It was during the December holidays that Johnny of Globis Inc. messaged to say that we have a new toy at hand – Loupedeck. Come January, Johnny delivered Loupedeck to redlab*, but due to some printing deadlines, we were only able to play around with the unit last week.
According to the website, Loupedeck is a photo editing console for Adobe Lightroom that is designed to make your editing faster. But I am not really keen with marketing statements. I need to try it out for myself. Besides, I don’t use Lightroom as much, I figured I’ll be coming in with “noobie” eyes. I’d know how easy or difficult would this be for a non-expert.
The unit came from the post, and knowing how our post is, it is good that the unit is well packaged – elegant and minimalistic 🙂
Most of us know what RTFM stands for, but Loupedeck did not come with any. Aside from a warranty booklet, there’s nothing in the box telling you how to use it. Plugging-in the USB did not do anything either (would have been nice if there’s something that says how to proceed, but maybe that’s too “old school”) So off to the Loupedeck website I went and there it was – video tutorials, manuals, and a software download 🙂
The site is informative. The download was a breeze and the package was very light. I was up and running, or should I say tweaking in no time.
https://loupedeck.com/
Without reading more on the website, I immediately went on tinkering. I wanted to know how if its “idiot proof.” The sliders in Lightroom reflects every turn of the knobs and wheels without lag (probably depending on your machine specs) And you’d notice that Lightroom scrolls up/down to highlight the slider that is being adjusted. For every tab on Lightroom, there’s a corresponding button on the console. There’s a Hue, Saturation, and Luminosity button for the HSL tab and BW/Clr buttons for BW/Color tabs.
Once inside a specific tab, every color adjustment can be done individually using the scrolling wheels. Yes, even on the BW tab (BW mode remains in RGB)
The console is intuitively arranged. Buttons are grouped to their functions. Left side is for the Library eg: tagging by color or stars, flagging and the top part is for managing colors.
Selection
Management of Colors
Personal Functions
Activation
What I enjoy most are the selection keys. You can either use colors or stars. In combination with the arrow keys, you can easily breeze through your library and mark the images you like best (star ratings) and call them up for later use. There’s also a Copy and Paste button to copy all adjustments made in a single image and instantly apply the same to another.
You can, of course, do the same with a mouse but nothing beats a single push of a button 🙂
With pre-loaded functions for every knobs and scrolling wheels, Loupedeck also allows you to change or designate a secondary function. You will have to use the downloaded software for this reassignment. You will have to press and hold the “func” key to apply the secondary function. Somehow, the “func” key on the console acts as an Alt key.
Knobs C1, C2, C3 and all color scrolling wheels (8) can be re-assigned and given a secondary function. That’s 22 custom presets.
In a nutshell, Loupedeck stands up with its statement of speed; it does make your editing go faster. I can easily see the console to be of value to amateur and professionals who deals with many images at the same time – think events, fashion, wedding and even photojourn photographers. Also, Loupedeck lays out all the controls in a deck and as such, allows you to explore adjustments that you’ve never made before. Loupedeck allows you to explore more, play more and consequently, be more creative.
Areas for improvement could be the following:
* Automatic software download when connected or something to point the loupedeck website for the software download.
* Wireless.
* Small increments of the zoom function button or use the big knob as function 2 when the zoom is pressed for incremental zooming.
* Arrow keys double up as panning tool when an image is zoomed-in.
* Functions with other Adobe applications.
Or a redesign. The biggest knob on the left-hand side is only used for rotating the image and cropping. It would have been better if it functions as a “main” knob. Say, for example, the color adjustments on the console were buttons (with LED lights) instead of scrolling wheels. You can then easily press a button then make the adjustment with your left hand using the main knob. You left hand will almost always be on station.
But that’s only me 🙂
If you want to know more, you can visit Globis for a local PH contact. Loupedeck retails for 24,300 PHP with a warranty of 12 months. Mention you’ve heard the news from redlab* and get it for 21,500 PHP and a Globis bag as a token 🙂
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