Any pro photographers using the Surface Pro 4?

[etphoto]

Just what the title says. I have questions I'd like to PM you if you are a pro photographer using the SP4.

 

[eastbayrae]

It runs Lightroom 6 without issue. I haven't used Photoshop on it. It would probably explode with that.

 

[SleepingWeasle]

Why would it explode? I run Photoshop on mine all the time while also using a 4K monitor. Performance has been great.

 

[CraigCole]

I'm not a photographer but I use PS CS3 (yes, I'm waaaaaaay behind the times) and it crashes my Surface Pro 4 EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

 

[Leonel Funes]

I'm not a photographer but I use PS CS3 (yes, I'm waaaaaaay behind the times) and it crashes my Surface Pro 4 EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

I use CS2 - just because it was free... So you're ahead of me

 

[fastcarve]

I'm a pro photographer using the SP4 (i7/16GB/1TB) for heavy-duty photo processing. Feel free to PM me if you want.

For general reference, it works great. It isn't quite as fast as my desktop setup.

 

[msirapian]

It runs Lightroom 6 without issue. I haven't used Photoshop on it. It would probably explode with that.

Why would it explode? I run Photoshop on mine all the time while also using a 4K monitor. Performance has been great.

And which are your respective configuration please (RAM,cpu, etc.) ?

 

[eastbayrae]

I have the i5 8gig RAM

 

[eastbayrae]

Why would it explode? I run Photoshop on mine all the time while also using a 4K monitor. Performance has been great.

Then you have a better one then mine. Hell the damn thing locks up, for a good minute, every time I open Acrobat.

 

[anon(5327127)]

I used an i7, with 16GB, while running various video and photo stuff without issue from within a VM. Did that with the Pro 3 but ram was tight.

No-one should really have issues with the i7 16Gb model as it's a damn fast machine.

 

[etphoto]

I'm a pro photographer using the SP4 (i7/16GB/1TB) for heavy-duty photo processing. Feel free to PM me if you want.

For general reference, it works great. It isn't quite as fast as my desktop setup.

My workflow is, I normally have LR5, PhotoShop (CS5) and ACDsee open at the same time and quickly move back and forth between the three. I normally run dual monitors so I was thinking of using a dock. My biggest concern is the small hard drive and the amount of images I process each month so, I was going to work off of external hard drives. I was planning on the i7 with 16g of RAM and going with something a little smaller than the 1TB (because its just too big a price jump for hard drive space). I was kicking around the idea of retiring my desktop and moving to a SP4 becasue of the portability. My question, running at least two (maybe 3) external hard drives off the dock and switching between the 2 (not that I switch between hard drives that much) works ok? Maybe having LR export to the external hard drive through the Dock without losing the speed of the export? Just hesitant pulling the trigger on the high cost of the SP4 and it not working like I'm use too with the desktop.

Sent from my Surface 3

 

[etphoto]

I used an i7, with 16GB, while running various video and photo stuff without issue from within a VM. Did that with the Pro 3 but ram was tight.

No-one should really have issues with the i7 16Gb model as it's a damn fast machine.

That is helpful, thanks.

Sent from my Surface 3

 

[fastcarve]

My workflow is, I normally have LR5, PhotoShop (CS5) and ACDsee open at the same time and quickly move back and forth between the three. I normally run dual monitors so I was thinking of using a dock. My biggest concern is the small hard drive and the amount of images I process each month so, I was going to work off of external hard drives. I was planning on the i7 with 16g of RAM and going with something a little smaller than the 1TB (because its just too big a price jump for hard drive space). I was kicking around the idea of retiring my desktop and moving to a SP4 becasue of the portability. My question, running at least two (maybe 3) external hard drives off the dock and switching between the 2 (not that I switch between hard drives that much) works ok? Maybe having LR export to the external hard drive through the Dock without losing the speed of the export? Just hesitant pulling the trigger on the high cost of the SP4 and it not working like I'm use too with the desktop.

Sent from my Surface 3

With the i7/16GB you will have no problem switching quickly among those applications. In my opinion, if you work with external drives for your active photo processing you will lose some portability/convenience. It is certainly doable if you are okay with that. To me, a big benefit is pulling out the SP4 wherever and whenever I want and doing 15 to 30 minutes of work. For that, it helps to have everything local.

I use a dock with at my home office, and I have an external drive connected to it for hourly backups. I also have 2 monitors connected, one of them 4K.

This setup has mostly replaced my big powerful desktop for my main photo work.

In a prior setup (pre SP4) I had too little disk space. I tried external drives and SD cards, and the hassle of moving data around so often left me using that setup as an exception rather than the norm.

 

[Mikeman]

Surface Model Defendant - My SP4 i7 runs Photoshop with ease. Opens in seconds, runs like lighting.

 

[etphoto]

Another concern of mine is all my backup to my jobs over the last 10 years are on DVDs. Rarely do I need to go to a backup but. . . . If I do, I can't do so on a SP4.

Still can't pull the trigger, but getting closer.


Sent from my Surface 3

 

[onlysublime]

DVDs hold so little and are not durable. They're barely more reliable than CDs. And CDs were awful in reliability. Try reading a 10 year old burned CD. Just awful. Blu-Ray discs are actually durable enough to use but they're expensive and still slow.

You can always backup to an external hard drive or with a cloud solution like Carbonite.

It also depends on what you're backing up. If you're backing up documents and files, so many options like OneDrive, Dropbox, Box, etc.

If backing up the OS, well, the Reset PC option has been fantastic since Windows 8 and now to 10. And you can still create USB backup media as well. If fact, a flash drive is more reliable than DVDs and store far more data.

 

[etphoto]

I agree with DVD are unreliable. However, when I moved from film to digital (in the early 2000s) DVD (CDs) was the current standard. I've always burned two DVDs of the images and put them together and filed them by date and last name. Knock on wood, I've never had a problem getting the images off a DVD when needed. However, it doesn't solve my current issue with getting a SP4, I would need a way to get an image off a DVD if needed in the future.

I'm a big time John Wayne fan and back in the 90s I collected roughly 110 movies of his on VHS tapes. Today, I don't own a VCR. lol

I'm sure a lot of people find themselves in the same situation.

Sent from my Surface 3

 

[fastcarve]

Another concern of mine is all my backup to my jobs over the last 10 years are on DVDs. Rarely do I need to go to a backup but. . . . If I do, I can't do so on a SP4.

Still can't pull the trigger, but getting closer.


Sent from my Surface 3

You have a few options for this:
1. Get an external USB DVD drive. If it is the style that needs 2 USB ports, you can connect it to the hub (if you get that).
2. If you have another computer with a DVD drive (sounds like you do), keep it around for the rare time you need to access a DVD. You can access it from the SP4 by mapping the DVD drive on the other computer as a network drive.
3. Copy all those DVDs to an external hard drive. Long ago I used CDs and DVDs for the same purpose you describe, but I've moved them to a hard drive (and another duplicate drive).

 

[photoguybrodie]

I'm not a pro, just an enthusiast, but just last night I was using my SP4 (i5, 8gb) tethered to my camera using Lightroom to shoot some photos of my new aquarium set up. When I was done, I unhooked my Surface, switched Lightroom over to tablet mode and started editing. Finished up by putting some final touches on a few images in Photoshop. All from the comfort of my couch. It's truly an amazing experience. Especially using the pen to do things like spot removal.

I really want my Surface to completely replace my desktop for my design and photography work, but I can't get past the whole storage and back-up situation. I absolutely do not want it to have to be confined to a dock as the beauty of this thing is to be able to go anywhere with it and get work done. And that reason alone is why the desktop computer is still relevant and is here to stay. Plus a higher powered desktop obviously handles more intense editing.

In most situations, I would like for my workflow to start with shooting tethered to the SP4 (if possible), doing light editing, then moving the files to a NAS for storage/backup. That way I could access them from my desktop if needed. I just wish Lightroom would do syncing libraries already....

 

[onlysublime]

I still haven't used Lightroom. I'm so used to Photoshop and Camera Raw. I didn't want to learn a new workflow and spend more money. I'm still on CS5.