# LR and iPad



## Bruce J

I have been the lucky recipient of a new iPad, courtesy of Santa, and I'm now trying to get my head around how to incorporate it into my photography.

I'm interested in any recommendations from other users as to photo apps that they find useful.  At the moment, I'm specifically looking for a slideshow type of app that has a bit more functionality and flexibility than the built-in photo app.  I'd like to be able to publish a collection of images from LR to a location on my computer HD, then sync those to the iPad via iTunes.  Then, I'd like to be able to create a slideshow of those images that includes text from the image metadata (title, caption, photographer's name, etc.).  I'd also like to be able to control the type of transition and the speed of transition.  Appreciate any suggestions,


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## RikkFlohr

I am using Portfolio for my slide shows. Not as automated as you would like I fear but very classy when I am at a client's. Most of the people to whom I would show images don't want to see any information on the picture-that's why I am there, holding the iPad! I don't even put Copyright notices or watermarks on my iPad photos as they are distracting and I control the access to the info. 

As for transitions, I've found anything more than a cut or a fade is too distracting and takes away focus from the images (probably why LR only offers a fade). 

Personally, I would consider using Lightroom's slide show feature to create a video that you could play on your iPad. Still not the control you are looking for, I fear.


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## edgley

There is the mobleme gallery app, and also flickr has an app.
I just use is for viewing, and not any editing functions.

It would be nice if you could use it as a monitor for Live View as well.


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## sizzlingbadger

You could sell it and use the money to buy a nice lens


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## Bruce J

Thanks Rikk.  Portfolio was one of the apps that I came across, but couldn't find any real info on its capabilities.  I use the slideshow feature in LR a lot to make shows for the family.  Everyone seems to like being able to see who took each photo (they're not always my images) and the location & caption.  I put that info on a frame outside the actual image.  Save the whole thing as a pdf and dump it on a CD, so I'm not always around when it gets played.  I'm happy with a simple dissolve transition, but would like to be able to control the dissolve speed.

Maybe what I need to do is find a good pdf player for the iPad and continue to use the LR slideshow feature.

Is that what you meant by making a video?  Or, do you have some other way of saving the slideshow?


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## Bruce J

sizzlingbadger said:


> You could sell it and use the money to buy a nice lens


 
Thanks for the thought, but I think Santa would be a bit unhappy.  Might get nothing but a lump of coal from here on.


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## RikkFlohr

I bought an Ipad only because I had a 200.00 Gift Cert to use at the Apple Store. I was skeptical of it as a tool but now I use it constantly. LightTrac was worth the price of admission alone on my last Badlands expedition.  I use Air Display to run Lightroom remotely during presentations (pretty wow stuff to the audience). PClock is invaluable to me too. 

I would use Mogrify to build your images with the info you want already on them and then output them to your Ipad sync folder.  That gets you around that issue.  Sync speed is now the only issue.  Portfolio uses about a four second cross-fade.  Overall, it works great for keeping multiple portfolios on your machine for a nice slide-show display to a client. 

I use PDFReader and have been happy with it.


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## RikkFlohr

You might check out these guys too. They seem to have some customization options on the slide show at least: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mediapad-pro-photography-video/id394760312?mt=8


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## Bruce J

Wow.  Thanks Rikk for the great tips.  I'm sure that will keep me busy for a few days.  Great to have some recommendations.  Whenever I search for a topic on the App Store, I get overwhelmed w/ options.  And each option seems to have an equal number of people who love it and hate it.


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## hypman

Hi
Hows the resolution ? is it good?

thanks


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## Bruce J

hypman said:


> Hi
> Hows the resolution ? is it good?


 
Resolution (1024x768) and color are both great in a device this size.  It's a beautiful platform for showing off your images if you can find an app that you like.  The Photos app that comes with it is OK, but has few options.


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## hypman

ah well im sure theres an app for that !

thanks


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## sonny_c

FYI for an alternative solution.  If you already own Proshow Gold or Proshow Producer then you can buy their plugin ProShow Plugin for Device Output.  This will convert your slideshow to a iPad friendly format.  I've used a few times and it's great.


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## Bruce J

sonny_c said:


> FYI for an alternative solution.  If you already own Proshow Gold or Proshow Producer then you can buy their plugin ProShow Plugin for Device Output.  This will convert your slideshow to a iPad friendly format.  I've used a few times and it's great.



Thanks Sonny.  I'm not a Proshow user, but I'll check it out.  I'm actually pretty happy with the slideshow capabilities in LR; just trying to figure out how to show the LR slideshows on the iPad.  I currently create PDF slideshows from LR and show them on the computer.  Would like to do the same on the iPad, but can't seem to find out if any of the PDF reader apps that are available will play those types of PDF files.  Alternative would be to find a slideshow app for the iPad that has similar capabilities as LR (not very complicated, but I would like to be able to display text from the metadata on an image border).  

Maybe one of our developers out there would like to create a LR plug-in that creates a slideshow in an iPad-friendly format?  John B - is this possible?  Cheers,


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## johnbeardy

Sean McCormack may have been doing one, though I think it was an iPad-targetted web gallery rather than a true iPad app.

John


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## Bruce J

Well, I went to the Photodex site, but didn't learn much.  I was curious as to exactly what the "iPad friendly format" was all about.  Didn't find an answer.  ProShow Gold looked like it might be interesting, but I was surprised to see that the LR plug-in apparently doesn't work w/ Gold, only with Web and Producer.  Odd.  I don't suppose the plug-in is really necessary.  Producer is out of my price bracket, but I might download the trial version of Gold just to see what it does.

John, I'll also take a look at Sean's plug-ins.  Your comment also reminded me of another possible approach, which would be to use the LR Web module to create the slideshow and play it from the browser on the iPad.  Something else to think about, as I've never used the Web module.  Thanks to everyone for the ideas,


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## johnbeardy

I also couldn't figure out what the new Proshow plugin may be. Having been lucky enough to win Producer at a conference, I'd say that for task like creating wedding DVDs it is an excellent tool. I'd describe it as a DVD authoring app rather than merely a slideshow producer.

John


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## sonny_c

Bruce J said:


> Well, I went to the Photodex site, but didn't learn much.  I was curious as to exactly what the "iPad friendly format" was all about.  Didn't find an answer.  ProShow Gold looked like it might be interesting, but I was surprised to see that the LR plug-in apparently doesn't work w/ Gold, only with Web and Producer.  Odd.  I don't suppose the plug-in is really necessary.  Producer is out of my price bracket, but I might download the trial version of Gold just to see what it does.








johnbeardy said:


> I also couldn't figure out what the new Proshow plugin may be. Having been lucky enough to win Producer at a conference, I'd say that for task like creating wedding DVDs it is an excellent tool. I'd describe it as a DVD authoring app rather than merely a slideshow producer.
> 
> John



*Gold*
ProShow Gold has more output options than any other slideshow software on the market. Output your slide shows directly to all the major disc formats including DVD, Blu-ray & CD. Upload shows directly to the web through YouTube, Flash, QuickTime or Photodex's own streaming ProShow Presenter. You can put your shows on portable devices* like the iPhone, iPod, Blackberry & more.


Burn to DVD, CD & Blu-ray
    Integrated Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo and Twitter uploading
    Stream shows online with Flash, QuickTime or Presenter
    Output to portable devices* like the iPhone, Blackberry & more
    Upload and share your shows online for FREE at photodex.com




*Producer*
Whether you're creating content to playback on TV, PC or the Web, Producer delivers only the best quality output. Provide your clients with true HD quality slide shows that will keep you and your business competitive in an ever-changing market. Don't waste your pixels on standard definition shows; showcase your images in full HD resolution with Producer's wide array of high-quality output options.


Burn to DVD, CD & Blu-ray
    Integrated Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo and Twitter uploading
    Stream shows online with Flash, QuickTime or Presenter
    Output to portable devices* like the iPhone, Blackberry & more
    Upload and share your shows online for FREE at photodex.com



* Note: For device output a plug-in may be required, see the Device Plug-in page for more info.


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## Bruce J

Sonny - Yes, I read the Photodex web site also.  But, none of that tells me what the *format *is that they are using for output to mobile devices (iPad in particular).  And, I don't see a mechanism for finding out.  I can download a trial version of ProShow Gold, but I can't see a way to download a trial version of the portable device plug-in to test it out.  Or, maybe I missed that somewhere?  I would like to trial the entire process before buying in.  Cheers,


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## Bruce J

Spent some time experimenting w/ ProShow Gold and talking to their tech support yesterday.  To clear up a few things for anyone else who might read this thread:

1.  The mobile devices plug-in is not available in a trial version; if you want to try it, you have to buy it.
2.  The 'iPad friendly format' is .mp4 video.
3.  Although there is a way to add EXIF data from each image as text on the image, or on a border, there is no mechanism for doing the same w/ IPTC data.  This turns out to be a deal-breaker for me.  Obviously, it's not for many other people.

In tests that I ran from LR, I generated a slideshow from a random set of 26 images:

1.  The pdf version of the slideshow (@ 1024x768) was 5.2MB
2.  The .mp4 video @ 720p was 43.1 MB
3.  The .mp4 video @ 1080p was 152.3 MB
4.  A similar, but not exactly the same, .mp4 video made from ProShow Gold was 882 MB.

I haven't tried playing any of these videos on the iPad yet, but they all seem way too large for my purposes.  So, I think I'll be back to my search for a pdf reader that will play LR slideshows saved as pdf's.  Would love some help w/ that, if anyone has info., either positive or negative.  Cheers,


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## RikkFlohr

http://blog.photosmithapp.com/

We are getting closer...


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## Bruce J

RikkFlohr said:


> http://blog.photosmithapp.com/
> 
> We are getting closer...


 
Wow - that looks cool.  I received a camera connection kit w/ my Pad, but hadn't figured out how I was going to use it as I always process raw images through LR before anyone sees them.  But, I would certainly like to be able to preview and tag them while I'm traveling.  Hope it works as well as it looks.  Are you part of the development team?

BTW, I have a partial solution to my need to place metadata on a frame outside the image for slideshows.  I'm using LR and LR/Mogrify 2 to generate the slide images and Portfolio to show the slides.  It's not perfect, but it does seem to work.  Will PhotoSmith have any slideshow capability?  Cheers,


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## Victoria Bampton

RikkFlohr said:


> http://blog.photosmithapp.com/
> 
> We are getting closer...


 
Ooooooooh, I'm looking forward to seeing that in action!


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## PhotoGal

Sort Shots is already out on the iPad and will automatically read the keywords and ratings assigned to your images.  Plus, if you use it to add more keywords or ratings, Lightroom will be able to read them so you don't have to duplicate any work.  Its brilliant!  So you can create a slideshow instantly based on various criteria and later change how you want your slides to appear.  Metadata can be viewed easily.  They are already in the iTunes store or on their website at www.sortshots.com.


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## jobyrose

hi i am also a photography passionate & i am using the *Sortshots* app for showcasing my pics to the clients.It allows me to create slideshows with background music.The songs are played in order of selection from library & also Loop / repeat and shuffle is possible.The best part is that it brings the power of tagging the photo collection with personalized keywords, ratings etc; So i don't have to manage so many folders & once  everything is set up you'll be able to find exactly what you’re looking for in just a couple of taps.
Awesome app.


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## Diane B

Is anyone using Photosmith on the Ipad?. i'm interested since I'm a longtime user of LR (since beta 1) and use an Ipad every day for a year. I do load all my photos in the field (snd keep my cards to load to main computer later) but boy, a real LR synced app would be great. i keep reading very mixed reviews.


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