P: Should be able to Sync full raw files to the cloud, not just smart previews

Report · Oct 19, 2017

Lightroom Classic, like Lightroom CC (what a confusion this naming causes!) should be able to upload full raw files to the cloud and not just smart previews. This is clearly a missing feature. This is especially handy if you mainly use Lightroom Classic because of its much more powerful editing and ability to actually print but would love to edit the full image from other machines.

Report · Mar 21, 2018

That sounds maybe similar to what I'm experiencing. Look up in the thread here, I posted a comparison of the same photo in LR Classic and in LR CC. Check the upper right corner of the image. Looks terrible in both CC and mobile.

Report · Mar 21, 2018

I wonder if it's related to the bug reported here on Android devices:

https://forums.adobe.com/message/9978499#9978499

It's apparently due to Android devices being profiled as wide gamut DCI-P3, which is only found on some iOS devices. It makes editing the images impossible since the wrong color profile is being used. Adobe has acknowledged the problem and "working" on a solution. This only happens in 'Edit' view.The images look correct in the other view modes (Info, Rating).

Report · Mar 21, 2018

The smart previews use lossy compression and can break down and give some posterization and compression artifacts with strong slider settings such as shadows and highlights close to max. That has always been the case and nothing changed with the release of CC in that respect. It is a good reason to want full raws to be uploadable from Classic though.

Report · May 11, 2018

I am having the same exact issue. I spent 2 hrs on chat with them trying to see if there is any other way around it. I think that if we are paying for this that there should be a fix. I use Lr Classic to import my images ( from their current location) and sort / pick and choose the images I like and want to edit and share on the go. The ones I 5 star I create a collection for so that it will sync to Lr CC. But when i get into Lightroom CC all that I see are " smart previews"

Its not like I'm syncing all my images, I would never want to do that. And the reason why I am using Lightroom Classic is so that I don't import my images into one catalog. Because if there was something to happen with the catalog, it would be no good...... Thats why I chose to keep them in there current location while importing.

ADOBE HELP!

Report · May 11, 2018

Hi Nacho,

Check Victoria's reply above for a possible workaround, and see if that helps you.

Alternatively, you could try selectively uploading original images to Lightroom Web, for online/mobile storage and use:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/help/lightroom-web.html

Report · May 12, 2018

thats a cool little work around! Thanks!

But they still need to fix it IMO.

Report · Nov 13, 2018

There should be an option to sync the full sized files when synching from Classic to CC, not just a smaller preview

Report · Nov 13, 2018

Full raw files is not possible to import to Lightroom CC for iPad from Lightroom Classic Desktop app
Please allow to upload full size raw files to iPad Pro Lighroom CC, NOT just Smart Preview 2048px “raw”.
Think about pro/semi pro photogratgers who is trying to integrate new mobile workflow into thier pipeline. There is a capable machines like new Apple IPad Pro 2018 which are more the capable to edit full raw files. In fact you can export full raw files but the proccess is so frustrating and ... honestly bad... that it’s almost unusable.
We are fine to rate and select and even edit TO SOME DEGREE your Smart Previews, but when the serious work srarts WE NEED FULL RAW.
So just, for crying out loud, create one button that will allow to import full Raw of selected files into Lightroom CC ipad.

You announced the full Photoshop version in 2019 with capabilities to work with 3gb psb files how do You expect us to pipeline this without access to full faw files?
Edit smart previews then go to desktop, save it, send it to ipad and then work on Photoshop ? A bit silly and 2000’s don’t you think ?
Why not just made one button for full raw extopt of selected files from Lightroom Classic to Lightroom Cc for iPad. It would be so much easy and makes it finally a working solution for pro/semi pro user, not just Instagram blogers.
Thank you.

Report · Dec 10, 2018

Please add full upload function for classic to cc. So annoying to work with smart previews when on the go! How is this not already a thing...

Report · Dec 13, 2018

I think there could be this quick update where I can sync the original raw data from Lightroom classic CC to Lightroom CC. I can sync raw photos from my phone to Lightroom classic, but I only get smart previews when syncing raw photos from Lightroom classic CC to my phone.

Report · Dec 13, 2018

Agreed. Also on that note there should be an option to only keep smart previews of mobile photos on the cloud for those who don't want to or can't afford to pay extra for Adobe's cloud storage.

Report · Dec 22, 2018

Victoria,

Thanks for your help with this.

"when you then try to add the same photos to LRCC through it's normal Add Photos dialog, it'll let you add them but won't (shouldn't!) create duplicate files. It should just go ahead and upload the originals. It's not officially documented, and could break at any time, but right now it works as long as you haven't changed the originals (e.g. written to xmp, etc)"

And if I've written to xmp...uploading will create duplicates?

In that case, any advice? Maybe sync / download everything to Classic, delete all from cloud and start over?

Dave

Report · Dec 23, 2018

Things may have moved on since that original post from Victoria (12 months ago). Testing today (on Windows 10) I found that using that method to replace the initial smart previews with the originals still worked well, even if I had saved to XMP first (both proprietary Raw and DNG files). All uploaded OK from LRCC, no duplicates were created.

But, because it's not an officially documented and supported procedure, as Victoria mentioned it could break at any time.

Report · Dec 23, 2018

Jim,

Thanks for the quick response, much appreciated. I've done some testing as well this morning (on macOS Mojava 10.14.2, w latest LR CC Classic and latest LR CC. Here's what I've found:

1) Uploading a RAW image that was already edited in LR CC cloud and o LR CC cloud did work, in that a) no duplicate was created in LR CC cloud and b) edits were retained. However...

2) My camera is set to save both JPEG and RAW files, and LR CC Classic recognizes the JPEGs as sidecar files so does not display them as duplicates. LR CC cloud does display JPEGs with same filename as RAW as duplicate images. This will create some hassle since my one of my cameras (X100F) creates only JPEGs in certain modes so I can't just trash all JPEGs before uploading to LR CC cloud. And...

3) After uploading a RAW image from LR CC Classic to LR CC cloud, on the next sync LR CC Classic creates a virtual copy of the RAW image. Strange and a bit of a mess.

Any thoughts on how to prevent Classic from creating a virtual copy of RAW files uploaded to LR CC cloud?

I'd just like to be able to:

1) Edit images captured on my camera on both Classic and CC (mainly Classic), but like the benefits of CC esp when out and about.

2) Edit images captured on my phone on both Classic and CC.

Thanks again -

Dave

Report · Dec 23, 2018

Jim,

Thanks again for your help - this time you answered my question 8 months ago! I did some searching on the virtual copies issue and found this:

https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/lightroom-cc-makes-virtual-copies-in-lightroo...

Appreciate your expertise!

Dave

Report · Jan 03, 2019

Is there a way to just to upload some raw files via Lightroom CC from Lightroom Classic?
I mean: some way to set on Lightroom CC the file system source of the images taken from could?

Report · Jan 03, 2019

Yes, there is. After you've synced some images from Lightroom Classic (wait till sync has finished), import these same images in Lightroom CC for the desktop. Lightroom CC is clever enough to understand that these are the same images, and so it will replace the smart previews with originals. Lightroom Classic will not re-download these originals.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

Report · Jan 07, 2019

The problem i'm having though, is that I shoot weddings.

So, returning home from a wedding with 1600 images that I cull using the rating system in LR Classic (as lets be honest, it's a better program for this purpose) down to roughly 300 images, and then do my editing from within a smart folder looking for the star ratings higher than 1.

As these images are scattered throughout the original folder, I don't want to import the full 1600 images again, just the ones i've shortlisted, but I can't seem to do this without bringing them all over!

This is especially frustrating when the culled images are only a few GB, less than the 20gb my plan offers, but the initial import, of which I don't need in the cloud is 60gb so again i'm hit with another Adobe bottleneck that shouldn't be here that prevents me from moving forward.

Report · Jan 07, 2019

You're right, these are real bottlenecks.

But we really need to get over with; Adobe has said the won't implement new sync features to LR classic. So either we go with their flow and move on to cloud CC, or we keep LR classic with very limited sync features and no significant updates. I've taken my decision and won't switch to cloud, even if CC had all the functionllaities of Classic. If I need to switch to another software, I'll go somewhere else.

There currently are A LOT of bugs, limitations, bottlenecks, limitations and bugs but they won't change a thing as long as the cash continues to flow. They're too money oriented, it's very frustrating.
I've one free year, but I'll definitely reassess my subscription afterwards.

Report · Jan 08, 2019

@antoinellorca,

You're right that Adobe is unlikely to expand Lightroom Classic syncing, but it doesn't seem fair to say there have been "no significant updates" over the past 15 months since Lightroom CC was introduced:

https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom-classic/features.html

Report · Jan 08, 2019

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t say there were no good updates at all. But I don’t feel there have been a lot of significant updates.

Report · Aug 06, 2019

I usually edit my shoots in LR Classic, but having an iPad pro I want to use LR CC when I'm not at home, so I am trying to understand how to properly sync the two apps. In classic I have created a 'trial' collection and sync seemed working properly.. but looking at the space available, there where still 20 out of 20 gb. I opened LR CC both on pc and ipad and I could actually see the collection and the pictures, but in the cloud there are only smart previews.

If I create a new collection in CC, it properly uploads RAW files, but in this way I have to import pictures from my drive and not from lightroom cc (so I guess that any edit on Classic would not be seen on CC - I'm not using xmp files)

Report · Aug 06, 2019

Andrea, the trick is to also run Lightroom CC (now simply called Lightroom) on your computer and after importing and syncing (which places smart previews in the cloud) in Lightroom Classic to also import the raw files in Lightroom Cloudy. This will upload the raw files to the cloud and automatically associate them with your already synced smart previews in the cloud (this is an undocumented feature but it works). This then will make the full raw available on your iPad pro too. Also this will make edits on either Classic or on Lightroom Cloudy sync. Another way is to only import in Lightroom Cloudy. Classic will then automatically download the raw file from the cloud and set it to sync.

If you don't need the full raw on your iPad than just ignore the space available. The smart previews uploaded from Lightroom Classic do not count against the storage limits and for most purposes they are good enough for edits on an iPad.

Ignore the xmp file thing. This is not used in Classic or in Lightroom Cloudy. The xmp files are purely as backup for edits if you use them. They are not used for anything.

Report · Aug 06, 2019

I wouldn't worry about "only" having Smart Previews available on the iPad. With a typical iPad screen a Smart Preview will give you all the resolution the screen can handle or at least all you really need to do basic editing. So, even if you could have your full RAW files available i doubt you'd get much benefit other than gobbling up your cloud storage space much faster.

As you said you do most of your editing in Classic, other than "just feels good" is there a specific reason you feel that having only Smart Previews on the iPad is detrimental to your workflow?

Report · Aug 12, 2019

Jao, your suggestion is really interesting. My point is on how to import only the files that are in a lightroom collection without having to select them one by one. Any suggestion on the workflow?

thanks,

Paolo