LR on iPad while away from the LR CLassic

I tested some of your questions on my iPad Pro with an M1 processor. In short, I didn’t have performance problems and the newer M2 and M4 iPads would be even faster. But you do have to think through the file handling to make sure it will all work the way you want.

Can I open photos (.NEF and .DNG) on the ipad and LR read the .xmp and all the parameters from my USB-C hard drive ? (not the LR catalog, only photos on case by case)

By @That_Fresh_Lemon

I did a quick test, transferring a raw file and its Lightroom Classic XMP file from my computer to my iPad through the file system, but when I imported it into Lightroom iPad, the XMP edits were not read. I tried it with another file and XMP, and again it did not work. It looks like the iPad version of Lightroom doesn’t support XMP sidecars on import, and it certainly will not write out XMP files. (The desktop version of cloud Lightroom can do it through its Local tab, but the iPad version doesn’t have a Local tab.)

The alternatives have compromises…

DNG did work, in my testing Lightroom on iPad does read and apply edits made in Lightroom Classic to a DNG file. But if you want to do it this way, in Lightroom Classic you must convert the images to DNG and (as with XMP) you must make sure you have Lightroom Classic write edits out to those DNG files before importing them into iPad Lightroom.

You can transfer Lightroom Classic raw edits to iPad Lightroom by using Lightroom sync, but it won’t be full resolution because Lightroom Classic uploads only Smart Previews.

1. I’m shooting more and more films and I have TIFF scans 16bits that are smth like 60mo up to 150mo ; can the ipad and LR handle that ?

By @That_Fresh_Lemon

Do you mean megapixels or megabytes? I tried a TIFF file that was 40 megapixels, and viewing/editing performance was smooth on my M1 iPad Pro, although I didn’t test a large number of edits. It also exported quickly.

What will be the limitation of ipad + LR compared t LR classic and a computer ? What have you experienced ?

By @That_Fresh_Lemon

The difference is essentially the same as the difference between Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. Like Lightroom on desktop, Lightroom on iPad has no printing, no Smart Collections, very basic metadata handling, basic exporting, basic metadata syncing, no Secondary Display window (can’t take full advantage of iPad OS Stage Manager with an external display) and not much in the way of workflow presets (for metadata, export, etc). If you bring a keyboard, iPad Lightroom has far fewer keyboard shortcuts.

In addition, iPad Lightroom cannot directly edit images on the iPad file system (folders managed by the Files app in iPad OS). This also means Lightroom on iPad cannot take advantage of external storage if the iPad is getting full. Because any images you select for import will be copied to iPad internal storage and queued for upload. There is no way for iPad Lightroom to edit images in place in a folder on external storage (such as an external SSD). 

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@That_Fresh_Lemon wrote:

1. Will the solution be to import all in LR on the ipad and then sync it on LR Classic when back in my studio ? (does the full file get uploaded on the cloud ?)

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Yes. If you want to shoot raw files on the road, import them into iPad Lightroom, edit them in that app, and have both the full original files and their edits automatically transferred back to Lightroom Classic, then use Lightroom cloud sync. It will attempt to sync any time it detects a working Internet connection (be mindful of this if any of your travel Internet connections are metered).

For the sync option to work well: 

• Before the trip, set up the folder location where the receiving catalog will download iPad synced images. In Lightroom Classic preferences, click the Lightroom Sync tab, and set up the Location options. I set mine to match where the Import dialog saves images I catalog from camera cards, so that all images are stored in the same folder organization no matter how they come in.
• Make sure the places you stay on your trip have high enough Internet upload speed to sync all images that you expect to take. Because if the upload speed is too slow, imported photo files will be stuck on your iPad as they wait to be uploaded. If you import photos faster than they can upload, your iPad will become full if it runs out of free space on its internal storage. 

So, if you know you will have fast enough Internet upload during your trip, and if your iPad internal storage has plenty of free space to temporarily cache raw files for upload, Lightroom will probably work well.

1. Yes, you can import images from connected devices through the files app. Hit import on the iPad, select Ffrom device ->Files and you should be able to browse a connected USB-c drive. Unfortunately you have to import and you can't use the local device browser for this and edit in place so after edit, if you want to get your images back to the drive, you have to export them. It is FAR easier by the way to just sync your images from Classic. They will show up in the mobile app albeit only in a smart preview resolution (booh Adobe fix this finally! https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-ideas/p-should-be-able-to-sync-full-raw-files-to-the-cloud-not-just-smart-previews/idi-p/12248616 ).   However for almost all cases, smart previews are more than good enough for editing. So if that works, it is a much easier solution. Note that syncing from Classic to the cloud does NOT take any cloud space due to the thing I just mentioned that CLassic only uploads a smart preview. 

2. It depends. If you get a newer one, especially one of the pros, it will work just fine. It will certainly work fine if you use the sync from Classic mentioned above since it will only have a smart preview version of it.

3. If you sync from Classic, all edits will automatically appear in Classic using the mechanism mentioned before. If you go the files route (do not advice this), you have to reimport the exported images into Classic and overwrite the Classic edits in the same images. This is not trivial as it will tell you first it already has the images and if you then import it will create a duplicate. The sync method is far better. 

4. Solution is to Sync from Classic first. This will create a smart preview in the cloud that you can fully edit in Lightroom CLoudy on the desktop or on your iPad and edits will automatically sync back to the Classic catalog. If you need full resolution on the iPad, you can get that by running Lightroom Cloud on your desktop and (after you synced the file from Classic) dragging the original on the cloud app and it will upload the full resolution and associate it with the already uploaded smart preview. Now you will be able to edit from the iPad in full resolution and have the edits sync to your Classic catalog