Lightroom 4 Beta

It's out and with some neat features... http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom4/

<p>From the first specs, it looks interesting, however, it cannot run on Win XP, and I do not want to buy a new computer just to run a upgrade of a program. LR3 works nice for me, even though I miss bookmaking capabilities.</p>

<p>Thanks! I'll give it a whirl!</p>

<p>Four initial comments based on a few minutes of playing around with it:</p>

<p>1. I could be wrong, but my impression is that it seems to use more memory and run slower than 3.6. Possibly related to this, there were some unusual incidents where the screen wouldn't redraw properly. I never saw anything like this happen in 3.6.</p>

<p>2. I couldn't get 3.6 and 4beta to run simultaneously.</p>

<p>3. Backward compatibility: With the increased functionality of 4beta, one shouldn't work on anything important in 4beta and then expect to be able to read the edits that you made in 4b back in 3.6. OTOH, although the 4b version, presumably, for safety reasons, asked me to create a new catalog and not allow me to work on any of my 3.6 catalogs, apparently the final release will allow one to import and upgrade one's 3.6 catalogs. In the plus column, 4b seemed to read and import all my 3.6 presets (eg, metadata, develop, print, etc.) correctly.</p>

<p>4. The change in number, naming, order of appearance, and direction of tonality controls in the "basic" panel (ie, "highlights", "shadows", "whites", "blacks") threw me for moment, especially since there are 4 similarly named controls in the "tone curve" panel (ie, "highlights", "lights", "darks", "shadows"). I'm sure we'll all eventually figure out exactly what they do, the differences between them, and how they interact, but for the moment, this is going to take a bit of getting used to.</p>

<p>More time spent using it will likely reveal many more pros and cons.</p>

<p>Tom M</p>

<p>@Tom: Since you have downloaded and are testing, what are the bookmaking capabilities, especially when adding text (headlines, captions, ...) ?</p>

<p>Unfortunately, although the idea of putting bookmaking into LR really appeals to me, and Adobe supplies a dozen or so templates and immediate output to either a PDF or to Blurb, I only did a very cursory test of that module ... not much more than making sure it could produce a PDF from a dozen or so NEF files.</p>

<p>That module worked fine at that task, but, my initial impression is that it wasn't as customizable as I expected. OTOH, in my haste, I could easily have missed some of this functionality. For example, it was not immediately obvious to me if could re-crop the image (or change its aspect ratio) in the Book module, or how to rotate images on the page, when I couldn't figure this out in two seconds, I just moved on to the web module, knowing that such features almost certainly had to be there, just that I didn't immediately spot it. Similarly, I would have expected to see some built-in way to add and edit keylines and simple borders to images in the Book module without going back to one of the other modules to do this.</p>

<p>Tom M</p>

OK Tom, thanks.

<p>im downloading it as whe speak..</p>

<p>the only thing i have in mind for now is.. its a hard time for Aperture</p>

<p>Patrick, when testing it, could you please check what are the bookmaking capabilities, especially when adding text (headlines, captions, ...) ?</p>

<p>first impression;</p>

<p>1_it look exactly the same visually vs 3</p>

<p>2_for now, it seem on my Imac 27 i7 16gig of ram as fast as the v3</p>

<p>3_i dont find the new Highlight and shadow recovery tool? (help please!)</p>

<p>4_the GPS thing for those who need it is an nice addition a la Iphoto ; )<strong> </strong></p>

<p>5_the book creation and the export to Blurb is a really nice addition, and show that Blurb is now a major player. Not sure if i will use this feature for now as i prefer to make my page layout in Indesign that i export as jpeg to place in a Blurb book (using there software) but maybe i can still do so or will do so, and use Lightroom instead of Blurb software and at the same time managed my page creation there.. can be a good idea.</p>

<p>6_you now have a print adjustment brightness / contrast in the print module.. but i dont quickly find the new softproof feature (not that i need it) but i dont see it?</p>

<p>this is what suppose to be new and i dotn find it..</p>

<p><strong>Highlight and shadow recovery</strong><br /> <strong>White balance brush</strong><br /> <strong>Additional local editing controls</strong><br /> <strong>Soft proofing</strong></p>

<p><strong>*Update</strong><br /> <em>A_the softproofing option is in the Develop module under your image as a option to turn on / off.. i was thinking they put it in the print module.. but it make sense to have it in the dev module since you would like to make some adjustment on your image base on that</em><strong> </strong></p>

<p>B_mmm..strange thing.. when i open Lr4 beta it open directly in my last module (witch is the develop module) at that stage for a brief moment i can see the new highlight / shadow and new panel distribution, but 1sec later, im back to the v3 panel.. this is why i dont see the new tool.. of course that is certainly a bug in the beta.. but Tom, do you have the new panel?</p>

<p><strong>*Update 2</strong><br /><br />Ah! since those image i import where already develop in the v3 version they kind of retain the old setting.. if you look carfully under your image, right lower corner, you will see a ! mark.. like in the sharpen module.. if you click on it Lr ask you if you want ot use the newer function.. tadam, i have all the new feature now in front of me. Wow, this new highlight / shadow feature kick a**!</p>

<p>heres a well describe whats new</p>

<p>http://www.dpreview.com/articles/7481161037/lightroom-4-public-beta-whats-new</p>

<p> </p>

Thank you, Patrick.. On a sidenote: Do you know any web-sites where InDesign photobook templates are shared free of charge, and where you can save to pdf?

<p>Blurb.com offer free template for there book size.. but i mainly do mine as a (ex) graphic designer ; )<br>

Do you mean how to save in PDF in Indesign? if so you can export or save as.. but i normally export as Jpeg and place the result page in Blurb own software (fill the book automaticaly) i find it pretty straight forward, and this is why i think i will use Lr 4 now to do so vs Blurb software as i will be able also to maintain a book librairy in my prefered software.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Soft proofing and white balance brush are huge for me; geo-tagging and books were the only reasons I ever opened Aperture (apart from the focus point EXIF info).</p>

<p>Looks really good. A very strong move forward, though email integration is the first sign of bloat!</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Patrick: Do you mean how to save in PDF in Indesign? if so you can export or save as..</p>

</blockquote>

<p>No, I want to print my own books on my new Epson 3880, but I am still a novice at ID CS4.. I thought that there might be premade, beautiful, free templates for ID (for saving to pdf) on the web. I do not think that the Blurb ID templates gives you the possibiliy of saving your pages to pdf, only upload to Blurb.</p>

<p>My main computer still uses Win XP, so LR 4 is not yet an option for me.</p>

<p>Blurb PDF are for page layout only.. then you export this or anything you create via the export menu, you have all the PDF flavor you want.</p>

<p>Honestly, if you are not to experienced with Indesign, do every in Photoshop.. on a spread by spread kind of way.. and place the result in your favorite software, even in Lr 4 ; )</p>

<p>Patrick, thanks.</p>

<blockquote>

<p><em>A_the softproofing option is in the Develop module under your image as a option to turn on / off.. i was thinking they put it in the print module.. but it make sense to have it in the dev module since you would like to make some adjustment on your image base on that.</em></p>

</blockquote>

<p>See:http://digitaldog.net/files/LR4_softproof.mov</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>when i open Lr4 beta it open directly in my last module (witch is the develop module) at that stage for a brief moment i can see the new highlight / shadow and new panel distribution, but 1sec later, im back to the v3 panel.. this is why i dont see the new tool.. of course that is certainly a bug in the beta</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Note that Develop tools are different if you upgrade to PV2012 and by default, it is not set to do this on legacy images. Newly imported images should default to PV2012, you can update the older images if you wish (to get new rendering and tools) but their color appearance could change, not necessarily to your liking. </p>

<p>Quoting <a href="../photodb/user?user_id=4714311">Tom Mann</a> <a href="../member-status-icons"><img title="Frequent poster" src="../v3graphics/member-status-icons/3rolls.gif" alt="" /></a>:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>1. I could be wrong, but my impression is that it seems to use more memory and run slower than 3.6. Possibly related to this, there were some unusual incidents where the screen wouldn't redraw properly. I never saw anything like this happen in 3.6.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>True. PV2012 is slower than PV2010 in some areas, and is probably not quite finished. Other new areas will still be buggy and slow -- this is a beta.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>2. I couldn't get 3.6 and 4beta to run simultaneously.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That's a surprise, and shouldn't be happening. Can you describe in more detail what you're seeing?</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>In the plus column, 4b seemed to read and import all my 3.6 presets (eg, metadata, develop, print, etc.) correctly.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>There will be some edge cases with Develop presets that handle some of the basic panel controls. Look out for them. Clarity is one example.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>4. The change in number, naming, order of appearance, and direction of tonality controls in the "basic" panel (ie, "highlights", "shadows", "whites", "blacks") threw me for moment, especially since there are 4 similarly named controls in the "tone curve" panel (ie, "highlights", "lights", "darks", "shadows"). I'm sure we'll all eventually figure out exactly what they do, the differences between them, and how they interact, but for the moment, this is going to take a bit of getting used to.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>A strong recommendation -- to get the most out of the PV2012 basic panel controls, you need a slightly different thought process. In PV2010 you started at the top and set your white point with Exposure. In PV2012, still work from the top down, but use Exposure to set the midpoint. Allow the highlights to fall where they will, then fix them when you get down to the Highlights slider. It's amazingly easier than PV2010 if you think this way, especially with very high contrast scenes.</p>

<p>Thank you for your comments, Mark, especially your final recommendation.</p>

<p>With respect to your question, it's not a big deal, but I still can't get both 3.6 and 4beta to run simultaneously. If I start one, and then attempt to start the other, the one currently running "blinks" (ie, probably does a screen refresh) and keeps on running as if nothing ever happened. The other version never opens. This happens whether or not I start 3.6 first, or start 4beta first. I discovered this when I attempted to do side-by-side comparisons between the two programs. </p>

<p>Other than this one minor quirk, 3.6 seems to continue to work exactly like it always did. I will say that when I first discovered this and couldn't get 3.6 to fire up, I thought that my existing 3.6 install had been corrupted by the installation of 4b and was, for a few moments, on my way to becoming *really* mad. Fortunately, that passed. :-)</p>

<p>FYI, I am running these tests on a Win Vista box with 4 Gig of RAM, completely up to date with all OS, driver, and application program patches, and no problems with any other software (including NX2 ;-) ). </p>

<p>Cheers,</p>

<p>Tom M</p>

<p>I’ve been running LR 3.5 and later 3.6 and the beta for months on the Mac. Obviously NOT at the same time. But toggling between the two should be possible, it has been working for me a long time. </p>

<p>While I try not to just to be cautious, it appears to work fine for me to run both at the same time (on the Mac).</p>

<p>both open and run together on mac (dont know why i would want that.. but its possible ; )</p>

<p> Can someone post some pictures showing the differences between the old engine and this one?</p>