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

[soulbot]

Despite having a CC licence and the latest top of the range 15" Retina MacBook pro I still haven't installed Lightroom on my system because it's far too cumbersome to deal with my 200GB+ of photos.

How much experience do you have with Lightroom? To me it almost sounds like, "I don't like spinach. No, I've never tried spinach." 😉 I think too many folks are so paralyzed by the thought of change that it prevents them from taking the proper time to give something "different" a real chance. All too often a cursory view leads to dismissal. But hey, to each their own. My personal (Lightroom 4.4) catalog references well over 200GB of photos. It's not cumbersome at all! And this is on a 2008 Mac Pro—not exactly the fastest system on the bench nowadays.

I don't understand how anyone could conceive of using a program like that on an iPad, even if it only uses the smaller offline versions of the images. The screen real-estate of the iPad wouldn't be enough for Lightroom's complex interface for a start.

1.) Due to the mobile nature of everything at hand, I don't think this is aimed at manipulating a career's worth of photos. Wrong tool for the job. It's going to be better suited for smaller catalogs. Like, I just traveled out of town for a wedding, now I'm on the train heading home and I want to start making selects, rejecting, keywording and light adjustments in the meantime. Do I need a laptop for this process?

2.) Yes, the LR interface could definitely be seen as a little bulky. (I thought so too, when migrating from Aperture.) But almost all of those panels in the "complex interface" can be hidden. Attached is a full-screen screenshot of a catalog I'm going through right now… Of course you could still hide the right-hand panel as well.

Simply doesn't sound like this is for you. That's quite alright since not everyone's workflow is the same. But I can see this being a pretty powerful and valuable tool for a LOT of photographers. People for whom the pros far outweigh the cons.

 

[jacobj]

Changes made within the app synced with the desktop version of Lightroom, allowing the same photos to be edited on desktop computers, laptops, and on the iPad. Based on the reoccurring subscription fees for Lightroom mobile listed above, it is likely that the finished product works in much the same way, storing photos and edits in the cloud.

I'm not usually a pendant (language changes), but reoccurring just looks wrong...let's stick with recurring ;-)

I can't see this working too well for most photographers. The iPad just lacks the grunt to do any heavy lifting. Perhaps for photo journalists that just want to make a few quick changes before uploading for quick distribution. Light is best then I suppose.

 

[pearvsapple]

We should separate the term 'App" and 'Software' completely. App = lowly mobile shovelware ranging from fart apps to low-end productivity toys. Software = desktop-quality software.

 

[SeenJeen]

We should separate the term 'App" and 'Software' completely. App = lowly mobile shovelware ranging from fart apps to low-end productivity toys. Software = desktop-quality software.

Or just call them 'desktop apps' and 'mobile apps' 🙄

 

[dysamoria]

I'm STILL not going to pay subscription fees for software. Adobe has killed any chance of people like me buying their product. Even if I had an income, it wouldn't be enough to waste money on subscriptions. It's old software, or pirated copies when the old fails to work on new os versions. They made the choice for me by eliminating the option to pay once for perpetual use.

 

[quasibinaer]

Jeeez, Adobe.

First of all, this is gonna be for the point-and-shoot clientel only. My mother might have use for this, editing the pictures from her phone. Because I just don´t expect any iPad whatsoever to be able to process 15MP+ RAWs in an acceptable timeframe. Unless you put an i7 in there, of course.

Secondly, there´s the storage problem: Let´s say I´ll take it on the road for some ultra-mobile editing and transmitting. Given I own a 128GB iPad Air with 4G (who buys these anyway?), how long do they think it is going to last when one has a few other apps or the odd movie on there? How am I meant to manage my files consistently - pulling them through iTunes or what? Yeah. Sure. Oh and don´t I need a computer for that? Guess I´ll just upload the whole show to the cloud then? Oh, wait, no Internet at my shooting location. Afterwards, I´ll make a backup to be ... oh.
It´s like buying a golf cart, putting camo paint on it and asking it to be a tank.

And here´s the kicker: For the price of that iPad (plus a little extra, admittedly), I can get a wonderfully configured 11" MacBook Air. Full trackpad, physical keyboard and a form factor that doesn´t need covers or anything to work properly. And my neck won´t hurt after an hour of editing. And I don´t smear the screen while I´m working. The colors are easily managed. And it´s got enough processing power for 20MP+ RAWs. And the interface will probably still be better than on the iPad. I can use external drives. I can easily use CF cards insted of those flimsy SD cards (believe it or not, some people care about this).

In short, I don´t see myself shelling out (the european equivalent of) 99$ just to be able to dawdle about on a device that just doesn´t work for professional photographers in the field. It´ll probably be even less useful in the studio. The thought that they want to sell me this sad idea as a subscription doesn´t make this any better, either.

I love Lightroom, it´s the single best piece of software I own. I like my iPad, too. It´s great to read books, check the weather or browse the web on occasion. But the combination of both is not a professional tool by any means, at least not for a photographer.

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Despite having a CC licence and the latest top of the range 15" Retina MacBook pro I still haven't installed Lightroom on my system because it's far too cumbersome to deal with my 200GB+ of photos.

LR5, if managed correctly, will eat five times that for lunch. I´m close to 1,5 TB on my MacBook Air, no worries so far.

 

[downpour]

How much experience do you have with Lightroom? To me it almost sounds like, "I don't like spinach. No, I've never tried spinach." 😉

...Due to the mobile nature of everything at hand, I don't think this is aimed at manipulating a career's worth of photos. Wrong tool for the job."

I think you misunderstood me on the first point, I wasn't saying there is anything wrong with Lightroom, just that using it to manage your photos is rather terrifying even on a very powerful computer. Trying to use it on an iPad just seems crazy, the iPad has too low a storage capacity and it's too slow and impractical to move 1000's of photos on and off it. It's fine for showcasing a small set of images, like your holiday snaps etc, and the small multitouch screen is great for all sorts of things, just not applying multiple subtle adjustments while simultaneously viewing an entire high-res image.

If Apple's new larger iPad comes with 512GB of storage and a fast built-in card reader then I might change my mind, but I don't think that's very likely.

LR5, if managed correctly, will eat five times that for lunch. I´m close to 1,5 TB on my MacBook Air, no worries so far.

I didn't mean Lightroom couldn't handle it. I meant I can't handle it. The time involved in sorting out all those photos and organising them in Lightroom is some kind of logical fashion is a daunting task, even when you have all the right tools for the job. This article gave me a waking nightmare of what trying to do the same thing on an iPad would be like.

 

[quasibinaer]

I didn't mean Lightroom couldn't handle it. I meant I can't handle it. The time involved in sorting out all those photos and organising them in Lightroom is some kind of organised fashion is a daunting task, even when you have all the right tools for the job. This article gave me a waking nightmare of what trying to do the same thing on an iPad would be like.

Well, one has to have (at least some sort of) order first of all before importing, that´s for sure 😉
As for your case - try to go by date. LR is able to sort all your files into dated folders during import (I use YYYY/MM/DD). That should get you started. I´d also recommend to not render any previews for your 200GB import, that´ll take ages even on a rMBP. Instead, render them as needed (Library -> Previews -> Render previews). This way, you´ll also save yourself tons of space on your HD. Afterwards, check this out. Happy editing.

As you correctly said, the iPad just isn´t cut out for this. 20 pictures here, 40 pictures there, fine. But advanced amateurs or professionals will have a hard time sorting through a few hundred frames on an iPad, deadlines looming.

 

[Xian Zhu Xuande]

That's the standalone price by itself. Though if you've already got a sub for Lightroom through Creative Cloud, you'll probably have access to the app on the iPad as soon as its released.

...or at least you damn well better.

If it is included in Creative Cloud that's another matter entirely, and reasonable. I pay for Creative Cloud and it has been nice to see other features rolled in. If they start doing things like this independently of the Creative Cloud service, much stronger words than 'disappointed' come to mind.