IPad Lightroon version compatability & ease of use questions

[Berkshiregrl]

I am a self taught Lightroom user and thus have little knowledge beyond the basics. Just learned of this forum and anxious to attain some more in depth knowledge. But, right now, I have an issue. We're going to be traveling starting the 23rd and will be moving around Nevada & CA traveling through Death Valley, Yosemite, Big Sur etc so lots of photo ops. I have Lightroom 3.2. I have an IPad. I am primarily a PC user and thus a novice at IPad use. I currently use my desktop to work in LR. But I plan to only bring my IPad and not a laptop. I want to be able to post and send some pictures while traveling and was thinking I'd just download some photo app and then use LR when I get home. But now I see there's a Lightroom app so I'm wondering...

Is my old version of LR even compatible with the app? Should I get the new version? (I probably should anyway but since I don't have great knowledge I'm not keen on taking on a new program). I probably won't use my IPad for photos except when I travel and I saw that there was some monthly fee associated with the IPad use. Not sure it's worth it and not sure how complicated ths will make things. Is there a steep learning courve for adding Ipad use since, as I said, I'm no IPad genius to begin with and not any kind of LR expert either. Maybe it's more sensible to just use some basic photo app to work on pics on the road and just do the LR work when I get back. Given my novice status with Ipad & LR will I just likely drive myself bonkers trying to work with it? I don't want to ruin my vacation or anything.

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[clee01l]

Welcome to the forum.
You need LR5.4 and a LR/PSCC bundle subscription to access the cloud and interface with your iPad. You can only load new photos into your master LR catalog on the PC Once loaded into the master catalog, you can create a collection that syncs with the cloud and these images will be available for editing on the iPad.

Not much help for your situation. LR5.4 requires Win7 or Win8 so you can't run it on XP

Even before the advent of LR mobile, I found the iPad to be a useless substitute for a laptop for photos. You have at best 32 GB of storage on the iPad. this has to host the running program, storage for apps, music, other data in addition to the images that you might want to unload from your camera card. My camera card is 32Gb and I can fill one up in a day of travel. So the iPad isn't even a good backup storage device for images.

I made the mistake of thinking I could replace my laptop with an iPad. It worked reasonably well until I needed to store some data.

LR mobile is designed to share some photos from your catalog to a mobile device and even do some simple edits. This is only the first release of LR mobile. Eventually LR mobile may become a useful two way app for your iPad. It is not there yet.

 

[Bruce J]

Take a look at PhotoSmith. It works in the way you are imagining and works with the equipment you currently have (including LR 3.2, I believe). I use it quite extensively when I travel and am quite pleased with it. Of course, I don't use a camera that generates images that are quite as large as Cletus'. I find the ability to ingest RAW files and add location metadata, captions, etc. while on location invaluable. If you search the forums here, you should find several threads on the use of PhotoSmith.

 

[Berkshiregrl]

Well, at least I no longer have much of a dilemma I guess. That also kind of confirms my opinion of the ipad. I will just do the photo work when I get home. Good to know about new LR requirements. I've been thinking about getting a new pc-mine is now probably almost 4 years old and sluggish. Now that I am into this photography thing I think I need to upgrade anyway.

thx for your very helpful response. This forum has already saved me a lot of time and energy. There's always so much to learn and this seems like a very useful place.

 

[Berkshiregrl]

Great. That sounds perfect. I can just download some photos I choose and then use Photosmith with them. I will just do the bulk when I get home. I am not as prodigious a photographer as Cletus so it's not that daunting a task. I also travel with my husband and teenage sons so I have to temper my photography with their need to actually get somewhere on a hike.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

There's a new one called Photophile http://www.photophile.co.uk which is similar to PhotoSmith too. I haven't tried it yet, but it's written by Jim Keir, who wrote a few of the LR plug-ins we recommend.