Lightroom Updates – February 2020

Updates to Lightroom Classic v 9.2

New Raw Default Settings

For some time the Adobe Color profile has been the default on import unless customers knew how to use custom defaults.

It’s now possible to easily configure default develop settings within Preferences >> Presets to use either Camera Settings, Adobe Color, or a preset of your choice.

Defaults can be applied universally (Master), or customized by camera model and even by camera serial number. If no specific default is specified, then the “Master” settings will be used. This will be useful if you shoot with a specific Profile, Picture Style or Picture Control e.g. Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Flat etc.

N.B. existing custom profiles are not supported in the new system so you may need to re-create fresh profiles.

I personally like the new raw defaults and have set up my own start preset which includes profile and slider settings excluding NR (luminance smoothing)

I can then use an import preset for NR which includes automatic interpolation between set steps. For example setting four steps:

ISO 400 – Luminance = 0

ISO1600 – Luminance = 10

ISO 6400 – Luminance = 30

ISO 12800 – Luminance = 50

When ISO-dependent presets are applied to images with "in between" ISO settings, the parameter values are linearly interpolated by the ISO exposure value (ev). This is the same as log (base 2) of the ISO value.

e.g., ISO 800 is considered halfway between ISO 400 and ISO 1600, so the above presets will set the Luminance Noise Reduction parameter value to 5, which is halfway between 0 and 10.

You can use the Adobe templates to create your own presets or tweak them with your own preferred settings. The first is Luminance only and the second includes luminance NR, masking and other settings.

Sample ISO Dependent

Sample ISO Dependent 2

Other New Features

PSB File Support - maximum dimensions are 65,000 pixels on the long edge or 512 megapixels.

More GPU Accelerated Editing

Support added for full GPU acceleration for Lens Correction and Transform adjustments.

eGPU Empowered Enhanced Details

Enhance Details now leverages external GPUs on macOS 10.15 (Catalina) for faster

processing.

Secondary Display Selection

Work the way you want with the ability to choose which monitor to use as your secondary display.

Auto-Sync Improvements

A highlighted Auto-Sync button is enabled when used with multiple selections. This increased visibility with message overlays should help to prevent unintentional mistakes.

Photoshop Elements 2020 Support

You can now import your Photoshop Elements 2020 catalog into Lightroom Classic.

FAQ Link for Sync

This can be found under the identity plate – hover your cursor top left.

Updates to Lightroom v 3.2

Export Improvements

In addition to exporting in the JPEG or TIFF format, Lightroom on Windows and Mac now also allows you to export in the DNG format. (This feature was already available in Lightroom on Android and iOS.)

Improvements to Shared Albums

When contributing photos to a shared album which is owned by someone else, you can now choose to include or omit metadata. In addition, as the owner of a shared album you can now export photos which other people have contributed to the album.

Improvements to Photo Merge (HDR and Panorama)

You can now bypass the Photo Merge dialog when creating an HDR or Panorama and just merge the photos directly using your previous merge settings. To do this, use the following keyboard shortcuts:

HDR: Ctrl + Shift + H

Panorama: Ctrl + Shift + M

Import Improvements

In the previous update Adobe made it possible to import by drag & drop into the library grid. When importing via drag-and-drop, you can now import to a specific album by dragging and dropping directly onto an album in the Albums list. This also includes a newly created empty album.

Along with updates to Lightroom 3.2 and Lightroom Classic 9.2 Adobe has updated the mobile apps. Full details can be found at the links below.

Lightroom 3.2 & Mobile

Lightroom Classic 9.2