Editing on an iPad instead of Mac Pro

Daymouse

Daymouse

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876
Name
Simon
Edit My Images
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Im after some advice and people thoughts on editing RAW photos on ipad inparticular with the Apple Pencil

At the monent i have a 13" Macbook Pro (2016) and used to use Lightroom but i refuse to pay for an adobe subscription so been looking for alternatives.

This got me thinking and i literally dont use my Mac for anything else other that some light editing (when i have time) and browsing the net.

So now im thinking an iPad and Apple Pencil might be a better option and will get more use but wondering other than Lightroom what other apps are there for Image managment and RAW processing

Also is an ipad a good alternative to a Mac? I'm trying On1 a t the moment and its pretty laggy!
 
The best two apps, IMO, are Affinity Photo - which rivals Photoshop in functionality, and Snapseed - which is good for a quick edit. Both handle raw files with no problems. They're also cheap: Affinity Photo is currently £19.99 and Snapseed is free. You can also buy Affinity Photo for the Mac so moving from an iPad to the Mac could be a good way to work, though I think you get the same functionality in both versions.

That takes care of photo processing. As for asset management, you don't get anything like that with either of the apps I've mentioned. There are various Exif editors, some of them free, but nothing that handles IPTC well. Or, rather, there is one fairly good app for that, but it's iPhone only at the moment - strange, considering that most people who want IPTC headers are more likely to be working on an iPad.

You could use Affinity Photo for editing (and it should be quicker on an iPad with a Pencil), save your photos in AP's own format, then export them as JPEGs, copy them over to the Mac, import them into Lightroom, and do all of your asset management there. Or just stick with an Exif editor.

But if all you want is editing and uploading, AP plus the Photos app plus a decent web browser (e.g. Chrome) might be the way to go.

If you don't need something as feature-packed as Affinity Photo, and Snapseed is too primitive, you could take a look at Photoshop Express or Pixelmator.
 
garryknight said:
The best two apps, IMO, are Affinity Photo - which rivals Photoshop in functionality, and Snapseed - which is good for a quick edit. Both handle raw files with no problems. They're also cheap: Affinity Photo is currently £19.99 and Snapseed is free. You can also buy Affinity Photo for the Mac so moving from an iPad to the Mac could be a good way to work, though I think you get the same functionality in both versions.

That takes care of photo processing. As for asset management, you don't get anything like that with either of the apps I've mentioned. There are various Exif editors, some of them free, but nothing that handles IPTC well. Or, rather, there is one fairly good app for that, but it's iPhone only at the moment - strange, considering that most people who want IPTC headers are more likely to be working on an iPad.

You could use Affinity Photo for editing (and it should be quicker on an iPad with a Pencil), save your photos in AP's own format, then export them as JPEGs, copy them over to the Mac, import them into Lightroom, and do all of your asset management there. Or just stick with an Exif editor.

But if all you want is editing and uploading, AP plus the Photos app plus a decent web browser (e.g. Chrome) might be the way to go.

If you don't need something as feature-packed as Affinity Photo, and Snapseed is too primitive, you could take a look at Photoshop Express or Pixelmator.
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Thanks for that some good information.

I think asset management isn't that important these days as im not taking anywhere near as many photos as i used to. And now i generally cull them down to the ones i really want then edit.

The other issue is space on ipad but with ios 13 and being able to plug an external device im thinking i could move the photos to that and work & store the RAWs on that then once i've edited them store a jpeg on the ipad for viewing
 
Yes. You could go for something like the iPad Air 2019 with 256 GB of storage, which is fast and future-proof for a few years, or get a basic iPad and wait until October for the public beta of iOS 13. You can get it before that if you pay about £100 and become a 'developer'.
 
I've just picked up an iPad pro and apple pencil. I load all my images onto my desktop, then sync the weddings I'm working on over Adobe CC. I then can edit whole weddings on the iPad. It's nice and quick (surprisingly so) which means I can edit a wedding quicker on iPad. Using the pencil makes it a bit easier. Bear in mind I'm mainly cropping, exposure/WB etc and adding a preset if needed (I auto add my preset on import on my Mac so only need to add if I"m changing to B&W). It'll then sync these back to the Mac so I can export etc. So far I'm enjoying the experience. Sure, it's not got all the options of the desktop version but it makes it a bit more bearable going through 700+ images! Also means I'm not glued to my desk.
 
How useful is the Apple Pencil ? I have LR 6 standalone on my aging laptop but I rarely use it now as I do a quick edit on my 2018 iPad via Snapseed.

But of course it’s not always “enough” and so I’ve been looking at AP but am not sure how easy it is. I’ve looked at a few YouTube videos and it looks good, especially when you compare the cost vs LR cc
 
damianmkv said:
How useful is the Apple Pencil ? I have LR 6 standalone on my aging laptop but I rarely use it now as I do a quick edit on my 2018 iPad via Snapseed.

But of course it’s not always “enough” and so I’ve been looking at AP but am not sure how easy it is. I’ve looked at a few YouTube videos and it looks good, especially when you compare the cost vs LR cc
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The Apple pencil is “Excellent” and very useful particularly when editing. Affinity on the iPad is in my opinion the best and most complete editing app available, its only been updated this very week and is very powerful and not too difficult to get your head around. There’s also a very good instructional course via “Udemy.com” for the iPad version of Affinity that is well worth purchasing, I think its still only around ten bucks for the complete video course.

George.
 
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G.K.Jnr. said:
The Apple pencil is “Excellent” and very useful particularly when editing. Affinity on the iPad is in my opinion the best and most complete editing app available, its only been updated this very week and is very powerful and not too difficult to get your head around. There’s also a very good instructional course via “Udemy.com” for the iPad version of Affinity that is well worth purchasing, I think its still only around ten bucks for the complete video course.

George.
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Agree with George v good lessons
 
Am I missing something? I’ve just been on Udemy.com, and the course for affinity and iPad is £99.99!! Was it recently on a special offer that I missed, or is there some kind of discount code? Thank you in advance!
 
Might be slightly off topic but can anyone confirm if you get any cloud storage with the package and if so and you want to use affinity across say iPad , windows and mac....would you need to pay the download subscription for each as they appear individually priced......sounds like it works pretty well on iPad.....but I have also a mac for home and surface at work so would be handy to use across all of these if not overly expensive.. currently on Photo shop cs5 but dont fancy a subscription.....
 
wellyboot said:
Am I missing something? I’ve just been on Udemy.com, and the course for affinity and iPad is £99.99!! Was it recently on a special offer that I missed, or is there some kind of discount code? Thank you in advance!
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Type "Udemy Coures" into Google and you'll find several discount codes "ENDING TOMORROW". Then follow the prompts and choose "Affinity Photo iPad". The codes will get you the course for £11.99. "but hurry its only until TOMORROW" .

George.
 
I know you said you don’t want to pay for an Adobe subscription but I thought its worth mentioning that it can be cost effective. Until November 2017 I thought the same as you that it didn’t feel good paying for an Adobe subscription. At this point I was also paying £50 a year for a Zenfolio website as well as updating Lightroom roughly every 3 years at a cost of £50-60? Once I worked out the Adobe subscription came with Adobe Portfolio and I could duplicate my website the subscription made more sense. Add to the fact you don’t need to pay a monthly subscription by paying an annual per paid subscription. I’ve bought the subscriptions when they are on offer. So far I’ve not paid more than £70 per year and I’m paid up until November 2020 (you can buy pre paid subscriptions and add them to your account). It works out I’m paying nearly the same as paying for a website and upgrading Lightroom every 3 years. Add to the fact I’ve got seamless integration of Lightroom on a desktop and now on an ipad it makes even more sense. I’ve only just got around to getting Lightroom to work properly on the iPad. With the Apple Pencil I’m finding editing on the iPad great. It’s good to be able to sit on the sofa culling and rating images before editing them on either the iPad or iMac.

This way doesn’t necessarily workout for everyone but it’s worth considering.
 
I use the second version of the iPad Pro 12.9 with 512 GB memory
It's amazing how fast it loads up to the device and how fast in turn it loads up to LR CC
I hardly turn on the iMac now as it seems superfluous in my workflow. I don't now shoot professional images any more.
I have built a website with Adobe Portfolio www.canine.photos
I am building a small business taking dog photos
 
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I like the last bit as my "day job" means I'm sitting at a desk and using a surface / iPad would be convenient...my iPad is a pro but light on memory but assume you get Adobe cloud with it...?
rob-nikon said:
I know you said you don’t want to pay for an Adobe subscription but I thought its worth mentioning that it can be cost effective. Until November 2017 I thought the same as you that it didn’t feel good paying for an Adobe subscription. At this point I was also paying £50 a year for a Zenfolio website as well as updating Lightroom roughly every 3 years at a cost of £50-60? Once I worked out the Adobe subscription came with Adobe Portfolio and I could duplicate my website the subscription made more sense. Add to the fact you don’t need to pay a monthly subscription by paying an annual per paid subscription. I’ve bought the subscriptions when they are on offer. So far I’ve not paid more than £70 per year and I’m paid up until November 2020 (you can buy pre paid subscriptions and add them to your account). It works out I’m paying nearly the same as paying for a website and upgrading Lightroom every 3 years. Add to the fact I’ve got seamless integration of Lightroom on a desktop and now on an ipad it makes even more sense. I’ve only just got around to getting Lightroom to work properly on the iPad. With the Apple Pencil I’m finding editing on the iPad great. It’s good to be able to sit on the sofa culling and rating images before editing them on either the iPad or iMac.

This way doesn’t necessarily workout for everyone but it’s worth considering.
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Canon brook said:
I like the last bit as my "day job" means I'm sitting at a desk and using a surface / iPad would be convenient...my iPad is a pro but light on memory but assume you get Adobe cloud with it...?
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I asked around a week ago how to set it up having tried and failed previously. It syncs smart previews to the iPad rather than whole raw files. You get 20GB of cloud storage with a Lightroom cc classic account. Used it so much on the iPad over the last week as I don’t like spending evening sitting at the desk. Finally got around to editing images that have been hanging around for months.

The thread can be found below:

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/t...sic-and-lr-cc-mobile-working-together.697509/
 
rob-nikon said:
I know you said you don’t want to pay for an Adobe subscription but I thought its worth mentioning that it can be cost effective. Until November 2017 I thought the same as you that it didn’t feel good paying for an Adobe subscription. At this point I was also paying £50 a year for a Zenfolio website as well as updating Lightroom roughly every 3 years at a cost of £50-60? Once I worked out the Adobe subscription came with Adobe Portfolio and I could duplicate my website the subscription made more sense. Add to the fact you don’t need to pay a monthly subscription by paying an annual per paid subscription. I’ve bought the subscriptions when they are on offer. So far I’ve not paid more than £70 per year and I’m paid up until November 2020 (you can buy pre paid subscriptions and add them to your account). It works out I’m paying nearly the same as paying for a website and upgrading Lightroom every 3 years. Add to the fact I’ve got seamless integration of Lightroom on a desktop and now on an ipad it makes even more sense. I’ve only just got around to getting Lightroom to work properly on the iPad. With the Apple Pencil I’m finding editing on the iPad great. It’s good to be able to sit on the sofa culling and rating images before editing them on either the iPad or iMac.

This way doesn’t necessarily workout for everyone but it’s worth considering.
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Where are you getting the subscription cheap pal?

I can see on the iPad Lightroom app you can subscribe to what I assume is just that for £4.49 which isn’t too bad
 
Daymouse said:
Where are you getting the subscription cheap pal?

I can see on the iPad Lightroom app you can subscribe to what I assume is just that for £4.49 which isn’t too bad
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It comes up on Amazon a few times a year during their sales. It’s not at that price all of the time but you can get more than one in a year to build up some reserve and breathing space if you miss a sale period.

I’m not sure on the iPad app. I didn’t pay anything for one when I downloaded it but I have to be signed in to my adobe account for it to work.
 
Daymouse said:
Also is an ipad a good alternative to a Mac? I'm trying On1 a t the moment and its pretty laggy!
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Is that in relation to software? Like asking if a software on iPad is better than a software on MacBook. You should not base your decisions on the apps vs application software. Remember that software can change, one minute the software on the iPad is better than the MacBook, the next thing you know is that the software on the MacBook is better than the one on iPad. Software changes all the time, and there is always new software coming.

You should base your decision on the object itself, the handling of tablet vs laptop vs desktop.

For me, I prefer desktop because I tend to do a lot of typing on word processor, do graphic design, and photo editing. Because I spend more time doing work, I prefer a proper healthy sitting position, monitors at eye level, keyboard at proper position, chair adjusted for comfort.

But you said: "This got me thinking and i literally dont use my Mac for anything else other that some light editing (when i have time) and browsing the net."

It would sounds like you could do with an iPad. You could casually sit laid back on the sofa and causally browse the Internet, you could browse the Internet in your bed. Since you do some light editing, you could just sit upright on your sofa, do a light editing (I assume for some minutes) then you're done. A desktop is more suited for those who do heavy editing for hours.

A laptop like the MacBook is kind of in between. It's more suited for casual browsing, light editing, and stuff like that, while sitting laid back on the sofa, but when you needed to do a bit of a serious work. You just go to a table (or desk), put it down, sit upright, and spend more than some minutes doing bit of serious editing or typing. Then back to the sofa for casual browsing on the laptop.

Remember: Software can change so there is no such thing as a better software on Machine A than on Machine B. If you don't like Photoshop, you can uninstall it and install something else, like Affinity Photo (as suggested by other members). But hardware stays the same, so if one day you found the laptop a bit cumbersome to use, sorry hard cheese, you're stuck with it.
 
rob-nikon said:
It comes up on Amazon a few times a year during their sales. It’s not at that price all of the time but you can get more than one in a year to build up some reserve and breathing space if you miss a sale period.

I’m not sure on the iPad app. I didn’t pay anything for one when I downloaded it but I have to be signed in to my adobe account for it to work.
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Here’s hoping for prime day in a couple of weeks!
 
G.K.Jnr. said:
Type "Udemy Coures" into Google and you'll find several discount codes "ENDING TOMORROW". Then follow the prompts and choose "Affinity Photo iPad". The codes will get you the course for £11.99. "but hurry its only until TOMORROW" .

George.
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Thank you very much George! I appreciate your help!
 
I’ve ended up stumping up for the iPad/iPhone sub at £4.49 per month which isn’t too bad. I really didn’t want to subscribe to adobe but to be fair there’s nothing else like Lightroom for the iPad for managing and editing images plus the 100GB for backup.
 
Daymouse said:
I’ve ended up stumping up for the iPad/iPhone sub at £4.49 per month which isn’t too bad. I really didn’t want to subscribe to adobe but to be fair there’s nothing else like Lightroom for the iPad for managing and editing images plus the 100GB for backup.
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True I find Adobe to be perfect on this iPad
 
Daymouse said:
Sorry only just seen your message!

Yes it’s for Lightroom mobile so you can access your edits etc on sat an iPad and iPhone. It also give 100GB of storage.
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How do you get that subscription price? I’ve only ever seen the £9.98 subscription which has 1TB storage. It may help others know where you can find this price.
 
rob-nikon said:
How do you get that subscription price? I’ve only ever seen the £9.98 subscription which has 1TB storage. It may help others know where you can find this price.
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You have to sign up via the app. Got to settings then premium features.

You can also see on the App Store under the in app purchases.

Also to note is it’s rolling so no 12 month minimum so can give it ago and cancel if it’s not for you.
 
damianmkv said:
edit - ignore, sorted
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I’m not 100% as I have the package, not the stand alone app, but I have to download creative cloud app, log into that and download the app from there.
But I would try removing the lr app from your phone and downloading again, are you sure the app is multi use, across both phone and iPad ?

Edit:
Just thought on some apps you have a restore purchase option, you may need to do that in your phone to sync the premium
 
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I've been using an iPad Air 2019 with LR and an apple pencil for the bulk of my editing for a couple of months now.

It mostly works well, although I do still prefer to do any final tweaks, and view on a desktop before images are 'done'

The advantage is that I can edit anywhere, without being tied down, and also with LR mobile being cloud based, the images are already on the desktop when I go there.

I'd not want the iPad to be my only way to edit though, but it's certainly turning out to be much more useful than I had originally thought it would be.
 
I always used to use my laptop and LR stand-alone ( 5.7 I think ) but as my laptop is 8 years old it’s not up to the job anymore.

This seems pretty good so far - I can see a reason for an 11 inch screen though but that’s another story
 
Hope nobody minds me jumping in here... On LR or Affinity, is there my way to combine photos for an HDR image? Also wondering if there’s any way to combine photos to create a time lapse video. I have been struggling to find an app suitable.
 
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