I bought an Apple Pencil for my iPad Pro. It cost me just under £100. Not from Amazon, not this time. I bought it at Dixons World Travel at Gatwick Airport. 

I thought I would save 20% buying it “Duty Free” from the airport, but rather surprisingly it cost me £98. 

That is 99p cheaper than on Amazon. 

But there was one thing that I could not change. I had a flight. Three hours stuck in a seat. And I wanted that pencil. And three hours back of course.

So what are my initial thoughts? 

Don’t worry Apple – after my review of the Apple Watch (listen to me telling Apple not to worry what I think about one of their products – who do I think I am ha!).

It is fantastic. 

I use it to edit photographs on the new app Plotagraph. That is what I bought it for. And I thought I would use it for editing photos in Lightroom Mobile too. 

And it was. 

I have rediscovered the joy of dodging an burning using the Apple Pencil. And of much more accurate masking and selections.

I think that this might be me going down the road of a Wacom tablet. I am not going to rush into this, as I really enjoyed dodging and burning in Lightroom. Producing pictures with motion using Plotagraph was also a pleasurable experience. 

And also using the clone stamp tool in Photoshop Fix on my iPad. 

All these things have been massively improved by the introduction of this piece of kit. 

But back to that pencil. 

Installation was a doddle. Plug it in and after a few seconds all connected and working. 

I do find it weird writing on my precious iPad Pro screen though, even more so when taking advantage of the pressure sensitivity.

This is not going to be a novelty purchase – I really have enjoyed the benefits of this little marvel so thank you Apple for another great but of kit. 

And if you read my post the other day entitled “My thoughts on photography gear – how much photography gear is too much” I will put the Apple Pencil straight into the category of something that makes my work better, quicker, easier and more enjoyable. 

So a definite hit with me. I will no doubt write more about the Apple Pencil as I get to know it better.

Rick McEvoy Photography