Adobe has announced a significant update that could transform the workflow for news and event photographers.
Starting today, photographers using cameras equipped with Camera-to-Cloud (C2C) technology can now upload images directly from their camera into Frame.io, where they can be instantly edited in Adobe Lightroom.
This new feature, which is currently in beta, allows photographers to manage their entire shooting process without needing to pause for image downloads or transfers, streamlining their workflow considerably.
With this integration, photographers can shoot all day without stopping to download images onto a computer. Instead, an off-site editor can cull, edit, and deliver the images in real time, making the process more efficient and less time-consuming.
“Our new workflow solves many of the problems photographers face when managing large numbers of images during events,” Adobe stated in their announcement.
Adobe’s Lightroom is already popular among photographers for its ability to quickly edit large batches of photos, and Frame.io is well-known among videographers for delivering high-resolution video files to clients.
Now, with the integration of these two platforms, photographers can create a project in Frame.io, connect it to Lightroom, and manage their images seamlessly between the two programs. They can either select photos in Frame.io and send them to Lightroom for editing or use Lightroom to handle both culling and editing.
Once the images are edited, they can be sent back to Frame.io for distribution or shared via an online gallery through Lightroom. The biggest advantage of this new workflow is that images can be transferred directly from the camera to Frame.io without needing to remove memory cards, download images, or upload them manually.
However, the success of this new system depends heavily on the quality of the internet connection.
Jaemin Cuevas, a filmmaker who owns a Panasonic GH7 with C2C capability, shared his experience: “It all depends on your upload speed. At home, with a 20 Mbps upload speed, I transferred 50 JPEG images in 3.5 minutes. But on a mobile phone with 2.5 Mbps upload, it took 16 minutes. However, I love how upload starts immediately after capturing an image or video.”
Internet speed inconsistencies remain a challenge, especially in locations with fluctuating network conditions. For example, during a shoot at Rockaway Beach in Queens, NY, Cuevas experienced an upload speed twice as fast as his home connection.
Frame.io reports that with a 48 Mbps connection, uploading a raw image from a 26-megapixel FUJIFILM X-H2S camera could take about 10 seconds. JPEG files, which are commonly used in event photography, would likely transfer in just 2 or 3 seconds.
This technology is expected to be particularly beneficial for large photo agencies like Getty Images. They could set up multiple cameras to upload images into the same Frame.io folder while keeping separate folders for each photographer. A significant benefit of this workflow is the real-time backup of images to the cloud. If a photographer’s camera or laptop were stolen, the images would already be safely archived online.
However, some challenges remain. For instance, C2C hardware devices struggle to connect to networks under a “captive portal,” often found in hotels and public spaces, where additional information is required before allowing internet access.
Adobe suggests using a mobile hotspot like the NETGEAR Nighthawk M6 Pro to connect to the internet in such cases.
The Adobe and Frame.io collaboration is seen as a potential game-changer for photographers who have relied on the same image transfer methods for the past 20 years.
While the technology is still new and requires refinement, it represents a significant step forward in making photography workflows more efficient and less cumbersome. It will be interesting to see how many camera manufacturers adopt the C2C protocol in future models.