Surface Pro for photographers?

[csd_images]

I've been waiting a long time to see a tablet that came close to what I need one for. The Pro, at least on paper and from the previews, looks like a close match. Here's why I'm considering the pro, and for anyone else feel free to pipe up. I've seen a lot of people's comments about tablets and most have ignored a market that the iPad has a strong mindshare in but I'll get to that in a mo.

I use OneNote extensively, it's one of the best applications that no-one has heard of it. It's a sleeper that MS has quietly developed over the last 10 years. I do a lot driving and do voice notes through the H2n and I embed these into OneNote and because I often have to draw lighting diagrams or set/clothing designs I can do all these in one place and for each project it's a permanent record that's easily searchable. Something that's not easily done with moleskins. I can also hand the tablet over to an assistant on location and let them get on with setting up the lights. At present I have to do this through a laptop but a tablet would be a better form factor.

The next area is photography focussed (excuse the pun) iPads see a lot of use in the field because it can be a quick show me portfolio device. However many photographers often jury rig the device to shoot tethered. All MS tablets have this pretty much nailed if they have a USB port out of the box, iPads you have to jump through hoops. Whilst the current generation of Windows tablets lose out on resolution they gain in spades for functionality.

Retouching whilst can be done on these devices, it's probably best left to workstations. However for many pro's when going to clients we have to discuss retouching and set design and the Surface again is ideal for this you hand the client the pen and tablet then let them annotate images and make notes.

Another feature, again not just for the Surface, is that Elinchrom has a wireless trigger system called Skyport. A little known fact is that it can be controlled from a USB port. You can actually control and save lighting ratios through the software which could tie in nicely with the OneNote system.

These are just are some of the features that could make it tempting to a niche market no-one has paid much attention to.

 

[George Ponder]

All the Surface RT needs is a few apps and it'll do just nicely for photography as well. Give me a Photoshop app, Eye-Fi, and Canon's wireless app then the Surface RT will do rather nicely when I don't want to carry a laptop.

 

[Steve Ridges]

I'm a photographer and I'm getting a Surface Pro. I want it for several reason but a few are for tethered shooting in the field and being able to run things like my Pocket Wizard app on location to make changes to my flashes. I shoot with a 36MP Nikon D800 (grrr, I'm hating Nikon at the moment as it's been in the shop for months but that's another story). When I used an Eye-Fi card and iPad, I could transfer jpgs if they were small but it was still sluggish. Switching to the Surface pro will let me do everything I used to do on a laptop but be much more portable. The only thing I'm still trying to sort out is I'd like to find a little credit card reader like Square that will work with Windows 8 that I can use for event shoots.

 

[narv]

You say the current gen loses out on resolution but what resolution are you looking for? I assume as a photographer you aren't referring to the camera on the device which is 720p and that I can see as low.. but there is a screen resolution of 1920x1080 which I think is very nice for a tablet.

As for touching up photos. I assume you have photoshop or a similar program? You will 100% be able to run that on your tablet. It does come with the keyboard and trackpad cover if you decide to get that which I can see may not be ideal but since it also has the USB and Bluetooth, you can easily connect a keyboard / mouse along with the pressure sensitive pen and get some solid editing.

I work in the simulation industry and I know ALL of our 3D modelers are excited for this. Having a tablet they can run max and photoshop on with a Wacom-style pen is exciting for travel and when watching TV with the family and being able to work too.

Hopefully it all works out as you hope and you enjoy your Surface Pro

 

[anon(5370748)]

You say the current gen loses out on resolution but what resolution are you looking for? I assume as a photographer you aren't referring to the camera on the device which is 720p and that I can see as low.. but there is a screen resolution of 1920x1080 which I think is very nice for a tablet.

As for touching up photos. I assume you have photoshop or a similar program? You will 100% be able to run that on your tablet. It does come with the keyboard and trackpad cover if you decide to get that which I can see may not be ideal but since it also has the USB and Bluetooth, you can easily connect a keyboard / mouse along with the pressure sensitive pen and get some solid editing.

I work in the simulation industry and I know ALL of our 3D modelers are excited for this. Having a tablet they can run max and photoshop on with a Wacom-style pen is exciting for travel and when watching TV with the family and being able to work too.

Hopefully it all works out as you hope and you enjoy your Surface Pro

The new iPad is 2048x1536, so you lose some horizontal pixels, but more importantly a lot of vertical ones (in landscape mode). All of that is rendered moot when you consider that the iPad is a toy and incapable of a serious workflow. I tried one when it first came out, and I was really excited about it because of the screen... and then the problems started. No other app can delete photos - you have to go to their stupid photos app, remember which of the 5 or 20 photos that look the same you wanted to delete, delete them there, then go back to your sorting app, and blah blah blah. Everything on that device took 20x longer and 20x more clicks than a real computer. It's a good consumption device, but it's not a content creation device. Returned it. /bitter

The Surface Pro and the Thinkpad Helix are the two tablets in the running for my photography needs. I'm leaning toward the Helix because it has 8GB of RAM and a Lenovo keyboard for when it's in laptop mode, but the Surface Pro sure is pretty and I'm very curious about the optically bonded screen - even the Wacom guys were excited about that in an interview

 

[Sam Sabri]

I think the Surface Pro would be the ideal companion for a photographer. Battery life could be better for field work, but it should run Photoshop and Lightroom nicely. The Pen will make editing on the go super rad.

 

[rocketstu]

Been waiting for the Pro for my photography business needs but with no release date set (still) for the UK I'm starting to look at other options. I need a single device for teaching in the field but my iPad is useless for that; my laptop lacks the portability and ease of use.

 

[Steve Ridges]

I do green screen event photography and have been using my laptop on location. I've got a shoot coming up at the end of Feb and I'm going to try to use the Surface instead. I figure with a 4 port USB hub, I'll connect my camera and two printers and I should be good to go.

 

[rekkid]

I'm looking forward to the Surface Pro as well for photography. I'm using my iPad and an Acer Android (a200) for now, and it has "ok" apps for editing, but they all seem... "app-y". I've been wanting for years to have a full desktop experience in tablet form. I used to have a panasonic toughbook with a rotatable screen, but it was too bulky and cumbersome (and VERY expensive).

I'm also looking at some of the hybrid tablet/ultrabook options from 3rd party vendors... might be able to get more spec for your money than the surface pro. Early reviews dont seem to glowing yet... but I think a lot of them are biased.