The holy grail of mobile photography, for me at least, was a truly native way to work with images while on the go. In my desire to leave behind a laptop and travel as light as possible, the initial release of Adobe’s Lightroom for mobile devices felt like tons of potential but had a not-quite-there-yet feel. Today, Adobe’s announced a major update to the Lightroom app that may just correct my hang-ups.
Direct Import Added
My biggest gripe with the initial iteration of Lightroom mobile was the lack of direct download support on iOS devices. While I was able to import from an SD card with an appropriate lightning-to-SD Card dongle, I was not able to directly import into Lightroom. Instead, it was (at best) a three-step process whereby you must first import into your camera roll then import into Lightroom and then into an album or collection. Not ideal to be sure.
As of the latest update, photographers can directly import into Lightroom from an external source without the additional steps. In terms of workflow, it allows you to get in your zone and stay there – no more cycling between apps to get to what you intended on doing – working on your photos.
Export but make it Advanced
The next big update comes in the form of advanced export options. The new Lightroom mobile gives users a bevy of control options including file type, pixel dimensions, compression, watermarks, and file name to name a few. This comes in handy when you want to catalog your final images something other than the file name that comes over from the camera.
Allowing users to have access to these controls within the Lightroom app is a much more intuitive and familiar way to approach photo editing – and I’m here for it.
Quick Thoughts
While in my opinion there’s still no true replacement product for the desktop version of Lightroom (er, Lightroom Classic), these iterative updates are welcomed step forward. I personally made the jump to mirrorless cameras for their portability and reduction in weight from a traditional DSLR
For additional details on this latest update, visit Adobe’s blog.
