Loupedeck Photo Editing Console for Lightroom - MINI REVIEW

​If you use Lightroom, you’ll get your work done faster if you use a Loupedeck. That is really all you need to read here. But if you want to know why/how, stay with me.

When you are looking at thousands of photos after a long day of shooting, having an ergonomically designed console can make the process faster and more comfortable. The Loupedeck Editing Console, is designed and dedicated specifically to Adobe’s Photoshop Lightroom software. The keyboard-like Loupedeck provides tactile controls over nearly every aspect of your workflow. This means you can move quickly from selecting photos and adding various star ratings at the press of the button to applying major edits to exposure, contrast, white balance, and much, much more using clearly labeled dials. Following this, there are multiple wheels that provide more precise control to help add finishing touches, and custom buttons that can put your more personalized editing flourishes right at your fingertips.

The device is well-designed and thoughtful in its approach. The people who built it clearly understand how Lightroom workflows should be applied. If you have had trouble learning Lightroom, then this device should speed that process because the tasks are all labeled. If you already know Lightroom like the back of your hand, this device will possibly actually slow you down - at first - but later, once you get used to it, you’ll speed back up. For those who are already Lightroom masters, this keyboard’s only real value is that it will be more comfortable, which could be reason enough to spend the $299. It’s a lot of money for a keyboard. But if you make your living using Lightroom, it’s a reasonable expense.
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It also has one feature I really like - programmable presets. There are a few presets I use on the majority of my photos that are processed or cataloged in Lightroom and these programable presets make the editing process much easier for me.

There are a few things that could use improvement. The dials have a little play here and there. It’s USB 2.0 - no wireless. It can be a tad slow to respond to input sometimes. And it could use a pop-out QWERTY keyboard for easily adding captions or keywords.

CONCLUSION

For most dedicated Lightroom users, the Loupdeck is almost a must-buy. The only other similar product I’ve tried is the Behringer X-TOUCH MINI. I like the Loupdeck much more. RECOMMENDED.

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