Monday, October 5, 2015

LIGHTROOM CC2015.2 and LIGHTROOM 6.2 released



To coincide with the Adobe Max event in Los Angeles this week, Adobe has released an update to Lightroom and Lightroom mobile.

****WARNING - the general consensus is that this release might be a little premature and there are a few bugs to be worked out.  I am not recommending downloading right away - There have been reports of crashes on Mac's, a few performance issues and the new import dialog may be confusing to some users. (I believe you can disable that and use the legacy version)

I will be testing and using the new update over the next few weeks and will post findings and conclusions.

One of the best things so far is that the new Dehaze slider which used to be just a global adjustment is now a Local Adjustment.  Not sure why it wasn't this way right from the beginning.  Great to be able to add and reduce "haze" from selected parts of an image using the graduated filter, radial filter and adjustment brush YEA!!! (CC version only)



They have revamped the Import Dialog box - which may or may not be a good thing.  

They redesigned the Import experience to make finding and importing your photos easier and more visual.  The redesign was driven by our desire to make the import workflow more explicit and clear.  
The workflow is 1. Select a source, 2. Select images 3.  Choose any import settings (optional) and 4. Import.
The revamped Import experience is based on customer feedback and I'm curious to see if user and students find this easier.


  1. Select a Source:  There is a new “Add Photos” screen which scans to identify the potential locations for photos on your hard drive.  You can also easily select from a folder, a connected camera (via USB cable), a memory card, external hard drive, or Photoshop Elements catalog.

  1. Select images:  The Import Dialog has been redesigned.  Your source will already be selected (you choose it in step 1) so you can specify which images to import.  

  1. Choose any import settings (optional):  While there isn’t a need to change the default settings, you can open the gear icon (on the top right) to adjust and change import settings.
  1. Hit the import button.

Although this may sound similar to what we have now, the visual interface is slightly different




In an effort to simplify  the import process, several features have been removed, some I'm happy about some not so much!
The “Eject card after import” option. After importing from a memory card, you’ll need to go to Mac Finder or Windows Explorer and eject your card manually now.  Not Happy
We no longer see the Destination tree, we no longer get previews of what our subfolders will look like, so there is no chance to correct mistakes before importing.  Not Happy
The option to Move files has been removed (Add, Copy still available) - Happy - this did cause issues for some people
The ability to zoom in on photos to check for sharpness before importing - Happy -this was a waste of time and inefficient workflow
Improved Elements user Import - Happy
The Import from Elements dialog is now accessible from the Import dialog if Elements is installed and a catalog is found.
 Select the Elements catalog and Lightroom does the rest of the transfer.

Of course there are also the new camera supports and a few bug fixes




BUG FIXES
*******NOTE TO EARLY ADOPTERS
If you update and do experience issues:
Reset your preferences –hold down the shift and Alt/Opt keys as you start Lightroom.
If you experience performance issues not just importing, disable the Add Photos screen in Preferences: go to Lightroom (Mac) or Edit (PC) > Preferences, and on the General tab, uncheck “Show Add Photos” screen.
Finally If you want to revert to 6.1.1, you’ll need to uninstall Lightroom (Windows: use Uninstall a Program feature; Mac: in the Adobe Lightroom folder in Applications, double-click to run Uninstall), then download and install 6.0, then download and install the 6.1.1 patch. If you are a CC subscriber, then sign out of the CC desktop app and sign in again. Ignore prompts in Lightroom to update to 6.2.
If you want to go ahead and update, if Lightroom doesn’t prompt you to update, go to Help>Updates, or click on Update in your Creative Cloud application.

Guess who now has to update their Lightroom presentation, keynotes and class notes!!

1 comment:

Bob Ryden said...

At the Grand Canyon workshop you predicted that Dehaze would be added to local adjustments. Did it happen sooner than you expected? New version sounds worth having but I think I'll wait to upgrade for a while. I'm working on a couple of projects (books) and I don't want to take a chance on messing them up.

Bob Ryden