Why the new iPad Pro has such a good camera

You might have noticed that the new iPad Pro has a high-performance 12-megapixel camera that can record 4K video.

Sure, you can use it to take photos and videos of your family vacation, but that’s not what it’s for.

It’s for capturing super-sharp, high-res photos and videos and working with them on the spot.

This is a professional-grade camera and an editing station in a single device. It’s perfect for projects where carrying around a camera and laptop is impractical or too much of a hassle.

Here are a few of the things it can do:

• Take photos of products, projects, properties, or people; touch them up on the spot with pro-grade editing apps; and upload them to the Internet.
• Take high-res videos, edit them on the spot, and upload them to the Internet.
• Scan pictures or art, which benefit from a higher quality camera, then annotate or sign with the Apple Pencil.

You can do some of that with non-Pro models of the iPad, like the iPad Air 2, but you wouldn’t really want to. The cameras on previous iPad models are notoriously poor, and, while the chips are fine for running Netflix, Facebook, and even some art apps, they’re not powerful enough to run pro-grade apps with smooth and fast performance.

And you technically could do all of that with the original 12.9-inch iPad Pro, as it has a decent 8-megapixel camera and runs on the same super-powerful A9X chips as the new iPad Pro. But it’s not as good as the 12-megapixel camera, and it’s far too large to take photo and videos with while you’re out and about.

Above: The new iPad Pro.

Image Credit: Apple

So, why not use the iPhone 6s Plus, which also has a great 12-megapixel camera, can record 4K, and is even more portable than either iPad? The 6s Plus even has a stabilizer to reduce vibrations from your hand when you’re taking a shot.

For one thing, the new iPad Pro has “Cinematic video stabilization.” We haven’t fully tested how well this “stabilization” works, but since it’s “cinematic,” it might be better suited to shooting video.

Above: The new iPad Pro.

Image Credit: Apple screenshot

Secondly, it’s not practical to work on the photos/videos you took with your iPhone with editing apps because the screen is simply too small.

So, for anyone who wants to take big, beautiful photos and videos and fix them up on the spot, whether for real estate, construction or any other purpose, the new iPad Pro offers a complete package.

This story originally appeared on Business Insider. Copyright 2016