Lightroom transfer to iPhone/iPad: efficient method

Richard G

Richard G

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Since switching to Lightroom I have hardly any new photos on my iPhone of iPad. If I download a 117k photo in the gallery it looks lousy on the iPad. Also setting the desktop on the Mac is tedious too, requiring a 1440 pixel wide export specifically for this.

Since Aperture and iPhoto were upgraded and share the same library I have thought of importing from my master folder of DNGs for Lightroom just the pictures I want on the iPhone. I am slightly concerned about linking those files in any way to Aperture, worried I might corrupt the LR catalog, for instance.

What is the best way to get pictures on the iPhone and iPad out of Lightroom?
 
I put the pictures in a folder on the hard disk instead of in the LR catalog, but let LR catalog knows where the pictures are and put new pictures to the correspond folder when I import photos from my camera, in this way I can sync the pictures through itunes via actual folders.

Not a very good solution, but it works. I really would like to know any better solution :D
 
You can choose if and what application opens downloads the images from your camera (iPhone / iPad) and tell it where to store the images with the application:
"Image Capture" witch is located (but often overlooked) in the Applications folder....
 
I export photos from a Lightroom Collection into a temporary folder on my HD. I created an Export preset that using 1024 pixels along the longest edge at 132 pixels per inch (ppi).

Then I import those photos into iPhoto I let iPhoto manage and organize the photos, but keeping the photos outside of iPhoto is also a good idea. Next I make an iPhoto album and drag the photos into the album.

Finally, during an iPhone/iPad sync I select the album and it shows up in the iOS Photos app.

I don't import single photos or unrelated images. But you could do that by having a Lightroom Collection named Singles, for instance and an iPhoto album with the same name.

I don't see how the LR, Aperture or iPhoto databases could corrupt one another no matter what you do.
 
Lightroom iPad/Plugin

Lightroom iPad/Plugin

There are a couple ways to get your Photos onto you iPad.

The traditional way to do a Lightroom Publish Service to your hard drive with the photos or collections you want on your iPad. Then open iTunes and go to your iPad > Photos. Then have iTunes monitor the folders on your hard drive that you want to put on your iPad.

There is also new Lightroom Plugin/service that mirrors your Lightroom collection in the cloud and makes it available through an App. Check out Mosaic View. Your most recent 2000 images are free. Since it it is in the cloud, it doesn't take up space on your iPad and it automatically and wirelessly updates.

Or do a combination of both Mosaic and iTunes.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks. These plugins for Lightroom with automatic updating may be the way to go. I've downloaded one and working it out slowly.
 
Hey everyone,
I am new to the forum and just found this post. I shoot a lot of digital and now and shooting film again and scanning. My workflow is as follows:
Shoot analog
Develop myself
scan using Epson V600 to convert to digtial file
Drum scan if I want to print large.
Import to Lightroom 4 for processing

Shoot RAW files on digital camera
Import into Lightroom for processing

Output to Temp folder as jpegs for printing or web use (differnt sizes depending on use)
Upload images I want to share to Dropbox. I use dropbox because it syncs perfectly across platforms. I process on a PC, then share with iPhone and iPad.

Hope this helps.

Ed
 
Photosmith is utterly buggy, the transfers can ONLY be done via WIFI and is thus EXTREMELY slow if you are using raw files. I purchased it (and an iPad retina 64GB) to use it a lot as well, and I never ever use it, because of all the bugs, the extremely slow transfer speed (it is not possible to do file transfers via the ipad cables)... I would think twice about spending all that cash on something that really isn't worth it...
 
borge said:
Photosmith is utterly buggy, the transfers can ONLY be done via WIFI and is thus EXTREMELY slow if you are using raw files. I purchased it (and an iPad retina 64GB) to use it a lot as well, and I never ever use it, because of all the bugs, the extremely slow transfer speed (it is not possible to do file transfers via the ipad cables)... I would think twice about spending all that cash on something that really isn't worth it...
Click to expand...

Huh, weird. I'm using the most recent over an 802.11n network and don't run into many problems. Once every five syncs or so I need to turn the WiFi on my iPad on then off for the two to see each other again, but aside from that, that's it. (And I use it with photos scanned with my Coolscan.)

But thank you for providing another data point for anyone who is considering, it's important for people to be informed!! :)
 
Im also looking for the perfect workflow. Here is the best I have found so far:
1) Imports the photos in Lightroom
2) Create a Flickr published service.
3) Drag and drop all the pictures in that published service. Publish the pictures (you will need a pro account for large number of pictures)
4) Now you can access the pictures from any mobile devices as long as you have wifi or 3G. The best App i have found so far to see the pictures on Ipad is 'Flickr Studio'

The great thing about this workflow is when you do image adjustment or fine tuning, you only have to do a 'republish' and the pictures are updated and accessible from portable devices.

Downside is : no internet = no pictures
 
Brian Puccio said:
Huh, weird. I'm using the most recent over an 802.11n network and don't run into many problems. Once every five syncs or so I need to turn the WiFi on my iPad on then off for the two to see each other again, but aside from that, that's it. (And I use it with photos scanned with my Coolscan.)

But thank you for providing another data point for anyone who is considering, it's important for people to be informed!! :)
Click to expand...

Well my major issue with photosmith is that it messed up a whole lot of my tags on my existing Lightroom library. Tags with Norwegian specific letters caused photosmith to go bananas and sync tags back to the Lightroom library that was unreadable. Quite a headache to fix with a 40k raw library :-(

I also find the pick and reject functions to be buggy, and as I said, transferring 16gb of raw files via wireless (n here as well) takes a while compared to just inserting the sd card into the computer and importing the files (sandisk 95MB/s cards).

It's a great idea, but the limitations of iOS basically cripples a lot of the potentially great functionality that could have been included in such an app.
 
gerardmurphy3 said:
...
The traditional way to do a Lightroom Publish Service to your hard drive with the photos or collections you want on your iPad. Then open iTunes and go to your iPad > Photos. Then have iTunes monitor the folders on your hard drive that you want to put on your iPad.
...
Click to expand...

I use this mechanism, basically, but did it the following way:

- create a folder in the Pictures folder named "iPhone-iPad Albums"
- created an export preset that sizes and outputs images to JPEG for the iPad, and points to that folder
- tell iTunes to import photos from that folder and all subfolders for iPhone and iPad

When I have a set that I want to output and put on the iOS devices, I use the export preset in Lightroom, modifying the export with the specific name of an existing or new subfolder inside "iPhone-iPad Albums".

That generates the right image format and sizing, and puts the files in the appropriate spot for iTunes to get them. The files are synced to both my iOS devices as albums for the Photos app whenever I sync the devices.

Godfrey
 
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