Bob and I have discussed this before and so I, too, bought an iPad last year. I tried it to travel lighter. I mean, I really tried. After multiple attempts and frustrations, it's been sitting on my desk for at least 6 months. Now I'm back to taking my trusty Mac laptop with me. What a relief! Thanks for peeling back that thick layer of marketing goop.
Bob, I sometimes don’t even take a computer with me when I travel. Especially not an iPad. As I recall, even Les admitted he liked to be let his images age for a while before editing them. I like to enjoy my time shooting and process images when I get home. I eliminate the weight and the frustration.
I guess it depends what you’re trying to do. Yes, if I were trying to produce deliverables for a client, confining myself to an iPad would be a real PIA. But, for traveling, my workflow of downloading images, rating, and completing 80% of my develop optimizations and then returning home, opening Lightroom Classic and have all my full resolution images download automatically is just unrivaled joy. Gone are the days of creating a traveling catalog on a USB drive and returning home and trying to import that catalog to my main catalog, and usually not selecting the right folder and then having to move the images again. And the idea of returning home and sorting hundreds or thousand of images sounds more like a chore than joy. I returned from NYC last night, my images synced, and are waiting for me.
With the iPad I can sort incrementally, and even play a slideshow at the end of the day for the family. (Adobe, when will you allows us to sync music with slideshows on mobile devices? Cuban image images without Cuban music?!?!....)
It’s so easy to travel with the iPad. Yes, I bought an iClever keyboard, a Bluetooth mouse, and a pen for the iPad, but don’t use them in Lightroom, maybe if I’m sending out an email to my subscribers. And when I get tired of optimizing my images on the beach, I simply close the iPad, go snorkeling, or order a drink.
While Lightroom doesn’t have all the capabilities of Lightroom Classic, I can bridge the gap with develop presets created on the desktop that I port over to mobile devices for added efficiency and features. I can’t select someone’s hair in Lightroom, but my preset can.
I teach Lightroom and am happy to share my develop presets, gratis, as I continue my rebellion against the Preset Industrial Complex, the cottage industry of selling trendy looks presets that don’t age well and don’t teach you anything slapping someone else’s preset on your images. We’ve all seen the ads.
Concerned about back ups? No problem. Just export your images as DNGs and save to a USB drive via the Files app. Need a handout for the workflow, contact me.
Thanks for the reply. Would love for you to provide your workflow detail in the form of a guest newsletter here if you would. It would be helpful to those people that might be considering the iPad as a tool to integrate into their process.
I bought my first iPad the month it first came out. It quickly became apparent that they were fantastic for consumption, but not creation. Fast forward to today and I still feel the same. I use it for reading books, Substack, emails, documents of any kind, newspapers and the web etc. For ANY kind of creation I open my MacBook Pro. The advantage of the iPad for consumption is that it has roughly the same form factor as a book, the 16x9 aspect ratio of a laptop makes it impossible to comfortably read.
I use my iPad all day every day. Do I use it to seriously do my photo work? No, but I do use it for almost everything else. It's a great device to travel with and keep up with emails, stream movies and shows, and read books. I am able to view my photographs but I would not work on them on my iPad. I do work on my iPhone photos but that's for fun. The iPad I use now is my fourth and I love it. My desktop Mac is my go to for serious photo work.
Don't even try to do much with photos on the iPad. I bought a surface pro earlier this year to keep the weight down when I travel. I do e-mails on it and I transfer my photos from the card to the surface pro or an attached 1 Tb Samsung tiny hard drive. I keep the card so I have two backups. I don't try to do post production until I get home to my very cool desktop computer it is a gaming machine which had a very attractive price and does no gaming under my watch but is great with Photoshop. Marilyn
Thank you for that article. I am VP of Portland Camera Club, an amateur photographer. Gave up trying to use my iPad about 2 yrs ago. Gave my iPad to my Son & daughter-in-law (they are not into post processing photos) and they love it. Bought a 14” MacBook Pro with the M3 chip about a year ago. The 16” is way too heavy to carry on trips. I really only use the MacBook Pro to screen my images. All Photoshop work I do is on my 2017 27” iMAC, which now is running very slow and does not allow me to upgrade to the latest versions of Photoshop. Love the 27” size but cannot use it as a monitor (says apple support)! I can’t understand how people can use only their phones to post process images.
woo! A heads up for me. I have an ancient iPad, running an equally ancient iOS, that I keep only for playing an old beloved really good jigsaw puzzle app that can’t be updated. I work on a Mac, big screen, Wacom intuos, and big fat 17” old printer on an old desk. And I think to myself, I Ought to be Modern, Slick, and Portable, and get a new iPad and be able to do zingy things on it on the fly. I use my phone for lots of things - but it’s really too small for artwork. So I think, I should, I gotta, I need, to move up in the world with the new iPad which will surely instantly turn me into the artist I aspire to be? Maybe not? Given my druthers, I’d really rather have a new 24” printer anyway. Thanks for the dose of reality! I’ll re-read it when I’m feeling weak and need another dose.
In the past I often shot tethered to my MacBook Pro on shoots. Usually I would be in a studio environment so it was great. Over the last few years I've started doing more work that needs tethering but has to be more mobile. I found even the 14" MacBook I have is a little too much. So I bought an iPad Pro 12" a few years back and some 3rd party software to tether. It was terrible, wouldn't keep a connection and was so fiddly. Finally Capture One came out with their mobile app and it was worlds better. It works ok but the images download to the iPad instead of staying on the camera. That leaves me with only the iPad and no mirroring for backup. in addition I then have to transfer everything to the MacBook when I want to edit. I'm not going to edit on the iPad. That process is a pain. lately I've been taking the MacBook to tether again. I love the iPad for travel to watch movies but it's a lot of money to just do that. I wish LR mobile would let me tether. I'd like to see how they would do it.
I’ve gone through all of that stuff and MADE it “work” but always ended up asking the question “why” when I could just use a Mac book air or equivalent instead… I cannot come up with any good reason…
We both ended up in the same place. I found with the iPad I was getting too distracted from my clients shoot while trying to make the thing work. Once tethered to the MacBook it's just go. And frankly the client likes it better too.
.. cry cry cry .. while i celebrate my iPad 4th Gen.. & also try to regain ‘muscle memory re MacBook & Pro.. as a ‘natural Lefty & ‘right Mouse freelance ‘shooter director editor
My ‘substack Site is Created & Maintained 99% via that iPad Only.. I seriously doubt you’ve ever dropped by.. I used to ‘Outsource ‘MUCHO’ to Specialist Service Providers / Vendors albeit via the Black Macbook as well as Service My Clients .. while on Assignment ! I’m my Only Client now.. & have created a Feature Film / Story Outline & all related Research, Creative & Design ‘IN SITU - ‘substack & its Design/Build opportunity & potential’ to Host an All Ages Gallery while doing so. I will say this ‼️ ‘the Algorithm has ‘Buried Me.. My iPad & fingertips allow me ‘to Count Coup & fight through that artificial bullshit ..
Bob and I have discussed this before and so I, too, bought an iPad last year. I tried it to travel lighter. I mean, I really tried. After multiple attempts and frustrations, it's been sitting on my desk for at least 6 months. Now I'm back to taking my trusty Mac laptop with me. What a relief! Thanks for peeling back that thick layer of marketing goop.
Bob, I sometimes don’t even take a computer with me when I travel. Especially not an iPad. As I recall, even Les admitted he liked to be let his images age for a while before editing them. I like to enjoy my time shooting and process images when I get home. I eliminate the weight and the frustration.
You recall correctly, Dixon.
I guess it depends what you’re trying to do. Yes, if I were trying to produce deliverables for a client, confining myself to an iPad would be a real PIA. But, for traveling, my workflow of downloading images, rating, and completing 80% of my develop optimizations and then returning home, opening Lightroom Classic and have all my full resolution images download automatically is just unrivaled joy. Gone are the days of creating a traveling catalog on a USB drive and returning home and trying to import that catalog to my main catalog, and usually not selecting the right folder and then having to move the images again. And the idea of returning home and sorting hundreds or thousand of images sounds more like a chore than joy. I returned from NYC last night, my images synced, and are waiting for me.
With the iPad I can sort incrementally, and even play a slideshow at the end of the day for the family. (Adobe, when will you allows us to sync music with slideshows on mobile devices? Cuban image images without Cuban music?!?!....)
It’s so easy to travel with the iPad. Yes, I bought an iClever keyboard, a Bluetooth mouse, and a pen for the iPad, but don’t use them in Lightroom, maybe if I’m sending out an email to my subscribers. And when I get tired of optimizing my images on the beach, I simply close the iPad, go snorkeling, or order a drink.
While Lightroom doesn’t have all the capabilities of Lightroom Classic, I can bridge the gap with develop presets created on the desktop that I port over to mobile devices for added efficiency and features. I can’t select someone’s hair in Lightroom, but my preset can.
I teach Lightroom and am happy to share my develop presets, gratis, as I continue my rebellion against the Preset Industrial Complex, the cottage industry of selling trendy looks presets that don’t age well and don’t teach you anything slapping someone else’s preset on your images. We’ve all seen the ads.
Concerned about back ups? No problem. Just export your images as DNGs and save to a USB drive via the Files app. Need a handout for the workflow, contact me.
Reid
www.lumiograph.com
Thanks for the reply. Would love for you to provide your workflow detail in the form of a guest newsletter here if you would. It would be helpful to those people that might be considering the iPad as a tool to integrate into their process.
Sure, I would love to. I have a great PDF already. Do you want to contact me through my website?
Shoot me an email at info@paperartscollective.com and we can chat.
I bought my first iPad the month it first came out. It quickly became apparent that they were fantastic for consumption, but not creation. Fast forward to today and I still feel the same. I use it for reading books, Substack, emails, documents of any kind, newspapers and the web etc. For ANY kind of creation I open my MacBook Pro. The advantage of the iPad for consumption is that it has roughly the same form factor as a book, the 16x9 aspect ratio of a laptop makes it impossible to comfortably read.
I use my iPad all day every day. Do I use it to seriously do my photo work? No, but I do use it for almost everything else. It's a great device to travel with and keep up with emails, stream movies and shows, and read books. I am able to view my photographs but I would not work on them on my iPad. I do work on my iPhone photos but that's for fun. The iPad I use now is my fourth and I love it. My desktop Mac is my go to for serious photo work.
Understandable. In my case a small lap top is really what I need for travel but have kept trying to make the iPad fill that role…i
Don't even try to do much with photos on the iPad. I bought a surface pro earlier this year to keep the weight down when I travel. I do e-mails on it and I transfer my photos from the card to the surface pro or an attached 1 Tb Samsung tiny hard drive. I keep the card so I have two backups. I don't try to do post production until I get home to my very cool desktop computer it is a gaming machine which had a very attractive price and does no gaming under my watch but is great with Photoshop. Marilyn
Thank you for that article. I am VP of Portland Camera Club, an amateur photographer. Gave up trying to use my iPad about 2 yrs ago. Gave my iPad to my Son & daughter-in-law (they are not into post processing photos) and they love it. Bought a 14” MacBook Pro with the M3 chip about a year ago. The 16” is way too heavy to carry on trips. I really only use the MacBook Pro to screen my images. All Photoshop work I do is on my 2017 27” iMAC, which now is running very slow and does not allow me to upgrade to the latest versions of Photoshop. Love the 27” size but cannot use it as a monitor (says apple support)! I can’t understand how people can use only their phones to post process images.
Sooner or later, you might wanna buy a decent standalone monitor there are great deals for 24 to 32in monitors suitable for photo work now.
woo! A heads up for me. I have an ancient iPad, running an equally ancient iOS, that I keep only for playing an old beloved really good jigsaw puzzle app that can’t be updated. I work on a Mac, big screen, Wacom intuos, and big fat 17” old printer on an old desk. And I think to myself, I Ought to be Modern, Slick, and Portable, and get a new iPad and be able to do zingy things on it on the fly. I use my phone for lots of things - but it’s really too small for artwork. So I think, I should, I gotta, I need, to move up in the world with the new iPad which will surely instantly turn me into the artist I aspire to be? Maybe not? Given my druthers, I’d really rather have a new 24” printer anyway. Thanks for the dose of reality! I’ll re-read it when I’m feeling weak and need another dose.
In the past I often shot tethered to my MacBook Pro on shoots. Usually I would be in a studio environment so it was great. Over the last few years I've started doing more work that needs tethering but has to be more mobile. I found even the 14" MacBook I have is a little too much. So I bought an iPad Pro 12" a few years back and some 3rd party software to tether. It was terrible, wouldn't keep a connection and was so fiddly. Finally Capture One came out with their mobile app and it was worlds better. It works ok but the images download to the iPad instead of staying on the camera. That leaves me with only the iPad and no mirroring for backup. in addition I then have to transfer everything to the MacBook when I want to edit. I'm not going to edit on the iPad. That process is a pain. lately I've been taking the MacBook to tether again. I love the iPad for travel to watch movies but it's a lot of money to just do that. I wish LR mobile would let me tether. I'd like to see how they would do it.
I’ve gone through all of that stuff and MADE it “work” but always ended up asking the question “why” when I could just use a Mac book air or equivalent instead… I cannot come up with any good reason…
We both ended up in the same place. I found with the iPad I was getting too distracted from my clients shoot while trying to make the thing work. Once tethered to the MacBook it's just go. And frankly the client likes it better too.
.. cry cry cry .. while i celebrate my iPad 4th Gen.. & also try to regain ‘muscle memory re MacBook & Pro.. as a ‘natural Lefty & ‘right Mouse freelance ‘shooter director editor
My ‘substack Site is Created & Maintained 99% via that iPad Only.. I seriously doubt you’ve ever dropped by.. I used to ‘Outsource ‘MUCHO’ to Specialist Service Providers / Vendors albeit via the Black Macbook as well as Service My Clients .. while on Assignment ! I’m my Only Client now.. & have created a Feature Film / Story Outline & all related Research, Creative & Design ‘IN SITU - ‘substack & its Design/Build opportunity & potential’ to Host an All Ages Gallery while doing so. I will say this ‼️ ‘the Algorithm has ‘Buried Me.. My iPad & fingertips allow me ‘to Count Coup & fight through that artificial bullshit ..