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Adobe Lightroom for iPad Likely Coming Soon With Cloud Syncing and $99 Subscription Fee

Regardless of price ($99 = ridiculous!) and terms (annually?!) ... Is the iPad a decent environment for such a product? I think not.

There's a place for the iPad (I love mine), photo work repository is not one of them, IMO. Besides, there are already better photo manipulation products available, and they are very inexpensive.

Not a chance, Adobe.
 
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tamvly said:
Regardless of price ($99 + ridiculous!) and terms (annually?!) ... Is the iPad a decent environment for such a product? I think not.
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I've long thought that the Library module in particular would work brilliantly on an iPad. I'd love the ability to tag, rate and organise my photos on the go with a touch-based interface.
 
Incorrect

"...electing instead to offer cloud-based versions of all its apps."

The Adobe Creative Cloud applications are not cloud-based. They are installed, and run locally, on the users own computer, just like all of Adobe's other software they've been selling since the 1980's. I really wish people would understand that already, especially tech bloggers.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Seems a bit odd.

1) iPad screens are good but no where near where they need to be for accurate color and lighting correction. So I can't see a pro ponying up $99 a year for something that doesn't really add value to workflow.

2) $99 a year for casual users is absurd given that there are similar apps for considerably last.
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1) For on the go edits and previews the screen is MORE then good enough. If it can edit Raw properly (unlike most photo editing apps), lets them edit meta-data, none destructive, and transfers all the edits to the desktop version, then ABSO-FREAKIN'-LUTLY they'll pay $99 a year!!! That's drop in the bucket!! Heck I'm a hobbyist and I'd pay that!

2) I agree, but to be fair most casual users wouldn't have the same workflow of a professional or enthusiast. They probably wouldn't understand the benefits of Lightroom anyway regardless of which version it is.
 
Renzatic said:
They might have to limit the level of undo's and/or layers (and maybe max image resolution) to keep it working within a 1GB limit, but the Airs at least would be able to chew through most of what Lightroom has to offer without any problems.

Lightroom hardly needs a Mac Pro level machine to do its thing, and the A7 is a pretty speedy little processor. I think it could be a good fit for the iPad.
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Thanks. The only reason I ask is because the Air still reloads tabs in Safart, say if I have 3-4 tabs open and switch, most of the time the page reloads. I don't know if this is a software issue or a hardware issue.
 
AppleScruff1 said:
Thanks. The only reason I ask is because the Air still reloads tabs in Safart, say if I have 3-4 tabs open and switch, most of the time the page reloads. I don't know if this is a software issue or a hardware issue.
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I think that might be a software issue, and one only concerning the 64-bit revs of Safari. Unless I'm hitting up pages with a ton of Youtube videos posted on them, or ones that use a lot of heavy Javascript, I can easily keep 5-6 tabs open without Safari constantly reloading them on my iPad 3.

Though unlike SOME people here (you know who you are :mad:), I'm not gonna use this as some lame justification as to why the iPads only need 1GB of ram. More ram always equals gooder, and the Air should've come with 2GB standard.
 
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I guess soon enough Lightroom will be CC only - just like the rest of their Pro Apps. I'm sticking with Aperture for a while. I'm sure CC is great but supporting this rental software scheme is not only against my principles but making this a success is a bad precedent. Subscription should be for software updates and added new functionality not for the temporary rights to run my app. CC benefits Adobe more then its loyal customers.
 
Jessica Lares said:
I'm canceling my CC in May, but otherwise it's a great service. People here gripe about the price, but it's been worth every penny for me. I'm glad Lightroom is coming to the mobile market. It's a no brainer to the people using their iPads as full fledge photo studios.
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Just curious… How are you going to maintain access to all your files once you cancel your Creative Cloud subscription?

cateye said:
So, I'd say no, they're not losing money. For me, as a design professional, CC has been great, but I can fully understand it's a difficult choice for someone who likes to occasionally dabble in design/graphics/video.
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I don't 'occasionally dabble'. I make a living using Adobe software, and have tended to upgrade quite regularly over the years. But I refuse to go down this path. I think Yoda said it best… 'Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you it will!'
 
Will do good said:
Simple, don't buy their products and service until this crap is over with.

I'm still using CS3 and CS6, it's more than good enough.
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Exactly. My spending $200.00 every 18 months wasn't enough for Adobe.

I'm using PS CS6 for Mac. I even updated my Windows CS3 which I hardly use to CS6. I'm good for quite awhile.
 
You guys don't get it. The iPad app will likely be separate from the actual subscription service. It's actually different in that it shows up differently when you're in your account settings on Adobe's website.

How do I know? I may have been the guy who broke this story on Twitter (@aacduke) and very likely the first and only customer as I spent my $99. Instead of showing up under the regular subscriptions along with Adobe Creative Cloud, it's in a separate section at the bottom for services.

I believe the annual fee is for the sync component, which will sync lower-res files from your entire library to your iPad, allowing you to do RAW adjustments, and then sync back the .xmp file to your Mac with all of the adjustments. That's a huge deal for photographers and I would (did) glady spend $99/yr for that feature alone. The only thing I'm not really certain about is if I download RAW images to my iPad in the field, will those full-res files sync back to my home computer through Adobe's solution?

I haven't been provided with many details regarding my purchase but Tom Hogarty, Adobe Lightroom Product Manager is having the product team email me about the situation.
 
Jessica Lares said:
I'm canceling my CC in May, but otherwise it's a great service. People here gripe about the price, but it's been worth every penny for me. I'm glad Lightroom is coming to the mobile market. It's a no brainer to the people using their iPads as full fledge photo studios.
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Who would want to edit RAW photos on an ARM processor with 1GB of ram?
 
kalsta said:
Just curious… How are you going to maintain access to all your files once you cancel your Creative Cloud subscription?
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If she's canceling her subscription, then she's probably not too concerned about it. So long as she saves out her images in a standard file format, she can keep the .psds and whatnot hanging around until she needs them again, which she can open up by resubbing.

...or by making a fake account with a fake email and riding the 30 day trial.

I don't 'occasionally dabble'. I make a living using Adobe software, and have tended to upgrade quite regularly over the years. But I refuse to go down this path. I think Yoda said it best… 'Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you it will!'
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Like I said earlier, I'm not totally sold on the whole idea of subscription software myself, but I do see some pluses alongside the cons. While it's not all kittens and rainbows, it's not all gloomdark wastelands and bloody mangled corpses, either.

There are advantages, such as having an ever updating, constantly patched version of Photoshop for the price of one good pizza a month. The downside being, yeah, you cancel your subscription, you can't open your files. But you don't lose them. You're always another sub (or cheat) away from being able to open them again.

Personally, I'd rather buy my software. But I'm not 100% opposed to the idea of subscription software. If I find there are more upsides than down, I'd be willing to take the plunge.
 
Jessica Lares said:
I have CS3/CS4 (I think even CS5?) on my other machine. So it's not really an issue. It's not like most of the stuff isn't backwards compatible.
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Um, yeah it is, with just about anything other than Photoshop. At least it always has been in the past. You might want to check this and think about saving all your files back to previous versions before you lose your subscription. For InDesign, this has usually meant exporting to INX or IDML format and then importing back into your older version.
 
kalsta said:
Um, yeah it is, with just about anything other than Photoshop. At least it always has been in the past. You might want to check this and think about saving all your files back to previous versions before you lose your subscription. For InDesign, this has usually meant exporting to INX or IDML format and then importing back into your older version.
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Been there, done that. ;)

I'm OK folks.
 
Subscription?
Again?
Doesn't Adobe get it?
NO! SUBSCRIPTIONS!

Subscription software destroys our ability to access our own creations.
If I do a drawing in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop and then end my subscription I lose the ability to access my own creative work. That is crazy.

Adobe is notoriously incompatible on file formats. They appear to purposefully create incompatibilities and changing the target so I can't just take my artwork and go somewhere else. I'm sure that is what they plan.

NO SUBSCRIPTIONS!
 
cateye said:
That's a shame, then. From a business perspective, CC has a lot to offer. Perhaps Adobe has relied too long on sales to non-professionals. If that's the case, then now's as good a time as any to rip off the band-aid.
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So, you're saying too much of their income comes from non-professionals, so they should screw those customers now and get used to a lower revenue base?
 
extended option

Mind you, I'm not sure about this. I'm just throwing this out there. But, what if we DID pay for a year. Then, cancel... and wait two more years. Yeah, sure, we don't get ALL of the latest and greatest for that time... but, THEN, we renew for a year and update all they have to offer. Then, live with THAT for another two or three years before renewing again. I'm just saying... I can make sense in my head and pocketbook with, say $200 a year... but not their obnoxious $600+ a year. Just throwing out this 'pricing model' for those of us who've had enough of Adobe's pretentious pricing structures.
 
Renzatic said:
...or you save it out as a .png, .tga, or .bmp when you're done. You do lose the layers, but the final product is always yours.
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.tga and .bmp? Seriously? Guess which commenter isn't a graphics professional.

Photoshop isn't the main problem anyway, since they maintain reasonable backward compatibility there. Try saving an InDesign file to .bmp! ;)
 
Doubt the app will bring them much profit at this price point. Not even speaking of the recurring-payment-for-barely-anything-over-traditional-licenses cashgrab we already got to know...

Pyrrhic Victory said:
Adobe is run by complete morons. Forcing users to rent the software that runs files they've already created is dumber than anything Tim Cook has ever done, and that's saying a lot. Anyone who's smart will just pirate CC anyway, or keep using CS6.
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The latter, for me. Still pretty much fine with my CS6 Master Collection suite right now.
However, after all that time they offered CC, there's finally an update I actually recognize as being worth the time it took to read what it contained. But in no way worth what they ask for it and especially not regarding the sub model.

I'd probably even buy an one-time-payment upgrade to the CC feature set from my CS6 suite now if Adobe only offered it... but the way they decided to play this round, it'll eventually be a crack I guess. Eventually.
 
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