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Lightroom Mobile and Raw files in Camera Roll

Forum|Forum|11 years ago
April 11, 2014
19 replies
75350 views

I made a new collection in Lightroom Mobile. I tried to add some files from my camera roll. The raw files in my camera roll do not show up when I click on the Add from Camera Roll button. Is working with raw files in the camera roll not an option in Lightroom Mobile? My NEF files from my mac have synced over just fine.

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andreef86216569

Participant

I feel conned! I just bought an iPad and upgraded to Adobe CC specifically because I thought, from all I'd read including all the slick advertising on the Adobe website, that you could import RAW photos from camera to iPad and do an initial processing in LR mobile. I wish I had read this thread prior to making that decision as now I find I cannot do what I want. I cannot see the point of using LR mobile to process photos if I have first had to upload them to my desktop. I'd use the desktop for that! I have imported various photos to my iPad camera roll but LR refuses to see them at all. I'm furious!

cforcalvin

Participating Frequently

‌yeah I think at this point, Adobe is bent on "bridging the gap" between tablet and laptop... even though the tablet is supposed to replace the laptop and not necessarily be an accessory to the laptop. The dumb thing is, editing photos is not a huge draw on resources- you can do it on laptops that are way less powerful than today's ipad. The ipad has the ability to edit raws, so ignore the naysayers "I wouldnt want to edit photos on my tablet anyways" (Why the hell not? That's not the voice of progression) and ignore Adobe.

I currently use Photogene to open and edit raws. Sometimes Photogene will randomly blow out lit areas, in which case I'll use Photoraw to convert the raw to a tiff and then put it back into Photogene. Photoraw's recovery is unusable and the raw management is too cumbersome but it renders low light pictures more predictably- so thats a last resort. The solutions out there aren't perfect but it's doable until someone gets the brilliant idea to create a Camera Raw-like app for ipad.

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sparksdjs

Participating Frequently

So Photogene will process RAW files imported into the iPad's Camera Roll? And put an output JPEG in Camera Roll? I too am disappointed with LR Mobile. I want to quick-process RAW files from my Canon 70D in the field (no Internet connectivity there) for review. Like another poster, I also use a RAVPower FileHub to transfer from an SD card to a HDD for backup.)

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Anonymous

Seems the iPad Mini 3 has the storage capacity to store raw files when "on the road", along with the camera connection kit Seems unbelievable LR Mobile can't use this iPad for "on the road" raw file storage / viewer / minimal editor. If it's an Apple implementation issue, doesn't Adobe has enough clout for Apple to listen to suggestions from them? My workflow would be to import the day's raw files into the iPad Mini 3, view with LR mobile, delete the memory card for a new day, then move everything to the desktop when home.

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Jao vdL

Community Expert

Unfortunately that doesn't work that way yet. You can store raw files from most cameras on your iPad but LR/Mobile will not take them in. This is mostly a Adobe limitation I think as I was surprised to learn that the Lightroom web interface allows you to upload raw files which will be converted by Adobe's server to smart previews that will be synchronized to an ipad but the mobile app doesn't do this. So you need a real computer with a non mobile browser to do that. If you want to only use an iPad you need to shoot raw+JPEG and work with the jpegs in LR mobile. So you would need to not delete the raw files from your memory cards.

A complete mobile ingesting workflow is not here yet unfortunately.

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Anonymous

Thanks for the update. That's both sad and ridiculous IMO. Guess I'll have to invest in yet another laptop, namely the new Macbook in order to minimize size and weight. Not that portable on trips. The iPad Mini 3 is light and small enough to fit in many pockets.

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rdbaron

Participant

I've read this thread to date, I've communicated with Apple tech support and I'm confused.

I took some shots with my Leica M, which saves them as raw files in the .dng format. I put the sd card in the Apple Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader and hooked it up to my latest version iPad Air, which gave no sign it recognized them. Apple tech support this is as it should be, since this raw file format is not recognized.

This seems to be counter to statements in this thread to the effect that raw files can be imported into the iPad camera roll.

So, who's right?

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Jao vdL

Community Expert

So, who's right?

rdbaron, you can't import those raw files to your iPad camera roll this way. It simply doesn't support them. The trick mentioned above assumes that you should jpeg+raw on your camera not dng. You import the jpegs into your camera roll and then into Lightroom mobile. Now you do all your changes in Lightroom mobile on your iPad on the jpeg proxies. These changes get synced to Adobe's cloud and ultimately to your real computer where your jpegs will show up automatically. Now on your real computer you import the raw files from your sd card. Then you can sync sync your changes on the jpegs that you made on Lightroom mobile that came in through Adobe's cloud services to the raw files using the syncomatic plugin. This is quite a convoluted workflow but as good as you can currently get. Again, you can't readily ingest your raw files ion your iPad.

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rdbaron

Participant

What you say seems to be the case, but it is a disappointment. I don't want to shoot raw+jpg just so I can use the iPad to view my files when I'm away from home, much less to make use of the apparently rather early days Lightroom Mobile. I am also disappointed that when Apple says I can put raw files on the iPad it isn't true, but so it goes. I'll just keep using my Macbook Air on the road until the iPad grows up.

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nickerjo

Participant

This reply may seem a bit old, but I just started using Lightroom (Desktop and Mobile) this week. I do a good bit of international shooting

(four continents thus far). So I am always looking for ways to improve what I do - especially keeping images safe in the field.

I am shooting with a full frame DSLR and Have and IPAD Mini 3 with 128 Gb

From my experimentation I can tell you the following:

1. You can import raw files to an Ipad using the camera connection kit. Either direct from camera or using card reader.

2. The images show up in the IPAD camera roll, but what you are really seeing is the embedded jpeg from the raw file.

3. There are other APPS that can read these - I currently use PHOTOGENE (I have nothing to do with the company, just a customer) It allows me to do basic edits as well as ad watermarks prior to sending images to Social Media etc.

My theory on Lightroom Mobile and Ipad:

Lightroom mobile syncs your edits between you collection on your Ipad and you Collection on your desktop via WIFI. All of this is done

with "smart" Previews. These are very small and take very little bandwidth.

I would imagine the syncing between the Ipad and Desktop is handled much like "copying edits" on your desktop in Lightroom. As an example - You have two different images of a dog in Lightroom on your desktop you pull up the first and increase brightness and then increase saturation. You can then choose to copy those edits - pull up the second dog image and paste the edits - and magically the second dog image has increased brightness and saturation.

So, when you are editing a Collection that started on your Desktop in Mobile on you I pad - Lightroom isn't syncing by sending the entire edited image it actually is doing a long distance cut and paste of the edits you perform (very little bandwidth).

For this to work with a RAW file that was just added to and Ipad in the field - the whole Raw image would have to be sent first. (My raw images are 23- 27 meg). So you can see the problem. As a serious photographer that sells my work, I would never consider doing final edits on Lightroom Mobile - Since I use Lightroom on my desktop in conjunction with Photoshop CC, OneOne Suite 9 and Photomatix

The reason that Photogene works is that it is only manipulating the embedded Jpeg file from Raw file. It never has to export the raw file.

DON'T DISMISS THE IPAD/Lightroom Mobile AS A VALUABLE TOOL FOR PHOTOGRAPHY - HERE ARE A FEW REASONS.

Backups in the field. When on a trip where I will be filling many cards, I don't believe in pulling a cared in and out of the camera. I leave a card in the camera until almost but not completely full. At that point I connect the Camera via USB to the Ipad Camera adapter and plug that into my I pad. I then download all images. I then remove the card and store it in a case.

I can now view my images on the bigger and WAY better Ipad Retina Screen. If I have some I want to share before I get home I can make some basic edits to the Jpeg with Photogene and send those via email, Facebook, etc.

I am not secure with on one backup of my card - So I carry a Small Ravpower unit. ($40.00 on Amazon, etc. The Ravpower serves as a backup charger for my Idevices - But most importantly it has a CF clot and a USB port. I place a cf CARD in the slot and/or a thumbdrive in the USB port. (since the Ravpower holds a charge you can also plug in a portable Drive via USB (like a WD Passport)

Using the free App for the RavPower unit I can then set up a private WIFI network between my Ipad and the Ravpower unit and copy the raw files to it. (it takes a while so I usually start this just before turning in and have both the Ravpower and the Ipad connected to charging cables. So now I have my raw stored on the card, the Ipad and whatever I hooked to the Ravpower.

Another great use of Lightroom Mobile and an Ipad is to share you images using Apple TV. My wife doesn't like to sit around the PC fpr long periods of time. So I create collections Using Lightroom Desktop and then pull them up on Lightroom Mobile and send via Apple TV and AIRPLAY as a slideshow on our large screen TV.

Hope some of the above is useful to someone.

j. Nickerson

Leaning Palm Studio

jnickerson-imagery.com

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reneeb97669200

Participant

Thank you for your thorough reply. I am considering buying an ipad so that I view and cull images in the field. I so not want to travel with my heavier laptop. But I am CONFUSED! I understand the part about the smart previews that are built from the RAW files.

I don't understand the workflow from camera card to ipad. Will Lightroom for Mobile read my RAW files from the SD card and download only the smart previews into the Photos folder on the ipad so that I can view and cull them in Lightroom for Mobile?

I would really appreciate any help you can give me. I have researched this all day!

Thank you!!!:-)

J

Jao vdL

Community Expert

As far as I know Lightroom mobile on the iPad will NOT read the raw files. You need a real computer to get your raw files from the card either by using a full Lightroom installation or by using a web browser and uploading to creative cloud Lightroom. You can also do the trick using the plugin described above where you work on jpegs shot using raw+JPEG. Those jpegs will be ingested in Lightroom mobile and you can edit those. Then back home you load the raw files into Lightroom and let the plugin synchronize the settings from the jpegs you edited in Lightroom mobile and sync those automatically to the raws. Somewhat of a kludge but might work for you. So really the only way to edit raw files (actually the smart preview proxies but that's a detail) in Lightroom mobile is to have a real computer somewhere in the chain where you load the raw files.

Sent from my iPad

JayHawks

Participant

The iPad will import your RAW photos using the Camera Connection Kit along with the JPG's. It'll even display them in the Apple Photos app. The problem as I understand it is that Apple has the iPad on lock-down and doesn't allow other apps access to RAW photos - at least before iOS 8. That's why LR Mobile hasn't been able to see them yet - but fingers are crossed that it'll change soon. Apple Photos on iOS 8 now will upload your RAW images to it's iCloud over wifi so maybe that means that it's changed it's API's to allow other apps access to the RAW files. If so, I'm sur that Adobe will be updating it's app because that would be a huge feature - dumping all your raw images onto your iPad while out and about and seeing them magically appear on your desktop when you return home. Let's just hope smart collections will be able to sync to the mobile app soon.

sudheer

Participant

I too use ipad as temp storage of my RAW+jpg photos to free up my SD card when on travel. usually I dump them back to my PC once I return. It looks like Lightroom mobile can only process jpgs, which basically defeats the purpose of having an editor on ipad. Now sure how many of us would want to edit photos which are already on the PC with an ipad. Does not look like Adobe understands how most people use their ipads.

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antkn33s

Participant

TThis is a pretty simple debate. Take an ds card with only raw files on it, stick it in to the iPad ds card reader. You can then import the raw files in the camera app or iPhoto app and some other third party apps.

maybe it converts them to JPEG when it imports?

what is weird is that those files that were imported can not be seen by Lightroom mobile.

Also, as a mobile solution, lr mobile really needs to be able to read a sd card. I carry around my iPad because I don't want to lug around my laptop. Being able to view the photos on the bigger iPad screen would be very useful.

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Jao vdL

Community Expert

Lightroom mobile as written currently depends on the scaled down lossy dng files (or jpegs in some cases I guess) as raws are way too big to sync over the cloud. The iPad has no clue how to convert raw files into scaled down lossy dng for use by Lightroom. Adobe could probably include code to do that but as there is currently so much more missing from Lightroom mobile (no key wording is a real big omission) I would doubt Adobe would include this anytime soon. But I have been wrong before about Adobe's strategy. Right now, and likely for the foreseeable future, you are better off taking a MacBook Air or an equivalent PC "ultra book" instead of an iPad if you need on-the-road editing at little weight. Lightroom mobile is sort of fun, but completely dependent on a traditional PC to supply the files and quite limited in what it can do.

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Neil Pearson

Participant

sandy_mc is quite right. I regularly use my ipad as a temporary dumping ground to free up a SD card. Even if I've set my D800 to save only RAW I can still see all the photos in the Camera Roll (presumably I'm actually seeing the JPG thumb embedded in the RAW). I can also import them all from the ipad onto the imac and they are all still original RAW (NEF actually) files.

john beardsworth

Community Expert

That's how it's designed to work. You get the raw files into LR Desktop, sync the collection, and LR Desktop then sends smart previews to the cloud, which is what the iPad reads. It's not designed to directly import raw files.

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IdahoTerriAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thank you, John. I can see now why it would have to work that way. I was hoping I could use it to do preliminary edits of photos I take on vacation, but it won't work for that.

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ISeward

Participating Frequently

I am trying to see the rational behind using lR Mobile except for some niche application. Looks more like a marketing "tablets are cool - look LR works on an iPad".

I had to laugh at the promo video at Photoshop World for LR Mobile where they showed a guy with a desk top under his arm. Haven't Adobe heard of laptops? Surely a Mac Air would at least enable you to actually edit the photos? Perhaps it is just my British sense of humour :-)

Seriously, if you have alraedy downloaded them onto your desktop the urgency is gone and you could have exported jpg's to any tablet or laptop to show a client the photos.

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