iPad Pro 12.9 for Photo Editing

[kgphotos]

Hello everyone. I am interested in purchasing the iPad Pro 12.9 for photo editing. What I would like to do is to be able to take my RAW photos and transfer them to the iPad and do the photo editing there when I am away from my computer. I would like to get some opinions of how the iPad works as a photo editor-specifically how it handles RAW images- I use a Canon 80D and my iPhone 8 Plus. Also what would you recommend for a Wifi drive? If I could put my photos on the Wifi drive then I would be able to access them on my iPad and sync any changes back to the Wifi drive and then put them on my computer, correct?

Also, can I use the Apple Pencil with any photo app- like if I had to do masking or something similar?

Thanks for your input!

 

[cogi0490]

Also, can I use the Apple Pencil with any photo app- like if I had to do masking or something similar?

Hey, I have got a 9,7 iPad Pro, but I am very new to the whole thing of photography. Currently I am using Affinity Photo and Pixelmator - they both work great with the pencil, at least for my purposes as a beginner.
Affinity takes RAW photos as input and there a lot of tutorials from the developers in the app or at their channel in youtube.

But I haven‘t found or searched for a good solution to have a good integration between the laptop and the iPad. I have only a SD to lightning adapter and have to copy the pictures to the iPad to edit them.

 

[kgphotos]

Thank you for responding cogi0490. I use Pixelmator on my Mac from time to time. Haven't gone to Pixelmator Pro yet as I don't have High Sierra. But I do like Pixelmator. I brought up the Wifi drive because I read about it in another thread and thought it might be a good solution for integrating with the iPad and computer. Western Digital makes a Wifi drive, however I don't know if it reads RAW files. Some reviews on Amazon say it doesn't.

 

[MCAsan]

Just moved from rMBP in the field and home to iMac at home and 12.9" iPad Pro 512 in the field. I can easily put over 20,000 raw images in it if needed. I can run Lr mobile to do basic culls. I can run Image Capture on my iMac to move the files to my iMac's RAID library. If I need to share any image in the field, I can do some editing with Lr Mobile. But I have no illusion of an iPad Pro taking the place of my 27" 5K iMac and the much larger set of apps on it. For me iPad Pro is for data collection plus email and internet access during trips. It is smaller, lighter, and cheaper than a MacBook Pro.

 

[Donka]

I’m waiting to see how the iPad version of Pixelmator Pro turns out but I can’t recommend Affinity Photo highly enough on the iPad. It allows some very powerful editing. Pixelmator is a good app but I would also suggest Raw Power which is an excellent app for getting the base of your image how you need. I love editing photos on the iPad Pro.

 

[nicholasg]

Just moved from rMBP in the field and home to iMac at home and 12.9" iPad Pro 512 in the field. I can easily put over 20,000 raw images in it if needed. I can run Lr mobile to do basic culls. I can run Image Capture on my iMac to move the files to my iMac's RAID library. If I need to share any image in the field, I can do some editing with Lr Mobile. But I have no illusion of an iPad Pro taking the place of my 27" 5K iMac and the much larger set of apps on it. For me iPad Pro is for data collection plus email and internet access during trips. It is smaller, lighter, and cheaper than a MacBook Pro.

I assume you shooting RAW on a DSLR.
If so, how do you get the RAW files from your camera to the iPad?
I don't have Lr on my iMac, so doing edit in Lr mobile, would for be a waste, correct?
If not doing any edits on the iPad, what mobile Lr, give you over the stock iPad Photos app?

Thanks,
Nicholas

 

[kgphotos]

Just moved from rMBP in the field and home to iMac at home and 12.9" iPad Pro 512 in the field. I can easily put over 20,000 raw images in it if needed. I can run Lr mobile to do basic culls. I can run Image Capture on my iMac to move the files to my iMac's RAID library. If I need to share any image in the field, I can do some editing with Lr Mobile. But I have no illusion of an iPad Pro taking the place of my 27" 5K iMac and the much larger set of apps on it. For me iPad Pro is for data collection plus email and internet access during trips. It is smaller, lighter, and cheaper than a MacBook Pro.

Hi MCAsan, I don't use Lightroom as I use Capture One Pro 10 on my computer. You seem very knowledgeable as I have read a lot of your posts in this forum. On the days when I am away from my computer, what would be a good way to integrate the iPad with my photos to the computer? I would be basically using the iPad for photo work and browsing the web. Would you suggest the lightning to SD card camera reader to put my photos on and then transfer the edits to the computer? I currently don't use iCloud photo sharing. If I do any edits on my phone, I use PhotoSync to sync to my computer. Like I said in a previous post, I was looking at a WiFi drive, but I don't know if the Western Digital model reads RAW files.

Also do you use the Apple Pencil? Just wondering how it integrates with apps like Pixlemator, Polarr Photo Editor and RAW Power. For example, can I use the Pencil to mask an image?

Thanks for your help!
[doublepost=1512605620][/doublepost]I have the app RAW Power and I must say it is a VERY good app.

 

[MCAsan]

I assume you shooting RAW on a DSLR.
Yes to raw, no to DSLR. We gave up DSLRs for m43 kits years ago.

If so, how do you get the RAW files from your camera to the iPad?
Apple SD card reader that imports at USB-3 speeds, not USB-2.

I don't have Lr on my iMac, so doing edit in Lr mobile, would for be a waste, correct?
I think so.

If not doing any edits on the iPad, what mobile Lr, give you over the stock iPad Photos app?
Sharing collections between iPad and iMac. Not have to deal with the insanity of Photo's managed library sitting in a cloud. Any edits I do will show up back in the Lr catalog.
[doublepost=1512608996][/doublepost]

Hi MCAsan, I don't use Lightroom as I use Capture One Pro 10 on my computer. You seem very knowledgeable as I have read a lot of your posts in this forum. On the days when I am away from my computer, what would be a good way to integrate the iPad with my photos to the computer? I would be basically using the iPad for photo work and browsing the web. Would you suggest the lightning to SD card camera reader to put my photos on and then transfer the edits to the computer? I currently don't use iCloud photo sharing. If I do any edits on my phone, I use PhotoSync to sync to my computer. Like I said in a previous post, I was looking at a WiFi drive, but I don't know if the Western Digital model reads RAW files.

Also do you use the Apple Pencil? Just wondering how it integrates with apps like Pixlemator, Polarr Photo Editor and RAW Power. For example, can I use the Pencil to mask an image?

Thanks for your help!
[doublepost=1512605620][/doublepost]I have the app RAW Power and I must say it is a VERY good app.

Upgrade tp C1P 11. You can always have Dropbox or similar service that both the IOS device and Mac can access. A WD wireless passport Pro can definitely read in raw files off an SD cards. The passport does not know or care that they are raw photography. They are just valid files he needs to move and store. I rarely use my Pencil. You can do most things with it that you would otherwise do with your finger.

 

[mofunk]

I just got the iPad Pro 10.5. Before buying any accessories and apps I looked around youtube to see how Photogs were using the iPad. Adding to the others I've added Lightroom on my MBP and just started to play around LR mobile. I haven't download Affinity or Pixelmator but I played with them in store. Before purchasing my 10.5, I went to the Apple store and to Best Buy, played around with the Photo apps. I also tested out the Apple Pencil while there. This way I could get a feel if I wanted to explore more with these.

Importing to iPad - My D750 has wifi so I use the Nikon app to transfer to iPad. Then import the photos to the editing app.

Exporting - Even though my iPad has 256GB I would think over time if I'm editing RAW files I would need to move them. I'm looking at either using an SD card adapter or and Jump drive. At first I thought about using AirDrop but I think the best route might be dragging it from a Jump Drive with Lightening Connector.

Right now I'm 50/50 with the Apple Pencil. $100 is a lot for something I may or may not use. I have a Wacom tablet that cost the same as the pencil. In the past I've only used the Wacom tablet to edit things in Photoshop and drawing.

Lots of options.

 

[MCAsan]

how do you plan to write from iPad to an SD card in an attached reader? Using Sandisk software I can do that towards the Sandisk Xpand flash drive. But I prefer to connect to my iMac and use Image Capture into the iMac file system.

 

[mofunk]

Yeah I'm looking at either the Apple SD Card Camera Reader or SandDisk Xpand flash drive. I wasn't sure about the Lightening to USB 3 Camera adapter. I guess the USB 3 Camera adapter would work if for some reason the Nikon App is not working.

I would use Image Capture however in LR I would have to change the setting so that the images stay in the same folder.

Having two systems (iPad and Mac) I want the smoothest workflow.

 

[Donka]

Exporting - Even though my iPad has 256GB I would think over time if I'm editing RAW files I would need to move them. I'm looking at either using an SD card adapter or and Jump drive. At first I thought about using AirDrop but I think the best route might be dragging it from a Jump Drive with Lightening Connector.

Right now I'm 50/50 with the Apple Pencil. $100 is a lot for something I may or may not use. I have a Wacom tablet that cost the same as the pencil. In the past I've only used the Wacom tablet to edit things in Photoshop and drawing.

I have a lightning drive which is very convenient for exporting my edited images and and importing them onto my Mac for storage.

Regarding the Apple Pencil for photo editing, I almost never use it, the only time I have found it useful is for tidying up masks where my finger would otherwise cover the area I'm trying to refine.

 

[guzhogi]

I'm an amateur photographer at best, but I have the 10.5" iPad Pro, and it works decently. Pixelmator works decently on it, and it does work with Apple Pencil. I'm waiting to see if Pixelmator Pro comes out for the iPad, and what it's like. I'm enough of a novice to be surprised that Pixelmator for Mac didn't support RAW before the Pro version. I have Affinity Photo as well, but haven't really used it yet.

I also have the SD card to lightning adaptor for my iPad, and it works very well. I can import the photos into the Photos app, and then send them to Pixelmator. Then use iCloud to sync between my Mac & iPad. I have the 2 TB option, which is large enough for my photos, plus anything I do in Pixelmator/Affinity.

 

[kgphotos]

A WD wireless passport Pro can definitely read in raw files off an SD cards. The passport does not know or care that they are raw photography. They are just valid files he needs to move and store.

I am leaning towards getting the WD Wireless My Passport Pro, however in doing research on this,WD Support says it can’t read RAW files through the My Cloud App. The app shows a ? when viewing a RAW file. One option I came across would be to shoot RAW+JPEG. Then the JPEG would show next to the question mark which is the RAW file.

What I would like to do is take my photos then stick the SD card from my Canon camera into the WD WiFi drive and upload my photos. Then, go on my iPad and view them and edit the RAW photos- not the JPEG. And then once I am done editing send them back to the WiFi drive where I can access them on my computer.

Can this be done with the WD WiFi drive? Their Cloud app doesn’t seem to get great reviews, so would I need that app for this to work? Can I drag and drop the RAW photos from the drive to the photos app on my iPad and then work on them and just drop them back on the WiFi drive when done? I don’t want to use iCloud. I do have apps that can read RAW. If this won’t work, what are some other options?

Thanks everyone!

 

[MCAsan]

In the field load the raw files into both the iPad and the passport using their respective card readers. Forget wifi. Do edits as needed on the iPad and download those to your computer with the images on the passport as just being backup....or storage space if you run out of space on the iPad.

 

[robgendreau]

Hot tip: Affinity Photo iOS is still on sale for $10US, half off.

I am leaning towards getting the WD Wireless My Passport Pro, however in doing research on this,WD Support says it can’t read RAW files through the My Cloud App. The app shows a ? when viewing a RAW file. One option I came across would be to shoot RAW+JPEG. Then the JPEG would show next to the question mark which is the RAW file.

What I would like to do is take my photos then stick the SD card from my Canon camera into the WD WiFi drive and upload my photos. Then, go on my iPad and view them and edit the RAW photos- not the JPEG. And then once I am done editing send them back to the WiFi drive where I can access them on my computer.

Can this be done with the WD WiFi drive? Their Cloud app doesn’t seem to get great reviews, so would I need that app for this to work? Can I drag and drop the RAW photos from the drive to the photos app on my iPad and then work on them and just drop them back on the WiFi drive when done? I don’t want to use iCloud. I do have apps that can read RAW. If this won’t work, what are some other options?

The WD drive CAN read (and write) RAW files; what it can't do is make previews for them.

That workflow would be way too much work for me. The process of using external storage on an iPad Pro is rather clunky and not at all as easy as the desktop. I'd use the external for backup, and copy all the RAWS to the iPP and then mercilessly cull down to some few you wanna work on and edit. Then send those to the external for backup. Relying on the cloud when traveling can be frustrating, so account for that.

I don't think the iPP is very good for wholesale editing. On the desktop, I'd run some presets on 'em in Lr and add WB adjustments, some quick develop, camera calibration, lens correction, and a slew of metadata changes, even before a second cull (first cull just gets very obvious mistakes). But that just isn't as practical on the iPP. I use it mostly just for images I wanna do a lot of custom adjustments on. And in iOS serious metadata editing, even in Lr CC, is a PITA.

I'd suggest you consider how a very mobile workflow might differ from a desk workflow, and how you can maximize the iPP's strengths, like editing individual images. Even at home I use it now for some work I used to do in Lr/Ps on the iMac.

 

[MCAsan]

Why iPad is not a great prime editing environment for me.....missing apps.

Today I checked out an interesting workflow. Transferred an ORF raw from Lr on iMac to DxO Photolab and did some editing. (side note DxO has been the best raw converter I have used). I returned the edited image as dng. (Yes the edits are in the dng). Then I transferred the dng from Lr to Luminar. Did some edits and returned the image as a tif. The ORF, DNG, and TIF are side by side in my Lr library. Could not do that in IOS environment due to missing apps.

Your milage may vary.

 

[Alexander.Of.Oz]

Why iPad is not a great prime editing environment for me.....missing apps.

Today I checked out an interesting workflow. Transferred an ORF raw from Lr on iMac to DxO Photolab and did some editing. (side note DxO has been the best raw converter I have used). I returned the edited image as dng. (Yes the edits are in the dng). Then I transferred the dng from Lr to Luminar. Did some edits and returned the image as a tif. The ORF, DNG, and TIF are side by side in my Lr library. Could not do that in IOS environment due to missing apps.

Your milage may vary.

Pity you have to create a TIF, doubling up on disk space used! Maybe one day all programs will universally use DNG’s, so you’ll only need that one file as well as the original RAW file.

 

[MCAsan]

DNG is definitely not gaining traction with camera companies and therefore editing software apps. They may read it, but not write it. If Sony, Nikon, Canon, Olympus and Panasonic adopt it, then maybe it will be the universal format Adobe wanted it to be.

 

[maflynn]

DNG is definitely not gaining traction with camera companies and therefore editing software apps. They may read it, but not write it. If Sony, Nikon, Canon, Olympus and Panasonic adopt it, then maybe it will be the universal format Adobe wanted it to be.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Adobe drop it, given the lack of growth. I've not seen/heard anything but it just seems to be a format with limited appeal.

 

[robgendreau]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Adobe drop it, given the lack of growth. I've not seen/heard anything but it just seems to be a format with limited appeal.

Don't know how limited it is when Apple uses it in their iPhones for RAW. But I guess many here don't shoot RAW on their phones.

 

[MCAsan]

Given a chance to use my E-M1 II instead, no.

 

[Clix Pix]

Exactly! The iPhone is for quickie snapshots when there is no other camera at my disposal; the DSLR or the Sony RX 100 are for more serious occasions, when I usually do have one of them at hand.

 

[kgphotos]

I am still going to use my Mac for the serious editing. But I have no doubt that my iPad will come in handy for editing when I don't have/can't use my computer. It's nice to read what everyone uses their iPad for and what their workflow is. Thank you for your ideas.

 

[IPadNParadise]

I love Affinity Photo on my ipad pro. I have it on my MBP also but prefer editing the photos on my ipad using the Apple Pencil. I shoot Raw and I do use icloud for syncing and storage. I have a 256gb ipad but sometime in the future I will have to use other options for photo storage because I’m not willing to pay more than the $.99 that I currently do.