October 18,2017
Adobe just released two new versions of Lightroom - Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic CC.
Lightroom Classic CC is an updated version of the subscription-based Lightroom. Mostly with improved performance.
Lightroom CC is a new subscription-based app which pushes all images to Adobe's cloud and makes them avaialble for viewing and editing across multiple platforms. Lightroom CC is a bit like Lightroom Mobile but runs under OS X. It has a comprehensive set of editing features but not as full-featured as Lightroom Classic CC. I believe Lightroom CC (LR CC) is also Adobe's answer to Apple Photos which already stores images in the cloud and makes them available across all platforms. Since I use Photos as a portfolio viewer, I have an interest in LR CC as an alternative.
Upon announcement I changed my Adobe subscription plan to the Photography Bundle which includes Lightroom CC, Lightroom Classic CC, Photoshop CC and 20GB of cloud storage (which won't get me far).
It's worth mentioning that this set of announcements by Adobe has caused some controversy because they no longer support standalone versions of Lightroom. Thus, many users are now considering moving to other alternatives such as Luminar, ON1, etc. We'll see how this plays out. I already have most of these alternatives so I can play with them.
Some first thoughts:
1. Lightroom Classic CC retains all original files on the computer disk. With Sync'd collections, Smart Previews are uploaded to the cloud. These can be accessed from other devices (such as LR Mobile). However, these are reduced resolution, highly compressed versions of the original file. With Lightroom CC, all images are uploaded to the cloud as original (RAW) images. These images can be accessed on other devices as smart previews or can be downloaded to other devices in their original form. Thus, the cloud can contain a mixture of smart previews and original images. Confusing.
Some open questions:
1. I take most pictures when I'm traveling. This usually means that I have access to marginal Internet, at best. So, the idea of uploading large RAW files to CC seems unpractical. This means I need to retain the original files on my primary usage device (MacBook Pro or iPad Pro) and also to implement an approporiate backup workflow for the device I'm using (see Using the iPad). However, the nice thing about uploading original files to the cloud is that I can access and edit them from anywhere, without the compromise of Smart previews (I think).
2. If I'm not traveling and have access to good Internet, then the benefit of access on multiple devices is diminished since I have local backup and easy access to my primary computer. The only real benefit is the "Apple Photos" effect which allows me to access images from mobile devices when I'm out of home, at a later date. Presumably they are accessed as Smart Previews unless I explicitly download them.
3. What happens after I upload files using LR CC and then open LR Classic CC? Are these files automatically downloaded and imported to my library? What if I have multiple libraries? Need to try this out to see if there's a scenario where I use LR CC for ingestion but LR Classic CC for editing. Also to see if edits in LR Classic CC are automatically reflected in the cloud.
4. From LR Classic CC can I upload images to the cloud that are original images (not smart previews)? This could be useful for backup.
5. What happens to iPhone images? Presumably those taken with the LR camera get auromatically uploaded. What about the ones using the Apple camera - they will go straight in to the Camera Roll and can be automatically imported to LR CC?
6. A possible scenario is that I use LR CC just like I would use Photos. That is, create albums and share with social media, at reduced resolution (smart previews).
7. In considering LR CC as an alternative to Photos, also consider apps which only work on the camera roll such as Plotograph.
The Basics.
Is it practical to consider uploading all RAW files to Adobe’s CC and commit to this as primary storage (as they would like)?
1. At Home. Right now, Internet speed is 17Mb/sec download and 1.9Mb/sec upload. This translates to a (typical) 40MB RAW file taking 2.8min to upload and 18 sec to download (best case). For 100 files, this would take 4.7hrs to upload and 31min to download. Files are only getting bigger - uploading 100 50MB images will take 5.8hrs (best case)
2. On the road - Hotels. Most hotels have shitty Internet with an upload rate of 1Mb/sec best case. Thus, roughly double the home numbers for this situation - 9.5 hrs to upload 100 Images.
3. St Margarets Place, Edinburgh. With my new BT Internet, I’m getting about 9Mb/sec upload speeds (say 1MB/sec). For a 40MB file, that’s 40 sec. For 100 Images, that’s 66min. Getting Better.
4. Pajaro Dunes (ramsay) download - 11Mbps, upload - 3.3Mbps
While Internet speeds will improve, my conclusion is that for travel photography, where staying in hotels is the primary source of Internet, I'm not yet ready to commit to relying on upload of RAW images to facilitate a fast, secure workflow. Further, since it’s easy to do local backup, the only real advantage of uploading is to be able to access (and edit) the files across a range of devices. There are only limited circumstances where this is necessary as discussed in the next topic.
For viewing across multiple platforms how to compare LR CC with Apple Photos?
OK, here’s the scenario. My main computer is my iMAC at home in LAH. I use LR Classic CC, it contains my master library, I have ample storage (Drobo Raid) as well as additional backup. I will continue to use LR Classic CC since it has the broadest set of features and supports a variety of plug-ins that I occasionally use. It is also the computer that I use to create prints.
Up to this point, I have used Photos specifically for the sharing of photo albums across multiple devices. Kind of like a portfolio. My process is to complete editing on the iMAC and create an album of the best pictures. I then export the images in the album as Jpegs, to Dropbox, and then import them into Photos from where I can assemble into albums and allow to propogate through iCloud. I can do this process also on my MBP if I’m traveling since I can access Photos from any device.
With LR CC it’s a bit different. In principal I could do the same sharing by creating sync’d albums (collections) in LR Classic CC. These albums would then be viewable (and editable) from any device running LR CC. The images (except for on the source device, would all be Smart Previews. OK for casual viewing. There is an option in LR CC to download the Smart Previews for off-line viewing. This is not automatic so adds an additional step in the process which I don’t need in Photos. It gets complicated when I use more than one machine to edit (such as the MBP while I’m traveling). Adobe only allows a single shared library. So if I want to share out from my MBP, the shared library on the iMAC is disabled and I lose all the images from the sync’d albums. I suppose I could do the same export to jpeg trick and re-import to LR CC instead of Photos. However, I’m not sure of the pros and cons and concerned I may lose some of the benefits of Photos such as access to third party apps which connect to the camera roll.
And, what if I want to use my iPAD as my primary device while traveling?
Notes on using the Lightroom CC camera and interaction with Camera Roll.
1. In general, I want to separate what I take with the LR camera from anything going on with the camera roll. I want to avoid having the situation where I add to the camera roll from some other source (imported jpegs from another source) going automatically into LR CC and hence stored in Adobe's cloud. In order to avoid this, do the following:
2. hit the "LR" icon on LR CC home screen. Select " General" -> uncheck "Auto add photos" and "auto add videos". This will diable any auto-adds from the camera roll.
3. For Albums, select the "..." icon and make sure "Enable auto add" is disabled
Now all photos taken with the LR CC camera will only be uploaded to the Adobe cloud.
4. To selectively upload camera roll images, In image view, select the "+" icon on the lower right. You can then select images to add from the camera roll.