4G LTE Tablet For Photographers

[Wheaty214]

I made a thread a while ago asking about how to make my computer 4G LTE capable, got some good answers, but decided not to go that route with my computer. I'm going to be traveling around a lot in the next few years, so lunking around a computer and a charger won't be ideal, especially if the only thing I have to charge it is a small solar panel.

So I've been looking at different tablets that are 4G LTE capable, but I need one that I'll be able to upload my photographs to, so has a USB plug in. Does any have a specific tablet in mind? For the on-the-go photographers, what do you use? Are there certain devices that work better than others, pertaining to battery life, image quality, ease of use, all that jazz.

Thanks for the help, I'll continue looking myself, but I would appreciate the help.

 

[a_pla5tic_bag]

Why not just carry a laptop around? Even though most laptops are now underpowered an overpriced, at least you'll have a keyboard and sort of mouse. Also carry an external battery and solar charge that, and use that battery to charge the laptop. I don't know why but I feel like it's better to solar charge the battery and use that to charge the computer. Plus you'll have extended battery life then. Laptops can get those little LTE cards or you can get little box things that receive LTE signal and give you a wifi network.

 

[Wheaty214]

Why not just carry a laptop around? Even though most laptops are now underpowered an overpriced, at least you'll have a keyboard and sort of mouse. Also carry an external battery and solar charge that, and use that battery to charge the laptop. I don't know why but I feel like it's better to solar charge the battery and use that to charge the computer. Plus you'll have extended battery life then. Laptops can get those little LTE cards or you can get little box things that receive LTE signal and give you a wifi network.

Given that I love my Macbook Pro, I don't want to carry it around with me everywhere I go. It wouldn't take up much space, but I would still have to make space for it while I'm road tripping, and the less shit I have, the better. I'll be carrying fuck tons of climbing and camping gear with me at all times, so if I had my computer in my car, and I wouldn't have it in plain sight, it would just be another reason for someone to try and break into my car.

So my idea of going with a tablet would be taking up minimal space as something I can easily stash away. If I'm backpacking, it would weigh much less than my current computer which could make a huge deal if I'm say, hiking the John Muir Trail. My problem with the plug in LTE box is that I lose shit all the time, so that would be another thing that could get lost in the shuffle.

 

[Big_Spence]

do you plan on uploading your photos directly without any editing? i'm not speaking from experience but i feel like the amount of basic editing you could accomplish on a tablet wouldn't be up to par for a professional level photographer. i feel like you could get something around the same size with infinitely more capability by choosing a windows compatible mini laptop. Asus makes some incredibly affordable ones with a surprising amount of power.

 

[Wheaty214]

do you plan on uploading your photos directly without any editing? i'm not speaking from experience but i feel like the amount of basic editing you could accomplish on a tablet wouldn't be up to par for a professional level photographer. i feel like you could get something around the same size with infinitely more capability by choosing a windows compatible mini laptop. Asus makes some incredibly affordable ones with a surprising amount of power.

I've been thinking about that, I currently have Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, but I rarely do much editing post-shoot. I usually make sure I'm getting exactly what I want when I'm taking the picture first hand, usually adjusting white balance before I shoot to get the right colors right off the bat.

So to answer your question, yes, I would be uploading without any editing involved. So having a device where I would be able to edit pictures would be nice, but definitely not required.

 

[Lucas]

Surface 3 could work (not the pro version)

 

[Troy.]

I know a few of the new Canon cameras have Wifi, so they can push photos to your iPhone (kind of like the new GoPro app). I don't know what you shoot with, but that might be worth looking into. However, if all you'll be using is a tablet, you might have some post production drawbacks, which are worth considering.

To play for the other team, the new Macbooks are super light and capable of photo editing. That might be the best of both worlds?

 

[MacMahoooon]

Surface 3 could work (not the pro version)

The surface tablets are pretty powerful for what they are. I use them at work for some pretty high horsepower applications. And you can get an LTE version

 

[Bodhisattva_]

I've been thinking about that, I currently have Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, but I rarely do much editing post-shoot. I usually make sure I'm getting exactly what I want when I'm taking the picture first hand, usually adjusting white balance before I shoot to get the right colors right off the bat.

So to answer your question, yes, I would be uploading without any editing involved. So having a device where I would be able to edit pictures would be nice, but definitely not required.

Surface 3 could work (not the pro version)

Not a photographer but I was looking around and the Surface 3's are Pretty capable and have a usb plug-in. You can also download Adobe Suite I was watching videos of ppl editing with Adobe Premiere.

 

[Tinga]

What would you be uploading your photos to?

If you're just doing some social media/ blogging I have a wireless device on my D3200 and I have lightroom on my nexus 4.

If you are actually doing shoots for customers or where photo resolution actually matters that probably wont work.

 

[Wheaty214]

What would you be uploading your photos to?

If you're just doing some social media/ blogging I have a wireless device on my D3200 and I have lightroom on my nexus 4.

If you are actually doing shoots for customers or where photo resolution actually matters that probably wont work.

I would like my pictures to be as high quality as possible, so something that would be able to process my images from my camera and not destroy the looks of it. (Somewhat like Facebook does to pictures).

 

[robbinJAHood]

If you have a Mac why not get an iPad. I know you can't upload your pics from a USB cord but you can push them to it over wifi or LTE. Get it through your cell phone company (I know Verizon does this because that's where I got mine). For me it's convenient to send pictures of my artwork from my phone to store it on my iPad mini and use that then as a digital portfolio.

 

[Wheaty214]

If you have a Mac why not get an iPad. I know you can't upload your pics from a USB cord but you can push them to it over wifi or LTE. Get it through your cell phone company (I know Verizon does this because that's where I got mine). For me it's convenient to send pictures of my artwork from my phone to store it on my iPad mini and use that then as a digital portfolio.

I also have Verizon, so could you tell me more about this? Do I go in and talk to them about getting 4G LTE with it or what? And how does the transfer work? I'm not familiar with Apple products other than my Mac, as I've always had a Samsung for a phone.

 

[robbinJAHood]

I also have Verizon, so could you tell me more about this? Do I go in and talk to them about getting 4G LTE with it or what? And how does the transfer work? I'm not familiar with Apple products other than my Mac, as I've always had a Samsung for a phone.

I'm not exactly sure because my parents got it for me for my birthday but basically it has service like a regular phone. It connects to your data plan you have on your phone. Say you have a 10g of data per month plan for your phone. That 10g would then be able to be shared between your phone and the iPad. You can share photos from other apple products using an option in pictures called Shared Photos. Other than using another item to transfer all your pics from your camera I'm not really sure how all that would work. Unless you have one of those crazy cameras with wifi or something in it