We love Adobe Lightroom as much as the next guy. What we don’t love is the labyrinth of controls that can leave you reeling and confused. If Adobe’s photo-editing software takes up a good part of your computing time, then it’s probably worth it to invest in an easier way to access its maze of controls, not unlike the Shortcut-S for Photoshop. The Loupedeck does just that.
A physical control board for Adobe Lightroom, it gives users a gaggle of knobs, scroll wheels, and buttons to use with the photo editor’s array of functions. No more memorizing keyboard shortcuts to avoid multiple mouse clicks, carefully dragging a mouse cursor through a slider, or doing any of the other laborious work you’ve come to make peace with – this thing replaces them with physical controls that allow for much easier adjustments.
To use the Loupedeck, simply plug it in to a USB slot on your computer and you’re ready. All controls come with preprogrammed Adobe Lightroom functions, from standard software functions (e.g. copy, undo) and basic photo effects (e.g. exposure, vignetting) to individual tools (e.g. brush tool, crop) and fine-tuned adjustments (e.g. saturation, color channels) so just keep a chart of the function mapping nearby while you’re starting out to get the hang of using the peripheral. It comes with a total of 33 buttons, 13 dials, and eight scroll wheels, with the board measuring 15.7 x 6.1 inches (width x depth).
An Indiegogo campaign is currently running for the Loupedeck. Pledges to reserve a unit starts at €229.