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Tablets for photography when on the road

Michael Seltzer

New member
Anyone using a tablet as their primary or sole computer when travelling? How does that work? Can you keyword, and then bring those into your main app when back home? Can you do any editing?
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Anyone using a tablet as their primary or sole computer when travelling? How does that work? Can you keyword, and then bring those into your main app when back home? Can you do any editing?

Michael,

I must admit that with your inference to a more comprehensive approach to photography editing even as a primary computer, the a Surface II tablet from the darkside seems needed. However, I am still not stepping more than one toe into Darth Vader's domain and my interest and use is for the Mac iOS. However, I think Microsoft could be serving photographer's better with it's richer Surface II environment.

Still, if you are willing to consider Mac systems, a lot of software is written first for the ipad. Do you use Lightroom? There's now a Lightroom app for the iPad which allows all you request. It is intended for supplementing your main Lightroom endowed computer when you are on the road or mobile, in a shoot itself.



Edit and organize images anywhere, anytime on your iPad (coming soon to iPhone). Enhance everything from smartphone photos to raw images from DSLR cameras using powerful and familiar tools. Automatically sync all your mobile edits with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 on your desktop. Easily share all your photos to social media sites. With Adobe Lightroom mobile, your photography is going places.


It's free with a US/canadian subscription to Adobe CC at $9.99/moth.

What's especially handy is that it allows one delete and edit lightweight preview files and then when you get back to your computer, the original files on your lightroom "Desktop" get updated with those creative changes!

I found this link particularly helpful.

What I'm not sure about is the extent of being able to tag the pictures in the mobile version of LR and also the exact process of getting the small preview version imported from the camera to the iPad. One could use the iPad to upload to one's computer desktop actual RAW files but that is going to be a long tedious process!

The other alternative is to consider Microsoft Surface II. One can use a more robust version of LR and also a Wacom a great advantage. Also the surface II can be "color calibrated/profiled", however, we know that no such tablet can replace a wide gamut profiled monitor for color correction.

So, for me, I need to download the LR mobile app and learn the limitations of rating and keywording as well as the access one might have to LR "preview files" with other IOS software, such as iPhoto. We need to know whether or not LR mobile is providing a narrow locked-in path on a proprietary LR mobile, "island or whether we have freedom to use other apps on the same files.

Another simple but effective approach might use, for example iphoto for editing and Photosmith for the keywording and metadata editing.



• Native camera raw processing. The fastest native camera raw processing available on iPad
• View, edit, then sync metadata with Lightroom: Keywords, pick/reject flags, description, location, and much more.
• Touch-optimized keywording.
• Automatic groupings of similar photos with Smart Groups (patent pending)
• Apply metadata individually, in groups, or with user-defined presets
• Sort and filter your photos by flags, stars, color labels, dates and filenames
• Export to Facebook, Flickr, Dropbox, email, and iPad Albums
• View JPG and camera raw photos with 200% zoom
• Import photos wirelessly with Eye-Fi and FTP
• Import photos through USB using iTunes
• Very robust and configurable Lightroom sync options, accommodating many digital photography workflows


However, Photosmith can't manipulate the color, exposure or crop of the image. but who's want to without a profiled monitor?

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
A little more on the Surface Pro II. Here's a photographer who has liked the ipad for sharing with clients but had to use a Macbook to do editing. Now he claims to be at home with his Wacom Pen editing in Photoshop on the surface Pro!

I's have great reservations relying on this device as the environment by which I'd correct for color on my images. My own feeling is that printing today can be so good with wide gamut inkjets, that not having a professional monitor is risking that ultimate quality. Still, these surface's can be profiled, so perhaps they are adequate for some some people's workflow. I'd need convincing by a direct comparison and look at the gamut, accuracy and uniformity of the color.

Still, the Microsoft Surface environment could provide a way of examining the robustness of files and experimenting with compositions more readily than on an ipad.

Although the Surface Pro is an amazingly lightweight Windows 8 Desktop machine, it has many limitations preventing it being a professional's replacement for a fully fledged editing notebook or desktop machine.

The much vaunted Wacom stylus is wonderful for pointing, selecting and designating places where edits should occur, but not better than a touch pad or mouse. What's special and missing, right now is the pressure sensitive response of the Wacom stylus. no doubt that will be implemented sooner or later, (and perhaps it's out) but I'm not aware of it. I can't imagine that 4G RAM can do much for photoshop, but perhaps work in Lightroom with the smaller previews makes more sense. While fine for sharing images with clients, the Surface Pro's glossy display is a big negative for me, as the color gets muted. We have, at present, no idea of what % of the RGB space the Surface Pro can show the pictures. There's a solution. If you have a fine monitor that can be calibrated, the surface Pro has a mini display port that can hook you up to the finest quality editing experience. (But rather than that, why not get a Vaio notebook with a screen almost full RGB color space!) Also while Microsoft has provided USB 3 to link to a computer, it has merely a micro SD card slot for uploading photographs and obviously that is worthless. It might as well be an ipad, for that matter, right there! Nevertheless, with a USB card reader, one is in business!

An advantage of iPad or Android devices is that camera MFRS have protocols for wirelessly transmitting to them, but not so often to the windows desktop platforms.

Asher
 
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