of time on electronic devices as a consumer of content, I am usually too busy creating it. But for conducting business, doing daily life stuff like banking, mapping, planning and occasionally adjusting and moving images for clients, maybe the iPad now has enough going for it that I would consider one.

Given all this, anyone have any thoughts?

It could definitely work. I am not a photographer, but can recommend this blog post by Austin Mann who is also using his iPad Pro for similar purposes.

iPad Pro + Apple Pencil Review for Photographers. w/ Adobe Lightroom, Hasselblad & DJI Mavic Pro 2 — Travel Photographer - Austin Mann

I was testing the new iPad Pro + Apple Pencil with the Adobe Lightroom app in Iceland. I concluded this combo is the biggest generational upgrade I’ve experienced from Apple in a really long time. It feels like the team listened carefully to feedback from creative pros and took action—not just in im

austinmann.com

 

[Macshroomer]

It could definitely work. I am not a photographer, but can recommend this blog post by Austin Mann who is also using his iPad Pro for similar purposes.

iPad Pro + Apple Pencil Review for Photographers. w/ Adobe Lightroom, Hasselblad & DJI Mavic Pro 2 — Travel Photographer - Austin Mann

I was testing the new iPad Pro + Apple Pencil with the Adobe Lightroom app in Iceland. I concluded this combo is the biggest generational upgrade I’ve experienced from Apple in a really long time. It feels like the team listened carefully to feedback from creative pros and took action—not just in im

austinmann.com

That was a good read, thanks. Ge does show that even the earlier model can handle 100MP files fairly easily, I imagine the new one will move through 50MP files readily. He also makes a good argument for the 12.9" version, I am tempted by that but the same processing and storage in the 11" still has my attention.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

The 12.9 can be a bit of an unwieldy beast, especially with a keyboard attachment. Not impossible, but it's on the edge of too big for a tablet. The extra screen size does lend itself to better image editing though.

 

[Ray2]

At the risk of sounding like I’ve completely missed the key variables, this looks well within the scope of a Lightning iPad and certainly within the scope of a pro. As others have mentioned, I keep all vetted files on the internal. All files from my cameras reside on an external ssd. I’m using a 128 gb iPad 6. Order sufficient storage and focus on what software you want to use. I’m using Lightroom so my backup is Adobe and via some scheduled runs at home, the images go from Adobe to my home mini then backed up via clones and Timemachine.

 

[Macshroomer]

At the risk of sounding like I’ve completely missed the key variables, this looks well within the scope of a Lightning iPad and certainly within the scope of a pro. As others have mentioned, I keep all vetted files on the internal. All files from my cameras reside on an external ssd. I’m using a 128 gb iPad 6. Order sufficient storage and focus on what software you want to use. I’m using Lightroom so my backup is Adobe and via some scheduled runs at home, the images go from Adobe to my home mini then backed up via clones and Timemachine.

You did not really miss the points I made, I am looking for a comparably lightweight workflow for a much reduced use of digital for a couple of months in another country. I have updated my order, it now stands as the 11" iPad Pro, 1TB Cellular. I figure 1TB should be fine for most things involving the 50MP medium format digital back I will use on occasion while there. I'll bring 2-3 OWC 2TB Envoy Pro FX SSD drives with me for image dump and client files incase I need them.

My home workflow is much larger and different than yours though, over 1,000,000 images spanning a 33 year career so the whole time machine, Lightroom catalog, cloud thing is not at all productive or viable for how I like to do things. Even keeping enough room on my 2TB Dropbox for client work needs occasional "Spring Cleaning".

 

[kenoh]

I thought about it to eventually replace my wife’s 2013 MBP 13” but it is nearly triple the weight of the 11” iPad and is physically larger.

For this project in particular, digital anything is going to be a mere afterthought so I want it in as small a footprint as possible. I might not even take the Leica digital on this trip.

I was on your side right up until you said you might not take the Leica.... ! WTH!?!?!

lol... just kidding. I use an Ipad pro for most of my editing but I am a hobbyist. Doing the hokey cokey with the files and storage is a pain and also, watch your cable setup - you might want to get a USB-C hub so you can put in an SD card at the same time as power and another USB device - HDD for example. Other than this it is great for pretty much what you need. Any heavy composites or complex PS work though, forget it. PS on ipad is nowhere near feature parity with the desktop, even for what we assume is basic functionality now.

Something like this. This because it has a USB-C data AND Power connector. The cheaper ones don't tend to have the USB-C data connection.

Anker USB C Hub, PowerExpand 6-in-1 USB C PD Ethernet Hub with 65W Power Delivery, 4K HDMI, 1Gbps Ethernet, USB-C Data Port, 2 USB 3.0 Data Ports, for MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iPad Pro, XPS, and More

PowerExpand 6-in-1 USB-C PD Ethernet Hub

www.amazon.co.uk

and a card reader.... This one works great for SD cards :

SanDisk Extreme PRO SD UHS-II USB-C Card Reader

A super‐fast SD card reader with a USB‐C connector, the SanDisk Extreme PRO SD UHS‐II Card USB‐C Reader works with UHS‐II cards and is backwards‐compatible with other SD cards. It features a flexible design that won’t block your other ports and delivers simple plug‐and‐play functionality.

www.amazon.co.uk

Does the back have CF?

 

[mrklaw]

Depends greatly on the software you use. There is a general limitation with iPados that doesn’t really allow you to work off an external drive as a scratch disk (as of now- I hope it changes).

due to that you must consider internal storage a premium. Take enough for you to dump a day or threes shoot on. Import, edit and then export on to externals - therefore freeing space for the next dump.
if you use lightroom, it’s actually quite comparable to classic in ability- though different to work on. I turn off sync (well, perpetually pause at least), import, work on it, export as dng to externals (therefore a RAW which includes LR readable edits (cc or classic) and then delete.
If you use affinity photo then tha same mentality works there too. A point to note here though- an exported dng (containing LR edits) won’t show the edits in AP. You must export as a tiff to continue working in AP. This is only an issue if your workflow is generally LR based but with occasional edits requiring a more advanced editor. Photoshop on the iPad isn’t really a serious option for photographer yet- again this will change in time, but for me LR plus AP works pretty well.

It’s a different workflow, but with practice it’s Pretty good. It really lacks some of the traditional simplicity when compared to a laptop, but it does gain speed (in some cases) and pencil support with edits. Of course, it’s also a lightweight fanless long lasting editing surface which can certainly replace a laptop for expeditions.

does this mean that you then import again when back at base (or your main computer) and it’ll apply all metadata, edits etc automatically?

this is what I’m struggling with - my setup is on my windows PC and I don’t want to lay the increased cost for more cloud storage when I already have plenty with other services

I’d like to process on iPad but ultimately want the final files to be on my computer on my main collection and published to various cloud/NAS storage. Happy to use creative cloud as a middle man or use an SSD whichever is simpler

 

[kenoh]

does this mean that you then import again when back at base (or your main computer) and it’ll apply all metadata, edits etc automatically?

this is what I’m struggling with - my setup is on my windows PC and I don’t want to lay the increased cost for more cloud storage when I already have plenty with other services

I’d like to process on iPad but ultimately want the final files to be on my computer on my main collection and published to various cloud/NAS storage. Happy to use creative cloud as a middle man or use an SSD whichever is simpler

Creative cloud does what you want. It will sync the images off iPad to adobe then down to your pc. You then have a folder where the synced files are stored so you can move them around in your catalogue and then remove them from the sync’ed collection which then removes them from iPad.

You also setup another collection that sends to iPad for travel in the other direction.

I use the 20GB sub and it is enough for my use. Heavier use will need the more storage option.

I routinely import directly to iPad LR and cull, tweak and let it sync to my main editing machine - on there I then move the images I want to keep into catalogue folders stored on a NAS and then remove them from creative cloud. I haven’t run into issues yet but when I am on holiday and have a few days backlog, I tend to only import the images I want to play with and then rotate my cards until I can get back home and import on the big machine.

 

[cupcakes2000]

does this mean that you then import again when back at base (or your main computer) and it’ll apply all metadata, edits etc automatically?

this is what I’m struggling with - my setup is on my windows PC and I don’t want to lay the increased cost for more cloud storage when I already have plenty with other services

I’d like to process on iPad but ultimately want the final files to be on my computer on my main collection and published to various cloud/NAS storage. Happy to use creative cloud as a middle man or use an SSD whichever is simple.

Using creative cloud as the middleman is the easiest way, but you’ll need to pay for a reasonable amount of storage, and you need bandwidth as all raws are uploaded and are big!

If you want to avoid that you can turn off sync as I suggested. Import into Lr and then export out as dng. This will include edits provided you’re reading those edits within other adobe software.

 

[mackmgg]

I really like using the WD My Passport Wireless, but even with just an SD card reader it’s not bad. The only process that’s slower on my iPad is the culling process, but I think that must just be my workflow. Austin Mann (linked above) just posted his review of the newest M1 iPad Pro, and says it’s the fastest way to cull photos bar none, so I’m going to try out his workflow and see if it works better for me.

iPad Pro with M1 for photographers — Austin Mann

Testing the power of the iPad Pro with M1 for the photographer’s workflow

austinmann.com

 

[mackmgg]

In the past I’ve been doing the “import only the photos I want” technique to save space on my iPad, which has been time consuming. For the eclipse this morning (at 4AM here 😴) I tried doing it like he does, which is import everything into Lightroom and then cull as you edit. Worked pretty well! I think that may be as fast if not faster than doing it on my laptop, so that’s a major friction point gone for iPad work. Really the only thing missing now is something like Starry Landscape Stacker, and a good way to do a panorama without having to individually edit the RAW files first.

So here’s what worked for me for photo editing:

1. Take photos (obviously)
2. Use SD card reader to import directly to Lightroom (when you plug in the SD card Lightroom pops up the import dialog just like the desktop version)
3. Go through and edit photos
4. Press ‘x’ to reject any photos I don’t want to keep
5. Delete all rejected

This was way faster than Lightroom on my 16” MBP, and I have a 2018 iPad Pro. So I’d imagine the M1 iPad Pro is insanely fast. The only time I ever had to wait for anything was rendering the photos out, and even that wasn’t a long wait.