Apple reveals 12.9-inch iPad Pro

Ok, I get you might be happy with the surface....but you should have waited a bit. The Pencil looks amazing. For creative people and very elegant.

Indeed, I don't know what the app (Photoshop Fix) can import over wifi, but that is MUCH slower with 30+MB RAW files. And over iCloud it is even slower (requires an internet connection).

But I do have idea that iOS does not allow importing any other files than jpg photos by any app over the much faster USB. And a Surface Pro or a Macbook Air does allow this.

The key word is 'natively'.

You can, of course, edit raw files on an iPad with various apps. Photos may only display the embedded JPEG, but it does store the raw file.

Lack of display calibration is a much more significant professional limitation.

@Michael Houghton,
How do you want to get that RAW file from your DSLR onto your camera with no SD or CF card slot?

Most professional camera's do not support Wifi and if they do support the option to wirelessly file transfers its as slow as a snail doing a 100 meters race.

So you either need a PC or Mac before you can put those files onto your iPad Pro.... very convenient for those on travel or at their clients location to show them their work as a professional.

No need to say that you need to store all those files on your iPad Pro to Apples iCloud and that you can't connect it to an external HDD or NAS.

What a professionals dream this iPad Pro is......
Yes, that last sentence was meant to be sarcastic.

You can do all those things you ignorantly complain 'require a laptop or PC' - that's what the Lightning port is for, plus third-party accessories like the I-Flash storage and USB adaptor. As has been pointed out, you can't yet NATIVELY run Lightoom on iPads, although you can still 'offline' edit your raws in JPEG form while out and about, and then have the mobile Lightoom App seamlessly transfer your decisions across to your main computer when you return to base.

It's done much more easily and effectively on a Surface Pro 3/4.

I've had an SD adapter since the iPad 2. While I would like it internal, it really hasn't been a big deal.

@Just A Photographer: I love how you interpreted my (simply factual) comment just in the way you needed to in order to jump down my throat.

As it goes, I agree with you -- the lack of USB bus-mastering and at least a MicroSD slot makes this a questionable purchase when compared with Surface Pro or even a MacBook Air, despite its many advantages (battery life, OS simplicity, security).

This place is so freaking aggressive.

There will be only one company in near future in smartphone industry, and will go on for desktops OSs and Laptops, and it will go on on TVs through to cars to washingmachines to music to photography. Its great to see perfect products but its going somewhere that shouldt go this is no good... Android+Samsung or Windows+HP cant compete alot more and DSLRs loosing their advantages against those products in every update...There will be Only One company... They sell their products on their own shops directly to customers every peny goes to their pocket, Only one Game Console, Only One Music source, Only One Payment system, Only one watch etc....Not good....

I have three (3) Windows devices with wacom pens. A 2008 Toshiba Tablet PC (originally running Vista - now Windows 10), a 2012 Asus eeslate b121 and my desktop with a Intuos touch/pen pad. I even have a USB pen interface on my old P4 Vista box.

My first Tablet was purchased in 2005. All of the devices are pressure sensitive and are NOT the only input interfaces. Nice to see Apple catching up, but the cost of a iPad just to get a pen? You know Wacom's work on Apple's too, you may have to spend more money on industry standard adapters to get it to work though.

You still can't work with layers on your iPad (pro), you don't have any colour channels available to you for making selection. You do not have any options to do calculations to create the best mask.... You can't work with layers, etc. I can go on for a long time. All of it was lacking in the software that Adobe showed on stage for Apple.

Because its from Adobe does not always mean its professional software. Even Photoshop Elements can do more then what was shown on stage.

In the meantime I can do all of the above with a Microsoft Surface Pro tablet at my hand.

Apple only called their new big iPad 'Pro', just to fool the believers into thinking that all of a sudden iOS is a professional OS for serious work. Sorry to disturb that dream.

What Apple did was just a Jedi Mind trick, called marketing by the non believers.

If you could extend the desktop screen to the ipad you could do all of these things....just wouldn't be a mobile device anymore

Just a Photographer not every professional photographer uses layers or colour channels. Lots don't use it all the time. Also you don't have a clue at this stage what Photoshop fix is capable of as Adobe did not release any feature list yesterday did they. I doubt it can do layers but so much work nowadays does not require layers as software technology has moved forward.

User7322145358 you can already do that.

Stu - I would disagree and argue strongly that layers open up so many options and avenues,.. the ability to create masks is HUGE as is the layer blending that pros use to combine effects and adjust them with opacity. I agree that software has come a long way... but layers are crucial to most pro photo editors (and photographers).

Stu - I guess there is also a WIDE definition of a PRO photographer these days as well...

Surface Pro series have been out for how many years now?

It's not about who was first. At the end of the day, all that earns you is a Wikipedia mention. If a company turns out a superior product it can actually learn from the mistakes of early entrants and adopters and build a better offering.

I have the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge, a brilliant phabled with excellent active pen technology. Being a digital pen fanatics, I am very happy that at last Apple embraced pen technology, too. Now people who love digital pens can pick Apple devices (tablet/notebook/phablet) too not only Samsung, Wacom and Microsoft.

American company? All apple products are made in CHINA, using chinese and korean components.... Are you really that proud of getting ripped off?

Mac Pro - Made in USA.

All the research, design and all Apple software and servers is also USA.

Android not secure?? hasn't crashed once for me,as a musician the Note pro12.1 is perfect for all my sheet music in normal size,& slideshows.Would never bother to edit my RAW files on a tablet,have desktop & Eizo screen for that. But its good Apple finally came out with a bigger one,so we have a choice of 2 now ;)

Nuh. I am also interested in the pencil. But apple is still the only viable option.

SP3 is too niche for Adobe to develop a surface-pen-dedicated App suite. The general version of Adobe stuff does not play well with the MS pen.

As to Android tablets, good luck with finding any use-worthy tablet App.

Photoshop works great with my Surface pro! On Android One Note is PERFECT for taking notes and you can rest assured that when adobe's photoshop comes to android it will support the S pen. Personally I use my surface pro for all my editing, so for an Android tablet it's never come up. I mostly use my android tablets ( Samsung Note 10.1 2014) pen for taking notes at school

I have a surface Pro 3 for work. They are really poorly designed. the keyboard is shocking and the touchpad awful. Useing Windows 8, 8.1 or 10 on it without a keyboard isn't that great an experience. Its a heavily compromised device in my opinion. If i want a tablet I think i'd get the Ipad Pro or aAndroid Tablet. If I want a ultra light laptop there are plenty around better than the Surface Pro 3. IMO the Surface Pro 3 does many things ok, but none really well.

justin, you paid extra for that keyboard you don't like. You could have bought whichever one you liked. It has a USB port (wouldn't that be nice apple?) too so you can pretty much use every keyboard ever made with it. The SP3 supports pretty much every input method imaginable. The Apple ipad pro supports 3: It's add-on keyboard, add-on pen, and your finger. If you really think those three choices beat "90+% of the computer input devices ever created by mankind", I feel very sorry for you.

Mosc, I didn't buy it, work did. However the input on the ipad works perfectly ok without a keyboard or stylus. You have this idea that something has to be able to do everything, yet while the Surface pro is versatile its really not that great at anything. Just good at most things. The iPad is a great tablet. If you want a tablet, buying a surface pro is stupidity. If you want a laptop buying a surface pro is stupid. If you want something that can kind of do both, buy a surface Pro, but its really not that great at anything. I'd rather buy an ultralight laptop to do everything the surface pro does and use my phone to do what a tablet can do.

LOL, don't you understand? Surface is just a touchscreen PC laptop without a keyboard. It's not an iPad competitor. Why do Windows people always think Surface is somehow a competitor to iPad?

I use a SP3 as daily driver. It can calibrate as a PC.

The color gamut of the screen is not up to the level of good desktops. I can at least know how off it goes. (But the real issue with SP3 is the heat generation and power consumption when I try to open LR or PS)

ipad can be color calibrated when viewing galleries using a dedicated app for Spyder or Xrite.

Regarding Surface Pro 3. The display is pro-grade, AND even allows for calibration.
http://www.displaymate.com/Surface_Pro_ShootOut_1.htm
"The Surface Pro 3 also has the most accurate on-screen colors of any Tablet or Smartphone display that we have ever measured for all standard consumer "

Why would you ever travel without external storage? 2TB disks are cheap these days, as are SD cards themselves.

There are some good forums here about travel photography. I also looked into iOS (I'm an iOS developer) but the system is not designed to be independent of a parent device - be it OS X or Windows. As Cloud technology becomes more mainstream, the differences will probably merge, but for the foreseeable future you'll have to bring along a 'parent' device. If size/weight is critical, you might want to take a look at the MacBook. Another option is to use a smaller camera system, where greater size/weight compromises can be made. I personally travel with a 13" MacBook Pro retina, and I have 'downsized' my camera system from DSLR to mirrorless. I can fit everything for a world trip into one small Patagonia carry-on bag, and my 'camera system' (two bodies four lenses) lives in a relatively tiny sling bag that swings to the front for safety in crowded places.

So can it run full photoshop or lightroom?

@nerd2
Why would you want to do that on a tablet? Even Adobe has different Apps.

@nerd2
Here is how you guys use your Windows Tablet. Yeah, it makes sense to use an OS that's not designed for touch on a tablet!!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w7bwury1yk59rxp/Screen%20Shot%202015-09-09%20at%206.48.27%20PM.png?dl=0

http://blogs.adobe.com/creativecloud/creative-cloud-and-microsoft-surface-pro-3/

"This new workspace exposes the core tools and controls for drawing and editing, optimized for multi-touch gestures and a pressure-sensitive pen."

Nobody is mentioning it because it doesn't really matter. As a photographer, why do you care about the underneath OS? It's all about how many colours it comes in, $tup!d!

Samsung never accused Apple of copying their stuff. Apple declared thermonuclear war on android for copying their 'look and feel' - while blatantly copying from others.

@nerd2
I am curious! Did Apple do anything to you? Why do you hate them with passion? You are all over the comments bashing everything about Apple. Nobody is forcing you to buy their products!

I do have a few apple products. I just hate their reality distortion marketing and all deluded people.

nerd2, Samsung copied the iPad look and feel up to and including the power adapter and packaging. There's copying and then there is copying. Samsung went way too far.

Apple sued MS on something like 182 counts with regards to Windows copying MacOS. Apple copied all of the technology from Xerox, as did MS (Xerox didn't have a problem with that). Apple lost every count of the lawsuit and was almost bankrupted. The irony of that situation is that MS bailed them out.

Does Apple innovate? Yes, to a degree. Does Apple copy/steal ideas? Yes, to a degree (even Jobs admitted it).

Most of the lawsuit stuff seems to have gone away under Cook. That's a good thing, especially for the consumer.

Some facts: Samsung made the world first tablet computer (GridPad) back in 1989 (That was years before Newton), and has been working on several (not very successful) windows based tablet PC way before apple. Ever heard of Nexio, C1, P1 etc?

I am actually old enough and tech savy enough to use many of those products. Oh they released their first smartphone (running some linux varient OS) back in 1999. I have used one.

nerd2 just needs a really big hug.

@Robert. Apple legally acquired the rights to Xerox's technology and then invented many additional things we now take for granted. Dropdown menus, overlapping windows, the desktop metaphor, etc.

That's a misreading of both Steve Jobs and what Apple did with the iPad Pro.

Apple illustrated their strategy by _not_ bundling the stylus. That is consistent with Steve Jobs' intention: You do not need the stylus to use the device. The OS is fully functional on its own.

The stylus is optional, if you choose to extend your use of the device in a way that the stylus would help. The stylus only adds freedom while taking away nothing.

By giving such strong words, and not give a stylus "option" to any ipad/iphone, I think Jobs just means it: Stylus is for losers.

Agree with graybalanced. The context of Jobs' quote is in reference to the Apple Newton he killed off and similar Palm devices which required a stylus to make them function and do the simplest of tasks.

As the others mentioned, you didn't get his Jobs' point. He was talking about the stylus as a main input device, a la windows XP tablets. I had one, and the whole interface was basically a mouse driven OS forced into tablet form, that's why we needed the stylus to simulate the mouse. In that sense, Jobs accurately predicted its failure (I hated mine so much.)
The current iPad pro uses a multitouch interface as its main input method, in line with Jobs' philosophy. The stylus was introduced mainly as a drawing tool used for specific purposes, not to control the OS.
In this regard, Jobs was right.

14 bit

Also Camera Connection Kit, which has existed since day one.

I get my images in the iPad and iPhone ALL the time when I need it from my XT1 and RX10...I use the Fuji & Sony apps and the camera creates a wifi connection to the device. I select what images I want to import and it's done. It works very well!

I'll withhold judgment until I use it

Just wondering, how is that so useful or necessary when your drawing directly on the image itself as in this case?

Adobe confirmed it has 4GB.

LOL @ Nerd2

So 4GB ram is enough to edit 4K video and 3K images. Awesome.

Same problem as the iPad Pro: too much for too little. At least you're not limited to the software/hardware you can run on the Surface...

Actually, Surface is used a lot in the business/enterprise sector too.

I don't expect huge sales on iPad, because no physical support (no USB, no SD card...) except 3.5mm headphone jack!!!!$
But sure! Ita apple, we don't need it we WANT it ! :D
(I'm so happy in my Lumia 1520, still keeps me away from buying any tablet !)

Ben,
most likely they'll introduce some sort of lightning to USB adapter ;)... Like a fancy USB OTG Cable.

Personally, I think the most limiting aspect isn't the lack of USB - WiFi can be damn fast with the latest standards and WiFi Harddrives etc exist.
(sure they're worlds apart from proper USB3 speeds) but at least you can move data to and from the iPad easily.

But the main issue - if they haven't somehow solved it - is the interchangeability of data between apps...
For security reasons all Apps have their own locked, individual storage... completely walled off from the rest.
means if you use LR on the iPAD + Photoshop Fix on the iPad + another whatever app... you essentially COPY the picture between the apps creating a massive data-load on the internal limited 128GB Storage.
And none of the current Apps can Access the external storage devices... so you need to EXPORT the file to the App of the External Storage device and then move it from there... cumbersome.

Love how people say "Oh, but you can use this, this, and this, and it'll be just like having USB!" Except for all the money you have to spend, and extra stuff you have to carry. God help you if you actually want the keyboard. Meanwhile, you can get an ASUS UX305 for less, with more features, power, and usability.

Yes it will be interesting to see what else Photoshop Fix can do. As you say the demo of it was impressive.

nerd2 = troll?

DSLR can be connected directly to existing ipads using the camera connection kit!

Exactly! Which means buying, storing, carrying, not forgetting, not losing another little piece of gear, in addition to all the other little pieces that make these gadgets less convenient to use, just because Apple can't be bothered to include an industry standard USB port on their device.

Many new if not most cameras use wifi to connect to iOS devices.

There are tens of millions of not-so-new cameras out there. I have several of those, including a 1 year old D810, and they will work fine for years to come. I've been an Apple user for 20 years, but now I see the Surface Pro as a more useful device when going lightweight.

Folks
Buy the tool that is right for the job. iPad with camera connection kit or if you need more storage/connection - get an Apple laptop. But you cannot make every product have every connection - Thunderbolt on iPad?

I have a MacBook Retina, but what nags me is that the MS Surface Pro 3, which is around the same size as the iPad Pro, has 4 times as much memory as the iPad, a USB 3 contact and can run full versions of Adobe Photoshop, Premiere etc. If MS can, Apple can too, but apparently they won't.