The Lightroom mobile apps include a built-in camera (not currently available on Android tablets), but why would you bother to open Lightroom instead of using the default camera app?
The Lightroom camera has a number of advantages:
- Pro Controls – The app has a wide range of pro features, including the ability to set the shutter speed, ISO, white balance and manual focus.
- Non-Destructive Presets – Lightroom’s shoot-through presets are non-destructive, so if you later decide you don’t like the effect, you can simply reset the photo or adjust the sliders.
- Non-Destructive Crop – If you zoom in while composing the photo, the full sensor data is still captured without resampling and a non-destructive crop is applied, so you can zoom out or change the crop again later.
- DNG Format – The raw data can be saved as DNG format, rather than being rasterized into a JPEG format, giving you greater latitude when you later edit the photo. (Requires iOS devices with a 12MP camera running iOS10+ or specific Android devices).
- Raw HDR – Lightroom’s camera can create a 16-bit raw HDR DNG file with much greater dynamic range than your camera’s sensor can capture alone, avoiding clipping the highlights and shadows. (Requires iOS devices with a 12MP camera running iOS10+ or specific Android devices).
- Easy Sync – The photos are automatically added to Lightroom mobile, and they’re synced back to your desktop catalog, so you never need to worry about losing your photos. (Requires CC Subscription).
To access the built-in camera, tap the camera icon at the bottom of the Organize or Grid view.
Here’s an infographic showing what all of the different icons actually do:
Syncing the photos to your computer
Of course, your photos are precious, so what happens if your phone or tablet is lost, stolen or damaged? You wouldn’t want to lose them!
If you’re signed in to your Adobe ID, using a trial or subscription, then your photos are automatically synced to the cloud whenever you have an internet connection and the Lightroom mobile app is open. You can check the status at any time by tapping the cloud icon at the top of the screen.
You’ll also need to enable sync on your desktop catalog, so that your full resolution photos are safely downloaded to your desktop archive. To do so, open Lightroom on the desktop and click on the ID plate to show the Activity Centre. If you’ve already enabled sync, you can see as the photos download to your desktop catalog. Otherwise, the Lightroom mobile line will say Start, and ask you to sign in. We’ll come back to the desktop app in more detail in a later post.
If you don’t have a subscription, you can still save your edited photos out to the camera roll (iOS) / gallery (Android) by tapping on the Share icon, but they’ll be saved as rendered JPEGs (even if captured as DNGs). These photos can then be backed up to your computer using a cable, or to the cloud using other apps such as Dropbox or Google Photos.
Next week, we discuss how to add your existing photos, and how to set Lightroom to automatically import any photos/videos shot with other camera apps.
If you’re keen to get started in the meantime, you can download the full set of infographics right now. They’re yours to download absolutely FREE when you sign up for my monthly Lightroom newsletter using the form below. (Don’t worry, I won’t share your email address with anyone else. You can read previous issues of the newsletter here.)
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My version looks completely different and I cannot find the camera. I have a blue camera icon which when tapped says”Allow Access to Camera Roll”. I also have access to about 1800 of my previous images but no camera unless I go to the Apple camera.
I think I’ll need to see a screenshot Graham, and also know which iPhone you’re running and which OS.
How can I batch transfer multiple images which I shot using the LR camera to my desktop?
As long as you have a subscription, they sync to the cloud and then down to your desktop version of Lightroom. If you don’t have a subscription, it depends which mobile operating system you use.
I do. I’ve somehow managed to grab them and put them in a folder on desktop, however, not 100% sure how (I created a Smart Collection for 2018, so that might have been it). Where on the desktop would I have found them (if I hadn’t created the smart collection)?
In the Folders panel, you’d find a drive called Karen’s iPhone or something like that. You can select the photos in the Grid view and drag them into another normal folder. Or better still, go to Preferences > Lightroom Sync tab and set a custom location for downloading mobile photos.
Hmmm, my current phone’s not showing in the Folders panel. Previous ones are, plus iPads, but not this phone!
If I click ‘Import’ it shows my phone, but it’s not displaying photos taken with the LR Mobile camera.
Ah, no, it wouldn’t, because it can only read the Camera Roll, not Lightroom mobile’s own camera. Sync them to the cloud, or save them to the camera roll instead.
Not the solution I was hoping for!! You have to save them one by one to the camera! So even though I’m syncing between desktop and LR Mobile, the LR Mobile ones won’t sync back to my computer? I really wish I could recall how I got the first lot into a folder!! I’ll try again, have some new shots to download for a challenge. If I work it out, I’ll come back and let you know. I believe there has to be a way!
Well I’ve found a *workaround!*
1 On computer, log into lightroom.adobe.com
2 Click on ‘All Photos’ and select the images you want
3 Click on ‘Add to’ in the blue bar above the images
4 Create a new Collection (or add to a current Collection)
Go back to LR on desktop and voila! Your images are in a Collection ready to be moved/copied to a folder!!
However, my initial question about selecting a batch of images at once remains! };/ You still need to check the little circle on **each image** to select it. It would be handy if after sorting (say by date), it broke the images down to the next level (say daily) where you could check a box to select all that day’s images. At present, they’re just grouped at a month level with no batch selection option.
And BTW the photos that I managed to get off my phone the other day? They were from my phone’s camera roll, not the LR camera! ;(
Having found this workaround, I have re-read your post and I’m a bit confused about some of it. Can I copy the post text and email you a document with comments?
hahaha after all that, the images WERE in my **Catalog!** I was trying to find them via the Collections!! And then Folders when you mentioned that ^^^!
AND it was by creating the Smart Collection called ‘2018’ that I got them last time, only problem is I set it up wrong and it only filtered images taken that day! Uuurrggghhh glad to get that sorted!! It was driving me to distraction! Feel free to delete my comments from this post to tidy it up a bit and avoid causing anyone else any confusion in the future!!
LOL! Well done Karen!!