Adobe Revel

[sanyasi]

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Digital photographers may want to keep an eye on Adobe's "new" product Revel (it was formerly know as Carousel). It clearly isn't there yet for people who shoot RAW files, but it may be an indication of where Adobe is headed. I stumbled upon it by accident, haven't used it, and have just read the rather long FAQ on Adobe's site, but I may download the 30-day trial.

 

If I understand the product correctly: This seems to be cloud-based solution to digital photography for the mobile environment. The idea is that you have one storage area for your photos, and they are then accessible on any iPad, iPhone, or Mac that you own. You can apparently upload photos through those devices. It also appears that the photos are also automatically downloaded to a folder that you designated on your Mac. You can also provide others with access to your photos, permitting collaborative editing.

 

It appears that you can do some rather serious editing on any of these devices. The video I watched mentioned exposure and other controls.

 

At this time, the program only handles jpeg files, but Adobe made a point of saying that they will be adding capacity for other file types and even asked for suggestions/preferences. An Android and Windows versions appears to be on the way.

 

I see two problems with the system for RAW users, assuming Adobe gets around to allowing RAW files. First, there is the question of upload speeds. Even the thoughtful photographer who comes back with just 50 RAW files after a day's outing is going to face slow uploads using the typical hotel WIFI. Second, there is the question of storage capacity. It appeared that Revel was priced at a cost of $60 a year, which I think may include some storage, but its hard to believe that price can hold if RAW were allowed given the size of the files.

 

In any event, this may be a sign that Adobe isn't currently thinking about making Photoshop or Lightroom full-features apps for the iPad, but is starting to develop something that will allow photographers to do some serious processing in the field. Speculation on my part, but this development is worth following in my opinion.