Lightroom 4.1 release update – 14 new supported cameras

Lightroom 4.1 is now available as Release Candidate 2 on Adobe Labs.   The ‘release candidate’ label indicates that this update is well tested but would benefit from additional community testing before it is distributed automatically to all of our customers.  The final release of Lightroom 4.1 may have additional corrections or camera support.

Click to download Lightroom 4.1 update

Bugs Corrected in the Lightroom 4.1 Release Candidates

The following bugs that were part the Lightroom 4 releases have been corrected. The team appreciates the very detailed feedback the community has provided on Lightroom 4 and we’re excited to correct a number of issues experienced by our customers. These issues have been FIXED:

  • Estimated price does not update when switching between books in the Collection panel.
  • Postscript Type 1 Fonts do not appear in the Font menu within the Book module.
  • Filenames can now be used as auto text captions within the Book module.
  • Fonts such as Courier New and Times were not displaying properly on books exported as PDF files.
  • The Adjustment Brush pin would not properly accept negative values.
  • Clarity adds grey tinting to 100% white tones.
  • Creating a soft proof does not add a line item to the History Panel.
  • Altitude will now be populated on geotagged photos.
  • Unable to import RAW+JPEG files directly from Canon 5D, Canon 5D Mark II, Nikon D700, Nikon D90, and Sony NEX5 cameras when connected through USB.
  • Unable to import both RAW + JPEG files when using the built-in SD card reader on Macbook laptops.
  • Lightroom 4 and ACR 6.7 could render files differently.

The following issues were fixed in the Lightroom 4.1 release candidate 1 (March 29, 2012):

  • Point Curve adjustments made in Lightroom 3 and before have been restored.
  • Lightroom 4 did not properly open external applications when using the “Edit In” functionality.
  • Addressed performance issues in Lightroom 4, particularly when loading GPS track logs, using a secondary monitor, and the controls within the Develop module.
  • Ability to update DNG previews and metadata for more than 100 photos has been restored.
  • This update allows for improved viewing of subfolders and stacks in folders with a large number of photos.
  • It was possible that a layout of a saved book could be lost after quitting Lightroom 4.
  • Please provide feedback on your experience with the Lightroom 4.1 Release Candidate in our Feedback Portal.

New Camera Support in Lightroom 4.1 Release Candidates

  • Canon EOS 5D Mark III*
  • Canon EOS 60Da
  • Fuji FinePix F770EXR
  • Fuji FinePix F775EXR
  • Nikon D3200
  • Olympus OM-D E-5M
  • Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF5
  • Pentax K-01
  • RICOH LENS A16 24-85mm F3.5-5.5
  • Samsung NX20
  • Samsung NX210
  • Samsung NX1000
  • Sony Alpha NEX-VG20
  • Sony SLT-A57

*Support for the 5D Mark III was also included in the first Lightroom 4.1 Release Candidate

Release Notes

  • Lightroom 4.1 RC2 now includes the ability to process HDR TIFF files.  (16, 24 or 32-bit TIFF files)  This can be quite useful if you have merged multiple exposures into a single 32-bit image using Photoshop’s HDR Pro.  Using the new basic panel controls can be a very effective and straightforward method of achieving an overall balance across the tonal range.
  • Additional Color Fringing corrections have been added to Lightroom 4.1 RC2.  Please see this blog post for additional details.
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Photoshop Tips & Tricks – Wed. April 25th

This Wednesday night we’re going to explore how Photoshop and Lightroom integrate and speed up your workflow.  We will discuss how ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) has been simplified to give any level of photographer the big advantage in editing.  Plus, with today’s announcement of Photoshop CS6, I will demonstrate and answer any questions on upgrading.

Join me for my most requested class of the last 15 years.

Learn the tips, tricks, and insider secrets that are guaranteed to boost your creativity, productivity and Photoshop skills.  This one-of-a-kind series of workshops will teach you the professional techniques used by the world’s leading designers, photographers, and creative design masters.

You’ll also learn how to take full advantage of Photoshop CS5, including its most powerful tools and features. You will learn how to work smarter and faster than ever before with a greater understanding of Selecting, Layers, and Masking. Time-saving tips and tricks, shortcuts, and workflow are just the beginning.

You’ll be amazed at how much you can learn in just one evening.

Upcoming Classes:

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Photoshop CS6 & CS6 Extended release

London, UK — April 23, 2012  Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® Photoshop® CS6 and Photoshop CS6 Extended software, major releases of the undisputed standard for professional digital imaging. Packed with new features and enhancements, the software includes groundbreaking innovations and unparalleled performance breakthroughs that expand the frontiers of imaging science, and deliver new levels of creativity and increased efficiency. Photoshop CS6 Extended integrates the state-of-the-art editing, compositing, and graphic design capabilities of Photoshop CS6, as well as advanced tools for 3D design*, image and video editing, and quantitative analysis which address the unique needs of the graphic design, video, Web, architecture, medical, manufacturing and engineering industries.

“Creativity is at the very centre of our efforts – both in developing exceptional tools, and enabling our users to create beautiful imagery that stands out from the visual clutter around us,” said Winston Hendrickson, vice president products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe. “Photoshop CS6 is unrivalled in capabilities and power and – as we have seen from the astonishing reception of our recent public beta – has once again captured the imagination of the worldwide creative community. ‘Photoshop magic’ is alive and well with CS6.”

Since Photoshop CS6 was released as a public beta on March 22 for Mac OS and Microsoft® Windows® platforms, there have been nearly one million downloads of the software worldwide – surpassing any public beta in Adobe’s history. With this launch, Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CS6 Extended can be purchased as stand-alone applications, key components of the Adobe Creative Suite 6 family (see separate press release), and now as part of Adobe’s revolutionary Creative Cloud™ offering, also announced today (see separate release).

Create with Imaging Innovation and Peak Performance

Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CS6 Extended deliver unparalleled speed and power combined with the creative tools necessary to perform advanced image manipulation, design, motion‐based content editing, and compositing. The software helps users to patch images with control for exceptional results; edit with real-time interactions and a fluid feel powered by the new Mercury Graphics Engine; easily edit video; perform automatic tone mapping and sharpening; and use improved design tools for better results with fewer steps. Creative customers will be able to take advantage of an efficient, modern UI that puts all focus on images, and sync settings and preferences for consistent workflows across multiple devices via Adobe Creative Cloud.

“Adobe Photoshop CS6 gives Trek powerful design tools to help bring our creative vision to a reality faster and with greater control than ever before. The responsiveness of the new Mercury Graphics Engine is simply breathtaking and being able to see the results instantaneously helps us keep to our extremely tight timelines,” said Eric Lynn, creative director, Trek Bicycle. “We often work with large files that include more than 500 layers and being able to search them all – and continue working while saving a large document – is invaluable to our workflow and a huge time saver for us.”
Photoshop CS6 features include:

  • Content-Aware Patch – Allows greater control by letting users choose the sample area used to create a patch.
  • Adobe Mercury Graphics Engine – Takes advantage of the graphics processing unit in modern hardware to speed up imaging and editing tasks, and process large images faster.
  • New and Re-engineered Design Tools – Type styles enable consistent formatting; vector layers apply strokes and add gradients to vector objects; custom strokes and dashed lines are easily created; quick layers search and more.
  • Intuitive Video Creation – The full range of familiar Photoshop tools and an intuitive set of new video tools to create and enhance any video clip.
  • Blur Gallery – A simple new interface with on-image and in-context controls allows users to quickly create photographic blur effects including tilt-shift effects, blur everything with one focal point, or vary the blurriness between multiple focal points.

Photoshop CS6 Extended includes all Photoshop CS6 features and:

  • Mercury Graphics Engine for 3D – Increased power and speed via engine optimised for 3D imaging.
  • New 3D Controls – UI improvements for more efficient 3D workflows.
  • New 3D Effects – Reflections and “drag-able” shadows to enhance images.

Adobe Creative Cloud and Digital Imaging

Adobe Creative Cloud gives creative customers a new option for purchasing and experiencing Adobe software innovation, including Adobe Photoshop CS6:

  • Creative Cloud membership provides designers with access to download and install every new Adobe CS6 application announced today and two new HTML5 products, Adobe Muse™ and Adobe Edge preview.
  • Creative Cloud powers the integration of creative tablet applications, such as Photoshop Touch, into everyday work – seamlessly synchronising and storing files in the cloud, for sharing and access on any device.
  • Creative Cloud members will be able to easily deliver mobile apps to iOS and Android marketplaces and publish, manage and host websites.
  • Adobe Creative Cloud members will receive access to application upgrades, including new Photoshop features – before they are launched as part of a major update, as well as inventive new products and services, as they emerge. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom® 4 will be offered as part of Creative Cloud membership in the future.

Live Streamed Webcast

The launch event for Adobe Creative Cloud and CS6 will be streamed live beginning at 6pm GMT, April 23 atwww.adobe.com/special/cs6/launch-event.html and will be available there as a continuous rebroadcast from 7pm – midnight GMT on April 23. An on-demand version will be available at http://tv.adobe.com beginning April 24.

Pricing and Availability

Click for US pricing guide

Adobe Photoshop CS6, Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended, Adobe Creative Suite 6 editions and Adobe Creative Cloud are scheduled to be available within 30 days and can be pre-ordered now. Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CS6 Extended will also be available through Adobe Authorised Resellers, the Adobe Store and Adobe Direct Sales; estimated street price for Photoshop CS6 is £556 (ex. VAT) and £794 (ex. VAT) for Photoshop CS6 Extended.

Upgrade pricing is also available to eligible customers. Subscription pricing for Photoshop CS6 Extended is £14.29 (ex. VAT) per month for an annual contract and £22.23 (ex. VAT) for a month-to-month contract. For more detailed information about features, OS support, system requirements, upgrade policies and pricing, please visithttp://www.adobe.com/uk/products/photoshop.html

Adobe Creative Cloud membership for individuals is £38.11 (ex. VAT) per month based on annual membership and £57.17 (ex. VAT) per month based on month-to-month membership and includes access to Photoshop CS6 Extended. A special introductory offer of £22.23 (ex. VAT) per month for CS3, CS4, CS5 and CS5.5 individual customers is also available. Learn more at http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/creativecloud.html

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Will you upgrade to Photoshop CS6?

Will you upgrade?  For many people it will depend on price, features, or hardware requirements.  Adobe is playing nice by giving anyone that buys the current CS5.x will get a free upgrade to CS6.  But what if you have older versions of photoshop?  No final word yet.

If you purchase Creative Suite 5.5 or a Creative Suite 5.5 component between the following dates, you qualify to receive a complimentary upgrade to the equivalent Creative Suite 6 product at no additional cost when it becomes available.

  • March 26, 2012 and May 6, 2012
  • March 26, 2012 and May 14, 2012

What are the requirements for a complimentary upgrade?

  • You must have a single-user retail, volume license, or educational version of an Adobe software product. Not sure if you have a single-user product? See Determine what type of software license you have.The following Adobe products don’t qualify for complimentary upgrades:
    • Products purchased through the Mac App Store
    • Products purchased through auction sites (such as eBay)
    • Second-hand purchases, including software received through a transfer of license
    • Tutorial DVDs, trials, tryouts, betas, Not For Retail (NFR), and bundled OEM versions
  • You must have registered your current serial number. If you register within your product, you can receive the complimentary benefits of Product Registration. For details, see Product Registration Options.
  • You must have your order number if you purchased from Adobe. If you purchased from a reseller, it’s necessary to provide proof of purchase. See proof of purchase qualifications.
  • This offer is available only through Adobe directly and cannot be used with any other offers.

Click for Adobe’s upgrade policy

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Photoshop CS6 Sneak Peek #4 – Content Aware Move

In CS5 we were introduced to Content Aware Fill, which eliminated 80% of the cloning/healing we did in previous versions….it did feel like cheating.  With Content Aware Move you can simply do a loose selection around an object and move it to a different part of your photo.  It will take care of the edge blending and replace any necessary pixels.  Of course, it works best when your background is simple like a grass field or sky.

Adobe has See more advanced features of Photoshop Content-Aware technology. Straight from Photoshop Senior Product Manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes, this video shares how to seamlessly move or remove an object from an image.


Photoshop Tips & Tricks

Learn the tips, tricks, and insider secrets that are guaranteed to boost your creativity, productivity and Photoshop skills.  This one-of-a-kind series of workshops will teach you the professional techniques used by the world’s leading designers, photographers, and creative design masters.

You’ll also learn how to take full advantage of Photoshop CS5, including its most powerful tools and features. You will learn how to work smarter and faster than ever before with a greater understanding of Selecting, Layers, and Masking. Time-saving tips and tricks, shortcuts, and workflow are just the beginning.

You’ll be amazed at how much you can learn in just one evening.

Upcoming Classes:

 

 

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Nikon D800 vs. Canon 5D MIII shootout

This hysterical video from Chrisislab gives a very entertaining look at the Nikon D800 vs the Canon 5D MIII .

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Is it really an upgrade?

Adobe announced today the release candidate of Lightroom 4.1 and I got a number of emails asking me, “What…I just got Lightroom 4 in the last few weeks, already an upgrade…is there a problem with version 4?”  The quick answer is no, not a major upgrade, but a patch and added RAW support.

First of all, don’t look at this as a new version, but a regular maintenance update/patch that comes out every few months after a number of new cameras have hit the market.  The primary piece to this update is added support for the RAW format for all new cameras.  If you’ve ever been the first one on the block to have a new camera model, and you noticed that the RAW files you shoot don’t open in Lightroom, Photoshop, Apple’s Aperture or iPhoto, it’s because Adobe and Apple haven’t released their update to the given software.  This is true of any editing/workflow/OS software that supports RAW.  In the case of Lightroom 4.1, it now supports the new Canon 5D MIII.

The second purpose of these updates is to update any bugs or issues that they have discovered.   Every software program out there has some minor fixes that need to be patched, in Lightroom 4 they fixed a few bugs regarding preview support of large quantity of photos, and an issue with GPS track logs.

How do you get the update?  If you have the Adobe Application Manager options set to check for updates for your given software, it will automatically download.  To manually update Lightroom or Photoshop and access the Adobe Application Manager, click on the menu Help>Updates…  Another option would be to download the update directly from Adobe.   Go to labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom4-1 for a complete list of bug fixes and to download.

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Moss Landing Sea Otters

In route to my Point Lobos photography workshop we took a quick stop at Moss Landing State Beach for a closeup of the sea otters.  If you are ever driving between Santa Cruz, CA and Monterey, CA and can take a quick stop, you will get an up close and personal view of these large groupings of sea otters.  It’s very common to see 15-20 tightly grouped together.  I used a 400mm lens to get these photos, but any lens up to 200mm should get you some memorable photos.

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Will we get Image Deblur in CS6?

Possibly the next revolutionary breakthrough in photo editing, and a feature the justice system will love.  In this video demo, Jue Wang will show you a sneak peek of a potential new feature that allows users to remove blurriness from digital photos caused by camera shake while the pictures were being taken.  The feature didn’t show up in the Photoshop CS6 Beta, but we hope it makes it into the final release.

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Photoshop CS6 LIVE – This Wednesday!!

Join me this Wednesday evening for a live rundown on Photoshop CS6 at my monthly Tips & Tricks class.  Along with many new Photoshop tricks to use with your existing version, I will take you on a complete tour of CS6 and the many new features that will streamline your editing.

Click to Register


Photoshop Tips & Tricks

Learn the tips, tricks, and insider secrets that are guaranteed to boost your creativity, productivity and Photoshop skills.  This one-of-a-kind series of workshops will teach you the professional techniques used by the world’s leading designers, photographers, and creative design masters.

You’ll also learn how to take full advantage of Photoshop CS5, including its most powerful tools and features. You will learn how to work smarter and faster than ever before with a greater understanding of Selecting, Layers, and Masking. Time-saving tips and tricks, shortcuts, and workflow are just the beginning.

You’ll be amazed at how much you can learn in just one evening.

Upcoming Classes:

 

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