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iPad Pro M1

Harvard Kiwi
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Harvard Kiwi

Harvard Kiwi

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I couldn't find any threads that helped me with my predicament. 

I'm currently using Windows for my post. I have a Lenovo Yoga 920 ultrabook and a Surfacebook 2. Neither of which pack the punch I need. 

With the release of the new M1 chips, I'm attracted to the idea (in theory) of doing my post on an iPad. 

I don't make a lot of changes post as I try and get the best photos I can SOOC. But I would like something that is fast and not prone to crashing/freezing, or that allows me to make heavy edits when I feel like it. 

I've watched a lot of videos and read a lot of reviews but was wondering whether anyone here had experience and advice on this in general or with the iPad Pro/M1 chips in particular. 

Specifically:

Experience with a good iPadOS lightroom alternative (I've been looking at Pixelmator Photo, Darkroom, and Affinity Photo)

Whether 8GB RAM on an M1 iPad Pro would be sufficient. I understand 16GB would always be better but is an M1/16GB configuration overkill on an iPad even when taking into account future-proofing?

Overall experience of iPad editing with Apple Pencil

Thanks in advance!

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zeitz

zeitz

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First, have any iPad Pro M1 tablets been delivered yet?  The old iPad Pro is a great piece of hardware, but runs a cell phone operating system.  I am very disappointed with the operating system. For instance why can't an iPad have a real Finder file manager, with user control of folders and files?  Lightroom on the iPad is pretty good.  Photoshop on the iPad is a disappointment to me; I particularly miss having the Camera Raw filter.

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didier

didier

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3 hours ago, zeitz said:

Lightroom on the iPad is pretty good

I agree. I use it on my iPad Pro (1st gen) to quickly edit pics I download with Leica Fotos from my M10M or SL, and it is quick, though not as precise as edition on a calibrated screen of course.

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Harvard Kiwi

Harvard Kiwi

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17 hours ago, zeitz said:

First, have any iPad Pro M1 tablets been delivered yet?  The old iPad Pro is a great piece of hardware, but runs a cell phone operating system.  I am very disappointed with the operating system. For instance why can't an iPad have a real Finder file manager, with user control of folders and files?  Lightroom on the iPad is pretty good.  Photoshop on the iPad is a disappointment to me; I particularly miss having the Camera Raw filter.

Stores started getting them in NZ two days ago. However, they haven't yet received the 1 and 2TB models which have 16GB RAM.

I understand Lightroom and Photoshop now have full versions available for iPadOS so you are no longer confined to watered down versions. 

Older apps can be run on the M1 via Rosetta 2 software until native M1 apps are created. Fortunately, in the photography space LR and PS have M1 native apps and I believe Affinity Photo may be as well.

In regards to the mobile OS, I'm of two minds with it. On the one hand, I like the idea of a fully functional and flexible OS, while on the other, I like what I perceive at least to be higher speeds and stability of mobile apps.

Some of the reviews are making the M1 sound impressive with its 16GB RAM outperforming 10th gen Intel i7 chips and matching or exceeding i9 chips with 32GB RAM in some cases. The speculation is that iPadOS is going to receive a big overhaul as the iPad now has its laptop/desktop chip and the combination of M1 and 16GB is serious overkill. The 8GB M1s are supposed to outperform previous i7s with 16 and 32GB.

I'd really like the portability of the iPad and to be able to use the Apple Pencil, but my other option is an M1 Macbook Pro 16GB with 512GB SSD for a little bit more. 

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Harvard Kiwi

Harvard Kiwi

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2 hours ago, marchyman said:

Can you do screen calibration on an iPad?  

From what I have been able to find, there are some limited work arounds that can assist with colour calibration. However, the consensus of those discussing calibration on dpreview is that the iPad pro screens are well calibrated as standard (more so than many monitors) and it therefore isn't too big an issue.

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zeitz

zeitz

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12 minutes ago, Harvard Kiwi said:

I understand Lightroom and Photoshop now have full versions available for iPadOS so you are no longer confined to watered down versions. 

The version of Photoshop on my iPad is 2.4.1.  I believe it is the latest version.  And it is nowhere close to the full version.  If someone knows of a later version that 2.4.1, please let me know.

14 minutes ago, Harvard Kiwi said:

Older apps can be run on the M1 via Rosetta 2 software until native M1 apps are created.

Again, please correct me if I am wrong, but Rosetta 2 is only for Intel Mac apps on M1 Macs.  It is not used on iPads which can't run Mac apps.

 

20 minutes ago, Harvard Kiwi said:

I'd really like the portability of the iPad and to be able to use the Apple Pencil,

The root cause of the issue is that Apple refuses to make Mac Books with touch screens.  Apparently Apple feels us customers are wrong when we want Mac Books with touch screens.

I do use Sidecar and my iPad as a second monitor for my Mac.

The M1 chip sets and follow-on Apple silicon chip sets have great promise.  They are impressively fast.  But the hardware was released before software providers were ready.  And there is still a major issue for me that VMWare Fusion, Parallels and Boot Camp aren't feasible yet for M1 Macs.  There are some Windows-only apps that I must use for my work.

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Harvard Kiwi

Harvard Kiwi

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@zeitz

Here's a link to an article about full Photoshop on iPad: https://www.pocket-lint.com/apps/news/adobe/149980-full-adobe-photoshop-for-ipad-now-available-ahead-of-official-launch

It looks like the full version is restricted to some models. I hope that when they say full version, they really mean it even if I won't get an Adobe CC subscription.

I believe you are correct regarding Rosetta. I'm sorry about that. I'm new to Macs and it has been a long time since I used an iPad and I appear to have gotten mixed up with my research. I still have a gen1 64GB I bought the day they were released (I bought 2 but used 1 and saved 1) still sealed in its box and am waiting a few decades until hopefully it's worth something.

There are a lot of rumours around what is in store with the M1 iPad Pros. But these rumours seem to be pure speculation and may just be wishful thinking. It's a shame they are restricted by their software at this stage but I'm really hoping that will change, particularly because I bought an M1 today with an Apple Pencil. 

I also bought Pixelmatic Pro and Affinity Photo. Does anyone here use Darkroom? I'm curious to know whether I should pay NZ$120 for a lifetime license. 

I've only played around with Pixelmatic so far and it seems quite basic and it's got me wondering whether Darkroom would be better. I believe Affinity will have a steeper learning curve so I'll start watching tutorials on that.

I used Luminar 4 on PC and enjoyed the features on that. However, the instability of the software has caused me to walk away from Skylum which is a real shame. I'd love it if they created a stable version of AI for iPad. 

 

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zeitz

zeitz

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4 hours ago, Harvard Kiwi said:

Here's a link to an article about full Photoshop on iPad: https://www.pocket-lint.com/apps/news/adobe/149980-full-adobe-photoshop-for-ipad-now-available-ahead-of-official-launch

Here is an Adobe link that confirms that Photoshop for iPad 2.4.1 is the latest version as of May 2021.  It is the version I have.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/whats-new.html

I don't know what Pocket-Lint considers to the "Full", but it is nowhere close to the full Photoshop.  More media fake news as best as I can tell.

I too am interested in seeing what the iPad Pro M1 can do.  But the problem with the iPad Pro it replaced was not the hardware, it was the cell phone operating system.  No app can overcome the limited operating system.  What I need to do is check out the Microsoft Surface Pro.

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Harvard Kiwi

Harvard Kiwi

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6 hours ago, zeitz said:What I need to do is check out the Microsoft Surface Pro.

I've been using the Surface range for the past year but my device wasn't suitable for editing.

Last week I spent three days with a borrowed Surface Pro 7 and that was better. I liked the full Windows OS and the ability to run my full editing software. However, I wasn't amazed by the i7 16GB and while it did the job, I still had issues running Luminar 4. It's most likely the software, but having a 10th gen i7 16GB device of my own, I really felt like I needed 32GB on an Intel device for a snappy experience and to be comfortably future-proofed for the next few years.

I see they make a 7+ version for business with  32GB but couldn't find one in a brick and mortar store to play with. They now appear to have 11th gen i7 chips which some say offer comparable processing to an M1 but what I have seen are just opinions and benchmark scores are inconclusive when looking across the board. 

I think the Surface Pro 7/7+ is the best option for full OS on a tablet today and certainly not a bad choice.  

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Exodies

Exodies

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On 5/22/2021 at 8:11 PM, marchyman said:

Can you do screen calibration on an iPad?  

Pointless on a mobile device. The environmental light will cause more deviation from perceptions of a standard than factory settings do.

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