This sounds pretty interesting:
Now after a day of shooting, you can pop your SD card into your computer, import the photos into Lightroom, grab your iPad, sit on the couch and go through the photos. Pick out the good ones, reject the bad ones, and share your favorites to Twitter or Facebook.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAORCCuHSXs
[YouTube]
Can’t help wondering if this isn’t a bit too little, too late. What with so many new cameras having built-in WiFi (apparently the Mark II Canon 7D will be the next in the serious lineup). So, image preview can then be done directly, on pretty much any tablet. And in-studio, some of the cameras themselves can be operated and monitored by the same functionality. All by-passing Lightroom, at least initially.
That said, this Mosaic scheme seems to work fine – it can be taken for a spin for free. There’s a double install required, but with no hassles. And it’s also possible to preview images via Mosaic on any networked device (in a browser), not just via the app on an iPad/iPhone. Synchronization and online storage cost monies via subscription: unlimited images can be catalog-accessed for $7 per month, while storage options begin at $12 monthly (for 400 GB).
Will the Develop edits in Lightroom reflect in Mosaic?
Yes – providing you return to the Library (so that new previews are generated which Mosaic can detect and upload).
Actually, you can stay in the Develop module and your changes will still be synched.
This seems just a minor issue. But, I’ve tried it (twice now, with Lightroom 5,2), and the iPad app does not directly synch to edits made in the Develop module. And what got me convinced altogether was found in the Mosaic FAQs: “Metadata changes will be uploaded very quickly (every minute or so). If you change the image in the development module, these changes can take a little longer to synchronize (less than 5 minutes). Mosaic doesn’t upload the changes to the images until you have left the development module and returned to the Library module. This prevents synchronizing with every slider edit.”
Good catch. It does indeed take longer in Develop mode. Should still happen, though. If it doesn’t, please report it to Mosaic’s tech support.
There are a few things that Mosaic Archive brings to the party that wi-fi in the camera misses.
Most important is that the edits that most serious photographers do on any image that they care about will not be reflected in the native preview mode. With Mosaic the latest and greatest “developments” are reflected in the cloud version almost immediately.
Similarly, metadata edits made on the tablet or phone are synched back into Lightroom with no effort. So I can rate and flag my photos already today from my iPhone, and who knows what else Mosaic will give me tomorrow?
Finally, the big, hidden value that Mosaic brings to serious photographers: RAW image backup at a reasonable price. All incorporated in the photographer’s existing workflow.
I don’t see Lightroom going away any time soon for serious photographers, so bypassing it is just not the right model.
Full disclosure: I’m an investor in Mosaic Archive.
“and who knows what else Mosaic will give me tomorrow?”
Yes – I thought some about that. (However, the very same question could be posed also on the in-camera WiFi feature ..)
I’d agree that Lightroom is a cornerstone for the pro-photographer. For the enthusiast though there are some intriguing new developments – here’s one that definitely has merit: http://www.darktable.org
On just what could be done next with the Mosaic scheme and platform … Since it is so closely coupled to Lightroom, then there’s no premium to be gained by competing with that, in basic editing and so forth. But having access to, or perhaps supplementing, the Slideshow module would be one good thing (for the iPad app at least).
Seems to me that Photosmith has Mosaic beat. Besides, we should be getting all of this and more from Adobe soon based on the demo the Lightroom PM showed a month or two ago.
A primary difference is storage. With Mosaic a minimum dedicated online archive of 400 GB costs $12 per month. (Plus the two apps themselves are both free.) Photosmith – if I understand correctly – passes off storage to Dropbox, where the nearest equivalent is 500 GB at $41.60 monthly and needs an annual commitment.
Does the upcoming Adobe initiative address this? A Creative Cloud subscription gives a user just 20 GB (while 100 GB is available for teams).
I download the mosaic app in my PC but it does’t show any icon and LR doesn’t connect! What can I do?
Hi Maria,
My name is Gerard. I am the CEO of Mosaic.
I am sorry that you got that error. This seems to be an error that is isolated to some Windows 8 users. Windows 8 added new support for IPV6 and Mosaic isn’t playing nicely with it.
We should have a fix soon as this didn’t come up in our testing. (Apparently our office internet provider doesn’t support IPV6… who knew..)
Thank you and we will be in touch soon. Best, Gerard