DIY hardware trick that gives you hardware control over Lightroom for less. MUCH less!
Hardware boards that give you control over Lightroom’s function with real knobs and sliders (instead of using a mouse, or your keyboard, a tablet, etc.) have become more and more popular recently, and a blogger named Crispian Thorne was looking at buying one of the latest ones called, Loupedeck which bills itself as a “photo editing console.’ It looks like it might be really cool (it’s not shipping yet), but it’s pretty pricey at around €369 at pre-order pricing (that’s approx. $415.00 US-dollars. Yeowza!). I embedded a video below on how it works (it really does look pretty slick!)
Anyway, Crispian got to thinking and found a DIY way to create something similar using a $65 Midi Controller and some open-source software that converts Midi to Lightroom (I am not making this up).
You can read Crispian’s full article here, which includes a video on how it all works (I’m including one of them below, from photographer Brian Lovelace and it gives you a good feel for how its all done).
Also, shoutout to DIY photography master Larry Becker who turned me on to Crispian’s excellent blog post.
Hats off to Crispian, and heads up to Loupedeck — you’ve got a really cool idea and layout and I hope you guys are a success, but since you haven’t shipped yet — it’s not too late to reconsider your pricing a bit. 🙂
Hope you have a great humpday!
Best,
-Scott