iPad Pro Praising the iPad Pro.

[bsamcash]

I generally upgrade my computer on a yearly basis. This year I decided I would upgrade my 2019 MacBook Air to a 16 inch MacBook Pro. I do practice photography as a hobby and the Air just couldn’t handle my RAWs to my satisfaction. After using the Pro for two weeks I came to the realization that it was too large and cumbersome for my portable needs and I would need to downgrade to the 13 inch pro. But then Apple confirmed the switch to ARM and I decided I didn’t want to invest too much right now. So, after watching many reviews, I returned my Pro and bought the new 2020 Air with the i5. The Air was of course very familiar to me, but it was too familiar. It still struggled with my RAW files too much for my liking. I was starting to regret the purchase but I didn’t want to spend so much money on a Pro. I had the 2018 11 inch iPad Pro and remember how magical the hardware was, but it wasn’t yet primed for true photography workflow (at least not for mine). But I decided to go for it. I returned the Air and bought the 512 GB 11 inch iPad Pro with the pencil and new Magic Keyboard case. This all came to just a little more than the Air I returned, so not a huge investment. Plus I already had a Bluetooth mouse to pair.

Well, days and shoots later and I cannot believe I’ve gone so long without this guy! The ability to touch my photos on such a tiny device I can take with me anywhere is amazingly liberating. In fact, that’s the one word I would use to describe this tool over any computer I’ve owned before: liberating. I can keep it docked to the Magic Keyboard while I’m sitting at my desk, our I can just pull it off to take with me anywhere and it’s like I’m not even carrying anything. Plus, it eats through these RAW files as well as the 16 inch Pro without all the fan noise.

Anyway, I just wanted to sing my praises to my new favorite photo editing tool (same tool I used to type this on in fact.).

 

[Apple_Robert]

Welcome to the Pro club. I have had my new iPad Pro 11” with Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil for 220 hours and I am thrilled with my purchase thus far. It has handled everything I have needed it to do thus far, save being able to delete and reformat an external hard drive. Outside of that quibble, I am very happy. For all intent and purposes, it is my main computer. I hope the software will start catching up to the power of the hardware.

 

[AutomaticApple]

I have had my new iPad Pro 11” with Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil for 220 hours and I am thrilled with my purchase thus far.

I am also thrilled with my recent purchase of the iPad Pro 11-inch. No regrets!

 

[mikedude86]

Same! Started a month or so ago with a 7th Gen iPad and started reading the forums so I handed off the 7th Gen Base iPad and upgraded to the Pro. Still blown away every time I open it!

 

[muzzy996]

Awesome story, excited to hear more about your workflow, would you mind sharing? What’s your workflow like from start to finish in terms of source, process for transfer, apps for processing and final destination?

I’ve tried photo processing before with my 2017 iPP 12.9 and didn’t care for it but the iPP has gone even further with the newer generations so I’m interested in hearing what things are like.

 

[secretk]

Awesome story, excited to hear more about your workflow, would you mind sharing? What’s your workflow like from start to finish in terms of source, process for transfer, apps for processing and final destination?

I’ve tried photo processing before with my 2017 iPP 12.9 and didn’t care for it but the iPP has gone even further with the newer generations so I’m interested in hearing what things are like.

Same! I am interested too!

I tried recently again and it still was not for me due to not being able to do batch processing with Affinity. Also I do not like super much the way I have to import the photos in the Photos app and then have to start the processing. So most probably I did not try the best workflow that exists.

 

[bsamcash]

Awesome story, excited to hear more about your workflow, would you mind sharing? What’s your workflow like from start to finish in terms of source, process for transfer, apps for processing and final destination?

I import directly into Lightroom then export finished JPEGs to the camera roll where I can share or order prints through a local photo processing lab. Pretty simple setup, but it works wonderfully.

I tried recently again and it still was not for me due to not being able to do batch processing with Affinity.

I tried Affinity myself and I did not like it for RAWs for the same reason. But it is good for image manipulation. I don’t do a whole like of that myself, but I suppose if I needed to I would export from Lightroom as TIFF into Files then open that in Affinity.

 

[spiderman0616]

I agree with all your praise. If I were to lump traditional computers and tablets in to one category, the iPad, especially the 12.9” iPad Pro, has been my favorite product in that category. I like it far better than any laptop or desktop Mac I’ve ever owned. That’s not to say that I hate the Mac—I still like working with macOS. But it’s not my preferred way to do things anymore. I will always grab the iPad Pro over the MacBook any day of the week. It’s my dream computer.

I have been learning Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and LumaFusion over the last couple of years. Every time I learn a new “pro” app on this thing, I feel like I have a new super power.

 

[muzzy996]

Same! I am interested too!

I tried recently again and it still was not for me due to not being able to do batch processing with Affinity. Also I do not like super much the way I have to import the photos in the Photos app and then have to start the processing. So most probably I did not try the best workflow that exists.

Yeah I would prefer a Lightroom workflow that allows the avoidance of the use of internal storage to eliminate the need to manage internal storage and avoid unnecessary file transfers. We are all different in our preferred workflows, for me I would want to copy from card to an external drive and then process on that drive leaving originals intact and saving copies in separate folders. I am not sure if that is possible yet on iPadOS. Adobe seems more motivated to encourage reliance upon their cloud storage in order to sell storage capacity.

 

[cupcakes2000]

Yeah I would prefer a Lightroom workflow that allows the avoidance of the use of internal storage to eliminate the need to manage internal storage and avoid unnecessary file transfers. We are all different in our preferred workflows, for me I would want to copy from card to an external drive and then process on that drive leaving originals intact and saving copies in separate folders. I am not sure if that is possible yet on iPadOS. Adobe seems more motivated to encourage reliance upon their cloud storage in order to sell storage capacity.

This is why as much as I want to rely solely o the iPad, I can’t yet.
Mac mini/LR Classic+ jump desktop, NAS, iPad Pro/lightroom CC + pencil.
It’s the only viable way for me. I still manage to use the iPad for literally everything though, even if the NAS or the Mac is the back end - and man it does feel like the future.

 

[muzzy996]

This is why as much as I want to rely solely o the iPad, I can’t yet.
Mac mini/LR Classic+ jump desktop, NAS, iPad Pro/lightroom CC + pencil.
It’s the only viable way for me. I still manage to use the iPad for literally everything though, even if the NAS or the Mac is the back end - and man it does feel like the future.

Yeah it is indeed unfortunate that hoops have to be jumped through for some of us.

I'm really glad OP is doing well with their workflow though. I still use LR on my iPad when I'm out on vacation and have the time to spare, its fun to do in that low volume setting. Doing photo processing on the iPad is really nice other than the file management side.

 

[richpjr]

I haven't found anything that works better for me on my iPad/PC/iPhone than Lightroom using their cloud service. I understand people's aversion to subscriptions but have not found any better workflow for my needs yet so I'm willing to pay for it. I keep hoping that Serif comes out with a DAM that works with Affinity Photo - maybe someday...

I took a bunch of pictures over the 4th of July weekend and edited them all on my iPad using LR and it was dead simple and a joy to do.

 

[bsamcash]

I took a bunch of pictures over the 4th of July weekend and edited them all on my iPad using LR and it was dead simple and a joy to do.

Hit the nail on the head. It’s a joy to edit on the iPad.

 

[niploteksi]

I have the iPad 12.9” 2020 and I like it a lot. It was expensive but I’m glad I got the large screen.