Reviews on gear and software

Wacom Mobile Studio Pro in depth review Part I

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An Apple fanboy taking the jump for creative freedom on a device that does what he wants… but it’s not an Apple…. it’s actually a lot better.

 

Ok yesterday I picked up my Mobile Studio Pro 16 from Wacom.
I opted for the fastest version with i7, 16GB, 512SSD and of course 4K screen.

Let’s take a quick look in short about my thoughts before you watch the video.

Why?
Very simple.
Apple dropped the ball and keeps dropping the ball.
First of all the new MacBookPro is hardly a pro device anymore, it’s lighter and smaller but has less battery life, problems with GPU under heavy stress, fans that kick in way too late and misses A LOT of ports, also power wise for what you pay its VERY underpowered to say the least. I believe in a USB-C standard, but I also believed in a TB standard (because Apple told us).

I was hoping for a new machine with some form of touch and incorporation of the Apple Pencil for retouching. When I saw the big trackpad I thought… “there we go” but no…. also looking at pricing I don’t think I’ll be able to afford the next MacPro version, I expect that IF Apple updates this beast (I still love mine) it will start at 6000.00 for the base model and in all honesty I do make a living off photography but if I would order what I need for editing our videos this would probably set me back 10.000 and in all honesty that… I can’t afford.

Seeing Apple really closes the door on ANY form of touch (or Apple pencil inclusion) I feel we are on a dead end, so when looking at what the competition is doing with Microsoft releasing a third (already) generation of the Surface Pro and Wacom recently releasing the also third generation of the Companion (now called Mobile studio pro) I think it’s time for people like me to look over the mountain to Windows 10… because all these machines run that other OS, the OS where we always joked about “Once you go Mac you never go back” and I still agree…. in some form.

First evening with Windows
The Wacom Mobile Studio pro comes with Windows 10 pro pre-installed. You do need to setup the Wacom drivers first which appears a bit weird, but in essence it’s a small job, I think it’s because you first have to setup Windows itself.

The setup of windows very much reminded me of MacOs in some things, and is a far cry from the last time I installed a Windows version (I did update to 10 on a notebook). It all looks sleek and nice. There even is a fingerprint sensor in the Wacom that is setup REALLY fast and works very well, still don’t know what to do it with exactly but that’s to find out in the coming days right…..

On the desktop Windows 10 looks ok. I do miss the nicely rendered menus from the Mac and the overal look, Windows still looks like it’s an 90’s operating system that has been upgraded. But that’s not a bad thing some people love the squares and the look of the preferences/settings but for me it all looks very old fashioned. But in essence it doesn’t matter because I’m not using this machine for it’s OS I use it to create and the desktop etc. looks all very nice and smooth not a real difference with what I like from the Mac, start menu is nicely organized and the “metro” look I also like although it’s again a bit square.

Gestures
As you can see in the video I’m trying out some gestures and I think it’s a huge debit to the Wacom that everything is silky smooth, I tried the same gestures on a high-specced Vaio laptop I own and it’s without a doubt less smooth, it works but it doesn’t give me that “iPad experience”

What I really really like is the gesture options in for example Photoshop and Capture one, zooming in on images with just pinch and zoom is amazingly handy and I already see myself doing this on my MBP within a few days realizing it doesn’t have touch 🙂

Speed
This thing is FAAAAST.
It’s a far cry from my Macpro (Dual D700’s with Final Cut Pro X is sick) but rendering and editing in Premiere is amazingly smooth and easy. I do have to get used to not being able to just trim clips like with the magnetic time line but I can life with that and as soon as I have a proper keyboard with touchpad (Logitech K830 on order) I’ll test this again. Photoshop and Capture One both run like I hoped.

Tethering
Tethering I tested in Capture One and works, connection is really fast and images come in just as fast as on the MBP, didn’t expect anything else, although I was a bit afraid with the USB-C dongle.

Problems
None yet expect some weird behaviors in Premiere.
Mostly due to my touchpad and keyboard not working properly (I use a very low budget and older Logitech), but one thing did frustrate the heck out of me and that’s the fact I can’t just import my MTS files anymore without loosing audio. I have to copy the whole structure of the card, and that’s not a good thing. On the MBP and in premiere I was able to just copy the MTS files and drag them into Premiere. Hope I’m missing something here.

Another problem is that the Wacom Mobile studio pro is “clean” on the back, meaning there is no VESA mount option, for me that’s a bit of a problem because during workshops I love to mount my display on a stand so people can see what I’m doing. My MBP was always on a Tethertools table but when we started shooting wirelessly in some situations I used an iPad Pro on a mount from Wally and connected to a stand. Let’s hope something similar will be released for the Wacom Mobile studio pro.

Another thing is the stand… there is no stand in the box (and I knew this) I have one on order but without it I think it’s usable but not as a laptop replacement, so make sure you get a stand when you buy one.

The final piece of critique I have is on the speakers.
I don’t need great speakers but the speakers in the Mobile Studio Pro are…. well they make sound let’s put it that way. Compared to the MBP it’s a lot of steps back. On the other hand…. it’s not really important, they make sound and you can always use headphones (yes there is a headphone jack), and I’m already looking for some BT speakers if I really need it.

Size
Loads of people asked me if a 16″ wouldn’t be too big to carry around.
And I can only say “NO….are you nuts it’s awesome”
I think we have to be clear here.
Apple labeled their MacBookPro because it was meant for the Pros, it was bigger, 17″, heavier, had a load of ports, it was FAST and it was… well a pro machine. It still looked beautiful but it wasn’t a small laptop at all. Later they dropped the 17″ which I think was sad and I bought a 15″ with Retina I fell in love again, but now the route is more to small and sleek and I think that’s where we are on the point that I want to make….

I’m not someone that will sit in starbucks and take out my shiny nice MBP put it on the table and start doing my Email or spreadsheets, when I do something on the road it’s work on images, draw, watch a movie etc. And in most cases I have room when I do this, it will be in a hotel room, at home, in the RV, outside in a park or whatever.

But most of all when I create or retouch I NEED real estate, I can’t work in a 10x15cm space to retouch a model shoot. And on smaller screens (with all due respect) I feel like I see more menu’s than drawing/retouch space. This is also why I LOVE the 16:9 form factor instead of a 4:3, the less room that is taken up with menus and other necessary stuff the more space I have to be creative or work.

In the video you see me comparing the Wacom with my MBP 15″ late 2014, it’s bigger but it’s not too big, it fits in a 17″ sleeve perfectly. And if I want to check mail in a starbucks I’ll take out my iPhone or iPad Pro. This baby is to work.

Charging on the go
AWESOME, this is what I wanted.
Let’s be honest, when you are just using your pc/tablet whatever for email or browsing battery life is no problem, you’ll be kicked out the place before the battery dies. But when you do video editing and retouching battery life becomes VERY important. By charging via USB-c you can now use external batteries like the HyperJuice to power your tablet for DAYS if necessary. We own a reasonable sized HyperJuice and it kept my MBP during a full shooting day at 100% with easy. I still have to test this on the Wacom but I expect nothing less. This was also one of the things I didn’t like from the Surface Pro, it used it’s own charging connector making it impossible to connect it to the batteries, unless…. well I didn’t feel like hacking it (never a good idea with power).

Hardkeys
LOADS of people ask me “why the wacom, it’s so expensive”
Well yeah it’s not cheap, but you get a LOT.
First of all like the title says you get hardkeys, if you don’t know how important those are I guess you’re not retouching a lot. There are software emulators that can give you keys but you still have to take your eyes off your work (also one of the biggest problems I have with the touchbar (emoticon bar) on the new MBPs) With hardkeys you can find them blind and use them. This was also another reason for me to go for the 16″ because now I have 8 and a rocker ring 😀

In fact I would love to have even more, so I’ll try to connect an EK remote to it very soon.
The less I need a keyboard the better and the EK remote had 15 keys, add the 8 of the tablet and I think we have no need for a keyboard anymore.

The screen
yeah what can I say.
WOW, WOW, WOW
This is one gorgeous experience. 4K resolution in such a “small” size means you LITERALLY see one smooth surface, it’s silky smooth. Lightoutput is also enough although more is always better when working outside, but that will also cost you dearly in battery life and contrast ratio when lowering the screen output, so I’m more than fine with this. And 96% adobe RGB is of course a welcome bonus.

The surface doesn’t feel like glass like you would expect from a “laptop replacement” but remember this is a creative tool, it’s designed to be used with a stylus and create stuff. And that’s what the screen does, it feels great with an even more tactile feel than the Cintiq and it doesn’t blur the resolution. With the iPad pro you can use screen protectors to get this feel too but it blurs the screen slightly PLUS you add to the parallax problem (your pen hits the glass and the real drawing is below).

The pen
This baby is also great.
8000+ pressure sensitivity levels, yeah great but how does that feel?
Well I’m not a digital artist (although I love to draw) but what I saw yesterday in Photoshop the level of control is INSANE, you can go from hardly visible to big bold lines without glitches… nice. But I’m not good enough to use this… but I’m sure there are people out there that do.

As you can see in the video parallax is gone, speed is great so what more to wish.
One more thing you have to realize btw, although the Apple pencil is great and works like a charm it’s not a pixel device, meaning it works in clusters, the Wacom units are pixel based meaning you use the FULL resolution for drawing, for real artists this can make a huge difference.

3D scanner
If you’re into 3D modeling the mobile studio pro comes with a really cool (so they told me) 3D camera which can be used to scan objects for 3D modeling. And according to a friend of mine it works like a charm. (just saying)

More to come
In the coming days I will post much more on my experiences, problems and of course the experience I have with Windows.
The next blog post will give you some tips on software you can use as alternatives to Mac specific things.

Fan noise
Loads of people ask about this.
The MBP is quieter for a longer time, but WHEN those fans hit you hear them VERY good.
The mobile studio pro is MUCH less loud but the fans kick in a soon as I started rendering, so I braced myself but to my surprise they never really got any louder, they just kept the device in working order it seems where my MBP waits till it’s probably almost to late and than starts cooling like crazy.

Oh and one more thing
Love the Cintiq?
never could afford one because it’s “just a display”?
Now you can. With the Wacom mobile studio pro you can use a Wacom link and use your tablet in Cintiq mode on your Mac or PC.

 

Apple?
I never was a real Windows fan when I switched to Apple and I never really looked at Windows. In my memory Windows is slow, gets slower over time and is chunky and overly complicated compared to Apple. In essence however as mentioned before I never use the OS that much, I use the programs. And when I now see how incredibly smooth you can switch from gestures to the pen and to the keyboard and touchpad in Windows 10 and Adobe and Phase One software (and probably also Manga Studio) I really and I mean REALLY can’t imagine why Apple is so against touch…. it’s not that if you go touch you have to do everything with touch but browsing for a few minutes on the net with a touch unit is absolutely something I never want to mis again, it’s seamless, it’s smooth, you can zoom it’s an experience that is fitting this time period. Seeing the fact Apple is CLEAR about not incorporating touch I’m very afraid that Apple will see a HUGE decline in customers that will switch to the real professional creative tools like this Wacom Mobile studio pro.

 

Ok before the video : Pros and cons
Pros :
Screen, pen, speed (i7 version), touch/gesture/pen/keyboard/touchpad combination, surface of the screen, size, form factor, kensington lock, 3D scanner

Cons :
no stand, no vesa mounting option, not so good speakers

In the middle (can go either way) :
Windows 10 Pro.

 

I shot this special episode of behind the closed DOORs with my first impressions.

Macphun updates Luminar for the Touchbar and a small review

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Ok it’s no secret I’m no fan of the new MacBookPro series.
But it’s still very cool to see what happens with the new “magic touchbar”

One plugin that recently changed my workflow (after some adjust time) is Luminar from MacPhun (and from today they support that touch bar).
It was labeled as a Lightroom/Aperture alternative… and in all honesty I think that’s a wrong label, and also one of the reasons why in the beta stages I was not convinced about the usage I would get out of it…. but things can change quickly.

 

An unique and wonderful workspace/preset plugin
What Luminar turned out to be for me is actually a totally different way of working.
We all know that we use plugins on a daily basis as retouchers or enthusiasts. They save time and they make things possible that are harder/impossible in Photoshop alone.

But all plugins have their own presets, workflows, menus, settings etc. it can drive you sometimes nuts for the simple reason what’s on menu 1 in plugin 1 can be in menu 2 in plugin 2 and to make things worse it can even work differently. There were plugins in the past that tried to solve this, but most ended up just being a collection of plugins with the same structure, which didn’t work because if one of them got an upgrade… well we had the same problem again, and this is EXACTLY where Luminar is different.

I can’t really start to explain how it works because there are so many different options but let me try, and we will release a video soon but I’m still working on creating my presets and workflows, but here we go.

 

Workflows
This is the core of Luminar
You have a LOAD of filters in Luminar, but in fact they are not filter but blocks with settings, for example a block with HSL (Hue Saturation Luminance), a filter called “curves”, a block with detail enhancements, a block with cross processing, a channel mixer and the list goes on and on, it’s a lot  (trust me).

These filters you can add in any order you like and name that workflow.
You can for example create a workflow with all the settings you need for black and white conversion, and in fact create your own plugin (called workflow) for YOUR favorite workflow for black and white, but you can also create another workflow for color enhancements, detail pop, creative stuff, basic adjustments etc. etc.

The cool thing (and this is REALLY cool) is that if you create something and think…. “mmmm I need curves in this, but it’s not there”…. you’re thinking the “old fashioned way”, in Luminar you just simple add those curves to any workflow you’re active in. Sound crazy…. it is but it can be done. So in essence you create your own plugin and if you miss something… you just add it from another plugin, that’s why they call it workflows. In other words how often do you run a plugin and you think…”wouldn’t it be great if I could also do xxxxx or xxxxx” well now you just add that “xxxxxx” and the best thing, you can even save it afterwards as a new workflow or as part of your workflow you’re working in.

But that’s not all.

Presets
A good plugin should have presets, quick ways to get to an end results.
Ever made a killer black and white conversion…. save it as a preset (name it correctly to find it back, because these preset collections grow) and the next time you can find it back and use it again. These presets store all the settings you have used from your workflows, but…. if you want to add more…. feel free to do, Luminar is as flexible as can be, there is absolutely no limits it seems, you can even add curves twice, for example once for RGB adjustments (for those funky color looks) and once for contrast control, heck if you want add a third one…..

A new way of thinking
Luminar is a new way of working and one I REALLY like.
You see me calling it a plugin and probably MacPhun doesn’t like that, but this is my personal opinion. I don’t think the market is big enough for another RAW convertor that replaces Capture One or Lightroom or DxO, all these are incredibly feature rich and most people that work with photography as a beginner will probably end up using lightroom and later for certain workflows go to Capture One or DxO.

This is why I absolutely LOVE the fact that Luminar also runs as a plugin within Photoshop or Lightroom (or even Capture One), because now I might not use the RAW convertion but I do have my own personal Plugin Factory at hand and I can create whatever I want.

You could say that with Luminar there is no more need for Intensify, Tonality etc. which is in fact true, you can do that now within Luminar but there is much more, you can now also create custom color looks, film emulations, do slight skin work, work with layers, duo tonings, top and lower lightings, gradients etc. etc. it just dazzles me when I think about what you can do.

 

Luminar now supports the touchbar for the new MBP.
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Only for a limited time left you can benefit from the LUMINAR BLACK FRIDAY PAGE LINK: http://macphun.evyy.net/c/146243/326635/3255
Don’t wait too long because this is only a few more hours.

 

the future of computing a few more thoughts

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Recently I already posted some thoughts about the future of computing on my blog and the more I think about it the more I’m starting to see that for me this might be the perfect solution, and in my head I already made the following setup which I want to post here for your input, tips, comments etc.

Having 2 computers is a norm for many working professionals, one powerhouse in the studio and one mobile device for the stuff you can’t do on your iPhone or iPad, traveling often means you have to make sure your laptop and desktop are in sync, which of course now a days are not really a problem, and although some programs can be very tricky there is always a solution, which sometimes means paying an extra license (like for example with screen flow). When returning home copying from the mobile device to the studio machine is not really problematic, it’s a simple manner of connecting the thunderbolt cable between the two and there you go. For years this was my workflow and I never thought it would change.

However as an Apple user there are a few things that have struck me as odd, and even got me worried.
Apple always was the pro supporter, the one where the creatives went, it might not have always had the fastest hardware but thanks to a killer OS and great software my mac always felt much faster than any PC I worked on, but over the years things have changed… Apple seems to be losing track and although they still have a killer OS and great software like Final Cut Pro X (which is getting better over time) and of course plugins like Macphun which are Apple only it is getting harder to see a future where pros keep using Macs. Where windows users get more and more cool devices with touch, tablets, digitizers built in and INSANE speeds….. mac users get….. well a touch strip……. *play the pacman dies music…..

 

So do we abandon Apple?
Well no not yet.
The MacPro hasn’t been updated for a LONG time, I bought it the moment it was released and I’m glad I bought it with 2xD700 videocards because in all honesty working with the MacPro is still like a dream, the machine is blazingly fast… but with 4K it’s showing it’s age, I can still edit 4K without any problem even multicam, but rendering it and adding effects really shows the age of the machine, so at this moment in time I would be looking for an upgrade within 1 year. Seeing how Apple is performing at the moment I’m afraid that we can expect NO upgrade for the MacPro OR an upgrade that’s so expensive that if I would do that I would have to get another job next to my current job, which pays the bills but doesn’t make me able to shelve out 5000.00 in a heartbeat for some speed gain.
So let’s say the MacPro is out, this is my last MacPro, what now…
Well for mobile use I’m switching to Windows, I’ve tried it a few times which made me go back to MacOs within 6 months for the simple reason I couldn’t get the workflow right, the screens were too small, battery life sucked with no option for external power like the hyper juice, and the digitizers were VERY poor. But things change.

 

This could/should be your setup
Ok I know this is bold statement but I think when you read this you’ll agree or might at least think… “he has a thing going”.
As working photographers and educators we all need a mobile device that’s fast, handles all the files we shoot, can edit photos and videos and most of all is portable. For years this was the MacBookPro, but using a dedicated laptop means we also have to carry with us a Wacom tablet, and this means… editing in the field for a quick demo is out of the question, same as editing on a plane, in the passenger seat of the RV etc. And with Surface book pro’s coming out and similar devices it really really started to annoy me, long story short, when Apple didn’t incorporate the apple pencil in some form in the new MBP I knew I was going to skip that one (but I’m not quite… read on). My new mobile device will be the Wacom Mobile Studio Pro 16, not the 13 but the 16, I don’t just want to look cool in a coffeeshop checking my mail (that’s my iPhone or iPad pro) but I want real estate, and I need hardkeys for editing and retouching (a bit miss on the Surface pros, two buttons just doesn’t do it, and software solutions are cool for consumers but I need that room and tactile feel for speed), so that’s my new laptop.

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Now that we have mobile complete let’s look at home/studio
I’m now running a 4500.00 euro MacPro which still works, but has to be replaced within let’s say 1 year.
I could build a PC with killer specs, but that would mean loosing the system I’m used to, so that’s a “no go”, “thought about it for a second and woke up” scenario. Also I love using MacOs and Final Cut Pro X and MacPhun so MacOs it is. But what options do we have left as pro users…. And that’s were it actually get’s interesting.

Let’s say we buy a 15″ MBP with 16GB and a 512GB SSD. This is a very powerful machine, it has dedicated video that’s pretty fast and can do almost anything you throw at it, unless it’s the real power hungry stuff. I hear you saying… “Hey Frank you just told us you’re gonna switch to the Wacom for mobile use….?” yes indeed you’re right… I’m not going to use the MacBookPro for mobile use like the Wacom.

The MacBookPro will be placed in a dock (closed lid) and connected to 1-2 hubs, this would give me enough USB ports to connect all the gear I’m used to having and give me 2 TB2 ports for my external drive bays which I’m not willing to replace because they work great and in my opinion is a waste of money to upgrade. Also we connect a keyboard and the magic touchpad (which I absolutely love) with the new MacBookPro we can connect the 3 displays I’m using at the moment so also that is solved, this could be enough but it won’t beat my 2013 MacPro (R2D2) so how can we achieve this?

 

And this is where it get’s interesting
We need that extra speed for intense stuff like rendering, video effects, filters etc. now all/most of these work not on the CPU but on the GPU, meaning the videocards. The last few days I’ve been looking into the options for external GPU units and found that although there isn’t a lot of information about it online, there actually is some information which looks very promising. In the past most of these solutions were not easy to install and mostly just worked under Windows, which would make no sense, however things change and there are now solutions that actually are almost plug and play and also work under MacOs. And that’s where I started to think…… These boxes can make your mac up to 10x faster in heavy rendering solutions and filters, which is a HUGE boost compared to the MacPro I’m now using, even twice the speed would be awesome. BUT cost…..

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And now for the finale…. which is more interesting
If you read this far trust me you will be rewarded.
Let’s look at what we have now.
A Mac Pro which retails for 4500.00
A MacBook Pro which retails for 3500.00 (complete)
A Wacom cintiq which retails for 2500.00 (27″)
Total costs : 10.500 EURO

 

Now let’s look at the alternative solution
MBP 15″ 2016 : 3500.00
External GPU : 800.00 (they start at 599.00 actually)
Wacom Mobile studio Pro 16 totally specked out : 3100.00
Add some accessories like a dock, stand etc. : 500.00 
And we now have a total cost of : 7900.00

 

Ok so we save : 2600.00 which is already a lot of money, but we get a lot more.
As you see I left out my Wacom Cintiq 27″.
Now in all honesty I’m in love with the 27″ and don’t see myself replacing that one very quickly but for most photographers a 16″ 4K cintiq will be more than enough, and most of those people don’t even own a cintiq yet because they don’t have the budget for it. HOWEVER most of you will very quickly reach that 6000-7000 euro range when you add your laptop and Mac Pro together (if you use those of course).

The cool thing about this second solution is that for 2900.00 less you still have the cintiq….

 

Combining the best of both worlds
With the Mobile studio pro 16 from wacom you get something a lot of Macusers have been wanting, a bigger screen than the 15″ and touch/digitzer (this means you can draw on the screen), and it’s still a mobile device with loads of power, if you format your drives in exfat PCs and Macs pretty much understand each other and when you mostly run Creative Cloud and Capture One (like most of us do) you won’t really notice any difference in your workflow. But the Wacom can also be connected to a PC or Mac via a special link that makes it behave as a full blown 16″ 4K cintiq, which makes it possible to mirror your main screen for critical color editing and still have all the benefits of working on a cintiq.

The MacBookPro will be mostly used in it’s dock where it has a very powerful external GPU, a 16″ cintiq and 3 screens.
HOWEVER, when needed you can take it out and continue your work somewhere else.
So in essence you have a MacPro replacement, a mobile device, a Cintiq AND a tablet with digitizer all in 2 devices.

 

Situations where it saves you even more
Now if 2600.00 doesn’t really do it for you… let’s take a look at my situation.
If we want to do what we want to do….. which means also be able to broadcast during live events, workshops on locations etc. we need the following.

 

MacPro in the studio
1 laptop running wirecast (and that has to be a specked out one, the 13″ MBP 2015 actually didn’t really work)
1 laptop for shooting tethered and retouching
And an extra license for Wirecast and screen flow if we also want to use both machines, so add another 4000.00 euro to the 10.500.

 

By using the solution with the MBP and the external GPU we can do the following.
Run wirecast on the MBP in the dock and connected to the GPU during live broadcasts in the studio and shoot to the Wacom and retouch on the Wacom. Now when we visit a trade show or workshop on location we disconnect the MBP from the dock and take it with is while I still shoot on the Wacom.

 

Not all roses and fun
Of course I’m not living in a dream world and I for 100% know that this setup will have it’s drawbacks and problems.
For example when using the Wacom I still have to copy the files to my Mac setup, but that’s in my situation, if you can handle everything with a MBP you don’t than it’s just a matter of connecting it to the dock of course. And don’t even start about using Windows 10 pro on a daily basis, it’s probably a great Windows version but I’m 100% aware that it’s a far cry from what I’m used to on MacOs in user friendliness and stability, and yeah I also run a Windows 10 notebook so I know what I’m talking about. In reality I never have real problems with windows but I know that IF it goes wrong… well it REALLY goes wrong and with Mac the worst thing that can happen is just reinstall your OS (happend twice to me in 10 years) and all apps/programs just keep on working.

Also finding ways to connect everything together will be easy at first and then small things will start to happen that you didn’t think about. For example how about a shared agenda when using iCloud… well there are solutions but we actually switched to Google agenda a few years ago when I did my first windows experiment and we never switched back. Contacts however is slightly different, for webmail no problem but we also have some .com domains I have to use…. well we will see how that turns out, in all honestly most of my mails I actually answer via my iPhone and iPad so I don’t really see why I should change that.

 

I was deeply worried about the future (sounds much darker than it is), I don’t have gear that REALLY needs replacing, but I do feel that my MacPro is still worth money and is fast enough for what I do but that if I want to keep value I do have to upgrade within 1-2 years max. And where there is no new MacPro what do you do…. with the external GPU and the new Wacom Mobile studio Pro 16 I think a lot of fellow photographers and video editors can have the best of both worlds if combined with the MBP and an external GPU.

 

Would love to hear your thoughts, opinions, tips, tricks etc.
As soon as the Wacom is in we will start a video series on the transition of workflow so you guys can help out and see what we do.

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the future….. of mobile use….

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After my blog post about the MacBook pro and my disappointment I got quite some surprising responses.
Now I don’t want to label most people as Apple fanboys but sometimes I do wonder if…..people actually read the article correctly and not jumped to conclusions after reading the first few lines 😀

If someone can be labeled as an Apple fanboy it should be me. I LOVE Apple, I own an Apple watch, iPhone 7plus, MBP, MacPro, AppleTV, iPad pro, Apple Pencil, airports etc. I strongly believe that other brands might have solutions that are good, somehow if Apple makes it it just works and it integrates flawlessly, it’s not really a fanboy statement as more a statement of “I don’t want any problems, I just want plug and play but with all the options I need”. And boy do the products keep their value, you never have to worry about selling something, it’s gone before you think about it.

 

So when I wrote my article “Dear Apple” I was not talking about that I hated the new MacBook Pro or the touch strip, in fact I think the touch strip is better than the dial from Microsoft, for the simple reason you’re just faster with a keyboard or a touch strip than placing a dial and selecting through menus, plus the dial is not “yet” supported by Adobe while the strip is. And that doesn’t mean I think the dial or puck is amazing, I absolutely love it in the video. The reason I wrote the article was also not about loosing te ports and going all USB-c, there are hubs for that (add another $ 105.00 for the hub but ok), it also wasn’t about price, although I did get a little sick in my stomach when I saw the final quote for 2 notebooks, the reason I cancelled my own notebook and did order one for Annewiek is simple, Annewiek does video and has different needs from me…. it was more about the moment in time we are now and the needs of a professional photographer/video guy.

 

So what am I going to do?
The present and the need of the photographer
As a traveling photographer, educator, someone who loves to draw paint and enjoyer of comics and movies, I’m traveling with a MBP 15″ and a Wacom tablet intous (small), A thunderbolt Raid Harddrive (WD passport) and an iPad pro. This is a pretty heavy load and loads of gear to lug around. But it all works fine, the iPad I use on the plane, buss and the RV or when waiting/free time, the MBP is used for teaching and shooting tethered in the field. It’s all working like a charm and everywhere I come there are power adapters, connectors and if you forget something… well there is ALWAYS someone who can lend it to you because 99% of my colleagues use MBPs. But most of all my MBPs have survived the blistering heat in the Dubai dessert, the humidity in florida, the freezing cold in Finland and several small rain showers in the UK and the Netherlands, I’m never worried about it.

Over time however I’ve been looking at the Microsoft Surface pro and absolutely fell in love with the concept and the idea of having just one device. The guys from Microsoft were absolutely awesome and lend me first a Surface pro 3 which I loved but felt was a bit too unstable for what I do, and later a Surface pro 4 which absolutely rocked (MUCH more stable) but I did find myself struggling with the real estate, in Photoshop the menus were taking up way too much space, I missed my keys for sampling, moving, brush size etc. of course it can be done via menus but I need speed (I love my work but I’m not a hobbyist that has all the time in the world)……and when I zoomed the menus smaller they were too small and I couldn’t hit the actions I needed, or the tools with the accuracy I needed (yes my eyes are great)…. also when using manga studio (or Photoshop) I felt the stylus to be less accurate than the Apple Pencil on the iPad pro and the Wacom on my intous or later cintiq, for normal non pressure brushes it worked fine but it didn’t feel 100% right under an angle and when using pressure plus I was able to empty the battery in less than 90 minutes with my workflow (which is pretty heavy and goes pretty fast). At that time I skipped the Wacom companion for the reason I thought it was underpowered and had the same real estate issues.

 

But times change.
Wacom recently announced something that had my attention from the first moment I saw it.
A new Companion called Mobile Studio Pro… why did they change the name? Well maybe because it’s a different product.

 
What is it?
In essence it’s a 16″ cintiq with brains…. can I call it that? I guess so.
Recently I switched to a 27″ cintiq in the studio and can tell you it’s addictive as can be, it’s absolutely awesome, I actually can’t tell you enough how much I like it, but it’s very pricey. The feel however of sitting right on top of your work and retouching directly is absolutely worth every cent. 
Ok let’s not make this too long.
Wacom released the Mobile Studio Pro 16″ and 13″.
Let’s skip the 13″, for me it’s too small.
Let’s focus on the 16″
It’s an Intel Core i7 CPU 3.3 GHZ but much more important it also has a fast Nvidia QuadroM1000M video card with 4GB ram, 16GB internal RAM and 512SSD. Which would make it plenty fast for 4K editing and of course some heavy duty Photoshop action. The 16″ screen is a full 4K resolution screen with covers 94% of the Adobe RGB spectrum (previous solutions only covered 70%) so that means we have a 16″ screen that has MORE than enough resolution to show you all the menus of photoshop open and still leave you with a LOAD of working space for your retouching. 

 

Buttons
One of the MAJOR “flaws” of the surface is the lack of buttons, which you can solve with software but that also takes away real estate. The Wacom has the well know buttons (8 on the 16″ and 6 on the 13″) and the wheel. So you can program all your favorite shortcuts and change brush size, zoom and angle the canvas all without ever needing a keyboard. This is a MUST HAVE on something you’re gonna use for professional workflows.

 

Connections
Where the surface pro only had one USB port, or you needed a small hub, is the Mobile Studio Pro nicely equipped with a kensington security slot (great for events), 3 USB-C ports, a SD card reader and a way to secure to pen to the tablet when not in use. As with the MBP you will need convertors or a hub to use TB2, USB3 and HDMI but this sacrifice is something I’m willing to do for the following reasons…..

 

The most important part of this review
With a device like the Wacom Mobile Studio Pro you’re not only buying a tablet, you’re actually buying a cintiq with brains.
On the road it’s a laptop with a BT keyboard, I wish you could connect the two together to work on your lap in airports etc. but who knows maybe there will be a solution for that someday. In the field you can tether to it and you don’t really need a stand, someone can just hold it, during trade shows you can also tether to it but also show some quick retouching tips, during seminars and demos you can connect it to a projector and run powerpoint, back in the hotel it’s a combination of your laptop and a cintiq…. and the best thing was saved for last…. when you buy an extra dongle you can even connect it to your mac or pc in the studio or at home and use it as real cintiq. And for fun… you can also watch movies on it and read books/comics, although in all honesty, when flying I don’t see it replacing my iPad for the simple reason I sometimes don’t even have room for the iPad Pro in Economy.

 

 

Some thoughts I had and you probably too
Let’s go to some concerns I have.

 
Windows 10
Sorry I just have to address this, windows is NO MacOS, there are things I’m used to that won’t work or will work differently. And don’t think “there you have another Mac user that doesn’t know anything about windows”… I’ve been working with windows ever since it was released (before that with DOS, Amiga, COMX and MSX1/2) you could say I’m one of those computer nerds (wannabe hacker) when growing up, for over 20 years Annewiek and I owned a computer store where I helped out with support and trouble shooting windows installations for consumers and small businesses including networks and wifi solutions (this is also why I’m always so frustrated about slow internet in hotels and campgrounds, I know how it should and can work :D) Up until windows 8 we were actively involved with selling and giving support (although I was not active in the store anymore), and I’ve been running windows 10 since it’s release on my other laptop (yes I own a PC laptop too). So let’s take a look at some concerns you might have.

A. Harddrives and file exchange : can be solved by using ExFat (solved)
B. Airplay : we use this A LOT but it can be solved by some apps (still have to look into it, but I think solved)
C. Airdrop : No real way to get this to work,  there are solutions that do something similar (semi solved or workable)
D. MacPhun : I LOVE their stuff…. no solution but there are alternatives.
E. Registry : Don’t tell me there is no problem anymore because there is. Yes things have improved but it’s still not a matter of “in case of emergency just reinstall the OS and continue working” it’s also not a case of “get a new machine/hardware and just copy your programs and continue working”. Windows is still a terrible system when something goes wrong. What I always do with a windows machine is create an exact mirror of the hard drive and store this for future use, after each major update I’ll check if everything still works and I do the same thing, but I won’t delete the old mirror. Let me put it this way… owning a computer company has shown me things I hope you guys NEVER experience but I know it can happen. Also on a PC I will NOT actively install software to just test something, because I know that deinstalling is sometimes not a REAL deinstall, so I will install the stuff I REALLY need and NOT touch it anymore. This is the best way to keep a Windows machine running fine. On the Mac I love to test stuff, download some apps to see how they work etc. on a PC in a workflow setting… no way.
F. Virus scanners : Also here, don’t tell me you don’t need them or they won’t slow down your system, they do and you do need them. But if you choose wisely you can have less impact than if you choose the wrong one.

Overall Photoshop, Lightroom, Capture One and all my other plugins have Windows versions so it will actually all work as I’m used to, the shell will be different but in the end as soon as I’m working there’s no real difference. You just have to ask your supplier if they would be kind enough to also give you windows versions of your plugins.

The only thing that WILL not work is…. Final Cut ProX, I prefer Final Cut ProX above Premiere for the magnetic timeline but for the editing we do on the road…. premiere will do just fine, premiere is an amazing video editor and actually my preference for many years till FCPx matured, so switching back is absolutely no problem, although in the studio I’ll be using FCPx.

Durability
Oh this is a BIG BIG one.
From my MBP I know for sure it can take some abuse, I’m incredibly careful with my gear but we do get it in some “hostile” environments, which actually proofed to be not so good for the Surface which at one point didn’t boot anymore till it was cooled down, where my MBP just kept going like there was no problem at all. Time will tell if a Wacom Mobile Studio Pro will break down or will continue to work, if it brakes down….. there is only one thing I can do, go back to the MBP.

Rest value
The MBP has  TREMENDOUS rest value, sometimes even ridiculous, I’ve sold older MBP’s for prices that were close to 25% off the new value I paid 2 years before that. I’ve tried to sell a high-end PC laptop a few times and ended up just keeping it because it was worth…. well not much.

Warranty
If something happens with a Mac, you can go to ANY store in the world and they will help you, what happens when something happens with a Wacom… as a pro it’s absolutely unacceptable to be without my machine for a day, in fact I can deliver it in the morning but I REALLY need it back ASAP and not in a week.

Battery time
Also a REAL big thing.
They claim 6 hours, so let’s say 2 hours with full load on Photoshop which I think is pretty long seeing my experience with the Surface. Don’t let people tell you they can retouch for 10 hours on a Surface because that’s 100% not true. You can… but you have to lower the screen brightness and you can clone a bit, run some curves etc. My workflow is Capture One RAW conversion into Photoshop, clone and heal, run a filter for the skin, run a filter for extra sharpness, run DxO or Alien skin for tinting, save and repeat. This even drains the battery of my MBP in about 3 hours.

When shooting tethered there is no real problem with the MBP, with the last 3 MBPs I owned I could do a full day workshop with Capture One as tethered solution with FULL brightness and end up above 20% battery live. However we also carry with us a Hyperjuice which can supply another 6 hours to a MBP or iPad pro via USB or charging output (this rocks), the surface pro needed it’s own power supply and 220/110V so no option to use a cigaret lighter connector (airplane etc) only 220/110. I don’t know yet for the Wacom but before I make the final decision I have to be sure I can somehow power the unit in the field without 220/110V.

 

Conclusion
In the past Apple created devices you did not YET knew you needed.
I never wanted an iPhone until I saw someone working with it and saw it sync with agenda and mail (I was still on pop3), I was in awe.
I never wanted a Mac, until I needed one for my Medium format camera and used it for windows and a small part MacOs, within a month I sold my PC and got my first MacPro and NEVER looked back, in the mean time I also convinced my parents and Annewiek and they all are now Mac Users and love it.
I never needed an iPad, until I used it and love the way I could now watch movies during flights without these dreaded entertainment sets from the aircrafts (they still gave you devices on some flights), and I love reading on it.
I never needed an Apple Pencil until I got one and found back my love of drawing.
I never needed an Apple Watch, until my Fitbit broke down for the second time and I thought let’s try it.. well I’m still at version one but wouldn’t want to be without it.

 

I REALLY wanted a device with touch and retouching on the screen……. I waited for the rumored tablet running MacOs which came in the form of the iPad pro and tried seriously to find a professional workflow for photography and never found it (video works pretty well) and drawing is fricking amazing, the next thing/chance was the new MacBook Pro which would revolutionize the world of mobile computing….. and still no touch for the photography/designer people…. In the mean time in the studio we switched to the Cintiq on the MacPro, microsoft has the Surface pro 4 and wacom a third version of their companion (now called Mobile Studio Pro) and the need for a mobile solution like this grew and grew and with the realization that Apple will NOT release something in the near future (they are already 3 generations behind)…… I’m sad to say that for the very first time in my whole apple experience Apple didn’t give me a device I thought I did not need and absolutely loved and can’t be without anymore, but they actually left me a bit in the cold, there’s nothing wrong with the new MacBookPro it’s awesome but times change and the needs of people change, mostly because of what happens around you, if I was a writer, businessman, video editor etc. (which I also am by the way :D) I would probably jump on the new MBP and LOVE it, but as a photographer and retoucher I’m just too much seduced by the awesomeness of a cintiq with a brain that can function as a laptop, tablet and a real cintiq in the studio with a nice big screen and plenty of speed and resolution…………..

 

As soon as I have the Mobile Studio Pro I’ll do a video and review on it as soon as I’m using it.
Don’t think I’m gonna leave Apple…. if there is a new MacPro in the next 2 years I’m fine, if they DROP the MacPro I’m afraid I’ll have to look elsewhere but that will be one of the saddest days in my photography career because I really love my macs and apple products.