Lightroom for iPad!

[Photo Op]

Here it comes-

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1697447

[neil snape]

I heard about this a while back. Likely true there will be a version if the testing showed  market potential. One big thing missing from LR is Phase Capture One Pilot. The only reason I bought C1 was for Pilot.
I never used it though as learning C1 is time consuming, without the vast selection of great tutorials around, nor the excellent presenters of LR, like Julianne Kost for Adobe.

[luxborealis]

If it is released as a CC yearly subscription I will NEVER by it. I've used Lightroom since 3 and have taught Lightroom at the college level (I even instituted the first BYO Laptop course specifically for LR).

The point is, I've been behind LR from the beginning, but I will not be sucked down the Adobe road of perpetual payments (that means forever folks!!). There is nothing, I repeat, nothing that LR offers that can't be found in other equivalent apps (C1, a dated Aperture, etc).

When Adobe left LR "dangling" as the only non-CC app, I knew something was up. Well, now we know. I love using my iPad, and it would a wonderful work platform for something that is more visual than text-based, but I can find far more productive ways of spending $99 every year for the rest of my life (or until Adobe finds another way to squeeze money out of us).

While I commend Adobe's business model for CC as it pertains to corporate photography (it's brilliant, actually), I am not fanboy enough (nor insecure enough) to feel the need to wear the Adobe patch on my sleeve.

[dreed]

Hmm, if you were buying an iPad and then added a WiFi enabled external hard drive, it might almost be worthwhile.

I wonder what the battery life is?

How many GB of images can be imported?

With a WiFi enabled camera, it would be a fantastic way to press the shutter button and capture an image remotely. Would eat through the battery but no cables or time wasted importing from a card. Being WiFi means no risk of dirt in the various sockets, etc.

LR on the iPad would be targeted at supporting me:
- using my LR database or an exported segment of it when I'm away from my desk...
- or if my LR catalog was stored in the cloud ...
- not needing to take a laptop with me on a shoot but I'd probably want a WiFi connected hard drive for primary and maybe backup image importing

What I'd love to see would be a "Lightroom-Lite" for iPad that allows me to import and tag images whilst I'm traveling and means I don't need to lug around a laptop. Whilst traveling, I don't usually have the time or inclination to do development and edits beyond deleting the garbage but being able to get all the right meta data in on first import makes a huge difference later.

[jferrari]

I'm going to hold out for Lightroom version for the Samsung wristwatch phone! Think how cool it will be when we can take the photo, edit in Lightroom then print to canvas all with a mere flick of the wrist! It's right up there with tinted mufflers and AM-FM backlit tires for my car...

[john beardsworth]

Honestly, officer, those wrist movements were just scrolling up and down the page.....

[Alan Klein]

Would you trust your iPad's screen colors and other light features to edit for a large blowup print?  If you only wanted it for showing on the Internet, or electronically like in email or Facebook, do you really need something so sophisticated for simple editing? 

[john beardsworth]

Of course you wouldn't, but it's probably for use when you're away from your desk. You might decide which pictures may be worth proper work, maybe even make some rough adjustments when you're stuck on the train or waiting for someone in the pub? If nothing else, that leaves more time for the fine tuning in your real working environment.

[Misirlou]

Looks to me like the raw files would be stored in the cloud, and you'd be manipulating the new "smart previews" or whatever they're called, rather than locally stored raw files. Just my speculation of course.

I don't think an iPad has the power to do full LR functionality, but I don't think that's the point. What I would like is something to handle the field part of my workflow. So, for example, I shoot a couple gigs of pics per day while on vacation. I upload them to the iPad via wifi (my Canon 6D does that now, although I'm not sure it copies full raws yet). Then using this iPad version of LR, I check for quality (focus, tonal range, etc.) and determine if I need to reshoot. Add keywords, color labels etc., and let the app sync all that with the cloud while I'm doing something else. When I get home, I sync with my main catalog on my work machine to handle the heavy editing work.

That would mean no need to carry a computer with me. I would pay $100 per year for that capability.

[dreed]

...
I don't think an iPad has the power to do full LR functionality, but I don't think that's the point. What I would like is something to handle the field part of my workflow. So, for example, I shoot a couple gigs of pics per day while on vacation. I upload them to the iPad via wifi (my Canon 6D does that now, although I'm not sure it copies full raws yet). Then using this iPad version of LR, I check for quality (focus, tonal range, etc.) and determine if I need to reshoot. Add keywords, color labels etc., and let the app sync all that with the cloud while I'm doing something else. When I get home, I sync with my main catalog on my work machine to handle the heavy editing work.

That would mean no need to carry a computer with me. I would pay $100 per year for that capability.

There are two problems as I see it:
1) cost associated with uploading that much data: with raw files you're likely to have 4GB+ easily which will push you past the data limit of most complimentary access plans, assuming that the data network is fast enough to upload all of that overnight for you;
2) cost associated with cloud storage: it's often free to upload but downloading...

[jferrari]

Honestly, officer, those wrist movements were just scrolling up and down the page.....

LMAO! Glad I didn't have a cup of coffee in my hand!

Soon, I will also have to get the new iSaw. It's a tiny version of a table saw that you can make your frames on when you're away from your full size table saw. Man, looks like in the future I'll have a LOT of stuff on my wrist!

[Telecaster]

I don't think an iPad has the power to do full LR functionality...

Hah! My current iPad Air is a pretty speedy gizmo. And an iPad Lightroom will be running atop a far more streamlined OS too. Memory will likely be the main constraint. The PhotoRAW app, for example, struggles to decode Sony A7r RAWs on my iPad 2 with its 512k of RAM, but since it uses virtual mem it does manage. On the Air, though, it flies.

Y'all who think tablets are toys...you have no clue.

-Dave-

[Schewe]

Here it comes-

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1697447

Not for nothing but this is premature specification (something Adobe does from time to time accidentally). But, what you DON'T have is any actual specifications, features and functionality. So, lining up to condemn LR for mobile is pretty silly. Ya might wanna wait to find out exactly what Adobe will be releasing...

[Misirlou]

Hah! My current iPad Air is a pretty speedy gizmo. And an iPad Lightroom will be running atop a far more streamlined OS too. Memory will likely be the main constraint. The PhotoRAW app, for example, struggles to decode Sony A7r RAWs on my iPad 2 with its 512k of RAM, but since it uses virtual mem it does manage. On the Air, though, it flies.

Y'all who think tablets are toys...you have no clue.

-Dave-

I have an Air too, so I'm not exactly clueless myself. I have a load of iOS photo apps, and on occasion sell something shot and processed entirely an iPhone or iPad. I've got 128G on both that and my Mini, so I'd have enough space to store a whole vacation worth of stills on either (don't do video much).

It's not that I think an iPad couldn't handle editing photos due to inherent hardware weakness, but more that there are still a whole host of tools that will likely not be available on iOS for quite some time (true color calibration for example).

I'm not too worried about the cloud throughput aspect either. If I were working with gigs of shots, I'd load them to the cloud via wifi when it was convenient, not LTE. And it was my understanding that the $99 would include quite a bit of cloud storage. Personally, I don't think I'd need my entire catalog in the cloud; just enough storage to tide me over until I get back home and sync with my main store.

[jgcox]

I haven't tried this out yet. But can't you remotely control use your desktop programs on your tablet (via third party software)? To the purpose of Lightroom 5 on a tablet?

[jaclarkaus]

At $99 a year, I can't see it being a big seller as it's competition is either free or $5

If you use a notebook, you get faster, more storage, and it's covered in the same license as your desktop, so no more cost.

[Misirlou]

At $99 a year, I can't see it being a big seller as it's competition is either free or $5

If you use a notebook, you get faster, more storage, and it's covered in the same license as your desktop, so no more cost.

But, then you have to carry a notebook. Many of us find an iPad Air or Mini to be easier to lug around. I take one just about everywhere I go, even use my Mini while flying my small airplane.

[digitaldog]

But, then you have to carry a notebook. Many of us find an iPad Air or Mini to be easier to lug around.

True but the two tools are quite different. My iPhone camera is really easy to lug around but I still find I need to lug around the DSLR. Different tools for different jobs.

[kaelaria]

Next up....


OK Glass!  Edit Photo!  Enhance!  Enhance!  Enhance!  Export!

[Telecaster]

It's not that I think an iPad couldn't handle editing photos due to inherent hardware weakness, but more that there are still a whole host of tools that will likely not be available on iOS for quite some time (true color calibration for example).

Gotcha. Hopefully the release of a "serious" app like LR will lead to more serious adjunct tools too.

I haven't actually thought much about iPads (or other tablets) as process-for-print devices. I use mine to process for screen display, and take for granted the images will be seen on a variety of (mostly) uncalibrated devices. So I try to work within a more restrained tonal range. Kinda like the visual equivalent of Mastering for iTunes.    Seems to me that concept is something an iPad LR oughta incorporate. Get out ahead of the 4k display wave and be ready when it crests.

-Dave-