 |
| Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash |
Are you just getting started with digital photography and wonder what computer you need? Or have you been shooting for a while and are looking to speed up your machine's processing power? Below is a brief overview of things to consider for your digital darkroom. It is geared toward people who primarily shoot still photographs; if you plan to shoot lots of video, your processor, storage and video requirements will be different.
As a general suggestion, any current computer (desktop or laptop)
with 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD internal hard drive, and a fast video card
are the basics. Exactly what you need depends on the software you intend to run and the size of files that your digital camera produces. The more megapixels your camera has, the larger the files are and the more processing power and storage you need.
If you plan to use Adobe photo editing products, check the Photoshop system requirements here, the Lightroom Classic system requirements here or the Lightroom system requirements here. There is information for both Windows and Mac computers. Be sure to focus on the recommended requirements for the best performance. The minimum requirements basically let you open the application but not necessarily use it effectively or efficiently.
If you plan to use different software, such as Capture One Pro, DxO PhotoLab, Affinity Photo, Luminar AI or others, be sure to check their recommended system requirements for the most accurate information.
The monitor is also very important. It's what you look at to evaluate the brightness, color, contrast and details of your images. Even if you decide to use a laptop, you may want to invest in a larger external monitor for editing your pictures.A high resolution 4K monitor provides a very sharp display. But it also means that the text of all applications will be smaller than a lower resolution screen. You can lower the resolution of a 4K monitor to make things easier to see and still have a sharp display. A starting place for a monitor would be a 27-inch 4K model.
You also need to budget for external hard drives for photo storage and backup. I recommend three identical 2TB (or larger) SSD external hard drives. One drive is to back up your computer's internal drive. The other two drives are the primary photo storage and backup photo storage. For an overview of backup practices see this video. Both system and photo backups can be automated using software such as Carbon Copy Cloner for a Mac or SynchBackFree for Windows.
If you are mostly sharing photos via social media or email, whether or not your monitor is calibrated does not affect the appearance of your images on other people's uncalibrated screens. However, monitor calibration is critical for printed pictures. If you plan to print your images regularly, whether using a
print lab or printing yourself with an inkjet printer, then you need to purchase a monitor calibration device to ensure your screen is showing you accurate tones and colors. For an entry-level calibration tool I recommend the Datacolor Spyder or the Calibrite Display SL
Depending on which monitor you purchase, you may need to buy the
next level up of either of these tools in order to handle the screen's brightness range. Watch this video for a demonstration of calibrating a laptop screen.
Buying the latest, greatest computer you can afford with a fast processor and plenty of RAM means your machine will have a longer life before you will need to upgrade!
(I do not receive any compensation for these suggestions.)
P.S. For a more detailed discussion, photography instructor Matt Kloskowski published his updated computer equipment recommendations in a November 2024 blog post. Scroll down about a quarter of the way to find the information.