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Is Synchomatic the perfect answer for insufficient iPad storage?

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SunnyUK

New Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2021
Messages
9
Lightroom Version Number
Lighroom Classic 11.01 + Lightroom mobile 5.4.2
Operating System
  1. Windows 10
  2. iOS
After having tried editing a couple of pictures transferred via Nikon SmartBridge from my camera to my phone on Saturday morning, I got really hooked on the idea of being able to do part of my editing workflow when I'm out and about rather than waiting until I get home.

So the same day I raided the retirement account and ordered a 12.9" iPad Pro. After a bit of reading up on how Lightroom Mobile works and how it syncs with Lighroom Classic on the desktop, it dawned upon me that I really should have ordered more storage on the (already eye watering expensive iPad) so that there would be room enough to store all images from, say, a week's holiday. Buyer's remorse set in. I'm not particularly keen on upgrading my Lightroom subscription from the £10/month photography bundle (with 20 GB cloud) to the £20/month photography bundle + 1 Gb cloud - not least because even if I did have all the cloud storage in the world, I'm not sure I would be able to synch hundreds of GB over hotel Wifi hotspots anyway.

Browsing for solutions introduced me to Syncomatic. And it seems to be the perfect answer. Here's the workflow I imagine would do everything I want it to

1) Shoot RAW + JPG (medium)
2) import the JPG into Lightroom Mobile on the iPad. There ought to be enough storage for a gazillion or two JPGs
3) on the iPad: Select, rotate, crop, star, keyword, edit and post a few to social media
4) when I come home, import all the RAWs into Lightroom Classic.
5) synch Lightroom Classic with Lightroom mobile via my home wifi. I'm imagining that
a) Lightroom Mobile will gracefully stop uploading JPGs when I hit the 20 GB limit.
b) Lightroom Classic will eventually download the 20 GB of JPGs
c) As and when the JPGs move onto Lightroom Classic they will automatically be removed from the cloud, which will mean that Lightroom Mobile can start to upload more files.
d) this process might go on for a while, but eventually, and in 20 GB batches, all the JPGs will be copied to Lighroom Classic.
6) Syncomatic will magically copy everything from the JPGs onto the RAWs, after which I can delete the JPGs from Classic

Is this correctly understood? Are there any gotcha's I should be aware of, or is it really as wonderful as I imagine?

Cheers in advance,
Tomas
 
a) Lightroom Mobile will gracefully stop uploading JPGs when I hit the 20 GB limit.
b) Lightroom Classic will eventually download the 20 GB of JPGs
c) As and when the JPGs move onto Lightroom Classic they will automatically be removed from the cloud, which will mean that Lightroom Mobile can start to upload more files.
d) this process might go on for a while, but eventually, and in 20 GB batches, all the JPGs will be copied to Lighroom Classic.
Any full res JPGS that manage to sync down into LrC, will be shown inside the All Synced Photographs special collection. In order to remove them from the cloud, you should select them inside this collection and remove them from there (press delete). Only this way they will be removed from the cloud and free some of the 20GB space. So it won't happen automatically, as you assumed. The files won't get removed from the LrC catalog: they will be stored in the folders that you can set in Lrc Preferences, Lr Sync Tab: Specify location of the Synced Images It's a good idea to set there to use subfolders formatted by capture date. Use the exact same date settings (and the same location) when you import the Raws directly into LrC: this way the cloud downloaded JPGs and the RAWs will end up in the same dated folders.
 
I suggest you try it in trial mode, Tomas. The workflow you describe was quite popular for a couple of years before Adobe added raw support to Lr Mobile.
 
I have an iPadPro (1TB) and a 1TB subscription cloud storage. I also have a 1TB EHD for backup from the iPadPro. When I travel I am usually never more than 24 hours from a decent internet connection (hotel) Everything that I import gets sync’d to the cloud and from the cloud to my iMac and LrC. Everything that I have imported is usually in my Classic catalog by the time I return home and all of my Lr work on those images follows to the cloud and LrC.

Now for the mechanics.
Shoot RAW only JPG is a waste of space and time.
Do not use the Photos app for anything. It takes up space and if you are copying images take by the iPad to Lr, you essentially double the space with images in the Camera roll and in Lightroom

Make a backup copy of the images that you import into Lightroom to the EHD. If the iPadPro fills up, remove local images from the device after that have sync’d to the cloud.

I rarely use more than 100GB of cloud storage on a weekend trip.

Keep the workflow simple and make sure that you have a copy of your mater image files safe on the EHD.

Keywords are not sync’d between Lr and LrC. LrC keywords are a one time one way sync from the catalog to the cloud. Save your key wording for when you get home.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Any full res JPGS that manage to sync down into LrC, will be shown inside the All Synced Photographs special collection. In order to remove them from the cloud, you should select them inside this collection and remove them from there (press delete). Only this way they will be removed from the cloud and free some of the 20GB space. So it won't happen automatically, as you assumed. The files won't get removed from the LrC catalog: they will be stored in the folders that you can set in Lrc Preferences, Lr Sync Tab: Specify location of the Synced Images It's a good idea to set there to use subfolders formatted by capture date. Use the exact same date settings (and the same location) when you import the Raws directly into LrC: this way the cloud downloaded JPGs and the RAWs will end up in the same dated folders.
Thank you so much Y.K for the explanation. That makes sense.
I suggest you try it in trial mode, Tomas. The workflow you describe was quite popular for a couple of years before Adobe added raw support to Lr Mobile.
Thank you John. I have now tried it and found that I liked it enough to also pay the license fee for your brilliant tool :)
I have an iPadPro (1TB) and a 1TB subscription cloud storage. I also have a 1TB EHD for backup from the iPadPro. When I travel I am usually never more than 24 hours from a decent internet connection (hotel) Everything that I import gets sync’d to the cloud and from the cloud to my iMac and LrC. Everything that I have imported is usually in my Classic catalog by the time I return home and all of my Lr work on those images follows to the cloud and LrC.

Now for the mechanics.
Shoot RAW only JPG is a waste of space and time.
Do not use the Photos app for anything. It takes up space and if you are copying images take by the iPad to Lr, you essentially double the space with images in the Camera roll and in Lightroom

Make a backup copy of the images that you import into Lightroom to the EHD. If the iPadPro fills up, remove local images from the device after that have sync’d to the cloud.

I rarely use more than 100GB of cloud storage on a weekend trip.

Keep the workflow simple and make sure that you have a copy of your mater image files safe on the EHD.

Keywords are not sync’d between Lr and LrC. LrC keywords are a one time one way sync from the catalog to the cloud. Save your key wording for when you get home.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Thank you Cletus for taking the time to explain your workflow. As my iPad has less capacity than yours and as I'm unwilling to pay for 1 TB cloud storage that I'll rarely use, I won't be able to replicate your workflow, but it is interesting to see how you approach it.
 
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