Using a supplemental laptop

[bposner]

Lightroom Version Number

classic current

Operating System

1. macOS 11 Big Sur

Hi,
I just purchased a MacBook Air as a supplemental computer when traveling and out in the field. My main editing machine is an iMac. I'd like to be able to edit shots while out then move them to my main drive and finish and reference on the desktop. I was wondering if anyone who has works in this way has any tips before I install the Classic version on the MacBook. I know, or last time I checked you can't share catalogs over a network, which if fine I don't mind having a separate one on the MacBook. Do I run two catalogs on the desktop by moving the MB catalog over or set up a separate shared folder on the network or?? see I don't what I should do. . In a perfect world I'd like to start the editing on the MB then finish on the desktop or reverse. I don't think the software is there yet, Any ideas or experience shared would be grateful,
Thanks

 

[clee01l]

There are two things that will work:

1. You can create a travel catalog on the travel computer. You can load a copy of the catalog and Smart Previews folder on the travel computer When you return you will need to use the import from another catalog to import the travel catalog into the master catalog.
2. You can sync your master Lightroom Classic catalog to the cloud and run Lightroom (cloudy) on the travel computer.

In either case. Any new image that you will import to the travel catalog will be sync’d back to the master catalog. Lightroom Classic travel catalog will sync the new images when you do the import from another catalog. Lightroom Cloudy will sync your new images via the internet connection to Lightroom Classic. With a 20GB plan you need to carefully manage your cloud storage since many camera cards can exceed the 20GB limit. Images sync’d up from the Classic catalog do not count against your 20GB limit.

 

[bposner]

if I understand, you are saying to run the cloud version of LR on the laptop? If so, I am not familiar with that version as far as dependance on a net connection as I go to places where there are no connections available. Or is it just installed on the lap top because it has the capability to import/export catalogs? thanks

 

[Califdan]

The option I use is that I have all my images AND my LrC catalog on a portable EHD (External Hard Drive). I then have LrC installed on both my desktop and laptop computers. When home, I have the EHD plugged into the desktop computer. When I travel, I make a complete copy of the EHD onto a duplicate "backup" drive that I leave home (just in case) and take the EHD with me on the road. When I plug the drive into my laptop in a hotel room I have my entire photographic world at my finger tips - no internet required. When I get back home, I just swap the EHD over to my desktop. Easy.

The only downsides are:

1) need to carry the EHD on my travels (I use a 4TB Western digital "My Passport" but lots of people like the LaCie products)

2) A slight slowdown in LR with the catalog on a slower drive but at least for me it did not slow down enough to be annoying and in most instances I could not really detect a performance difference although I'm sure one was there.

Prior to adopting this plan, I had used the Travel Catalog technique that Cletus uses but it was too cumbersome to have to copy things back and forth at each end of each trip. For a time I also used to copy the my full LR folder between the two computers and relied on smart previews but space on my laptop became too tight.

 

[clee01l]

if I understand, you are saying to run the cloud version of LR on the laptop? If so, I am not familiar with that version as far as dependance on a net connection as I go to places where there are no connections available. Or is it just installed on the lap top because it has the capability to import/export catalogs? thanks

That is one of two options that I suggested. And you do need an internet connection to access images stored in the cloud. Lightroom(cloudy) will download some images that you need into cache so that those are available locally. So you don't need a constant internet connection. I was able to replace my MBP laptop with an iPad Pro and now use the iPadPro when I am in the field. If at the end of the day, I have a good internet connection, the images that I have imported via Lightroom (cloudy) on the iPadPro are sync'd to the cloud and back down to the iMac at home running Lightroom Classic.

Lightroom (cloudy) does not use catalogs as everything is stored in the cloud. You can even run Lightroom (cloudy) on your phone and access the cloud via a cellular connection. (5G is about as fast as your home WiFi). Using your phone as a personal hotspot, you can connect your laptop to the internet via WiFi connection to the phone. While I have to add that uploading full size image files via cellular is not a recommended option, All other Lightroom Functions are possible.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

You might want to have a read of the "working with multiple computers" in the Multiple Computers chapter of your Classic book, it starts on page 446 of the latest version, and runs through the steps to get either of these options set up.