LocalNavy433 Photography

Hello, how the hell are you? If this is your first time here, thanks for stopping by. In this blog, we are going to actually take a second and talk about how the iPad is being held back. It has the power but Apple and the app developers are holding it back from being truly great. The reason for this blog is after using the iPad for six months and where it falls short. I have been the one person that has been all about going iPad only for my computing needs for the last year. I am a photographer, and the iPad is the computer that I want to use solely for my computing needs. The issue that I have is complex editing, aka stacking images for focus stacking, pano stacking, and Astro stacking. This is the only thing holding it back. What are your thoughts about this statement?

Where the iPad is good

When it comes to actually using the iPad as a main computer, you can totally do that. I use mine for the editing of most of my images. I have actually found that the iPad has actually made me a better photographer. The reason for that is I am more focused on getting the images right in camera. This alone is going to make my images better in the long run. I am actually spending less time editing and more time out shooting, so that is a good thing.

When it comes to just editing my images, the iPad is a great tool for that. If paired with good photo editing apps, the iPad will totally excel at this. The AI masking features in Lightroom and Photomator are on par with their counterparts on the Mac. This means that you will be able to still edit the basic images the way that you are used to. As for a Photoshop need, yes, the iPad has that too with Affinity Photo. This app gives you the ability to do some complex edits just like you would on the Mac. The focus stacking and pano stacking is totally there, and you can do that. There is an issue with using the iPad for that type of image. You really do have to double-check the end results due to the lack of perfection on that type of stacking. Affinity actually missed the mark here. I say that because it misaligns the images ever so slightly, making the finished product not so good. You have to go in and manually align them sometimes, and that just means that I will not be shooting that type of photo very often, or if I do, I will be editing that photo on the Mac.

What is giving me the issues?

As I just gave an example above about where the iPad falls short, this can be seen all over the place. Now, this is not the iPad’s fault; it is the app developers’ fault and Apple’s fault. They don’t want the iPad to replace the Mac for certain tasks. You see, iPadOS is built on iOS, which is a mobile-first operating system. That means that the platform is based on mobile first, and the iPad is being held back due to the limitations of the operating system itself. Apple has locked down the access that apps get to the core of the OS. This means that you cannot really write an app the same as you would with the desktop class version.

The app developers are being held to a different standard for writing the code to the apps. You cannot get root access to the OS on the iPad, so in turn, this means that certain features will not be accessed in the apps. For example, when stacking several thousand images for Astro, you need to have terminal access, and the iPad is not ever going to get that due to safety concerns. The iPad will always be held back for that deep work that some images need. In order to stack that amount of images, you have to write a code that will grant the computer access to the processor, actually telling it step by step how to manually align the photos in split seconds. Yes, the iPads have the processing power for this task, but the OS is not granting access to the one place that is needed for accomplishing those tasks.

Will Apple ever fix this?

Short answer to that is no. Apple will not ever grant the access to terminal at all on the iPhone or the iPad. The reason that I can think of for this is due to the control that they want over the devices. They want to control what each computer can and cannot do in order to keep “US SAFE”. Now, I feel that is a load of crap, and they should allow the app devs to have the access they need to really move the computing forward. I mean, could you imagine an iPad with full root access? There would be no need for the Mac at all at that point. Then you have the fact that Apple from the start has made it clear that the iPad is not and will not ever replace a Mac.

The iPad is a companion computer, and that is all it ever will be. They are not willing to give us the ability to use the iPad as a real computer. The truly funny part is that is exactly what the users want the iPad to be. We want to have the iPad as a real computer for real tasks. Right now, as it sits, the iPad is a tweener. It sits right in the middle of the line for a phone and computer. They actually want you to buy both the phone and a Mac to go with the iPad. That, to me, is a waste of money, and as soon as I get enough money saved up, I am going to be selling the iPad and buying a newer MBA.

Can the iPad really replace your laptop?

Yes, the iPad can and will replace your laptop if you don’t need it for complex tasks. The fact that most people will not ever have a need for root access to a computer means that the iPad can and will replace most people’s laptop needs. Those ten percent of us that have a need for root access, the iPad will never replace our computing needs. I love my iPad, don’t get me wrong, but it will not ever truly replace my MBA. The fact that I am able to get 90 percent of my work done on the iPad is awesome, but that last ten percent of what I need out of a computer, the iPad falls short, and that hurts. I really want to just have my iPad as my main computer, and if I had never gotten into astrophotography, I never would have picked up my MBA again. The iPad is actually that good for most photographers out there. You can perform all the same complex edits as you can on the laptop. You can do everything that does not require root access to get the real power of the processor. The need for most people’s computing needs can actually be met with the iPad, but once you start needing root access, then the iPad falls short.

What can you do about this issue

Nothing really there is nothing that can fix this shortcoming of the iPad. The only thing that we can do is have two devices or just ditch the iPad altogether. The fact is when it comes to complex tasks the iPad is going to come up short all the time. Yes, you can still use the iPad for so many things and it will truly shine at them. I have totally replaced my laptop needs in photography, but astrophotography the iPad will never replace my laptop. That is truly a complex editing style that the iPad will never catch up to. Let me know what and where you think the iPad falls short. Also, let me know if the iPad has totally replaced your laptop.