iPad Pro M1 for Photographers
Shot on Sony A9 II w/ 400 f/2.8 + 2x teleconverter, edited on iPad Pro with M1 in Lightroom CC.
Hey from Flagstaff!
My wife and I just drove out here to spend time with her mom and family and I got to test the new iPad Pro with M1 as we made the journey. We took the scenic route and stopped in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Monument Valley — both beautiful places to photograph!
I ingested my images, backed them up, made selects, and edited them all on the new 12.9" iPad Pro with M1 chip connected to the 32" Pro Display XDR in our 25' Airstream Flying Cloud. It’s been a blast and below are my thoughts and observations for photographers considering the new iPad Pro.
12.9” iPad Pro with M1 connected to Apple Pro Display XDR.
If you have any questions or are interested in reaching out for any reason, comment at the bottom of the page or reach out directly to hey@austinmann.com.
Enjoy!
ipad pro with m1 is the fastest tool i’ve ever used
for culling and sorting images, bar none.
As any photographer knows, one of the most time-consuming parts of the photo creation process is culling through thousands of images, making selects, and editing the images.
Thanks to the M1 chip, faster internal storage, and a few other improvements, the new iPad Pro with M1 is the fastest image sorting tool I’ve ever used.
Check out this video (shot vertically for sharing on my Instagram) as I cull through hundreds of 61-megapixel RAW files.
< hit play on the video below >
Speedy image review on iPad Pro with M1.
Of course, this is just an illustration of speed. My brain could never possibly review images this quickly, but that’s exactly the point. I’d much rather the limitations be me, not my gear.
Note: I experienced these same speeds when viewing images on both external and internal storage.
XDR display is bright and beautiful
It’s hard to communicate how beautiful this display is. I found it to be very similar to Apple’s Pro Display XDR (which is a lot to live up to). It’s almost identical in color temp and the iPad Pro has slightly more pop in both saturation and contrast.
One thing I’ve always loved about iPad Pro is the ability to “hold” an image. I love to pop the iPad Pro out of its case, pull up a favorite frame in Lightroom, switch to full screen (tap F), and view or share an image this way. It’s so clean and it feels very analog, almost like holding a framed print. Now, with this new display, the whole experience is even more enjoyable.
I also found it to be the brightest screen I’ve ever used outdoors, which makes it ideal for image reviews in the field.
Always connected
One of my favorite things about the cellular iPad Pro is the fact that it is always online, especially with the potential of 5G speeds.
This comes in handy for uploading content (I’m uploading this entire post via the iPad’s LTE connection) and it also comes in handy for research and shoot planning in the field.
We ran into some pretty serious weather in southern Colorado on our way to Great Sand Dunes National Park. This storm cell was stunningly beautiful:
Shot on Sony A7R IV w/ 24–105 lens, edited on iPad Pro with M1 in Lightroom CC.
While beautiful, it is now tornado season. A storm like this is potentially very dangerous as it can change directions quickly and can produce tornadoes, intense wind, and hail—all of which spells trouble when towing a big trailer!
To determine if we should turn around or keep pushing on, we pulled out the iPad Pro and opened my favorite weather app, RadarScope. Besides having insanely detailed live data directly from localized radar, the interface on iPad Pro is gorgeous and easy to use.
As the storm blew toward us, time was of the essence. There was no need to mess with hotspots to get connected. We just opened the app. After a quick assessment, it looked like we’d be fine as long as we didn’t stop. Sure enough, we kept pushing and were able to get out of the storm’s path just as hail began falling on the highway. Phew.
Later that day, we arrived at Great Sand Dunes National Park just in time for sunset:
Shot on Sony A9 II w/ 400 f/2.8 + 2x teleconverter, edited on iPad Pro with M1 in Lightroom CC.
A few wishes
While the iPad Pro platform is uniquely powerful, I still have a few wishes, some that are nuanced to me and my specific workflow.
I’d love to see an SD/CFexpress reader built into the iPad Pro (and the MacBook Pro, for that matter). Nine out of ten times I’m plugging in a device, it’s a reader for an SD card. It would speed up and simplify the image review process substantially to have it built in.
I’d also love to be able to connect two external storage devices simultaneously. This way I could mimic my traditional digital workflow and data redundancy strategy (which is critical as a traveling photographer). I tried to do this with a USB-C splitter from Belkin, but it didn’t work. However, when connecting the dual slot SD card reader from ProGrade, I was able to load two SD cards simultaneously.
I’d love to be able to import photos into Lightroom CC in the background. Even with my super fast ProGrade USB-C SD card reader, it takes a few minutes to import a 128 GB SD card and I’m not able to jump into other apps during the import. I’d also really love the ability to stitch panoramas together in Lightroom CC — something I do often while in the field to make sure I have the shot.
The good news is that over the last few years, so many previous wishes have become reality thanks to teams at Apple and Adobe listening to the creative community and finding ways to implement (and sometimes improve) ideas. I’m excited to see how the digital workflow continues to improve in coming years.
Shot on Sony A9 II w/ 400 f/2.8 + 2x teleconverter, edited on iPad Pro with M1 in Lightroom CC.
Pro Software on iPad Pro
As the hardware in iPad Pro has continued to become increasingly powerful, developers have ramped up software for the platform. Of course, Adobe Creative Cloud includes a bunch of tools for iPad Pro. (I use Lightroom and Photoshop the most, but there are many more.)
Halide, my favorite third-party iPhone camera app, recently released an update with support for iPad Pro, including Halide’s Smart RAW and a thoughtfully designed viewfinder for large screens called Pro View. Hasselblad’s Phocus Mobile 2 app allows you to use your iPad Pro as a remote display when tethered to your Hasselblad and it works quite well (I’d love to see something similar to this from Sony). Artemis Pro is a powerful digital viewfinder used by film directors around the world to line up and visualize shots (this app won an Emmy in 2018).
These are just a few of the apps coming out on iPad Pro and I always look forward to seeing how developers leverage the extremely capable hardware of iPad Pro to solve problems for the creative pro.
Shot on Sony A7R IV w/ 100–400, edited on iPad Pro with M1 in Lightroom CC.
Which iPad Pro is best for photographers?
The iPad Pro with M1 fulfills the needs (and dreams) of most photographers. It’s fast, lightweight, and powerful. Quickly reviewing images in the field on the gorgeous XDR display is a pleasure, and in some extremely sunny conditions it’s the only display bright enough to view at all.
For me, I still can’t fully rely on iPad Pro as the only device in my mobile digital workflow. On the Mac, I use tools like ChronoSync to ensure all my files stay up-to-date. Also, I need the Mac to be able to create panoramas (something I do often in the field).
I will continue to use my 16" MacBook Pro at the center of my mobile creative workflow and the iPad Pro with M1 as an ever stronger field companion for reviewing and selecting images, for specialized retouching with Pencil, and for accessing key shoot information (like RadarScope, The Photographer’s Ephemeris, etc.). I’ll also leverage the XDR display on the iPad Pro to share images as it’s easy to pop off the keyboard and intuitive for anyone to use.
iPad Pro: 12.9" or 11"?
If you are a serious photographer and looking to use the new iPad Pro at the center of your mobile digital workflow, the 12.9" is the way to go simply because of the XDR display. This display is substantially brighter and more color accurate, and the extra screen real estate is helpful when editing photos.
If you’re interested in the new iPad Pro as a field companion to your MacBook Pro, the 11" is a solid option too, but it’s hard to suggest anything without the XDR display.
Bottom Line
The new iPad Pro with M1 is not just the most powerful iPad Pro yet, it’s also the fastest device I’ve EVER used to sift through images. The ability to connect external storage and displays along with the top-notch XDR display and unique powers of the Pencil make it an essential component of almost any creative pro workflow.
While a couple of key restrictions prevent me from traveling exclusively with iPad Pro, I know I’ll be using it in conjunction with my trusty 16" MacBook Pro more than ever before. After tasting the power of the M1 on iPad Pro, I can’t wait to see what Apple has in store as they implement the power of the M1 into their pro line of Macs as well!
Ask Me Anything on Instagram Stories
I’ll be doing an AMA on Instagram Stories tomorrow and will be happy to answer any questions you might have about iPad Pro with M1 chip and how to use it in your workflow as a photographer. Join me there for more insight or to ask a question of your own.
