iPad Pro iPad Pro - how much storage for Lightroom?

[johnhackworth]

I'm currently planning to buy an iPad Pro - one of its uses will be as a device to edit photos using Lightroom - both slumped around the house and when away on trips - if I ever get to leave the house again

My question is - how much storage do I need? Lightroom seems fairly opaque in terms of how it handles local storage on iPad OS. Do I need to splurge for 1Tb? If on a trip I typically generate tens of Gigabytes of images then could a 256Gb or 512Gb model cope without compromises?

If it's relevant my Lightroom library is around 50,000 images and 800Gb of data.

Any experiences which anyone could share would be most welcome.

 

[AutomaticApple]

I'm currently planning to buy an iPad Pro - one of its uses will be as a device to edit photos using Lightroom - both slumped around the house and when away on trips - if I ever get to leave the house again

My question is - how much storage do I need? Lightroom seems fairly opaque in terms of how it handles local storage on iPad OS. Do I need to splurge for 1Tb? If on a trip I typically generate tens of Gigabytes of images then could a 256Gb or 512Gb model cope without compromises?

If it's relevant my Lightroom library is around 50,000 images and 800Gb of data.

Any experiences which anyone could share would be most welcome.

In that case, get the 1TB iPad Pro.

 

[johnhackworth]

@AutomaticApple - I suspect that it may not be as a straightforward as that. Lightroom uses smart previews to reduce local storage requirements.

 

[cupcakes2000]

Well, I’m a photographer. I have a 64gb version. I sync my lightroom classic library via smart previews with lightroom cc/mobile.
I haven’t ran out of space, the previews seem to be tiny, plus it downloads often from the cloud, so I think it must self clean the cache and manage the previews already downloaded after a certain time.

That said it’s not enough, I’m always managing space. 128 is the minimum. 256 would be fine. Next time though, I’ll get a TB.

Obviously, this is not working directly with RAWs or even full sized jpegs on the iPad.

If you want to use your iPad as storage for your photos, and you take 256gb of photos, then you have answered your own question really.

In the case that you have mentioned, when I need to; I don’t know how how the lightroom mobile app on the iPad handles this, but I use lightroom cc to upload raws directly to the adobe cloud, then download them to my iPad with smart previews.

A pain, but possible.

If I were you I would get the tb version.

 

[Suspenders]

I have an iPad Pro and use it for photography and editing in Lightroom. I have the 512GB model and manage storage with an external SSD & external HD. I think 512 is enough but 1TB is probably better.

 

[sparksd]

Well, I’m a photographer. I have a 64gb version. I sync my lightroom classic library via smart previews with lightroom cc/mobile.
I haven’t ran out of space, the previews seem to be tiny, plus it downloads often from the cloud, so I think it must self clean the cache and manage the previews already downloaded after a certain time.

That said it’s not enough, I’m always managing space. 128 is the minimum. 256 would be fine. Next time though, I’ll get a TB.

Obviously, this is not working directly with RAWs or even full sized jpegs on the iPad.

If you want to use your iPad as storage for your photos, and you take 256gb of photos, then you have answered your own question really.

In the case that you have mentioned, when I need to; I don’t know how how the lightroom mobile app on the iPad handles this, but I use lightroom cc to upload raws directly to the adobe cloud, then download them to my iPad with smart previews.

A pain, but possible.

If I were you I would get the tb version.

I don't know the answer myself but there are other points to consider. One is Lightroom's new ability to import/export from/to external storage, though the imagery has to be in Lightroom's local storage for processing. Another is the OP's mention of generating very large amounts of images while on travel - dependency on cloud storage and access may not be advisable.
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I have an iPad Pro and use it for photography and editing in Lightroom. I have the 512GB model and manage storage with an external SSD & external HD. I think 512 is enough but 1TB is probably better.

I also have the 512GB model of the 12.9 and inclined to agree with you given the OP's need to handle extremely large amounts of images. I tend to estimate my storage needs and then buy the next larger version - I'd rather pay the cost of too much storage than to be caught with too little.