How much RAM for photography with Mac Studio?

[eelpout]

He says that if he was buying now, he'd get a base Mac Studio M1 Max, principally for the four USB 4 ports, which would make a dock unnecessary.

Ports is definitely something one should consider in a purchase. the M1 Mini with 2 TB/2 USB is one of the reasons I've stuck with the 2018 (4 TB/2 USB) for now, warts and all.

While the M1 Max is great, I think for strictly photo editing (no video please, even though everyone and their mom apparently edits 4K videos on their lunch break), it might be a bit much.

 

[F-Train]

Ports is definitely something one should consider in a purchase. the M1 Mini with 2 TB/2 USB is one of the reasons I've stuck with the 2018 (4 TB/2 USB) for now, warts and all.

While the M1 Max is great, I think for strictly photo editing (no video please, even though everyone and their mom apparently edits 4K videos on their lunch break), it might be a bit much.

When I purchased my own mini in 2018, it was well understood that 16GB of RAM was plenty for the needs of most photographers. Nothing has happened since to change that. I use an 8x10 camera and consequently process scans of 8"x10" negatives that in size dwarf anything that most photographers are generating. I couldn't tell someone with a straight face that I need 32GB or 64GB of RAM to process those negatives. I do have a base Mac Studio M1 Max, but for other reasons.

It's quite an eye-opener to read amateurs talk about whether they need 32GB or 64GB of memory to process images in Capture One or Photoshop/Lightroom, and then look at a portfolio and client list at the level of the link two posts up.

 

[OSB]

Trying to anticipate future needs and spec'ing for them is a fool's game. Configure and buy the machine that fits your needs today - perhaps for the needs you foresee in 12-24mo - and don't worry too much beyond that. A *lot* about your personal and professional workflow can change in a couple of years, to say nothing of the evolution of tech and the whims of Apple.

 

[Dutch60]

I'm considering an M1 Max Mac Studio. I think I've heard that RAM needs are different with Apple Silicon than Intel. I will be using this machine for office work plus photography. I use Lightroom and Photoshop to edit Fujifilm X-T4 raw files. Nothing crazy, in Photoshop I might have 3-4 layers and I also use Topaz plugins like Sharpen AI, Gigapixel AI, etc. Will 32 GB be enough, or do I need 64?

Maybe no need, but I would go as high as money allows. 64

 

[Chancha]

64GB helps quite a bit for intense Photoshop edits, or Lightroom HDR/pano merging. But you can make do with 32GB as I don’t think you are doing such task every other minute.

Also the bigger problem with 64GB config is how much wait time there is (10-12 weeks).

 

[Dutch60]

64GB helps quite a bit for intense Photoshop edits, or Lightroom HDR/pano merging. But you can make do with 32GB as I don’t think you are doing such task every other minute.

Also the bigger problem with 64GB config is how much wait time there is (10-12 weeks).

If the waiting time is a problem, then yes...take the 32Gb

 

[nekonoshucchou]

I’m a photography hobyist and bought a maxed out iMac 27 inch in 2014.
The machine has served me very well for all these years, even if I didn’t need all the specs it offered.
This year I’m doing the same with an Ultra, that I hope to hang on to for many years.

 

[MGrayson3]

Ports is definitely something one should consider in a purchase. the M1 Mini with 2 TB/2 USB is one of the reasons I've stuck with the 2018 (4 TB/2 USB) for now, warts and all.

While the M1 Max is great, I think for strictly photo editing (no video please, even though everyone and their mom apparently edits 4K videos on their lunch break), it might be a bit much.

I strictly photo edit large images (with occasional lengthy scientific calculations). My iMac Pro desktop has 128GB, M1 MacBook Pro laptop 64GB. Neither has been memory limited. But I wouldn't go below 64GB. Call it headroom.

 

[Jamooche]

I'm considering an M1 Max Mac Studio. I think I've heard that RAM needs are different with Apple Silicon than Intel. I will be using this machine for office work plus photography. I use Lightroom and Photoshop to edit Fujifilm X-T4 raw files. Nothing crazy, in Photoshop I might have 3-4 layers and I also use Topaz plugins like Sharpen AI, Gigapixel AI, etc. Will 32 GB be enough, or do I need 64?

My 14" MacBook Pro M1 Pro with 16GB Ram is more than enough for my Fujifilm files and Sony A7R IV files. It is much much faster than my top of the line 2019 i9 iMac with 40GB Ram. Lightroom Classic is so much smoother and you can easily click through the files, zoom in, check things, without any hesitation. The Topaz apps are a gazillion times faster. The only place where I could see the iMac run faster was when doing a panoramic stitch of 6 60MP files in Lightroom. However, it only beat the MBP by about 30+ seconds. If / when I get a Studio or a 2nd 16" MBP to use as a desktop I will probably get 64GB Ram since it's not upgradeable, but 32 would probably be fine for the stitching I do. In comparison, my 2020 i5 MacBook Air couldn't handle the Fujifilm images. It was almost impossible to review them in Lightroom without the computer crashing and locking up.

 

[Dutch60]

My 14" MacBook Pro M1 Pro with 16GB Ram is more than enough for my Fujifilm files and Sony A7R IV files. It is much much faster than my top of the line 2019 i9 iMac with 40GB Ram. Lightroom Classic is so much smoother and you can easily click through the files, zoom in, check things, without any hesitation. The Topaz apps are a gazillion times faster. The only place where I could see the iMac run faster was when doing a panoramic stitch of 6 60MP files in Lightroom. However, it only beat the MBP by about 30+ seconds. If / when I get a Studio or a 2nd 16" MBP to use as a desktop I will probably get 64GB Ram since it's not upgradeable, but 32 would probably be fine for the stitching I do. In comparison, my 2020 i5 MacBook Air couldn't handle the Fujifilm images. It was almost impossible to review them in Lightroom without the computer crashing and locking up.

Nice to read. I'm on a 2019 27" iMac as well (i9/64GB Ram/Pro Vega 48), and also consider a Mac Studio. Mac Studio Max 32 core GPU/64GB Ram/2 TB SSD). Don' t work with Lightroom (or any other Adobe products), but with DXO PL/Affinity Photo and a few other programs. Possibly an Eizo monitor.

 

[Jamooche]

Nice to read. I'm on a 2019 27" iMac as well (i9/64GB Ram/Pro Vega 48), and also consider a Mac Studio. Mac Studio Max 32 core GPU/64GB Ram/2 TB SSD). Don' t work with Lightroom (or any other Adobe products), but with DXO PL/Affinity Photo and a few other programs. Possibly an Eizo monitor.

I ordered the BeQ SW321s 32" display today. It's cheaper and has a ton more features when compared to the new Apple display. Considering I've been using an iMac display for almost 10 years to edit and print photos, this will be a big upgrade and the next level jump to Eizo probably isn't worth it or needed for my purposes. Art is Right on YouTube has really great reviews and information on these displays.

 

[Dutch60]

I ordered the BeQ SW321s 32" display today. It's cheaper and has a ton more features when compared to the new Apple display. Considering I've been using an iMac display for almost 10 years to edit and print photos, this will be a big upgrade and the next level jump to Eizo probably isn't worth it or needed for my purposes. Art is Right on YouTube has really great reviews and information on these displays.

Same here: used several iMac 27" displays in more than 10 years. I know BenQ is cheaper, but I don' t trust its quality. Never read anything negative about an Eizo Color Edge monitor. BenQ seems to be another story. Not bad from what I read, but incomparable to Eizo. If it isn' t worth or needed for your purposes, then that' s ofcourse a nice monitor. Congratulations with your choice.

 

[Chancha]

Same here: used several iMac 27" displays in more than 10 years. I know BenQ is cheaper, but I don' t trust its quality. Never read anything negative about an Eizo Color Edge monitor. BenQ seems to be another story. Not bad from what I read, but incomparable to Eizo. If it isn' t worth or needed for your purposes, then that' s ofcourse a nice monitor. Congratulations with your choice.

Of course none of the "consumer" brands' graphic centric monitors can be compared to Eizo. Eizo's CX / CS series sets the bar above most con/prosumer line ups, then their CG series treads into specialized / industrial territory. NEC is right up there as well in terms of color, but their offerings are not as aggressive or feature-rich.

That said the BenQ strikes a pretty good balance between color coverage / accuracy / build quality / price. Probably a hair above Dell's UP line or ASUS ProArt line. So it really depends what calibre of delivery the buyer wants to spend to achieve. If the monitor has to double-duty as an interfacing display more than a color proofing reference, then it is more cost effective to go the BenQ route. Even an older model of 4k ColorEdge cost like two SW271 combined.

 

[Dutch60]

Definitely agree.

 

[Goodrich]

It’s early days and applications like Lightroom don’t seem to be optimised for the M1 (evidenced by causing memory swapping even with 32Gb). And MacOS itself seems to behave oddly (the WindowServer runs all the time at full tilt and various other system apps occasionally decide that they need a lot of memory). This will, no doubt, be worked out in time, but it makes it harder to size memory specs.

 

[Homy]

I’m a photographer currently still mainly editing on my 2014 27” iMac which I bought from new when it came out almost 8 years ago. It came with the standard 8mb ram, to which I immediately added two more 8mb chips for a total of 24mb. In all that time Activity Monitor has consistently informed me that I regularly use between 17-20mb of ram, and the activity graph is always in green. All this despite the advances over the years in my most used software Photoshop, Capture One and Nik software.

Knowing that I’ll upgrade this iMac in the coming months, probably with the Studio Max, I had been in two minds about the amount of ram I should get, but i have to say based on my own usage and experience over 8 years I agree with the posts above which say 32mb will be enough to see me through the next 5-8 years. Money saved on the ram upgrade will go towards upgrading the SSD to 2Tb, which I feel will be more beneficial to me. Have a look at ArtisRight on Youtube (linked in post above) for a wonderful overview and series of benchmarks of the Studio from a photographers point of view.

You mean GB? The last time I bought a Mac with 8MB was my Performa 6200 in 1996.

 

[eelpout]

It’s early days and applications like Lightroom don’t seem to be optimised for the M1 (evidenced by causing memory swapping even with 32Gb). And MacOS itself seems to behave oddly (the WindowServer runs all the time at full tilt and various other system apps occasionally decide that they need a lot of memory). This will, no doubt, be worked out in time, but it makes it harder to size memory specs.

Curious how big your catalog is, what you're editing etc. and what else you have open there besides Lightroom, that is causing your swapping. 32GB should be plenty for most situations.

(And Adobe claims M1 optimization is there. As Chinatown's last line famously goes, "Forget it, Jake. It's Lightroom.")

 

[davys]

You mean GB? The last time I bought a Mac with 8MB was my Performa 6200 in 1996.

Lol, yes I do mean GB - well spotted sir!

 

[Juuro]

I ordered the BeQ SW321s 32" display today. It's cheaper and has a ton more features when compared to the new Apple display. Considering I've been using an iMac display for almost 10 years to edit and print photos, this will be a big upgrade and the next level jump to Eizo probably isn't worth it or needed for my purposes. Art is Right on YouTube has really great reviews and information on these displays.

Aren't you afraid that the 138 ppi are a huge downgrade to the 217 ppi you are used to from the iMac?

 

[Goodrich]

Curious how big your catalog is, what you're editing etc. and what else you have open there besides Lightroom, that is causing your swapping. 32GB should be plenty for most situations.

(And Adobe claims M1 optimization is there. As Chinatown's last line famously goes, "Forget it, Jake. It's Lightroom.")

It’s not big and the files are 45Mb DNGs. Nothing much else running. It can work ok for a while, but then it decides that it needs to start compressing memory no then creating a swap file, for no obvious reason; there is usually a good deal of free memory. Restarting Lightroom seems to clear the situation.

 

[Jamooche]

Aren't you afraid that the 138 ppi are a huge downgrade to the 217 ppi you are used to from the iMac?

A little, but there are many articles and reviews online where the person upgraded from and iMac to this display and were blown away by the quality. The top 2 that come to mind are Albert Dros:

BenQ SW321C Photography Monitor Review

IntroductionI’ve been using the BenQ Photography monitors for a few years now with great satisfaction. A good monitor is very important if you’re working with colour a lot. Especially for photographers and videographers it is important that the colours are ‘accurate’. For me as a photographer...

www.albertdros.com

And 3 blind men and an elephant:

Supposedly evaluating the sharpness and pixel peeping at 1:1 is ideal at this resolution and ppi. It’s supposeldlt a more real representation or something…don’t know the exact science.

 

[southerndoc]

Keep in mind that the GPU uses the same memory as the CPU with Apple Silicon. So 32GB may only be 26-28GB of usable CPU memory.

It's sad that there is such a delay with 64GB memory configurations. I was going to order a Studio (not that I really need one) with 64GB, but the delay kept me from doing so. Why order for delivery in May or June when WWDC is right around the corner and the M2 might be announced? However, it's doubtful that the M2 Pro/Max/Ultra will be available so soon.

Then again, part of me thinks Apple will announce an M2 Ultra for the Mac Pro at WWDC this year. Only time will tell, and I wish I had reliable info for that and not just a thought in my head.

 

[Fumblerooskie]

Depends upon how long you plan to keep the Studio, what camera you shoot, how you edit, and where you think the industry is going over your time horizon.

Shoot 60MP on a Leica M11 in RAW, make multiple clone/healing edits on a wedding shoot of 3000 images and you can’t have enough RAM. Plenty of use cases where RAM is a godsend, especially if camera sensor size and pixel density continues to grow.

 

[Falcon_64]

A little, but there are many articles and reviews online where the person upgraded from and iMac to this display and were blown away by the quality. The top 2 that come to mind are Albert Dros:

BenQ SW321C Photography Monitor Review

IntroductionI’ve been using the BenQ Photography monitors for a few years now with great satisfaction. A good monitor is very important if you’re working with colour a lot. Especially for photographers and videographers it is important that the colours are ‘accurate’. For me as a photographer...

www.albertdros.com

And 3 blind men and an elephant:

Supposedly evaluating the sharpness and pixel peeping at 1:1 is ideal at this resolution and ppi. It’s supposeldlt a more real representation or something…don’t know the exact science.

Don't worry about it, just set it up and enjoy it!

I picked up the SW321c last month, no regrets at all. While the 5K iMac display was crisp and clear, I never did enjoy the glossy screen. The BenQ is a joy to use, reflections are absolutely not an issue (it's like this thing eats reflections), and hardware calibration with their Pallete Master Element software and the i1 Display Pro is quick and easy.

Sure, if I stick my face right up to the display, I can see it's not as sharp as the 5K iMac. One of the reasons I bought this was so I could sit back in my chair while editing photos instead of hunching over with a 27" screen - it was causing neck and shoulder pain. In the end, it's a much better solution for me.

 

[fcracer]

If you’re doing basic post processing on RAW images, 16GB is sufficient. If you’re working with large 102MP Fujifilm images and/or doing panoramas and HDR, 32GB is sufficient. If you’re doing the above and also have other editing software open (I.e., Capture One and Affinity Photo), then 64GB is ideal. For my workflow, something between 32GB and 64GB is ideal so I went with 64GB. I will use the Studio Max to edit images such as those found at my website.