Lightroom 3 beta’s been out for a week now, and the main beta forum alone has seen nearly 3000 posts already.  So, a quick run down of the most popular themes and bugs…

• No PPC, No Tiger – yes, you read that correctly, minimum system specs for Mac are Intel processor and 10.5.6 or newer.  The subject has been beaten to death now.
• Soft Proofing is not in LR3 beta.  LR3 is not feature complete.  Jeff Schewe has been dropping heavy hints, but no one can say what will or will not be in the final release.
• Lens correction – no, it’s not in, and yes it would be very nice.  It’s a big job that needs to be done properly.  You’ve been heard.
• Great feedback on the new image quality – the updated noise reduction is getting some really productive feedback.

Most popular bugs being reported:

• Lightroom won’t install on PPC…. it’s not meant to!
• Import dialog hangs when it comes across a video file.  Solution for now is to exclude video files by unchecking them in the import dialog – they’re easily spotted as they have grey thumbnails.
• Import dialog hangs when you rename with a Total# or Image# token.  Solution for now is to use other renaming tokens, or rename after import.
• Import dialog hangs on big imports.  Solution for now is to do smaller imports!  It’s a major overhaul so will be buggy at the moment.
• Renaming a selected folder makes the photos disappear – restart to show them again.
• Deleting off a network drive doesn’t always work.
• Loupe view isn’t refreshing properly on secondary display.
• Luminance slider doesn’t work – it’s disabled for the beta while they continue working, but will be back in the final release.
• History panel selection has a mind of its own.
• Slideshow turns some portrait photos the wrong way round.
• Watermark – some characters go missing.
• Capture date/time is showing the wrong date.
• …and plenty more besides!

Finally, a gentle reminder that the beta forum is for discussing the new tools and bugs found in LR3.  If you have general Lightroom feature requests, they’re better off in the feature request forum so they don’t get lost in the beta noise.

Have fun testing!

You can download the beta book today, and get the final release included in the price when version 3 is finally released.  The book’s had a great reception so far!

Here’s the official announcement: http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/

And the download link, of course! http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom3/

So what’s new so far…?

Image Quality

One of the primary improvements in 3.0 beta is image quality. Lightroom’s been taken back to its bare bones and the raw processing engine has been given a complete overhaul. Even the demosaic algorithms have been substantially improved to give a cleaner file which will respond better to subsequent noise reduction and sharpening.

Performance

While Lightroom was back on the drawing board, the underlying architecture has been completely reworked to improve the performance, particularly with large catalogs. It’s still in early stages at the moment, but the basis is there for a great final release.

The preview system has also been redeveloped, so the thumbnail grid won’t keep going fuzzy as you scroll!

Import

• Entirely new Import dialog, with compact and expanded views, depending on the level of control you need.
• It has panels like the main modules, including Source and Destination.
• Destination folders that will be created by the import as shown in italics so you can see exactly what will happen.
• Import presets can now be saved and reused in both compact and expanded views.
• There’s a new Loupe view within the Import dialog for viewing embedded previews.
• The import backup now backs up with the new filenames if you’re renaming while importing.
• CMYK files can now be imported, although all editing and output will still be RGB.
• If you right-click on a folder in Library module, there’s an ‘Import into this Folder’ option which opens the Import dialog and automatically sets the Destination folder.

Library Module

• Publish Services
  • Publish Services provides integration with photo sharing websites, keeping them up to date with the changes you make in your Lightroom catalog.
  • Sync runs 2-way, so comments made on your Flickr account appear back in Lightroom.
  • Flickr is the first to be available and more are sure to follow.
  • Sync to hard drive is also available, and useful for syncing photos to your iPhone, screensaver, other networked computers, etc.
• Filters are no longer sticky – they reset as you switch folders unless you click the padlock icon on the Filter bar.
• There’s a new badge on the thumbnails showing photos that are in a standard or Publish collection.

Develop Module

• Process Version
  
  • Because so much work has been done on the base ACR engine, a ‘process version’ has been introduced to differentiate between the old process and new processes.
  • Any images with existing settings will be set to the old process version to get an almost identical rendering as previous versions. Any new images imported into 3.0 beta will be assigned the new process version.
  • There’s a warning triangle in the histogram if an image is on the old process version – click it if you want to update (also found under Tools menu).
  • Need to update to the new process version in order to use the new noise reduction, grain and vignette tools.
  • 3.0 beta will not be fully compatible with any ACR version at this point in time. Rendering may vary depending on the settings used – vignette and noise reduction would render very differently using ACR 5.5 and LR 3.0 beta.
• Noise Reduction & Sharpening
  • Lots of work has been done on improving the noise reduction without losing fine detail.
  • Color noise reduction is already vastly improved.
  • Luminance noise reduction (new process) is disabled for the beta but will be back in the final release.
  • There’s a new Edge Detail slider which refines the edges on extremely noisy images at very high ISO.
  • Any old settings updated to the new process version will probably be too strong.
  • There have also been subtle changes to the capture sharpening.
  • The preview now shows sharpening & noise reduction at less than 1:1 view when using the new process version, although it still needs a little work.

• Grain
  • Film-style grain sliders added give a very natural looking grain.
  • It shares a new Effects panel with Post-Crop Vignette.

• Post-Crop Vignette
  • New more natural vignette instead of just painting white or black on the edges.
  • Color Priority mode retains more natural colours under the vignette with softer shadow transitions.
  • Highlight Priority remains heavily saturated under the vignette.
  • Contrast slider brightens the highlights under a dark vignette.
• Adjustment Brush
  • The buttons are gone, so it’s now either a single drop-down and amount slider, or the range of sliders.
  • New icon shows when no color tint is being applied.
  • Show/hide pins and overlays are now in the toolbar when the Brush/Gradient are active, so no more having to remember the shortcuts.
• Crop – the list of crop ratios has been tidied up to combine identical ratios like 2×3 and 4×6.
• Greyscale has been changed to Black & White throughout.
• AutoTone now includes Fill Light.
• Sync/AutoSync now has a switch next to it to easily switch between the two.

Slideshow

• Slideshows can now be exported to MP4 video format for uploading to video sharing websites, including your music track.
• Mac version is no longer tied to iTunes, matching the Windows behaviour.
• You can now sync the length of the slides to the music track length.

Print

• Custom Print Package
  • New custom layout option for different images in different sizes (without resorting to hacks!)
  • Drag and drop to create a flexible layout.

• Page background color can now be changed.

Watermarking

• New watermarking allows a simple text or graphic watermark to be applied in Export, Publish, Print and Web.

Backup

• Backup has moved to quit rather than startup, by popular demand!
• There’s a new checkbox in the backup dialog to run optimize catalog after the backup.

Other bits and pieces

• The breadcrumbs bar on the filmstrip now has a Favorite Sources option.
• The Select Catalog dialog has had a facelift.
• Library menu > Show Missing Photos creates a temporary collection of all missing photos instead of having to go through Synchronize Folder.

System Spec Changes

• System specs have increased to a minimum of 2gb of RAM on Windows
• No more PPC for Mac, Intel processors only.
• No more Tiger – Leopard or Snow Leopard only.

Upgrading

This is still in early stages – even earlier stages than the 2.0 beta – so there are plenty of bugs. It’s not likely to blow up your computer, but you are strongly recommended not to switch your entire workflow over to the beta at this stage. It’s been released for testing and feedback on the new features, and the beta period is likely to be longer than that of 2.0 beta. It won’t allow you to upgrade 2.x catalogs to the beta, but the final release will.

Lightroom 3 Beta is not feature-complete – there’s more yet to come in the final release.

If you want to keep reading, there’s some more great blog posts:

Gene’s Lightroom Secrets http://lightroomsecrets.com/2009/10/lightroom-3-beta-is-here/

Ian Lyons’ Computer Darkroom http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr3_preview/lr3-preview-1.htm

Jeffrey Friedl’s Plug-in Update Post http://regex.info/blog/2009-10-21/1339

John Beardsworth’s http://www.beardsworth.co.uk/news/

Clicio Barroso (in Portuguese) http://clicio.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/adobe®-lightroom®-3-saiu/

Richard Earney’s Inside Lightroom http://insidelightroom.com/?p=415

Sean’s McCormack’s Lightroom Blog http://lightroom-blog.com/2009/10/adobe-launch-lightroom-3-beta-missing.html

Rob Sylvan’s Lightroomer’s http://lightroomers.com/my-take-on-lightroom-3-beta/662/

And I’ve been busy… my new book release updated for Lightroom 3 Beta is available for immediate download! Read on to the next blog post for more information!

The Lightroom 2 version of the book’s had such great reviews, I had to update it for version 3!

You can pre-order the final Lightroom 3 PDF or paperback, which are due for release at the same time as Lightroom 3 final, and anyone pre-ordering gets immediate access to the PDF rough cut free of charge.

What’s a rough cut?
A rough cut of a book is like a beta version – it’s not finished, but it’s in pretty good shape. I’ve still got lots more to add yet, but just like the beta of the program itself, I’d love to hear your feedback, whether you come across a question that I’ve missed, or something that’s not clear, or you just want to tell me how much you love the book, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

What’s in this new release so far?

• Questions about the new Lightroom 3 features
• Lots of general new Lightroom questions that have appeared on the forums in the last 15 months since Lightroom 2’s release.
• Existing questions have been updated for the changes in Lightroom 3 beta.
• A new page layout which is easier to read, with space in the sidebars for notes.

What’s yet to come?

• No doubt lots more Lightroom 3 questions – I’ll be watching the forums carefully during the beta period to pick up the new questions, and depending on how many there are and the length of the beta period, there may be a rough cut update or two along the way.
• The new Lightroom 3 features in the final release – the beta is far from feature-complete.
• Lots of other general questions – I have a database of 6000 interesting forum threads and complete email conversations I’m still sorting through!
• A full index in the back.
• Anything else you suggest – I’m open to suggestions.

So what are you waiting for?

Pre-order Lightroom 3 PDF version – and get access to the rough cut now – £14.95 (approx. $25 US)*

Pre-order Lightroom 3 Paperback & PDF version – and get access to the rough cut now – £24.95 plus £3.50 shipping (approx. $48 US total)*

* The boring legal blurb – exchange rates are approximate and will be charged by your PayPal or your credit card company.  Payment will be taken at the time of placing the order. Pre-orders can’t be cancelled – but you won’t want to anyway.

In the meantime, I’m in the spotlight at Lightroom Secrets this week. Gene’s got a great site, so go and have a wander round and get your Lightroom fix.

He writes: “My final advice is to buy this book. As a seasoned Lightroom user and instructor, I found answers to questions that I didn’t know right along with answers to questions that I hear from Lightroom beginners over and over. I feel confident in saying that you, too, will find answers to question you have!”

That’s a compliment indeed, from such a well respected Lightroom professional, so thank you Scott.  And if you haven’t visited Scott’s website recently, drop by and explore – he’s got some great tutorials amongst other Lightroom discussions.

There’s a few teething problems being worked out with the new software, so don’t panic if things aren’t quite where you left them! 

If you’re not already a member, feel free to drop by and pull up a chair – it’s a friendly place to hang out and chat about all things Lightroom.

Download links:
Windows http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4508
Mac http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4507

Lots of new camera releases including Canon 500d/T1i, Canon SX1 IS and Nikon D5000.

There’s a few bug fixes, including the irritating crop bug:

And new DNG options for those who use the DNG format, taking into account the updated DNG specification and still allowing for backwards compatibility.

Further details at Lightroom Journal.

It’s a good stable update, so download it now!

SLR’s with video have quickly become popular, but until now, Lightroom hasn’t had the facility to import or manage those video files along with your photos. Jeffrey Friedl has done a great job of incorporating that into Lightroom, with his Video-Asset Management plug-in.

You’ll also want to explore his many other plug-ins, including uploads to SmugMug, Flickr, ZenFolio, Picasa Web, and Facebook. He’s also the author of my favourite Metadata Wrangler tool, GPS tools, and a few others besides.

Tim Armes, author of the well-known LR2/Mogrify plug-in has also been busy writing, and has released LR2/Tree Exporter, which can replicate your folder structure when exporting. Very neat! LR/Transporter is another of my firm favourites, as well as LR/Enfuse and LR/Blog.

Sean McCormack of Lightroom Blog has been busy with Twitter plug-ins, with export plug-ins for both TweetPhoto and TwitPic.

Many people have asked recently about an FTP export plug-in – if you download the SDK and unzip it, in the Samples folder you’ll find a ready built FTP upload plug-in. Don’t worry, there’s no programming involved! Install just like any other plug-in, and it’ll appear in the dropdown list at the top of the Export dialog, where it currently says ‘Files on Disk’.

There are more plug-ins appearing every day, so keep an eye on Lightroom Exchange for the latest.

At first glance, the LR2/Mogrify interface can looking a little complicated, but that’s just because it’s so powerful. Let’s cover some of the basics that you’ll use when watermarking or signing your images.

The first thing you’ll need to do is install the LR2/Mogrify plug-in. Tim’s written full instructions on his website, so I won’t cover that here. In short, Windows users need to install both ImageMagick and the plug-in, whereas Mac users only need to install the plug-in.

Once LR2/Mogrify is installed correctly, you’ll see the Post-Process Actions section in the lower left corner of the Lightroom Export dialog. LR2/Mogrify can be used in conjunction with any of the other standard export options, such as resizing, sharpening, etc., and before any other export plug-ins.

First of all, let’s look at borders. Click on Borders in the Post-Process Actions and press Insert to add that panel to the Export Options. To add a border, select the width for each edge and the colour – and repeat for additional borders. You can alternative different widths and colours to create more interesting borders, or you can just keep it simple. The results of layering multiple borders can be seen below.

Now how about signing your image? Going back to the Post-Process Actions section and selecting Text Annotation is one option. You can choose the size, font, and positioning of the Text Annotation. You can even use that same Text Annotation section to add the EXIF data about your image using the ‘Add Token’ button to select the information to show.

One thing to be aware of – if nothing seems to be happening with the Text Annotation, try a different font. Mogrify can be a bit fussy about which fonts it will use! If your preferred font isn’t working, you can always use a graphical watermark instead – we’ll come back to those in a moment.

And here’s the result of those combined settings:

But what if you need to overlay a heavier watermark, or you want to add a graphical logo instead? Again, it’s simply a case of selecting the correct Post-Process Action – in this case the ‘Graphical Watermark’ option. You’ll need to have created your watermark image in a pixel editor such as Photoshop, and if you want to include transparency, you’re best off using PSD rather than PNG files, as there are some controls unavailable for PNG resizing.

These are just a few of the options available – have a play, and see what you can come up with. To get you started, I’ve uploaded the Export Templates and watermarks that I’ve used – you’re welcome to download them from here: http://www.lightroomqueen.com/downloads/mogrify-downloads.zip If you unzip the downloaded folder, you’ll find 2 folders inside – ‘Export Templates Mogrify’ and ‘Watermarks’. To install the Export Templates, put the ‘Export Templates Mogrify’ folder inside the Export Presets folder – you can check the location on your system by going to Lightroom’s Preferences dialog, choosing the Presets tab, and pressing the ‘Show Lightroom Presets Folder’ button. Obviously the presets are looking for watermarks and fonts on my system, so you’ll need to update the locations to point to the files on your own computer system.

If you have any problems, drop by www.lightroomforums.net and we’ll talk you through it!