Standalone photo editor for iPad Air?

I'm looking to get an iPad Air I, the 32GB version ... and am looking at photo editing software. Obviously I would love to run Lightroom, but so far from my reading I see you need to use Lightroom Mobile on the iPad and then upload to the cloud for more intensive editing when you get back to your desktop (or main computer)??

Since I'm running a Win PC at home and Lightroom v3.6 (still running XP, yes yes I know) ... I don't have a cloud setup and can't use the subscription package due to my 32bit system from what they tell me, so my hands are a bit tied to using 3.6 at home and something standalone while away.

What I'm looking for, I guess, is the best standalone editor in your option for editing on the road with just the iPad Air. All suggestions are welcome. I'd like as much control close to LR as possible, lens correction, noise reduction, vignette, exposure, clarity, vibrance, fill light and recovery.

Thanks!

BlackParrot wrote in post #17656758
I'm looking to get an iPad Air I, the 32GB version ... and am looking at photo editing software. Obviously I would love to run Lightroom, but so far from my reading I see you need to use Lightroom Mobile on the iPad and then upload to the cloud for more intensive editing when you get back to your desktop (or main computer)??

Since I'm running a Win PC at home and Lightroom v3.6 (still running XP, yes yes I know) ... I don't have a cloud setup and can't use the subscription package due to my 32bit system from what they tell me, so my hands are a bit tied to using 3.6 at home and something standalone while away.

What I'm looking for, I guess, is the best standalone editor in your option for editing on the road with just the iPad Air. All suggestions are welcome. I'd like as much control close to LR as possible, lens correction, noise reduction, vignette, exposure, clarity, vibrance, fill light and recovery.
Thanks!

I have an iPad Air and wife has the Air II - honestly .... Editing.... A quick look to check exposure OK , anything else I would not even bother.
I have the camera cable and the Toshiba Air wifi card - IMO its a dead duck
But good luck to you.
Personally I bet within a few hours you will decide its really impractical and a nightmare getting images without USB 3.0
Save yourself the pain and the cash

I've also found the iPad line in general to be very limiting, hence the reason I went with a Samsung Android based system. Much more versatility starting with the tablet having a built in slot for microSD cards where images can be stored. I also use an app I think called Photoshop Light (or Express) to modify images. Then save to that microSD card, and pop that into a reader connected to my PC.

I use my Ipad air for on the spot edits... The program i use is photogene... its OK. Nothing special and is limited in its capabilities. You also have to be carefull of changes made go light because all of the heavy edits I've done on the ipad the images look wierd on PC after the fact. not sure why.


I use the lightning to SD cable it helps a lot for imports and then saving the photos.

I just started using an iPad for work (never used an apple product in all my years, lol) and figured it would be great to quick edit certain pics on the fly out of town.

Maybe it's just as good going Android? 10" tablets without the @ 2000px resolution are half the price ... about $279 at B&H. I do like the ability of being able to save to a Micro SD for moving back to my pc later rather than having to upload to the cloud (DropBox maybe) and download again later.

Thanks for the feedback!

You could also think about getting a MS Surface Pro (maybe the 2 or lower end 3?) for about the price of the iPad if you're not wedded to a platform just yet. You can then get the latest and greatest Lightroom and all the full capabilities in a tablet form.

BlackParrot wrote in post #17657359
I do like the ability of being able to save to a Micro SD for moving back to my pc later rather than having to upload to the cloud (DropBox maybe) and download again later.

There really is a lot more connectivity, at least with respect to my Samsung tablet. Becuase I was doing this with this today I remembered that I can also directly connect my camera to the tablet at the power cord connector (need a $20 adapter). With the same cable I can connecvt the tablet to the PC which "sees" it and the microSD card as a hard drive.

Yeah, the more research I do the more I don't see the advantage of an iPad other than "Apple brand loyalty" and the high rez display ... at least for photo editing away from home.
I understand it's lighter and battery maybe a bit longer, it doesn't get "hot" yada yada yada ... but when push comes to shove the Air is just not convenient unless you are totally on an Apple platform everywhere.

I love mine for work, but that's a very limited situation.
Thanks for all your experiences!! No one I know personally is in this situation.

If you want to go mobile I like snapseed or polarr. but +1 the surface 3 or pro 3, they COULD replace your computer if you got the pro, plus ones coming out soon will have LTE.

Snapseed is a nice mobile edited. It is not Lightroom by any means, but it's a great mobile editor.

With that said, if they were pictures that I cared enough about to want to edit in Lightroom then I would either bring a small laptop with me or get a surface pro (and this is coming from an apple fan boy)

I use my iPad Air 2 for very small edits. Just quick social media uploads. I use Snapseed can edit RAW photos and it does a good job with exposure and crop. But that's it. Spot edits is alright but not worth it.

Lightroom cannot edit RAW photos unless uploaded to CC.

I mainly use my Surface Pro3 for editing and it works great. Using that pen makes it easy to do.

I do quick edits on PS express if needed. But without any adjustment brushes, very limited.