Adobe Lightroom Beta 4

marklarry28

Message from Adobe.

_______________________


Dear Lightroom Beta participant,
We're pleased to announce that Adobe Photoshop Lightroom beta 4 is now ready for you to download and use. This is the first release to reveal the full name we are giving to the product, as Lightroom takes its place as the newest member of the Photoshop family of digital imaging and photography software.
Beta 4 is our biggest milestone to date, with several enhancements and additions, including the achievement of full feature parity between the Windows and Mac OS versions of Lightroom. No matter which platform you prefer, you can now bring the full power of Lightroom beta to your photos.
Lightroom Beta 4 also features:

• Groundbreaking changes in the way tone curve adjustments are made and displayed, giving you the highest quality results in an interface that's easier to use than ever before.
• More streamlined and elegant user interface - We've made several changes to the look and feel based on your feedback in the earlier beta releases.
• Customizable interface - You can now display only the controls you want to be visible.
• Precision white balance selection tool
• Facility to easily rename and convert files to DNG after they've been imported to the Lightroom library
• Increased interaction between Lightroom library organizational structure and the underlying file system
• Filter and search presets to more quickly find the photographs you want
• Better performance and improved interface for the Web module features
• Develop control improvements based on community feedback, including comments from the Pixmantec user community (welcome!)

Tell us what you think

There is a limited amount of time left for you to give us feedback on the Lightroom Beta project, so please continue sharing your opinions with us on the forums at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/?trackingid=KRTF.
Show us what you think
Get to know the Adobe Lightroom community, and show us all how you're using Lightroom. Upload and share your images using the Lightroom slideshow features, and visit the site to see what other photographers are creating. Visit the Lightroom Gallery today at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/?trackingid=KRTF.
Thank you for your continued support of Adobe Lightroom,
Jennifer Stern
Adobe Lightroom team

cmason

Just installed it. First impressions: WOW! it works like a real app now. you can actually use it, performance is good, clicks make things happen, vs making humans wait.

Interface is different, and a whole lot busier, but you can change the interface in what seems to be unlimited ways, so you can easily customize it. Still waiting for watched folders, but at least import can be done very quickly so far...

still playing with it, but much improved for Windows anyway.


(I just know this is going to cost me alot of $$ in the near future)

botanist

Just downloaded the new Beta last night (Mac) and so far love it. :

They did promise me in the forums that we'd see a Healing Brush/Clone Tool rolleyes But i'll be patient.

The interface has received a MUCH needed update.

One thing I did notice is either they moved or REmoved the 'Activity' window which shows you how Lightroom is doing w/ processing thumbnails/exporting images/etc. I'm not sure if I like that yet since those processes suck up TONS of ram while they're active. However I was only poking around, it was 1am, and I had just driven 4hrs back from MI! lol

I also picked up Adobe Suite CS2 Premium this weekend so I've got alot to play with! :ivar

Nikolai

Just got it
Difference is huge. Before, it crawled. Now, it flies.
Some new cool features... I can see myself using it now, at least occasionally.
WTG, Adobe!

cmason

Nikolai wrote:

I can see myself using it now, at least occasionally.
WTG, Adobe!

hopefully you can see yourself using it....with Star*explorer? Would love to see integration with Bridge/Lightroom...even if it is just drag and drop support (ok drag and drop works with Bridge )

Nikolai

Mindreading, aren't ya;-)?

cmason wrote:

hopefully you can see yourself using it....with Star*explorer? Would love to see integration with Bridge/Lightroom...even if it is just drag and drop support (ok drag and drop works with Bridge )

I spent this weekend writing the first chapter for the Blending Modes tutorial, but I guess I'll change the tune fro the next one.
Bridge/S*E integration has been long due :-)

Cheers! :

jfriend

Nikolai wrote:

I spent this weekend writing the first chapter for the Blending Modes tutorial, but I guess I'll change the tune fro the next one.
Bridge/S*E integration has been long due :-)

Cheers! :

I use drag and drop from Bridge to Star Explorer all the time. What else is needed?

cmason

botanist wrote:

JOne thing I did notice is either they moved or REmoved the 'Activity' window which shows you how Lightroom is doing w/ processing thumbnails/exporting images/etc.

I found that they didnt remove the activity window, they integrated it into the UI. They also made it so it does not default to creating thumbnails when you start...woohoo!

You can have it create the thumbnails (if you do things go even faster). Choose Library>Render Standard Previews, and it will go off and build them. And yes things slow down when you do, so just do this when you are not using your computer for a while. They also added a Render 1:1 previews, but not too sure what that is just yet.

botanist

cmason wrote:

I found that they didnt remove the activity window, they integrated it into the UI. They also made it so it does not default to creating thumbnails when you start...woohoo!

You can have it create the thumbnails (if you do things go even faster). Choose Library>Render Standard Previews, and it will go off and build them. And yes things slow down when you do, so just do this when you are not using your computer for a while. They also added a Render 1:1 previews, but not too sure what that is just yet.

yeah I noticed that last night as a matter of fact. And I exported ~100 DNG's and it FLEW through them. A much needed improvement I also noticed the integration of the activity window with a thumbnail preview of what it's working on...great change :

marlof

I must say that although it's remarkably faster than Beta 3, it still is not up to par compared to iView Media Pro when it comes to library management (both in terms of functionality (searching, filtering, finding broken links/duplicates, etc) and of speed after feeding it 11.000 files). The RAW development is much faster, but I still need some time with the new options before I'll know how much I like the results. And it is a beta, I know. If they keep enhancing things, this even might become my one stop shop for many photography related tasks.

botanist

marlof wrote:

I must say that although it's remarkably faster than Beta 3, it still is not up to par compared to iView Media Pro when it comes to library management (both in terms of functionality (searching, filtering, finding broken links/duplicates, etc) and of speed after feeding it 11.000 files). The RAW development is much faster, but I still need some time with the new options before I'll know how much I like the results. And it is a beta, I know. If they keep enhancing things, this even might become my one stop shop for many photography related tasks.

You're trying to load 11k files at once? *eeeeeeeeeeeeek* Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but feeding any computer short of the new Mac Pro w/ 16gb of RAM and Dual Intel Duo's that many RAW images is going to slow it down considerably.

Luckily LRB4 (as mentioned above) doesn't immediately render ALL thumbnails when you import...that saves a ton of processing time up front. I used to just import ~3-700 pics at a time then walk away for 8-10hrs while it went through them

But you're right about one thing, if they keep making enhancements like they did from 3 to 4 I'll be picking up a copy when it goes live.

Nikolai

John,

jfriend wrote:

I use drag and drop from Bridge to Star Explorer all the time. What else is needed?

Of course, drag-and-drop works, it was there since I don't know when...
I'm thinking more like of a shell integration feature, when you can simply select files in Bridge and send them to Smugmug directly (via S*E) without having S*E open first. Like with the Image Processor. Or like you currently can send them from Windows Explorer to Smugmug via S*E (provided you have activated this feature:-)

marlof

botanist wrote:

You're trying to load 11k files at once?

It isn't that weird. I have this library of 11,000 images. iView Media Pro, my current DAM solution, manages those without a sweat. So does ACDSee Pro. So to test things (that's what Beta's are for, right?) I added these images to Lightroom, and had it build previews over night (I'm not that stupid!). Now I have a living library of 11,000 images in Lightroom, that exists next to other tasks. If it really is a combined DAM/RAW converter solution it will have to be able to do that. How else am I going to keep track of these images, if it isn't in my Library?

Anyhow, this amount of images is trickling down the speed of Lightroom. It remains workable (which beta 3 didn't), but not ideal. If this isn't dealt with, I'll keep iView Media Pro as my DAM solution for now, and might use Lightroom only as a RAW converter. If that's enough of a task to justify the price, will depend on the price point.

botanist

marlof wrote:

It isn't that weird. I have this library of 11,000 images. iView Media Pro, my current DAM solution, manages those without a sweat. So does ACDSee Pro. So to test things (that's what Beta's are for, right?) I added these images to Lightroom, and had it build previews over night (I'm not that stupid!). Now I have a living library of 11,000 images in Lightroom, that exists next to other tasks. If it really is a combined DAM/RAW converter solution it will have to be able to do that. How else am I going to keep track of these images, if it isn't in my Library?

Anyhow, this amount of images is trickling down the speed of Lightroom. It remains workable (which beta 3 didn't), but not ideal. If this isn't dealt with, I'll keep iView Media Pro as my DAM solution for now, and might use Lightroom only as a RAW converter. If that's enough of a task to justify the price, will depend on the price point.

Ok i've got ya now. I thought you were just complaining about the speed at which LR added the 11k images.

I believe there's a limit to the size of any library supported by LR but I can't recall what it is. I agree it's a problem they need to address if they really hope to market this to professionals.

jfriend

Nikolai wrote:

Of course, drag-and-drop works, it was there since I don't know when...
I'm thinking more like of a shell integration feature, when you can simply select files in Bridge and send them to Smugmug directly (via S*E) without having S*E open first. Like with the Image Processor. Or like you currently can send them from Windows Explorer to Smugmug via S*E (provided you have activated this feature:-)

OK. That's not a big deal to me. Opening S*E and dragging the files over from Bridge is only a couple clicks in my setup. I might use it if it was there, but not a big deal.

claudermilk

botanist wrote:

Ok i've got ya now. I thought you were just complaining about the speed at which LR added the 11k images.

I believe there's a limit to the size of any library supported by LR but I can't recall what it is. I agree it's a problem they need to address if they really hope to market this to professionals.

Yeah...chalk up another reason to ignore it. I'll bet my 70k database IMatch is cruising with will choke LR. :uhoh This is supposed to be a DAM as well as converter and printer, right? Sigh.

thebigsky

I'm a bit fed up there's no healing brush type tool, surely Adobe are aware that sensor dust is a way of life for digital photographers.

If they do include such a tool, I'll be more than happy to use just Lightroom with the occasional use of PS as I'm very happy with all other aspects of the program.

Charlie

marlof

thebigsky wrote:

sensor dust is a way of life for digital photographers

Only for some brands. I've been shooting with a DSLR since june 2005, and I've never needed to clone out a dust spec. My magic? The SSWF dust buster that Olympus developed.

schmoo

I'm loving the beta 4 of this, though I miss the lighter look of the previous version. I thought it was my bumping up my RAM that made it work so much faster. It's nice to see that it was a program update!

Does anyone know how LR compares to Aperture? When LR comes out I'm almost certainly going to purchase a copy because I have so much experience vested in it, but as a Mac user I have to wonder about Aperture.

livefreenski

if i installed the new beta version will i lose all the work i had done in beta 3?

-ty

jfriend

livefreenski wrote:

if i installed the new beta version will i lose all the work i had done in beta 3?

-ty

I didn't use beta3 very much, but I believe I've read that not all the adjustments are saved when going from beta3 to beta4. They've changed the format some. I don't believe you lose everything, but it doesn't keep everything either. Adobe has publicly said that they will only promise FULL compatibility of adjustments from one release to the next once they ship 1.0. You can, of course, generate JPEGs from your adjustments in B3 and those won't change in B4, but you can't assume all your B3 adjustments will transfer to B4.

W.W. Webster

livefreenski wrote:

if i installed the new beta version will i lose all the work i had done in beta 3?-ty

I didn't notice any details were lost going from beta 3 to beta 4.