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Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 hits public beta, adds Smart Previews and Advanced Healing Brush
Adobe just announced its next-gen version of Lightroom, which adds some pretty nifty Photoshop features to the company's lower-priced editing and archival offering. Photoshop Lightroom 5, which is available as a free public beta beginning today, brings features like Smart Previews and an Advanced Healing Brush to the table, delivering access to tools previously only available with full versions of Photoshop. That latter tool, the Advanced Healing Brush, lets you paint in corrections, rather than using the round dropper to make tweaks. Smart Previews enables you to edit images even when you're not connected to your archive -- smaller representations of selected RAW shots will be saved locally, and any changes you make to them will be automatically applied to the original image once the source comes back online. In the meantime, you can publish shots online or even add them to book layouts, thought prints can't be ordered until the app can locate the original file. And the fun doesn't stop there. Another tool, called Radial Filter, adjusts levels for a highlighted area while adding a gradual, natural-looking shift. Editors who often work with scanned prints and negatives might find the Visualize Spots tool to be quite useful, which helps you easily identify dust spots and remove them, while perfectionists can take advantage of Upright, the app's new perspective shift technology -- it's some crazy voodoo code that more or less works like magic (see screenshot above). Lightroom 5 beta is compatible with Windows 7 SP 1, Windows 8, Mac OS 10.7 or 10.8, and is currently available at the source link below. Keep in mind that the beta expires on June 30th, though, so prepare to hand over some (TBD) cash to keep going after that date.
Samsung NX1100 ILC now shipping for $600 with bundled Lightroom 4
Samsung's quietly introduced replacement for the NX1000, the NX1100, just hit stores today with a $600 price tag. The camera, which sports a 20.3-megapixel CMOS sensor, 921k-dot, 3-inch LCD, 8 fps RAW and JPEG shooting, a top sensitivity of ISO 12,800, 1080p video capture, built-in WiFi and an Android and iOS companion app, comes bundled with a copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4, which typically carries a sticker price of around $125. You also get a 20-50mm f/3.5-5.6 lens and an external flash in the box, making this quite an appealing offer for beginners looking to step up from a point-and-shoot.
NIK Software creates bundle of Mac Plugins, drops price 70%
NIK has announced all 6 of its high-end photo editing tools for Mac and Windows are available as a US$150 bundle. The new bundle is a set of plugins that previously cost $750.00, and includes tools to help you create black-and-white photos, selective color adjustment, sharpening, and of course HDR and color enhancements. These plugins are designed for Photoshop, Aperture and Lightroom. NIK is offering a 15-day trial. Even better, current owners of any part of the latest versions of the NIK bundle can upgrade to the entire collection for free. Some registered users are getting emails about the free upgrade. NIK Software fans have been on an uncertain road since Google acquired the company last September. Google turned its Snapseed photo enhancer into a free app and halted development on the Mac and Windows versions. The future of the NIK professional tools, like HDR Efex Pro and Color Efex Pro has been in limbo, although Google had said the pro tools would stay around. It's nice to have gotten some clarity. NIK has been well-regarded for 17 years. I'm not sure if these applications will continue on a rapid development schedule, but I think this offer represents a real bargain. [via The Next Web]
Leica unveils V-Lux 4 superzoom, D-Lux 6 compact to mirror their Panasonic counterparts
Leica has its more unique creations, but some of its more affordable cameras are usually upscale parallels to Panasonic models -- and that's undoubtedly true for the newly official (and previously leaked) V-Lux 4 and D-Lux 6, which respectively echo Panasonic's FZ200 and LX7 shooters. We can't object too much. That similarity gives the 12-megapixel V-Lux 4 superzoom (seen up top) a 25-600mm equivalent lens with a constant, wide f/2.8 aperture to snap bright images at long distances. The D-Lux 6, meanwhile, combines its large 1.7-inch, also 12-megapixel sensor with a 24-90mm, f/1.4-2.3 lens and that distinctive aperture control ring. What you're really getting over the Panasonic equivalents is a subtler, all-black Leica color scheme and a copy of Adobe Lightroom 4 to manage the imminent flood of photos. Photographers who don't mind knowing their luxury cameras' true roots can swing by Leica dealers in November to buy either design; we don't yet know prices, but it's safe to assume that the V-Lux 4 and D-Lux 6 will carry premiums over their more pedestrian equivalents.
Flare 1.4 adds Retina support, Twitter sharing, more
Yesterday we saw an update to Realmac Software's Analog Mac photo effects app; today the news is from Iconfactory, and the app being updated is Flare (currently discounted to US$9.99). Like Analog, Flare (see TUAW review here) provides a way to add and adjust pre-loaded visual effects. Flare comes with quite a few more effects than Analog -- a total of 31 -- and allows quite a bit more in terms of control and the addition of effects. What's new in Flare 1.4? There's now support for Retina displays, there's new high-resolution editing and the user interface has changed. Like many apps updated for OS X Mountain Lion, Flare 1.4 adds a significant number of sharing services including "upload to Twitter." There's a new "Save to Aperture" feature as well. As we noted with the Analog update yesterday, the app supports the external editor mode in Aperture and iPhoto, and adds Lightroom as well. Several bug fixes have also been incorporated. For existing users, it's available immediately from the Updates tab of the Mac App Store.
Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4 will support HiDPI, MacBook Pro Retina Display in 'the coming months'
You know who's likely to buy the MacBook Pro with Retina Display? Creative professionals (obviously). So you know what programs should really be optimized for that 2,880 x 1,800 screen? Try Photoshop, or Lightroom. Adobe hears your frustration, and apparently empathizes mightily: the company just posted a blog post promising Photoshop CS6, Lightroom 4 and Photoshop Touch will support HiDPI, including the MacBook Pro's Retina Display, within the "coming months." (No, this near-term update does not include Photoshop Elements, unfortunately.) While that timetable is on the vague side, the outfit says having a Creative Cloud membership will ensure you get that update sooner. Until then, your frankengadget renders will still look a little blurry, sorry.
Lightroom 4 finally floats into Adobe's Creative Cloud
Adobe's primary tool for tweaking and organizing photos was always destined to be part of the Creative Cloud offering, but for whatever reason it didn't make it in time for launch. As of today though, Lightroom 4 is available to download on PC or 64-bit Mac (or both, since you're allowed multiple installations) as part of a CS6 monthly license. The additional title may not be enough to sway cloud doubters, but even they can't dispute that the subscription approach now delivers more software than the full-on $2599 shrink-wrapped Master Collection.
Find the best photo manager to fit your needs
After months of deliberation, I finally brought home a new addition to our family -- a digital SLR camera. With the DSLR comes a plethora of options I didn't have before, with the ability to shoot RAW images being at the top of the list. My husband and I passed the camera back and forth to take a few test images, which were uploaded to iPhoto on my MacBook Air. Instant crawl. Anything involving the RAW images was a drag on the machine, though it has far more to do with the MacBook Air (11-inch October 2010) than iPhoto. But, it did remind me to ask the TUAW brain trust: Is it time to upgrade to Aperture? What about Adobe Lightroom? What's the best photo manager overall to use? With the RAW support and the potential increase in picture-taking overall, my needs are poised to outgrow iPhoto's capabilities, and it's the same question that other people will face as digital SLRs grow more powerful and affordable. Here's a quick look at three of the major players out there. What is a photo manager? A photo manager is a digital version of a traditional album, where you store images from your digital camera and can organize them into albums. They range from free (if you purchase a new Mac or plan to be an Adobe Creative Cloud subscriber) to US$149. All of them can edit photos, but not manipulate them -- for that, you would need a program such as Adobe Photoshop or Pixelmator. All of them have the ability to create photo books and web galleries, as well as social media integration. iPhoto 11 Who's it for? Those who are just getting comfortable with handling digital photography and those who want a basic photo manager and editing tools. Evidence for: It's the lowest-cost out of the three and it's easy to use, especially for photo novices. The learning curve is very low, especially if you're using the iOS version of iPhoto. Evidence against: Bigger libraries tend to cause the program to hang up. It doesn't handle multiple libraries well, so if they're split up among different machines, you'll want to consider investing in iPhoto Library Manager for $19.95 or the free iPhoto Buddy. You can only access one library at a time. Some users report having issues with photo libraries with more than 10,000 photos. Cost: $14.99, Mac App Store only. There's no trial version. It's free if you purchase a new Mac. Aperture Who's it for? Professional photographers and serious hobbyists. Evidence for: For those used to iPhoto, it's a logical next step, and you can import your files from iPhoto. Handles large and multiple libraries much easier. Has some of the same features of iPhoto including the ability to bring in Photo Stream and Faces and Places tagging. Some users prefer Aperture's RAW conversion to Adobe's. You can batch-edit photos, and the full-screen edit mode has a number of fans. You can edit photos more precisely than iPhoto. Evidence against: It's not the solution to consider if you have a low-powered machine. As Macworld notes, Faces can be a severe deterrent to Aperture's performance. Cost: $79.99, Mac App Store only. Apple used to offer a 30-day trial, but did away with it. Adobe Lightroom Who's it for? Professional photographers and serious hobbyists. Evidence for: If you can navigate Photoshop blindfolded, then the tools in Lightroom will be second nature to you. Like Aperture, you can batch-edit photos and create workflows. Some users prefer Lightroom's interface, which is more workflow-oriented. You can actually try Lightroom before you drop a lot of money on it. It's a bit more powerful than Aperture. Evidence against: The price is nearly double Aperture's, but that'll be a non-issue for those who plan to become Adobe Creative Cloud subscribers. It's not tightly integrated with iOS devices like Aperture and iPhoto are. Some find that switching between modules is a bit frustrating. Cost: $149.99 on its own or $99 when purchased with Adobe Creative Suite. It'll be included in an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. A 30-day trial version is available. There are other alternatives, such as Google's free Picasa. Most cameras will come bundled with some sort of photo-managing software. One of the drawbacks to all of them is that unless you're going from iPhoto to Aperture, any editing of metadata will be lost. From parents taking photos of their kids with marching bands to professionals with studios or out in the field, the type of photo manager you wind up with reflects your interest in photography. If you want an easy place to dump photos and share them with the grandparents, you most likely will not want anything beyond iPhoto. If your interest lies in truly crafting your art, then give Aperture or Adobe Lightroom a try.
Adobe releases Lightroom 4
Adobe released a beta version of Lightroom 4 earlier this year and now the company has rolled out the final version. Lightroom is known for its fantastic image color, shadow and highlight processing. Now with Lightroom 4, you can import video from your camera and organize your photos using their location information. You can grab Lightroom 4 from Adobe for US$149.99. If you recently downloaded the beta, you can continue to use it until it expires on March 31, 2012.
Corel introduces AfterShot Pro for $99 on Linux, Mac and Windows
The crew in Ottawa is now taking square aim at Aperture, Lightroom and other similarly situated products with its new product called AfterShot Pro. Available for Linux, Macintosh and Windows, the software retails for $99 and promises to deliver a complete workflow for RAW files, including file management, batch processing and non-destructive editing capabilities. AfterShot Pro is said to be fully multithreaded and optimized for multiple cores and CPUs. A trial is available for download from the company's website, while physical copies will begin shipping by month's end. It'll certainly be an uphill battle for the scrappy competitor up north, but with a product portfolio heavily leveraged in the graphics industry, it certainly seems time that Corel jumped into the fray.
Adobe Lightroom 3.5 will support Olympus, Panasonic and Sony RAW formats
Possessing a camera with RAW output is great, but working with those data-rich files often isn't -- not least because most manufacturers use proprietary file formats. However, Lightroom fans who update to version 3.5 (currently at release candidate stage) should discover that it effortlessly handles RAW images from a bunch of recent cameras including the Olympus E-P3 and E-PL3, Panasonic G3 and GF3, and the Sony Alpha NEX-C3 The update will also fix a number of bugs, such as inconsistent processing times and a loss of geo-tagging metadata when converting to Adobe's Digital Negative format. Time to get those psychedelic HDR images flowing. [Thanks, Rob]
Adobe announces CS5 release date, second beta of Lightroom 3
Adobe has put up a counter, and announced a launch event for the release of Adobe Creative Suite 5 on April 12 at 11am EDT. Though little is known about the features of CS5, Adobe had previously announced that it will give Flash CS5 the features to allow devs to build Flash-based applications and then export them to the App Store's .ipa standard. This will effectively allow developers to build iPhone apps in nothing but CS5. If you've registered for an Adobe ID, you'll be able to view a video broadcast of the launch event on Adobe TV. CS5 will also be Intel-only, Cocoa and 64-bit native. Adobe has also announced a second beta of the Lightroom 3 digital darkroom software. Lightroom competes directly with Apple's Aperture software. On February 9th, Apple released Aperture 3. This latest version of the Lightroom beta includes the following features: Improved performance throughout the application for faster importing and loading of images Native tethered shooting support for select Nikon and Canon DSLR cameras Luminance noise reduction has been added to the previous color noise reduction improvements available in the first public beta, for outstanding overall high ISO quality Support for importing and managing video files from DSLR cameras for better overall photographic workflow control Improvements to the import experience in the first beta to reflect public feedback Improved watermarking functionality from the first beta to reflect public feedback You can download the Lightroom 3 beta 2 here (requires an Adobe ID).
Adobe ships Lightroom 2
Adobe announced today that Lightroom 2, a major update to their photography workflow app, is now available. Lightroom 2 will cost you $299, with an upgrade price of $99, but it includes a host of new features, improvements, and general whizbangery.The biggest news for Mac users is that Lightroom 2 is Adobe's first native 64-bit app for OS X. Also new in Lightroom 2: Libraries can span harddrives Customizable print templates Smart Collections to automatically organize photos And much more. The Lightroom 2 Learning center has a nice list of new and improved features. And to help you Lightroom 1.0 users decide whether or not to upgrade Adobe has a comparison of Lightroom 1 vs. Lightrooom 2.Lightroom 2 requires OS X 10.4 or above, and a 1 GHz G4 processor or better.
Lightroom 1.4.1 and Camera raw 4.4.1 released
Adobe has dropped updates for both Lightroom and Camera Raw. According to the Lightroom team's blog, the updates include all the changes of the previous releases, but also correct a few issues. Lightroom 1.4.1 will keep the EXIF time date field of images from being incorrectly modified, and has fixes for Olympus JPEG files and also DNG conversion. And the Camera Raw plugin update also fixes the EXIF problem as well as the Olympus JPEG features.But that's more than you wanted to know, right? All you really need to know is that you can grab the update either on Adobe's site, or by hitting "Check for updates" under the Help menu for the Lightroom update and using the Adobe Update Manager for the Raw plugin update. Happy updating![Via Ars]
Adobe releases 64-bit Lightroom 2 beta with Retouch tool
Over at the Adobe Labs Lightroom site, the beta for Lightroom 2 is now available. John Nack revealed that among other things (release notes PDF) version 2 will feature 64-bit support as well as a new Retouch tool. This marks a shift toward selective editing similar to the new editing plugin architecture that made its appearance with Aperture 2.1.The Lightroom 2b1 is available for download to "all current Lightroom customers." New customers "can download the beta and try it for thirty days" or hit up a friend who already owns it. It's worth noting that the beta "does not read, upgrade or import catalogs from previous versions of Lightroom" and you should keep using 1.3.1 "for your primary workflow needs."
Stop your iPhone from auto-launching iPhoto (or Aperture, etc.)
One particularly annoying thing about plugging in my iPhone is that it always launches Aperture and prompts for permission to import photos. While you should be able to turn this off (in the preferences of the Image Capture application), what if you still want iPhoto (or Aperture, Lightroom, etc.) to launch when you plug in your camera or memory card? Capitalizing on the fact that Image Capture lets you choose any application to run automatically, Sam Stephenson over at 37signals has cooked up a fancy AppleScript to do just this. Once set up it looks to see what you've plugged it; if it's your camera it will launch iPhoto, etc.; if it's your iPhone it won't. The script is slightly complicated and must be customized for your particular camera model, but if you want the convenience of auto-launching your image management application for your camera, without the annoyance of the iPhone, it's worth a look.[via Daring Fireball]
Ask TUAW: Automounting a network drive, iPhone flash memory, XMP photo metadata and more
Last week's Ask TUAW prompted an avalanche of questions, so we're going to have to pace ourselves. For this episode we'll tackle questions about auto-mounting a network drive, sending email across an internet sharing Mac, wearing out iPhone flash, using Adobe XMP photo metadata in Windows and OS X, monitoring bandwidth usage and more.We'll get to more questions in the near future, but please leave suggestions and new questions in the comments.
Lightroom 1.1 is available
Lightroom has been updated to version 1.1, and with it comes a very long list of changes. James Duncan Davidson has taken a good look at the update at Inside Lightroom. Here are a few highlights. View the shutter, aperture, and ISO settings you use most often instantly Template Browsers in the Slideshow, Print, and Web module are now hierarchical By default, slide shows will only include the selected photos (if there is more than one photo selected) Various clarity and sharpening improvements As I said, that's just a small portion of the very long list of improvements that version 1.1 offers. What's more, John Gruber said the process of upgrading from version 1.0 was "...super simple." What more could you want?[Via Daring Fireball]
TUAW Podcast #25: Aperture
Now that I'm on the home stretch of my undergrad (just a thesis project left to finish), I'm finally able to stretch my legs into some hobbies I've been meaning to pick up. One such hobby is photography, and since I've been flexing my digital tools, I've quickly become enamored with Aperture, Apple's professional alternative to iPhoto. Even though I am by no means a professional photographer (no laughing at my pictures!), there are a ton of features in Aperture that drew me away from iPhoto, and I thought highlighting some of these tempting tools would be ripe for a TUAW podcast. Aperture, in my opinion, isn't just for the photographers whose lens bags weigh more than most typical household dogs; it offers a wealth of general features for power users, photography enthusiasts and those who need something that lands right at the intersection of iPhoto and Photoshop in terms of both functionality and price.Hence, TUAW Podcast #25 was born. For just over twenty minutes I explore some of Aperture's features that I think appeal to a wide audience. Pick up a copy from our iTunes Store Podcast directory, this direct link or our own podcast rss feed.
Grudgematch: Aperture vs. Lightroom
TUAW reader Sherrod is a photographer on a mission: He's going to examine Lightroom and Aperture side by side, and he needs your help.He has set up what will be a series of posts looking at each of the applications, with the intention of declaring a winner. Sherrod asks his readers what they'd like to see him examine, outside of his own agenda. So have your say and watch the battle! We look forward to your findings, Sherrod.
