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Tuesday 19 June 2018

Lightroom June Updates




























Those who may have been preoccupied by a FIFA ball game, have perhaps not noticed Adobe’s latest Lightroom updates on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android & Chrome OS.


What’s New


Lightroom CC 1.4
Lightroom Classic CC 7.4
Lightroom CC 3.5 (Android)
Lightroom CC 3.3 (iOS)

Headline Features  


-automatic synchronization of presets and profiles across the Lightroom CC eco system.
-copy & paste settings to multiple files in Lightroom CC desktop app
-improved folder search and labelling in Lightroom Classic HEIC support and new stacking options.


Install updates from the Apps tab 









































New Camera Support


-Fujifilm X-T100
-PENTAX K-1 Mark II*
-Phase One IQ3 100MP Trichromatic**
-Samsung Galaxy S9
-Samsung Galaxy S9+

*Dynamic Pixel Shift Resolution is not currently supported. Opening images captured in this mode will display only the first raw image frame.

**Denotes preliminary support


HEIC Support


Support added for HEIF images (HEIC files) for MacOS High Sierra (10.13.x).
The info panel in LRCC will show the file type as HEIC with original backed up. In LR Classic this is shown in the metadata panel.

HEIC files are not supported on MacOS Sierra (10.12) or earlier; and not yet on Windows, although I believe this will come in the future as many Windows users have iPhones.

N.B. HEVC videos are still not supported in Lightroom Classic CC.

Lightroom CC


Automatic synchronization of presets and profiles across the Lightroom CC eco system. So presets & profiles created in the desktop app will sync to all phone and tablet devices and vice versa.

Reset to Open - is additional to reset to original. During the editing of a photo it is now possible to click the three dots in the editing panel to undo all of the current work, taking the file back to the opening (starting) point. 

Manage Presets – enables groups to be shown or hidden e.g. just display user presets by unchecking all others groups. This is also available on mobile devices where it can be much more useful when working on a small display. It is now possible to create presets on mobile devices, like the desktop app and additionally decide what settings to include or exclude; similar to LR Classic.

Manage Profiles – similar to presets. Show or hide groups or simply display favorites. This is also available on Android devices but is not quite ready yet on iOS devices.

Visualize spots – this feature can now be found in the healing brush panel. Simply click the checkbox when cleaning up blemishes or sensor dust spots. It was previously accessed via the keyboard, but is now built into the UI with a threshold slider.




Modified date has been added to the sort menu which is useful for finding all the photos recently worked on. It’s neat when editing externally in Photoshop and after saving back to LRCC, the image automatically comes to the top of the grid stacked with the original.







Album Sharing Options

LRCC desktop now has new sharing options. Simply right-click on any Album to start sharing and to generate a link. You can enable preferences applicable to those you send the link. This brings LR CC desktop into line with the LRCC Web App.





Connect Your Devices Links – clicking the cloud icon (top-right) will now display new links. Clicking Android will take you directly to Google Play and iOS gives the ability to get a link for the App Store sent by text.



On first launch of v1.4 some background housekeeping will take place. This usually happens quite quickly but will depend on the size of the library.



Lightroom CC iOS & Android


In addition to the new preset and profile features mentioned above the editing options have been expanded. 


New edit tools – the healing brush enables cloning and healing and the optics panel gets the ability to remove chromatic aberration.



Guided Tutorials – four common tasks are outlined in these step by step guides which automatically highlight buttons to press and which tools to select for a particular job. More in-app tutorials will be coming in future releases. Click the preferences menu top left and choose help & support. On iOS devices it is necessary to enable technology previews (off by default) before the tutorials appear in the help & support section. There is also an experimental feature on some phones - iPhone 7 & later - to simulate long exposures when using the in-app camera. This is also enabled in technology previews.

What’s New - menu is also accessed by clicking the preferences menu top left.

Android devices get the ability to filter files by star ratings.




Lightroom Classic


Improved folder search – Adobe says this is now faster, using a new search algorithm. Typing more than one word or part of a word will search using an and/or basis.

Folder color labels are a new feature and it is now possible to filter by clicking the magnifying glass icon in the folder search field; in the same way as filtering for favorites. Right-click (control-click) on any folder to choose a color label from the context menu or select none to remove a color label.



Manage Presets & Profiles – as mentioned above.

Merge to HDR or Pano stacking – a checkbox is now available in the merge dialog to enable stacking for the selected images with the merged result shown on top of the stack.

Auto-stacking by capture time is a useful feature, notably on individual folders of images where dated sub-folders are not used at import. Or where you wish to filter the duration between shots e.g. for smaller batches of time-lapse photos or larger batches of whole events. From the menu choose:


Photo >> Stacking >> Auto-Stack by Capture Time


HEIC support as mentioned above on the latest version of Mac OS.

 

On my iOS11 device I had to change a preference setting.


Go to: Settings >> Photos >> Transfer to Mac or PC 



Choose “Keep Originals”




This was previously set to automatic which results in conversion to jpeg. But after changing this setting and connecting my device with the USB lead I was able to launch Image Capture and the HEIC files were added to the Pictures folder on my Mac from where I could import into LR7.4



HEIC files and Live Photos can also be added to the Photos App or Quick Time but I prefer them in Pictures via the iTunes interface. Using Cmd+S to write metadata (or automatically) appears to create a sidecar like a raw file.






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