iPad or MacBook for RAW files when traveling

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Yorkieand

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My apologies that this is similar to the thread below. I do have a different question though so any help would be appreciated.

I use a Mac at home for my photos. I've got a few trips planned in the near future and am thinking of buying either an iPad or MacBook for these trips. All I want to be able to do is transfer Raw files from my SD card to a new folder on the iPad/MacBook and then transfer that folder in to the iCloud. They would stay there until I get home and can access them in the iCloud from my Mac, ready for editing. I'd prefer an iPad as it's cheaper than the MacBook, but will buy whatever does the job. I have a Canon R5 but am using the SD card slot as these various storage terms confuse me. Is it possible to do this? I'm not interested in the photo App being used on the iPad/MacBook I would take with me, just the fact that I can save the Raw files in their own folder so that I can access them on my Mac when I get home. Hope I've managed to explain what I mean. Thank you in advance.
 
Speaking from my own experience, an iPad Pro or one of the other newer models with USB-C port is more practical than anything with a Lightning port, which is way too slow even with the Camera adapter. I think your will get USB C when buying any new iPad now, though.

I don't copy to iCloud with my iPad, but I back up my SD cards to a portable SSD (a Crucial X6 as it happens) connected via a cheap USB C hub attached to my iPad (the hub has a PD port to ensure there is enough power for everything)

For my money, if you're editing, then the Mac is a clear first choice, but for short term storage and cloud transfer/backup, then the iPad will probably be fine and a lot lighter and more compact.

You might want to take a look at [url;=

You might want to take a look at Owlfiles, which is a decent-ish file manager and better than iOS's in Files app - mostly because it's smart enough to be able to skip all files you've already copied to the target location. I think you can use it to copy files directly to cloudy locations over SFTP, etc. although I've not done that myself.
 
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I prefer to use a Mac, mainly as you have more control over the file structure, and you can connect both the camera and an external drive for a backup. I also personally prefer the full-fat Lightroom Classic to the cut-down version on the iPad.
 
I've been iPad Pro only for 4 years now. As an editing device it is wonderful, especially with the Apple Pencil. Lately though I can't help looking at going back to a laptop. Outside of photo editing, I don't touch my iPad. For casual web browsing and reading, I tend to use my phone. I just find the iPad quite cumbersome to use for pretty much anything other than photo editing, and Apple's complete refusal to allow the iPad Pro hardware to reach its full potential is irritating. LR on the iPad is extremely capable, and as long as you don't need HDR or Pano merging should be able to do everything you need. It's the rest of the iPad experience that I'm becoming bored of. I know I could unlock a lot more potential by getting the Magic Keyboard, but 1) I don't want to invest anything into a 4 year old device, and 2) I completely refuse to support Apple charging a frankly ludicrous £320 for a rubber keyboard with a tiny trackpad and no function keys.
 
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If you need the power of a fully-fledged MacBook when travelling than I would seriously look at the MacBook Air (M1 or M2 - they're both very powerful!) - it's very, very portable and has a superb screen. It's also a full MacOS machine rather than an iPad so you can do considerably more with it. Price wise, it's very similar to a 12.9" iPad Pro but does a whole lot more!
 
RichardC27 said:
I've been iPad Pro only for 4 years now. As an editing device it is wonderful, especially with the Apple Pencil. Lately though I can't help looking at going back to a laptop. Outside of photo editing, I don't touch my iPad. For casual web browsing and reading, I tend to use my phone. I just find the iPad quite cumbersome to use for pretty much anything other than photo editing, and Apple's complete refusal to allow the iPad Pro hardware to reach its full potential is irritating. LR on the iPad is extremely capable, and as long as you don't need HDR or Pano merging should be able to do everything you need. It's the rest of the iPad experience that I'm becoming bored of. I know I could unlock a lot more potential by getting the Magic Keyboard, but 1) I don't want to invest anything into a 4 year old device, and 2) I completely refuse to support Apple charging a frankly ludicrous £320 for a rubber keyboard with a tiny trackpad and no function keys.
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Might be of interest?

 
GeeJay57 said:
Might be of interest?

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Doesn't have a trackpad. I'd love to get the Magic Keyboard, if it was £100 I'd have bought one years ago. I just completely refuse to pay a blatantly profiteering price, no matter how much it improves the experience. It's clear now that Apple is never going to give people what they want, an iPad Pro running some version of MacOS and full apps rather than mobile ones. The Pros are hamstrung by running the same OS as the £350 base iPad, despite having much more power.
 
I agree with Jason, the MacBook Air isn't that much more expensive than an iPad Pro and it's a proper computer. You say you only need to save Raw files on it, but maybe you'll be happy to use more features in a few years' time? It's about choosing a future-proof solution.

Some years ago, my travelling computer was a little Linux machine and I only used it for temporary storage of Raw files, but then I bought a MacBook and I did find it very useful to work on some pictures with NX Studio. Maybe you'll find Digital Photo Professional useful when travelling, especially as it's free? On an iPad, there is DPP Express, but, if I understand correctly, it's a paying app and it's more limited in functionality than DPP.
 
RichardC27 said:
Doesn't have a trackpad. I'd love to get the Magic Keyboard, if it was £100 I'd have bought one years ago. I just completely refuse to pay a blatantly profiteering price, no matter how much it improves the experience. It's clear now that Apple is never going to give people what they want, an iPad Pro running some version of MacOS and full apps rather than mobile ones. The Pros are hamstrung by running the same OS as the £350 base iPad, despite having much more power.
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They’d sell a lot less MacBooks if they did that…
 
Yorkieand said:
My apologies that this is similar to the thread below. I do have a different question though so any help would be appreciated.

I use a Mac at home for my photos. I've got a few trips planned in the near future and am thinking of buying either an iPad or MacBook for these trips. All I want to be able to do is transfer Raw files from my SD card to a new folder on the iPad/MacBook and then transfer that folder in to the iCloud. They would stay there until I get home and can access them in the iCloud from my Mac, ready for editing. I'd prefer an iPad as it's cheaper than the MacBook, but will buy whatever does the job. I have a Canon R5 but am using the SD card slot as these various storage terms confuse me. Is it possible to do this? I'm not interested in the photo App being used on the iPad/MacBook I would take with me, just the fact that I can save the Raw files in their own folder so that I can access them on my Mac when I get home. Hope I've managed to explain what I mean. Thank you in advance.
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May I make a suggestion...

Take a look at your camera bag, pack it with your camera kit (the ones you would use on your trips), plus anything else you would bring along (notepads, chocolate bars, stuff like that), and feel around inside and all over your camera bag.

Figure out if there's space for a MacBook, figure out if there's enough padding to protect the iPad.

The point is: You don't want to end up with a big bunky MacBook and no room in a small camera bag, nor do you want an iPad with a cracked screen because of the lack of padding inside the bag.

Think about the difference between MacBook and iPad having different body styles, screens, etc., how much they weight, how thick they are, how strong they are. How they will fit in the bag, how easy is it to pull them out when you need them, and stuff like that.

Think of them in the same was as you would think of a piece of camera equipment, like thinking about if you want to take the flashgun or not, depending on how much room in the bag.
 
For travelling, I have an iPad Air (most recent model I think, M1 chip), with a keyboard case. Still significantly lighter than even the tiniest MacBook. Ammple power for processing RAW files, unless you want to do huge photoshop compositions. But then I wouldn't bother doing such with a tiny laptop screen anyway; I normally use a 24" iMac. For what the OP describes, the iPad will be fine.
 
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