Apple versus Samsung. iPadOS versus Android. Apple Pencil versus S Pen.
It’s one of the biggest tablet scraps around, but we’re not interested in sitting on the sofa watching Netflix or playing Candy Crush while pretending we’re being productive.
We’re talking proper photo editing. 📸
More specifically:
Adobe Lightroom. Adobe Photoshop. RAW photographs. Concert photography. Festival editing. Exporting images while you’re still covered in mud and wondering where your next coffee is coming from.
So, if you’re a photographer looking for a tablet capable of becoming part of your editing workflow, which should you buy?
🥊 Apple iPad Pro
or
🥊 Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra
Fight!
🎸 Why Tablets Are Becoming Brilliant for Photographers
There was a time when serious photo editing meant sitting behind a desktop computer with a massive monitor.
Then laptops became powerful enough to take on the road.
Now tablets have entered the pit.
And they’re getting ridiculously capable.
For concert and festival photographers in particular, that can be incredibly useful.
Imagine you’ve just photographed a band.
You’ve got hundreds — potentially thousands — of RAW images sitting on your memory card.
Instead of waiting until you get home, you can potentially:
- Import your photographs
- Cull the rubbish
- Rate your favourites
- Correct exposure
- Recover highlights
- Lift shadows
- Fix white balance
- Apply masks
- Crop images
- Remove distractions
- Export finished photographs
- Upload them to your website or social media
All while the next band is soundchecking.
That’s a massive advantage for music photographers and publications trying to get coverage online quickly.
And that’s exactly the sort of workflow we’re looking at here.
🍎 iPad Pro
The iPad Pro has become one of the most interesting portable creative devices around.
Pair one with an Apple Pencil and suddenly you’ve got something that sits somewhere between a laptop, graphics tablet and ridiculously expensive digital sketchbook.
But the biggest advantage isn’t necessarily the hardware.
It’s the creative software ecosystem.
Adobe has invested heavily in its applications for Apple’s tablets, particularly Lightroom and Photoshop.
And that’s important.
📸 Lightroom on iPad Pro
Lightroom is where the iPad Pro really starts showing its teeth.
For photographers, the experience can be superb.
You can import RAW photographs and perform most of the editing work you’d realistically want to do while away from your main computer.
That includes things such as:
Exposure adjustments
Dark concert photography?
Welcome to our entire life. 😂
Lightroom gives you excellent control over exposure, highlights, shadows, whites and blacks.
🎨 Colour Editing
Anyone who photographs concerts knows the pain.
The lighting engineer suddenly decides:
“You know what this singer needs?
FOUR BILLION LUMENS OF RED.”
Cheers, butt. 😂
Fortunately, Lightroom’s colour controls give you plenty of options for bringing those photographs back under control.
White balance, saturation, vibrance and individual colour adjustments can completely transform difficult stage photographs.
🎭 Masking
Modern Lightroom masking tools have become incredibly powerful.
Being able to isolate subjects and make targeted adjustments is particularly useful for live music photography.
You might want to brighten the singer without lifting the entire background.
Or bring some detail back into a guitarist while keeping the stage atmosphere intact.
Doing that directly on a touchscreen feels incredibly natural.
✏️ Apple Pencil
This is another area where the iPad makes a lot of sense for photographers.
Using an Apple Pencil for masking and detailed editing can feel considerably more precise than poking around with your finger.
Want to carefully paint an adjustment around someone’s hair?
Apple Pencil.
Need to clean up a mask around a guitar?
Apple Pencil.
Need to remove something distracting from the edge of the photograph?
You get the idea.
It effectively turns the iPad into a portable graphics tablet.
🖥️ Photoshop Is Where Apple Pulls Ahead
And here’s the big one.
Photoshop.
Lightroom is available across both ecosystems and provides a strong experience on Android.
But when Photoshop becomes an important part of your workflow, the iPad becomes much more attractive.
Adobe has spent years developing Photoshop for iPad, bringing an increasing number of desktop-style tools and workflows across to Apple’s platform.
It’s still worth remembering that tablet Photoshop isn’t identical to the full desktop version.
If your workflow involves extremely complicated actions, specialist plugins or huge multi-layer composites, you’re probably still going to want Photoshop on Windows or macOS.
But for photography?
The iPad version can be extremely useful.
🤘 The Lightroom → Photoshop Workflow
This is where things become particularly interesting.
Imagine photographing a festival.
You’ve just taken 600 photographs of one band.
You import everything into Lightroom.
You find your favourite 30 photographs.
You edit them.
One photograph needs some additional work.
Send it into Photoshop.
Make the changes.
Bring the finished image back into your workflow.
Export.
Upload.
Done.
That’s exactly the sort of portable workflow that makes the iPad Pro appealing to photographers.
🤖 Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra
Right.
Before this turns into an Apple fan club meeting, Samsung has brought an absolute monster to the fight.
And we mean monster quite literally.
The Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra has a whopping 14.6-inch display.
FOURTEEN POINT SIX INCHES.
That’s not a tablet.
That’s a television with commitment issues. 😂
But for photographers, that huge display is genuinely brilliant.
🤩 That Samsung AMOLED Display
Photo editing on a large OLED-class tablet display is lovely.
You’ve got loads of room for your photograph, editing controls and interface.
For sitting at a desk, hotel or festival media area, the Tab S10 Ultra can feel more like a laptop replacement than a traditional tablet.
It’s particularly attractive if screen size is one of your biggest priorities.
Concert photographs can look absolutely spectacular on it.
Deep blacks.
Punchy contrast.
Beautiful colour.
Loads of screen real estate.
Lovely stuff.
✏️ And Samsung Includes the S Pen
This deserves some serious credit.
Samsung includes its S Pen with the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra.
Apple’s Pencil is typically another purchase on top of an already expensive tablet.
Samsung basically goes:
“Here’s your tablet. Here’s your pen. Crack on, butt.”
Tidy. 🤘
For Lightroom editing, the S Pen is excellent.
Masking, brushing and making precise adjustments all benefit from having a stylus.
📸 Lightroom on Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra
Here’s where things get interesting.
Lightroom on Android is genuinely very good.
If your photography workflow revolves almost entirely around Lightroom, Samsung becomes a much stronger contender.
You can work with RAW photographs, make detailed adjustments, use masking tools, organise your images and export your finished shots.
Combine that with the enormous screen and S Pen and you’ve got a very capable portable Lightroom machine.
⚠️ But Photoshop Changes the Argument
This is where I’d personally lean towards the iPad Pro.
If you’re buying a tablet specifically because you want Lightroom AND Photoshop, Apple’s ecosystem currently makes more sense as the complete Adobe photography package.
Samsung can absolutely handle serious Lightroom editing.
But Photoshop is the part of this comparison where the iPad has the stronger proposition.
And if Photoshop is something you’re going to use regularly, that’s a pretty significant advantage.
💻 Samsung DeX Is Bloody Brilliant
Samsung does have another massive weapon.
DeX.
Samsung DeX gives the tablet a desktop-style environment that’s much closer to how many people expect a computer to behave.
Add a keyboard and mouse and suddenly the Tab S10 Ultra starts feeling remarkably laptop-like.
Multiple windows.
Desktop-style multitasking.
External displays.
File management.
It’s one of Samsung’s biggest advantages.
If you’re looking for one device that can be a tablet AND something approaching a laptop replacement, Samsung deserves serious consideration.
🎪 What About Festival Photography?
Now we’re getting into Riff Report territory. 🤘
Picture the scene.
You’ve been photographing bands since midday.
You’ve walked approximately 47 miles between stages.
Your boots contain half of Donington.
Your camera batteries are dying.
You’ve eaten something advertised as a burger that may technically qualify as building material.
And now you’ve got to edit photographs.
😂
Portability suddenly matters.
And this is where that glorious Samsung screen can become both a blessing and a curse.
The Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra is BIG.
That’s fantastic when you’re sitting somewhere comfortable.
Less fantastic when you’ve got approximately enough desk space for:
- One camera
- Half a Red Bull
- Three memory cards
- A sausage roll
…and somebody has already nicked the chair.
The iPad Pro — particularly depending on which size you choose — can be considerably easier to carry around.
For festival work, that matters.
💾 Don’t Forget Storage
This is massively important for photographers.
RAW photographs are enormous.
Shoot thousands of images across a three-day festival and storage disappears quicker than beer tokens on Saturday night.
Whatever tablet you choose, think carefully about your workflow.
You may want:
Large internal storage
256GB might disappear surprisingly quickly if you’re constantly importing RAW photographs.
512GB or more gives you considerably more breathing room.
💽 External SSD
I’d absolutely consider carrying an external SSD.
Modern portable SSDs are tiny, quick and easy to chuck into your camera bag.
You can use them as part of your backup strategy and avoid completely filling the tablet’s internal storage.
Because there’s nothing more enjoyable than seeing:
STORAGE FULL
…when you’ve got another eight bands to photograph.
Lovely. 😂
🥊 iPad Pro vs Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra
Feature
🍎 iPad Pro
🤖 Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra
Lightroom
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐½
Photoshop
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐
RAW Editing
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Performance
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐½
Display
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Stylus Editing
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Stylus Included
❌
✅
Desktop-style Multitasking
⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Portability
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐
Laptop Replacement Potential
⭐⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Adobe Photography Workflow
🏆
⭐⭐⭐⭐
🏆 So Which One Would We Buy?
If the main purpose of the tablet is:
PHOTOGRAPHY + LIGHTROOM + PHOTOSHOP
We’re giving this one to the:
🏆🍎 iPad Pro
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra is an astonishing piece of hardware.
That huge display is gorgeous.
The included S Pen is brilliant.
Samsung DeX is fantastic.
And Lightroom works extremely well.
If Lightroom is basically your entire editing workflow, the Samsung deserves serious consideration.
But introduce Photoshop into the equation and the balance shifts.
The iPad Pro currently offers the more convincing overall Adobe photography workflow.
📸 Our Dream Portable Concert Photography Setup
If we were putting together a portable Riff Report editing rig for festivals, we’d be looking at something along these lines:
iPad Pro
Apple Pencil
Large internal storage
Portable USB-C SSD
USB-C memory card reader
Power bank
Lightroom
Photoshop
That gives you a seriously capable mobile editing station.
Photograph the band.
Get out of the pit.
Import the RAW files.
Cull.
Edit.
Photoshop anything that needs extra attention.
Export.
Upload.
Then get back to the stage before the next band starts.
🔥📸🤘
🎸 The Riff Report Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra wins for screen size, S Pen value and desktop-style flexibility.
The iPad Pro wins for the overall Photoshop and Lightroom photography workflow.
And because that’s what we’re judging here…
🏆 WINNER: APPLE iPAD PRO 🍎📸
For photographers who want a portable editing machine that can sit between their camera and their main desktop or laptop, the iPad Pro is incredibly difficult to beat.
The Samsung is the giant-screen multitasking monster.
The iPad is the Adobe-powered photography weapon.
And when you’ve got 2,000 festival photographs waiting to be edited at midnight?
You want the weapon.
Now somebody find the coffee. ☕😂🤘
The Riff Report Blog
🎸 Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud.
📸 Cameras charged. Memory cards ready. Riffs incoming.
