iMac for Photo Editing.

[Pezimak]

Hello after some advice as I am not sure myself. My brother in law wants a new iMac to edit his photos on, he will probably just use what ever the iMac comes with or some Canon software, he has a high end Canon DLSR With several lenses. He’s a bit of a hobbyist with it.
he currently has a 27” iMac from 2008 I think?

He keeps sending me links to the current 27” models on offer, I did before tell him to wait or look at the new 24” iMac.

But how much better is the Apple silicon iMac at photo editing over the the Intel model? Is it worth him waiting or buying the 24” M1 iMac? I have no experience with photo editing on a Mac personally.

 

[ADGrant]

Hello after some advice as I am not sure myself. My brother in law wants a new iMac to edit his photos on, he will probably just use what ever the iMac comes with or some Canon software, he has a high end Canon DLSR With several lenses. He’s a bit of a hobbyist with it.
he currently has a 27” iMac from 2008 I think?

He keeps sending me links to the current 27” models on offer, I did before tell him to wait or look at the new 24” iMac.

But how much better is the Apple silicon iMac at photo editing over the the Intel model? Is it worth him waiting or buying the 24” M1 iMac? I have no experience with photo editing on a Mac personally.

Well for photo editing a bigger screen is better. Either the Intel or M1 iMac would be fine for photo editing. The M1 will have better single core performance, the better Intel iMacs will have better multi-core and GPU performance and the ability to upgrade the RAM. The main disadvantage of the Intel Macs is they will be replaced with Apple Silicon Macs sometime in the next year or so.

Of course he could buy an M1 Mini and use any monitor he wants.

 

[glenthompson]

I suggest he visit an Apple store and see how he likes the display size on the 24”. I love mine and find the size perfect for my limited photo editing. It has plenty of power for most editing tasks. I do recommend getting the 16gb model since it’s not upgradeable and you never have too much ram.

 

[wilberforce]

I do lots of photo editing. The bigger high resolution screen is a huge advantage for photo editing. For me, the 27" 5k screen is not quite big enough - I would like an 8k screen (and correspondingly bigger in area).
Any current iMac will be fine performance for photo-editing (just don't get one with a Fusion or hard drive, and get 16GB or more RAM)

 

[Clix Pix]

If your brother-in-law has "a high end Canon DLSR With several lenses. He’s a bit of a hobbyist with it," I am surprised that he also does not have and use one of the many very good editing programs as opposed to "whatever the Mac comes with" and "some Canon software." When he is considering new computers to buy he also should be thinking about which editing program(s) would also be useful to him and which would be most compatible with whatever machine he winds up purchasing. IMHO he would get a much more satisfactory experience overall when working with the results of his shooting and of course his new computer as well.

 

[wilberforce]

If your brother-in-law has "a high end Canon DLSR With several lenses. He’s a bit of a hobbyist with it," I am surprised that he also does not have and use one of the many very good editing programs as opposed to "whatever the Mac comes with" and "some Canon software." When he is considering new computers to buy he also should be thinking about which editing program(s) would also be useful to him and which would be most compatible with whatever machine he winds up purchasing. IMHO he would get a much more satisfactory experience overall when working with the results of his shooting and of course his new computer as well.

I almost was about to say the same thing. Lightroom or Capture One, for example. Not only does editing, but organizes them.
Yes, you have to pay for the good stuff, but it really is worth it, unless the photo-editing is only very occasional.

 

[Pezimak]

Well for photo editing a bigger screen is better. Either the Intel or M1 iMac would be fine for photo editing. The M1 will have better single core performance, the better Intel iMacs will have better multi-core and GPU performance and the ability to upgrade the RAM. The main disadvantage of the Intel Macs is they will be replaced with Apple Silicon Macs sometime in the next year or so.

Of course he could buy an M1 Mini and use any monitor he wants.

I asked him which programme he will use for editing and he said what ever is free or cheap. He may just stick with iPhoto. If he dthat will the extra single core performance be better of the M1?

I suggest he visit an Apple store and see how he likes the display size on the 24”. I love mine and find the size perfect for my limited photo editing. It has plenty of power for most editing tasks. I do recommend getting the 16gb model since it’s not upgradeable and you never have too much ram.

I think he is in the same level as yourself with editing. I will ask him to go and take a look when he can rhough

I do lots of photo editing. The bigger high resolution screen is a huge advantage for photo editing. For me, the 27" 5k screen is not quite big enough - I would like an 8k screen (and correspondingly bigger in area).
Any current iMac will be fine performance for photo-editing (just don't get one with a Fusion or hard drive, and get 16GB or more RAM)

It seems the downside of the older iMac is the storage options and pricing.

If your brother-in-law has "a high end Canon DLSR With several lenses. He’s a bit of a hobbyist with it," I am surprised that he also does not have and use one of the many very good editing programs as opposed to "whatever the Mac comes with" and "some Canon software." When he is considering new computers to buy he also should be thinking about which editing program(s) would also be useful to him and which would be most compatible with whatever machine he winds up purchasing. IMHO he would get a much more satisfactory experience overall when working with the results of his shooting and of course his new computer as well.

I almost was about to say the same thing. Lightroom or Capture One, for example. Not only does editing, but organizes them.
Yes, you have to pay for the good stuff, but it really is worth it, unless the photo-editing is only very occasional.

Very good points, I asked him what he will use and he just said what ever is free or cheap? He may just sick with iPhoto. Personally I would get the M1 iMac because it's new and the design is new.
I think he will be doing more storage and viewing perhaps than editing? From what he is telling me.

Is the 27" iMac screen better then the new 24" one for viewing photos? Apart from its size.

 

[Fishrrman]

Tell your b-i-l that a new "larger-screen" iMac is coming out later this year, which will have a more powerful processor than the 24" iMac and probably better graphics as well.

It will be worth waiting a few more months for, if he's able to "hold out"...

 

[HDFan]

It seems the downside of the older iMac is the storage options and pricing.

Whatever Mac he chooses he might want to considered keeping his photos (if by reference) or photos library (Photos app) on an external drive or RAID. You didn't say which Canon he has, but with 45 Mb files or larger on newer models you can fill up a disk rather fast.

 

[4sallypat]

I asked him which programme he will use for editing and he said what ever is free or cheap. He may just stick with iPhoto. If he dthat will the extra single core performance be better of the M1?



I think he is in the same level as yourself with editing. I will ask him to go and take a look when he can rhough



It seems the downside of the older iMac is the storage options and pricing.





Very good points, I asked him what he will use and he just said what ever is free or cheap? He may just sick with iPhoto. Personally I would get the M1 iMac because it's new and the design is new.
I think he will be doing more storage and viewing perhaps than editing? From what he is telling me.

Is the 27" iMac screen better then the new 24" one for viewing photos? Apart from its size.

Using a native app, I'd tell him to get the base M1 iMac - it's more than capable.

I use Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom on a base (8GB) M1 iMac and it is just the best since sliced bread. Never slows down, never gets hot, never hear the fan spin up nor ever see the dreaded spinning beach ball!

Now I am self teaching myself on using Final Cut Pro for some light video editing and the M1 iMac is just amazing!

 

[Pezimak]

Whatever Mac he chooses he might want to considered keeping his photos (if by reference) or photos library (Photos app) on an external drive or RAID. You didn't say which Canon he has, but with 45 Mb files or larger on newer models you can fill up a disk rather fast.

He has a Canon 60D currently, but wants to change it although he’ll need to wait a while to save up for a new one.

 

[Pezimak]

Whatever Mac he chooses he might want to considered keeping his photos (if by reference) or photos library (Photos app) on an external drive or RAID. You didn't say which Canon he has, but with 45 Mb files or larger on newer models you can fill up a disk rather fast.

He will and he plants to backup to iCloud also. He has a 2 terabyte plan. I've told him to go and look at the new iMac before he decides what to do.

 

[RUQRU]

The 24" M1 is more than capable for photo editing. In fact people are doing video editing on them:
I replaced my $10,000 iMac Pro with a base model 24" M1 iMac for video editing!