Great news for mobile editing fans! Lightroom for iOS and Android has taken a large step forward today, making editing on the go more versatile and capable than ever.
I love the idea of mobile editing; I'm out and about so much that it's great to pull out my phone or iPad for five or ten minutes at a time and edit a photo or two. Of course, the tradeoff is that the capabilities aren't as strong as the desktop versions of software. Nonetheless, great strides have been made in recent times, and today's release represents another big step forward. Check out the new features:
Lightroom for iOS 2.4
- Allows for importing of raw photos directly to the iPhone or iPad, along with editing and sharing capabilities.
- Local adjustments can now be performed with linear and radial selections.
- Keyboard shortcuts are now available when using a physical keyboard and an iPad.
- Lens profiles are now available on mobile.
- Copyright information can be added to imported photos.
Lightroom for Android 2.1
- The new "Pro" mode for the app's built-in camera gives photographers control of shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and focus.
- There's now a widget available for direct access to the Lightroom camera.
- When exporting files, users now have the option to export full resolution files, even if the full resolution version is located elsewhere in their Lightroom system (the mobile version will download the proper file).
Elia Locardi, who we've worked with to bring you "Photographing the World: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing" and "Photographing the World: Cityscape, Astrophotography, and Advanced Post-Processing," is a fan of the mobile workflow. He's worked extensively with the new version and has written some great thoughts about it that you can read about here.
I love my iPad but I can't think of a reason why I would want to use it to edit raw files simply because it's so freaking difficult to get files onto an iPad.
I hear you there. My current workflow is to import them on my desktop like normal and sync them with mobile for that exact reason.
Use this with my D750 to iPad Pro to transfer raw files with no problem
http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MJYT2AM/A/lightning-to-sd-card-camera-...
I'm with Emmanuel. That accessory works great (if you shoot on SD cards). Storage with RAW files on a phone or tablet may be an issue, though.
You know, I really really love Lightroom Mobile. It's a great application. I find myself using it more and more. But I still can't justify processing RAW files or Smart Previews from it because as far as I know, Adobe doesn't support calibration profiles on a mobile device.
I bought an X-Rite i1Display Pro last year, and they have an app called ColorTrue, which allows you to calibrate a mobile device such as an android tablet or phone. Unfortunately, the calibrated display doesn't work system wide, at least on my Android tablet or phone, the ColorTrue app only works with specific supported apps, Lightroom isn't one of them….still
Another thing that I think is important to note, is that while it’s great that you can put your copyright information in your file and instantly share it right away via the app. Why would you want to risk publishing your photos before you’ve gotten a chance to register them with the U.S. Copyright Office? Just me?
I'd really love the ability to work in a more mobile way. But I still can't get away from my desktop & wacom tablet yet
This is where the camera companies are really going to need to come through. Right now, nearly all cameras support a WiFi transfer function but only the Jpeg files are accessible. This is just firmware though, so what I'd like to see is raw transfer via Wifi and then getting the files to the mobile side will become much easier.
The 13" iPad Pro is the only device that supports USB 3.0, the other Lightning ports are USB 2.0.
It'd be great if we could import directly to Lightroom, but it's not possible within iOS currently. Something we've definitely requested from Apple though :)
Would love to know more about the export options you'd like and how you'd imagine using them.
Josh,
I would really like to see Adobe support monitor calibration on mobile devices. What's the point of editing on a mobile device if you're not seeing accurate color, contrast etc? Why make adjustments to a file and sync them with a calibrated desktop monitor, only to find out that the adjustments you made on your mobile device were way off...At the very least, it would be nice to see LR Mobile support something the the X-Rite Color True App. So I can use my i1Display Pro for a calibrated LR Mobile workflow. I really dig LR Mobile, but right now I'm limited to syncing collections to make galleries and simply view my images on a mobile device until it makes sense to process files on mobile
Sure, better color calibration support is important, and we're exploring the best way to accomplish this. In the interim though, why prevent yourself from working when inspiration strikes? You can always sync with your color calibrated monitor back home and revise / refine. Personally, I've found the current crop to be close enough to get the style / vibe across for Facebook and IG posts—I'm not doing precise printing from my iPad at this point.
Of course, it might not be for you, but that would mean you're not doing any editing on your mobile device and where's the fun in that?
OK, understood :)
So now stoppers is running ads disguised as stories? Sad
That's a bit unfair. Every gear or gadget they talk about could be easily mistaken as an ad then. This article is about Adobe mobile stuff, but just a few days ago they talked about Creatic (another mobile editor). So as long as they keep publishing articles from all "ads" then its fair in my book.
I just wished they did more articles about Canon. They sure love Nikon here. At least they're publishing more Sony stuff (but since Sony makes Nikon sensors) it feel like they're keeping it in the family. LOL
I'm a Canon shooter, Mark! Glad to meet someone else in the club. :)
Pleasure to meet ya! Great article BTW, I'm looking for Lightning to Compact Flash readers in the other window to try out mobile...
Thank you! Yes, I'm looking forward to playing with the new version more too; I have a lot of fun with it.
Here is possibly a better option... an Apple lightning to USB 3.1 adapter. Add any card reader to the end.
http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MK0W2AM/A/lightning-to-usb-3-camera-ad...
Ooo, thanks for sharing!! I currently used mobile albums, but with the new raw capabilities, I might give the card reader method a shot. :)
The iPad is just a pain to use when it comes to sharing and managing files on the go. I wish iOS was more like Dropbox, just upload a file to an iDevice and then that file is available on all devices. Then the limitations of the walled garden isn't so bad. It be cool the other way around, upload to iCloud.com and I can see those files on my iDevice... but we really need folders... This lack of any file system is just stupid.
Agreed. I still have to remember to download the albums in LR mobile for offline usage, but it works pretty well for me at the moment.
There's a lightning to USB that lets you connect to your camera directly for CF using folks...
?
There's a lot of people talking about new local adjustments, linear and radial one. But I can't see those local adjustments on Lightroom mobile for Android, version 2.1. Why? And does someone know when it will be available?