Surface 2 for Photographers

[Charis Tsil]

hello people,

Today I received a surface 2 tablet with windows RT. Since im a Photographer i would like to ask what things you recommend to do. What apps you think are best for professional photography. Is any fellow photographer that uses a surface 2 device on his Workflow? I'm really looking forward to build a light photography workflow on my Surface 2.

Cheers

 

[blue1k]

I use Photoshop CC but I'm using a Pro. My usual workflow is an import, basic edits, color balance, noise reduction with imagenomic plugin, sharpening, and export.

For RT I would recommend using PS Express app, and Fotor. Both can handle some basic edits and ability to apply filters. Fotor has a higher quality jpeg output both in terms of size and minimized compression levels.

For DNG files there isn't much except for Rawer which is very rudimentary when compared to Adobe Camera Raw or Raw apps on Android.

 

[Ruined]

Surface 2 to be honest is a difficult pick for a photographer. It does not have an x86 processor so full version of adobe lightroom is incompatible and it does not have a full size SD slot either.

If you are still within the return period you are probably better off with one of the new Dell Inspiron 13 7000 series. A 2-in-1 around the same price but better for photos.

 

[Cruncher04]

does not have a full size SD slot either.

That is not so important, as Windows usually detects the camera when connected through USB host. No use of juggling around with SD cards.

 

[etphoto]

Why would anyone use a Surface 2 within a workflow, or any tablet for that matter? Not with the volume of images I process. I use mine (Surface 2) to run my business (show images, emails, calendar, type contracts using word, and keep track of expenses using excel) but use it within my workflow, nope.


Sent from my using Tapatalk

Sent from my using Tapatalk

 

[Chris_Kez]

Why would anyone use a Surface 2 within a workflow, or any tablet for that matter? Not with the volume of images I process....

This isn't what I'd consider constructive feedback.

 

[onlysublime]

You don't have the Adobe suite of software which is the negative.

However, you have pretty much all of Windows which is the positive. You can print documents. You can organize files easily in the file explorer. You can have the Surface 2 connect to a network easily and treat it as another computer, passing files back and forth.

It's no Surface Pro line machine but it's light, pretty fast, with a long battery life. It's not ideal without Adobe CC but it's better than tablets for other kinds of work.

 

[Ruined]

If you really are a serious photog, not having adobe software or the like is more than "not ideal," it is a virtually a deal breaker.

I would recommend any x86 2-in-1 with a full size SD slot over the surface 2 for this reason. SD is important b/c using the USB cable or WiFi to transfer RAW files takes too long in most cases.

The new Dell Insprion 13 7000 series is a great 2-in-1 for photo and it is economical.

 

[onlysublime]

USB 3.0 is really fast. I've transferred gigabytes really quickly.

it's really hard to go back to USB 2.0 once you've used 3.0. that's why I've upgraded everything to 3.0 (all my HDDs, my flash drives, etc.).

 

[Charis Tsil]

If you really are a serious photog, not having adobe software or the like is more than "not ideal," it is a virtually a deal breaker.

I would recommend any x86 2-in-1 with a full size SD slot over the surface 2 for this reason. SD is important b/c using the USB cable or WiFi to transfer RAW files takes too long in most cases.

The new Dell Insprion 13 7000 series is a great 2-in-1 for photo and it is economical.

I didn't buy it. I received one as i mention. I didn't buy it. It was a present, so i was curious if i could some real photography work with it cheers

 

[Charis Tsil]

Why would anyone use a Surface 2 within a workflow, or any tablet for that matter? Not with the volume of images I process. I use mine (Surface 2) to run my business (show images, emails, calendar, type contracts using word, and keep track of expenses using excel) but use it within my workflow, nope.


Sent from my using Tapatalk

Sent from my using Tapatalk

as i said I didn't buy it. I received one. I didn't buy it. It was a present, so i was curious if i could some real photography work with it Of course i am using adobe products on my main PC i was just wondering if i could some easy edit with that like resize and easy stuff in general. If i can have a database with my costumers and be able to use as a portfolio.

 

[Charis Tsil]

thank you all for the info

 

[onlysublime]

yes, you could do those basic edits like resize and easy stuff. it has the basic tools. and the apps (like the Photoshop Metro app) have tools for light editing, but all edits in JPEG is destructive (information lost). you really want to work with your raw images.

if you're taking hundreds of photos and doing video as well, the Surface 2 is probably more useful for sorting and moving photos back and forth from the memory cards. great PC besides actual professional photo editing. battery life is fantastic (something to not be overlooked and usually better than what's out there for x86 machines).