This morning, Adobe announced the release of Lightroom on both iOS and Android with rather significant updates to the platform. In iOS version 2.4, two major improvements have been added: a raw technology preview and the addition of local adjustment tools. On the Android side, they doubled-down on the unique end-to-end DNG capture experience first announced in Lightroom for Android 2.0 and created a brand new capture experience.
Here is a quick overview of the updates:
Lightroom for iOS 2.4
New raw technology preview enables mobile photographers to import raw photos directly to either their iPhone or iPad, edit them, and then share them, anywhere they’ve got a connection.
The ability to perform local adjustments with linear and radial selections means photographers can either add or modify existing selections made to photos and use the tools to draw attention to certain parts of an image.
The ability to use keyboard shortcuts with physical keyboards connected to iPads, the ability to add copyright to all imported photos, functionality to turn on lens profiles (if your camera and lens combination are supported), as well as the usual bug fixes and improvements.
Lightroom for Android 2.1
A new Pro mode for the built-in camera lets mobile photographers control the shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and focus all manually, in a brand new interface.
The new Lightroom Camera widget enables photographers to access the camera directly, making it faster for them to get in and start taking pictures.
Improved functionality to export full resolution files. If the files are available somewhere within the Lightroom ecosystem, Lightroom for Android will now download the full resolution version and enable users to export them.
Going into greater detail on the iOS raw features, Adobe had this to say:
We’re sure it’s happened to you before: you’re out taking photos (in raw of course) and you capture a real stunner that you can’t wait to share with the world. Until now, you had to either transfer a JPEG version of the file over or you had to wait until you got back to your desktop or laptop. With the raw technology preview, you’ll be able to import raw photos immediately to either your iPhone or iPad, edit them, and then share them, anywhere you’ve got a connection. Our goal with Lightroom for mobile is to make it an indispensable part of your photography workflow, providing the tools that you’re familiar with and the quality you expect in a product that can be with you, no matter when inspiration strikes. With this technology preview, we want to push the boundaries of how photographers around the world work with their mobile devices.
Adobe says you get all of the benefits of raw on your iOS device that you get with Lightroom on your desktop. That means shadow/highlight recovery, exposure, sharpness, curves, the whole gamut of options that raw affords.
Photograph by Elia Locardi of the valley in Meteora, Greece. Shot in raw on a Fuji XT-2 and edited on location with an iPad Pro with Lightroom for iOS.
An added benefit is that the raw file that you’ve imported into Lightroom for iOS will be synced with Lightroom on your other devices, such as Lightroom for desktop or Lightroom on the web, along with any of the edits, star ratings, or flags that you added.
For a full detailed look at what Adobe added to this release, make sure you hit up the Adobe Lightroom Blog.