A few quick updates

I’ve been a little quiet lately, while I’ve been catching up with everything behind the scenes, and a number of people have emailed to ask what I’ve been up to, so here’s a quick update:

 

Book Formats

Adobe Lightroom 4 – The Missing FAQ is now available for download in ePub and Kindle formats, as well as the PDF format, and when you purchase either of the bundles, you gain access to all 3 eBook formats. If you’re not sure which format will suit you best, here’s a quick summary:

  • PDF – ideal for reading/searching on the computer; can also be viewed on devices such as iPad using apps like iBooks, GoodReader or iAnnotate.
  • ePub – reflowable text optimized for eReaders such as iPad (iBooks), Nook, Sony, etc.
  • Kindle – designed for the Amazon Kindle and Fire

The updated PDF, complete with the new Workflow chapter, was also released at the end of March.  Early feedback has been really positive, with many readers saying it’s their favorite chapter.  Here’s a small peek at my personal workflow diagram, which you’ll find in the book.

 

Emails went out to the book mailing list a couple of weeks ago when the updates were released, so anyone who has already purchased either of the Lightroom 4 book bundles can log into the Members Area to download the updates.

Paperbacks also shipped ahead of schedule. Bookstores in the US, such as Amazon, are now fully stocked, and I’m just waiting for some UK bookstores to catch up. If you don’t have your copy yet, there’s no need to wait for stock, as you can order direct from this website.

Thank you to everyone who posted reviews on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk, as well as on other websites. Reading them put a huge smile on my face – they really make all the hard work worthwhile.

 

What’s Next?

After many months of sitting here writing, I’m looking forward to spending more time with you on the forums and social networks. I’ve just finished catching up with all of the threads at www.lightroomforums.net, and a backlog of emails too, so Facebook and Twitter are next in line.  I’ve been enjoying reading your comments on the blog!

I’m also planning my next projects, so I’ve been reading back through more than 1000 survey responses from the end of last year, to work out which are the most popular choices. First on my list of projects is the new Members Area.

 

Website Updates & The Members Area

Lightroom Forums and this Lightroom Queen website are moving to a more powerful server in the next few days, so don’t worry if they disappear temporarily while DNS servers update.

The software for the Members Area has just come out of beta, so I’m busy adding content before its initial release. In addition to the download system, there are some useful features under construction, many of which were suggestions from the survey and other emails, and I’ll be continuing to add to it.  Anyone who has purchased the Lightroom 4 book will have Premium Access, so I’ll tell you more about that when it first goes live…

For now, I just want to thank you once again for your continued support, and I look forward to continuing to help you with Lightroom too.

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April 25, 2012 | Victoria Bampton | Book Updates

What’s New in Lightroom 4.1RC?

Just over 3 weeks ago, Lightroom 4.0 was released.  Unfortunately a few big bugs slipped through the net, resulting in some users seeing significant performance problems, NIK software external editor issues, large folders without photos, and also some missing tone curves.

The engineering team have pulled out all the stops to make 4.1 available as quickly as possible, so that’s available to download as a release candidate right now.  It also adds Canon 5d Mk3 support, for those with shiny new cameras.

The release candidate status means that it’s had a reasonable amount of testing (unlike a beta version) but they’d appreciate community feedback to see if they’ve solved the problems correctly.

You can read more about it at the official Lightroom team blog and download it from Adobe Labs.

 

In other news, my Lightroom 4 book is currently at the printers and ahead of schedule at the moment! More news on that in the next few days. The Workflow chapter is now included in the PDF download, and the ePub/Kindle versions should be available soon too.

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March 29, 2012 | Victoria Bampton | LR 4, What's New in this Release

Adobe Lightroom 4 – The Missing FAQ released

I’m really pleased to announce the release of Adobe Lightroom 4 – The Missing FAQ!

It’s already been available for a couple of days, and the response has been brilliant. I do love hearing from readers who find little gems they hadn’t previously understood!

Roy emailed to ask what was new, as he already owns the Lightroom 3 book, so here’s a quick summary:

Lightroom 3 Lightroom 4
Pages 500 685 (to be confirmed)
Chapters 16 19
Questions 678 921

There are 3 entirely new chapters:

  • Map module
  • Book module
  • Designing your Workflow (which will be a free update available this week).

The existing chapters also have lots of new questions based on your feedback, and many more were rewritten for changes in Lightroom’s behavior. All of the new Lightroom 4 features are explained in detail. These are a few of the highlights:

  • Import discusses the new Lossy DNG format and the new Layout Overlay.
  • Library module has 24 new questions, including Video Editing, and the changes to Flags, Collections and Stacking.
  • Working with Catalogs expands on syncing presets and catalogs using Dropbox.
  • Develop module has 47 brand new questions, and many more have been rewritten. They include the new Basic Develop sliders, how to work with the new PV2012 process version and how that interacts with your defaults and presets, and also a section on the new Soft Proofing tool. RGB curves, automatic Chromatic Aberration, Moiré removal and the additional local adjustment controls were also added.
  • Edit in Photoshop goes into the interaction between the new PV2012 process version and older versions of Photoshop, as well as CS6, which is yet to be released.
  • Export explores the new Email feature as well as the expanded ‘minimize metadata’ options.
  • Publish Services adds details on Facebook, which were not in the previous book.
  • And the other chapters have extra new questions and changes of behavior too.
  • Click here to see a full list of all of the changes made to Lightroom 4.

If I counted correctly, having removed 21 outdated questions, that’s 264 new questions. I have a further 166 of the existing questions noted as having changes or having been completely rewritten. If you look at the Table of Contents, you’ll see I’ve marked the brand new questions in red. It turned into a much bigger job than I planned, as Adobe made so many changes. It’s had my undivided attention for months, but it was worth all of the late nights and weekends. I’m sure you’ll find it useful!

The release schedule is as follows:

  • The PDF version available for download now. It’s complete with the exception of the final chapter – Workflow – which will be a free update on Wednesday this week (21st March). I want to spend a little more time on that before it’s released, but didn’t want to hold up the rest of the book.
  • The Paperback – I’m expecting the paperback preorders to ship by mid-April, and I’ll update the main page as soon as I have a confirmed date. Anyone preordering the paperback bundle will be able to download the PDF version today.
  • The ePub and Kindle versions will also be available at the same time as the paperbacks, if not before.
  • Anyone ordering now gets access to all of those updates – the updated copy with the Workflow chapter, the ePub and Kindle formats, and any further 4.x updates.

So what are you waiting for? Visit the main book page to order and download it right now.

The bundle of eBooks is only £14.95. I have to price in British Pounds Sterling due to the terms of the payment processors (PayPal and Google), as I’m based in the UK, but that’s approximately $23.67 US at today’s exchange rate. Or you can preorder the paperback bundle with flat rate shipping, and the paperbacks will ship from UK, US and Australia as soon as they’re available.

If you own a previous version of my book, and you haven’t received an upgrade discount code by email, I’ll be pleased to arrange that for you – just send me an email.

I look forward to hearing what you think!

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March 17, 2012 | Victoria Bampton | Book Updates, LR 4

Lightroom 4 Known Issues

Overall, the response to Lightroom 4 has been great, but big changes are never without a few big glitches.

Tom Hogarty’s just posted about the major bugs they’re tracking with LR4 right now:

His main ones are:

  • Point Tone Curve Migration
    • The upgrade loses some custom point curves – they’re working on a fix, and also a way of fixing already upgraded catalogs, so don’t panic. Yes I know it’s a pain.
  • “Edit in” Workflow for External Editors/Plug-ins
    • NIK plug-ins (and some other 3rd party editors) are not working when using Edit In. They’re working on a fix.
  • Edit in Photoshop Workflow
    • ACR 6.7 is available as an RC – once you’ve installed it, it’ll still say you need ACR 7.0 (which will be the officially compatible version) but pressing Open Anyway will work correctly.
  • Reverse Geocoding Delays
    • It wasn’t working a few days ago. They’re monitoring with Google but it seems to be ok now.

I’ll add a few more I’m aware of:

  • Some people are seeing performance issues, but not everyone, which makes it hard to track down.  If you’re seeing performance issues, they’d like some clues on where to start looking, specifically…
    • Where does it feel slow?
    • Is it interactive speed in Develop?
    • Walking through images in Develop? Or in Library?
    • Does it slow down over time (hinting at poor memory usage)?
    • Does turning off the second window help?
    • Does turning off noise reduction or lens corrections help?
    • Do you see the same with a clean catalog (i.e. is it catalog-specific or an upgrade problem?)
    • Post your answers on the Bug Report forum where they can be tracked by the engineers
  • Some can’t see the contents of large folders after converting their catalog. The engineers are investigating.
  • Some are seeing an AgExportRendition error when trying to email photos. It appears to be related to a built-in preset which is only added when you press Restore Export Presets (so don’t do that if you’re not having trouble!). If you’re seeing it, please post it on the Bug Report forum and we’ll test the solution.

One final thing – some people are pressing Update All when asked about updating to PV2012.  Lightroom does try to translate the settings, but the rendering is so different that you may end up needing to make further manual adjustments.  Unless you want to practice your processing skills on your whole back catalog, don’t press Update All – only update the ones you intend to reprocess.

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March 13, 2012 | Victoria Bampton | LR 4

What’s New in Lightroom 4?

It’s live!  Lightroom 4 has just been released after a short 2 month beta period.

Thank you to everyone who joined in testing the beta and offering feedback.  The list of bugs fixed is huge – around 800 since the beta, at the last count.

The feature set is largely the same as the beta version, so we won’t list everything again, but if you missed the previous list, you can find it here.

A few other changes to be aware of:

  • Can now upgrade catalogs from prior versions
  • Reverse geocoding now works
  • Develop has had further ‘tweaks’
    • Improved auto tone in Develop
    • Increased range of local white balance controls (temperature and tint)
    • Changes to rolloff of highlight rendering
    • Changes to positive Clarity to reduce overall image brightening.
    • More tuning to auto CA algorithm.
    • Re-added the Process Version checkbox in the copy/sync dialog
    • Updated Develop presets + added new ones for video
  • Maximum Blurb book size is now 240 pages

As usual, there’s some new camera support:

  • Canon         EOS 1D X, Powershot G1 X, PowerShot S100V
  • Fuji              F505 EXR, F605 EXR, HS30 EXR, HS33 EXR, X-S1
  • Nikon          D4, D800, D800E

But the big news this morning?  PRICING!  For the first time in Lightroom’s history, the pricing is changing, but it’s not going up…. it’s going down!  The full version Lightroom price will be lowered from $299 to $149 (€109 excl. VAT), with upgrades and education editions at just $79 (€62 excl. VAT). There’s no reason to put off upgrading now!

With all of the new features added in Lightroom 4, especially the new improved Develop rendering, and now the new low pricing too, there’s no reason not to upgrade. You can purchase direct from Adobe or from your favorite retailer. For now, download the trial and let us know what you think!

In the meantime, I’m putting the finishing touches to Adobe Lightroom 4 – The Missing FAQ, and it’s available to preorder now.

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March 6, 2012 | Victoria Bampton | LR 4, What's New in this Release
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