What does this new version hold in store? Does it make it the ‘must have’ upgrade?
This is simply a taster, so take care to only use it for copies of your files, but the answer down the line when the full product is launched is a resounding ‘Yes!’
Adobe put out their Public betas to get a wide range of input to ensure that the finished program really impresses. It almost certainly will have some bugs, some restrictions, and some features will not be present; after all, they still need some ‘Wow!’s when the real thing arrives.
What features stand out? Well, there are two new modules Book and Map – Book in this release will be confined to producing books through Blurb, and PDF – If other creators of books and their clients show interest, Adobe will extend this feature, but this current limitation will remain for the full release of Lightroom 4.0. Map will take GPS co-ordinates from any available EXIF data to place images on a Google map, and the user can place images on the map after the event where no EXIF data was available directly from the camera.
This Public Beta will not be able to upgrade current catalogs, nor will it upgrade the ‘Process Version’ it will use ‘PV 2012’. The full release will allow both, but be advised there is a fundamental change to how data is interpreted and controlled in this version, so conversions may well show different renderings than intended, so mass automatic conversion is not recommended.
Users will need to note the changes made to the controls in the Develop module. Exposure in particular has a very different way of handling from earlier versions, but the new controls undoubtedly give the user far more control than before, but it will be unfamiliar initially. The most notable improvement you will find is that previously burnt-out highlights could easily end very abruptly, looking really nasty. Adobe engineers have made a far more gentle ‘rolloff’ that makes for example, very much better cloud treatment in bright sunlight.
Taking this Public Beta for a spin, learning how to handle the new Develop controls, understanding the benefits from the latest Process Version, playing with Maps and Book, will make the later transition much more fluid, and I highly recommend anyone considering upgrading later, to first play with copies of images and fully understand the implications and niceties, before embarking on a full transition. For those users working in a studio with their camera tethered, the addition of a Layout Overlay may be of special interest, as this could be for a particular crop required, or to allow areas to be kept clear for other features in a design layout.
Adobe and its team of worldwide unpaid volunteers on the prerelease team have worked hard on your behalf to make this a very worthy upgrade. Many of these will be putting out videos and whole treatises on how to use the new features, and in the UK, I recommend strongly to look out for Victoria Bampton, the Lightroom Queen as she really does know this program inside and out. Others to look out for are John Beardsworth, Sean McCormack, Richard Earney, Ian Lyons, Lee Jay Fingersh, Jeffrey Friedl, Martin Evening, and Brian Stoppee.
These are the links to the public beta pages:
Public Beta Site: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom4/
and other links you could follow are listed below – Cmd/Ctl click them to open in a new tab:
No comments:
Post a Comment