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

And the download link: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom5/

The Lightroom team have been busy, so it’s a looooooong list.  If you don’t have time to read it all right now, the highlights are marked in red.

System Specs

• The minimum system specs have been updated for Lightroom 5.  This allows testing efforts to be more focused, hopefully resulting in less bugs!
• Windows
  • No more Vista
  • Minimum system requirements are now:
    • Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon® 64 processor*
    • DirectX 10–capable or later graphics card
    • Microsoft® Windows® 7 with Service Pack 1 or Windows 8
    • 2GB of RAM (4GB recommended)
    • 2GB of available hard-disk space
    • 1024×768 display
    • DVD-ROM drive (only if installing from DVD)
    • Internet connection required for Internet-based services (i.e. Map, Publish, etc.)
• Mac
  • No more 10.6 Snow Leopard
  • Minimum system requirements are now:
    • Multicore Intel processor with 64-bit support
    • Mac OS X v10.7 or v10.8
    • 2GB of RAM (4GB recommended)
    • 2GB of available hard-disk space
    • 1024×768 display
    • DVD-ROM drive (only if installing from DVD)
    • Internet connection required for Internet-based services (i.e. Map, Publish, etc.)

Import

• PNG Format
  • You can now import, manage, search for and edit PNG files.
    Transparency will appear as white in Lightroom.
    Lightroom doesn’t write PNG files, so when you Edit in Photoshop or Export, it’ll convert to TIFF/PSD format.
• Stop it switching to Current/Previous Import when a background import completes
  • Ever had an import running in the background while you’re working on other things, and then you lose your place when it automatically switches to Current/Previous Import view?  There’s a new checkbox in Preferences called “Show the ‘Current/Previous Import’ collection during Import”.  When it’s unchecked, the photos are still imported as normal, but it all happens in the background while you carry on working on your folder or collection.
• Other minor additions
  • You can now trigger tethered capture using a shortcut – F12
  • Build Smart Previews checkbox has been added to the File Handling panel

Library module

• DNG Validation
  • The DNG Validation Hash is a MD-5 Hash or checksum that’s been added to all Adobe-created DNG files since Lightroom 1.4.1 and ACR 4.4.1.
  • DNG validation works by comparing the current state of the image data in DNG files with the embedded checksum. It shouldn’t change, so any changes are due to corruption.
  • Until now, you had to use other software to check all of your images as a batch process, as Lightroom only checked one at a time.
  • Now you can check your DNG files by going to Library menu > Validate DNG Files.  It will check all of the photos in the current view (i.e. photos in the currently selected folder/collection, etc.)
  • If everything’s good, it says “All DNG files in this catalog are valid” – which is a bug, as it should say “All DNG files in the current view are valid” unless you have All Photographs selected.
  • Not Validated means there’s no hash to compare against (for example, some DNG files created by cameras don’t embed a hash) or the original files are missing.
  • Bad DNG Files means the image data has changed (i.e. become corrupted) since the hash was computed at creation. Press Show in Library to create a special collection of those photos, so you can restore them from backups.
• Smart Collections & Filters
  • The Smart Collection criteria now has hierarchical menus.
  • There’s some new search criteria for Smart Collections
    • File size (pixel dimensions)
      The suboptions include Long Edge, Short Edge, Width, Height, Megapixels, Long Edge Uncropped, Short Edge Uncropped, Width Uncropped, Height Uncropped, Megapixels Uncropped, and Aspect Ratio.
    • Image size (megapixels)
    • Image Bit Depth (i.e. 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit)
    • Color Mode (i.e. RGB, Greyscale, CMYK, etc.)
    • Color Profile (i.e. sRGB, Adobe RGB, etc.)
    • Smart Preview status
    • PNG file format
  • There’s also some new search criteria for Metadata Filters
    • Smart Preview status
    • PNG file format
• Other minor additions
  • A “Set as target collection” checkbox has been added to the Create Collection dialog.
  • Store Presets with Catalog changed to Store Presets with THIS catalog
  • New menu entry – Library menu > Previews > Build Smart Previews
  • New menu entry – Library menu > Previews > Discard Smart Previews
  • New menu entry – Library menu > Validate DNG Files

Develop

• Interactive performance improvements have been a main focus for this release
  • Develop module now opens more quickly the first time you open it after launching Lightroom.
  • Basic Develop controls can now be accessed as soon as the first preview has loaded.
  • The Loading overlay should disappear more quickly. If you’ve built Smart Previews, that will make it load faster still.
  • Noise Reduction and Clarity have been made faster.
  • Memory usage is now more consistent.
  • More geeky performance tweaks too!
• Radial Filter
  • New Radial Filter tool allows you to apply local adjustments to a feathered elliptical mask.
  • By default, it creates an off-center vignette, but you can invert the mask to apply the adjustments to the circle/oval instead.
  • It appears in the Tool Strip, between the Graduated Filter and the Adjustment Brush.
  • Lots of new shortcuts to remember
    • Shift + M: Select Radial Gradient tool
    • Click + Drag: Create new Radial Filter is scaled from center or resize existing Radial Filter adjusting opposite sides equally
    • Shift + Drag: Create new Radial Filter constrained to circle and scaled from center or resize existing Radial Filter constrained to existing aspect ratio
    • Alt/Opt + Drag: Create new Radial Filter scaled from starting point or resize existing Radial Filter only affecting selected side
    • Alt/Opt + Shift + Drag: Create new Radial Filter constrained to circle and scaled from starting point or resize existing Radial Filter affecting 3 nearest sides
    • Ctrl/Cmd + double click: Create new Radial Filter constrained to crop bounds (or Ctrl/Cmd + double click within existing circle to resize existing Radial Filter to full crop bounds)
    • Ctrl/Cmd + Alt/Opt + Drag: Duplicate Radial Filter
    • Double-click: Apply & dismiss Radial Filter
    • Apostrophe key ( ‘ ): Invert mask
    • H: Hide Bounding Box
• Duplicate Local Adjustments
  • As well as the Radial Gradient, you can duplicate Graduated Filters and Adjustment Brush strokes using the same Ctrl/Cmd + Alt/Opt + Drag command.
  • The Graduated Filter or Radial Filter can be moved by dragging the pin, so you can replicate the same effect in another place (i.e. ovals created to lighten people’s faces)
  • Adjustment Brush strokes can’t be moved, but duplicating them is still useful for increasing the effect, perhaps where you’ve maxed out a slider (i.e. negative sharpness to create blur). Just add a duplicate adjustment in exactly the same place to build up the effect.
• Advanced Healing Brush – non-circular healing
  • For a long time, the most-requested feature for Lightroom has been non-circular healing.  It’s finally here!!
  • Circle Spots refer to the single spots we had in previous Lightroom versions. They remain virtually the same as before, including resizing.
  • Brush Spots refer to the new advanced healing brush in Lightroom 5, which can have an arbitrary shape but can’t be resized or reshaped after creation.
  • To set expectations – it’s never likely be a complete replacement for Photoshop. It’s running text instructions, rather than changing the pixels, so if you have loads of spots and brush strokes, performance will be affected. That said, it’s GREAT! So many more photos no longer need a trip to Photoshop, as you can remove stray wires and random people from your photos without having to line up a series of circle spots. It some cases, for example, where a wire meets an object, you may find it’s better to do the main length of wire as a single stroke and then do the ends as separate strokes. In other cases, it can work better to extend the single brush stroke into the object a little, so that the healing works better.
  • Have a play with it and share your best tips in the comments.
  • There’s also a new checkbox and slider on the toolbar called Visualise Spots. It displays your photo as a black and white mask, making it easier to find dust spots. Dragging the slider the threshold, showing more or less detail.
  • Lots of new shortcuts to remember
    • Single Click: Create a circle spot from auto-find source
    • Click + Drag: Create brush spot
    • Cmd/Ctrl + Drag: Create a circle spot from user-defined source
    • Cmd/Ctrl + Alt/Opt + Drag: Create a circle spot that scales from center
    • Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + Drag: Create a circle spot that scales from starting point
    • Shift + Drag – Constrain brush spot to horizontal or vertical axis
    • Shift + Click: Connect the selected existing spot with the new spot via a straight vertical/horizontal brush stroke (and reevaluate source if not user-defined)
    • Shift + Q: toggle between Clone and Heal
    • Backslash (/) – select new source for existing circle or brush spot (it’s also been added to the right-click menu)
    • Alt/Opt + Click: Delete spot
    • Alt/Opt + Drag: Marquee batch-delete multiple spots
    • A: Visualize Spots
    • H: Hide Spot Overlays
• Upright – Perspective Correction
  • Upright straightens your photos automatically, based on the image content. It looks for straight lines like buildings and horizons, leveling tilted photos and fixing keystone distortion on buildings.
  • The manual distortion sliders are still available, but this is quick and easy – and you can always tweak the results to your taste using the manual sliders, if you want to.
  • There’s a new Basic tab in the Lens Corrections panel, which has all of the most used adjustments – checkboxes for Enable Profile Corrections, Remove Chromatic Aberration and Constrain Crop.
  • Apply your Lens Profile first, by checking Enable Profile Corrections, as Upright works best when the distortion’s fixed.  You could turn on Remove Chromatic Aberration at this stage too. If you pressed Upright before enabling the profile, press the Reanalyze button.
  • Then press an Upright button.  There are 5 options:
    • Off doesn’t do anything – that’s the default.
    • Auto is the most intelligent, and the one you’ll use most of the time.
    • Full tries to fix the whole image, regardless of how extreme the correction.
    • Level just tries to rotate the photo to level it.
    • Vertical levels as well as fixes converging verticals.
  • It will reset your crop and any Manual Transforms (i.e. Vertical/Horizontal sliders, etc.) when you apply Upright, but you can avoid that by holding down Alt/Opt while pressing the button.
  • The Constrain Crop checkbox ensures the crop doesn’t include any white padding, but you’ll probably find you want to manually adjust the crop after using Upright, to get the best result.
  • If you find the effect is too strong, switch to the Manual tab and adjust the Manual sliders slightly, for example, vertical +10 will usually look more natural.
• Aspect slider (aka Slimming Tool!)
  • There’s a new Aspect slider in the Manual Lens Corrections tab. It’s designed to offset strong keystone corrections that can look a little unnatural, but I think it’s going to get more use as a slimming tool! Drag the slider to the right slightly, and you’ll grow taller and slimmer.
• LAB readout
  • There’s now a L*a*b* color readout. It’s primarily used by the repro/scientific communities, but can be useful for checking skintones (for ‘average’ skintones, if there is any such thing, keep a* and b* values really close, often with the b* slightly higher).
  • Right-click on the Histogram in Develop and select Show Lab Color Values to show them. They’ll replace the RGB values, unless you’re soft proofing.
• Soft proofing
  • Before/After Previews now has a ‘Current State’ option, which is the new default for a master photo. The before/left preview is your current settings without the soft-proof profile, and the after/right preview is the current settings with the soft-proof profile applied, so you can see the effect of the profile without having to create a virtual copy.
  • The old default Before/After Preview setting is called ‘Before State’, and it’s just standard before/after behavior, so you wouldn’t usually use that when Soft-Proofing. You can also still compare against the Master Photo and other virtual copies.
  • When you make a snapshot with soft-proofing enabled, it now defaults to the profile name.
• Cropping
  • When you change the crop ratio for an existing crop, it now applies the new ratio to the existing crop instead of resetting the crop to maximum size. (Note, this only applies to Develop module, not Quick Develop)  If you prefer the old behavior of automatically resetting the crop, hold down Alt/Opt when changing the ratio.
  • In addition to the existing Crop Overlays, there’s now an Aspect Ratios overlay which allows you to preview different crop ratios.
    • Go to Tools menu > Crop Guide Overlay > Aspect Ratios to turn it on.
    • Go to Tools menu > Crop Guide Overlay > Choose Aspect Ratios to choose which of the standard crop ratios to include in the overlay.
    • Go to Tools menu > Crop Guide Overlay > Choose Overlays to Cycle to select which ones to include when press the O shortcut key. It’s particularly useful if you never use certain overlays.
  • These Crop Overlays can be used in conjunction with the standard Loupe Overlays.
• Sync & Auto Sync
  • Sync now has checkboxes for Upright Mode vs. Upright Transforms.
    • Upright Mode applies the same mode (i.e. Auto, Full, Level, Vertical) but analyzes each individual photo.
    • Upright Transforms applies exactly the same adjustments, regardless of image content.
  • Sync now has a Radial Filters checkbox.
  • Auto Sync now works for Graduated Filters, Radial Filters and Adjustment Brush, although it doesn’t try to compensate for different orientations or sizes.
• Process Versions
  • The exclamation mark Process Version warning has been removed from the preview area, and is now a lightning bolt in the Histogram panel. Clicking it only updates the selected photo, unless you have AutoSync enabled.
• Other minor changes
  • Clipping indicators are now persistent between Lightroom sessions.
  • If you hit the Previous button to copy settings to the next photo, earlier versions copied the Red Eye corrections, resulting the grey dots in random spots! That’s now fixed.

Smart Previews

• Proxy Files
  • Smart Previews are proxy images that can be used in place of the original file, when the originals are offline. That includes using them for Develop module, Publish Services, Export and Email.
  • That means you can leave your originals on the hard drive at home, and take Smart Previews out on your laptop or small portable hard drive, and still be able to work with them.
  • Edit your photos in Develop module using the Smart Previews, even if the originals are offline, and Lightroom will compensate for the size difference. Once the originals are available, they automatically take precedence again.
• How to use them
  • You can generate them using the Build Smart Previews checkbox in the Import dialog, Import from Another Catalog dialog, Export as Catalog dialog, or by selecting the photos and going to Library menu > Previews > Build Smart Previews.
  • You can delete them by going to Library menu > Previews > Discard Smart Previews.
  • You can identify photos that are using their Smart Previews because they’ll have a black icon in the corner of the thumbnail, where the metadata/missing photo badge is usually.
  • Under the Histogram there’s information about the current status of the photo. It may say Original, Original + Smart Preview, Smart Preview or Photo is Missing/Offline. If there’s more than 1 photo selected, it gives the counts for each status (but that’s a bit buggy right now).
  • You can search for photos that have Smart Previews using Metadata Filters or Smart Collections.
• Behind the Scenes
  • They live in a Smart Previews.lrdata file/folder next to the catalog.
  • Behind the scenes, they’re Lossy DNG Files with 2540 pixels along the longest edge.
  • If you accidentally delete your only copy of the originals (it happens far too regularly!!), you can Export to DNG to turn those Smart Previews into master images – although obviously not with the same size and quality as the originals (so please back up!)
• Performance
  • Smart Previews also help photos load into Develop module more quickly, even when the originals are online.
• Details to look out for
  • When zooming 1:1 on a Smart Preview when the original is offline, it zooms to the Smart Preview’s resolution, not the original file’s resolution.
  • Sharpening and Noise Reduction should compensate for the difference in image size, but you might need to fine tune settings slightly once the originals are back online.
  • If you make really extreme adjustments (i.e. increase exposure by 5 stops on a photo shot in the dark) then you’ll start to see artifacts in the Smart Previews that may disappear when the originals are reconnected.
  • You can’t delete offline files when they’re offline… because they’re offline. If you try to delete, it will only allow you to remove the photo from the catalog, so you’re probably better to mark as rejected and then delete when the photos are available.

Book

• Automatic page numbers
  • Add automatic page numbers to your books using the Page Numbers checkbox in the Page panel.
  • Select the location (top corner, bottom corner, top center, bottom center, outside edge) using the pop-up in the Page panel.
  • Choose whether to start numbering from the beginning or a custom location via the right-click menu.
  • Change the font style using the Text panel, and then propogate it to all page numbers using right-click > Apply Page Number Style Globally.
• Save User Pages
  • Not quite the custom pages that have been requested, but if you use the cell padding sliders to modify the built-in templates, you can now save those as Custom Pages.
  • Right-click on the page to save it or remove it again.
  • Your Custom Pages will show up in the Page Template Picker, and can also be added to your favorite templates.
  • They’re saved in the Lightroom presets folder > Layout Templates so you can transfer them to other computers or share them.
• Text Fields
  • There are now buttons on the pages for quickly adding Page Text or Photo Text.
  • You can move the text fields around by dragging them on the page.
  • In Lightroom 4, you had a choice of Title, Caption, and eventually Filename.  Now you have access to all your metadata for your book photo captions, using a token based template editor.
• Add Blurb Standard paper
  • Blurb’s Standard paper is now available as a cheaper option – it’s like Premium Luster but thinner.
• Other minor changes
  • There’s a little circle icon, like the Quick Collection icon, to indicate page layouts that you’ve marked as favorites.
  • There’s a thicker yellow border for selected pages now.

Map

• Saved Locations
  • You can now drag photos to the Saved Locations panel, and drag Saved Locations to the photos.
• GPS Direction
  • The Metadata panel now includes GPS Direction, which will show compass direction (i.e. North, Northeast, East, etc.).
  • The field is editable – you can add compass direction (i.e. North, Northeast, East, etc.) but no numbers.
  • The degree value is shown in a tooltip, if it was added by the camera.

Slideshow

• Slideshows can now include videos!
• Synchronization of slides with soundtrack has been improved, particularly for those with long soundtracks.

Print

• Print & Print One buttons renamed to Printer… and Print but the behavior’s still the same

Edit in Photoshop & Export

• Transparency
  • Transparency in PSD and TIFF files is now preserved when selecting Edit in Photoshop
  • There’s now a ‘Save Transparency’ checkbox in the Export dialog for TIFF files.
  • Export as Catalog has added a Generate Smart Previews checkbox
• ACR Compatibility
  • There’s no compatible version of ACR available for full Edit in Photoshop compatibility (yet!).
  • When the mismatch dialog appears, Render Using Lightroom will pass the correct result to any version of Photoshop.  Open Anyway will be missing the new corrections (i.e. spot removal strokes, upright, radial gradients, etc.)

Workspace

• HiDPI Support
  • Retina support has been added to the Slideshow module
  • Added support for Windows at 150% and 200% resolution.
• Disc Space calculations
  • Catalog Settings > File Handling tab now shows disk space taken up by previews and smart previews
• Full screen mode
  • There’s now a distraction-free full screen mode, which you can access by pressing the F key. It hides everything except the photo. Even the mouse cursor disappears when the mouse is stationary.
  • The old full screen modes are still available under Window menu > Screen Mode or by pressing Shift-F.
• Hidden filter/toolbar warning
  • When you press T or \ to hide the Toolbar or Filter Bar, the overlay now briefly shows a message to tell you how to get it back. It’s particularly useful if you hit it by accident!
• Layout Overlay
  • The Loupe Overlay is now available in the Develop module as well as Library.
  • Under View menu > Loupe Overlay, there are now Grid & Guides, in addition to the graphical overlay added in LR4.
  • Hold down Ctrl/Cmd to adjust the size and opacity.
  • When set to Guides, hold down Ctrl/Cmd to view the central crosshair. You can drag it to a new point, or double-click on it to reset to center.
  • If the Grid/Guides are checked in the Loupe Overlay menu, you can show/hide them using Ctrl/Cmd + Alt/Opt +0 (zero)
• Color Tint for Labels
  • Under View menu > View Options, you can now choose how strong the color tint is for labeled thumbnails.
• Lock Zoom Position
  • Lightroom usually remembers the zoom/pan position for each individual photo, but with the new View menu > Lock Zoom Position checked, it ignores that saved position and uses the same image area for each photo. It’s particularly useful if you’re trying to compare the same spot on multiple photos, and you’ve previously zoomed into a different area on each photo.
• Legacy Panel End Marks Gone
  • The legacy panel end marks are no longer installed, so None is now the default and there’s a Small Flourish option. You can add your own by dropping them in the Lightroom presets & Panel End Marks folder.
• Splash Screen
  • You can customize the splash screen by putting replacement images into the Splash Screen subfolder under the Lightroom preset folder.

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Updated keyboard shortcuts list is now available

Beta Version

• Upgrading Catalogs
  • Catalog upgrade is disabled for the beta version, as it’s only a beta, but will be back for the final release.
  • Don’t attempt to use hacks to upgrade your catalog as it likely won’t be usable in the final release!
    Beta catalogs are expected to upgrade to the final release, but further changes may be made so it’s not a cast iron guarantee.
• Usual warnings apply!
  • This is a beta version, not a release candidate, so there are bugs yet to be squashed.
  • It’s not expected to corrupt your photos or kill your computer, but it’s a beta so nothing is guaranteed. Just be sensible!
  • Take precautions, ideally using duplicate photos with the beta. If you’re going to use your originals, make sure you have offline write-once backups just in case.
• Have fun!
  • You can discuss the beta at the Official Beta Forum and Lightroom Forums
  • Report bugs at the Adobe Forum

My Lightroom 5 Book

• There’s no rough cut release this time.  I’m aiming to release it at the same time as Lightroom 5′s final release.
• My current draft is based on questions I’m expecting will be asked, and questions that have been asked behind the scenes, but I want YOUR input.  It’s your book.  I’ll be hanging out on the forums, so I’ll look forward to hearing your comments and questions.
• If you’d like to be notified when my Lightroom 5 book‘s available, join the mailing list or keep an eye on this blog.

In a dpreview interview, Winston Hendrickson (VP of Creative Solutions) said “[we know there's] currently there’s not a lot of photography-specific value in our subscription products”. Adobe clearly knows that they have a LOT of work to do to win back photographers. But to be honest, that could be the best result possible for us as users.

“I’m taking my business elsewhere”

I’m hearing a lot of people saying “I’m taking my business elsewhere” or “I’m looking for alternative software”, but the reality is, you won’t hurt Adobe by shooting yourself in the foot. Your current software has been working, and will continue to do so. You’ve already paid for it, and you know how to use it. Lightroom meets most of our needs as photographers, so if you don’t like the changes, hold fire and stick with CS6 for the moment. Adobe have promised to continue supporting CS6 for the next Windows/Mac operating systems, and make ACR8 available for CS6 with new camera support and Lightroom 5′s Edit in Photoshop compatibility.  So even if you don’t like the idea of subscription, there’s no rush to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire.

A New Playing Field for Developers

These changes have just completely opened up the playing field. Other developers are going to jump on it and make the most of it. Some will do well and some will fail. I would suggest that now’s not the time to be making reactive decisions about your future photography software. Adobe are no longer the only game in town, and they’re going to have to work really hard to make their software great value, if they want to get photographers on board again in the future. That’s a great thing for us as users. And if they don’t do it, then we’ll be in a far better position to see which developers ARE then meeting our needs. The playing field will change significantly over the next year or two, so it makes far more sense to take a deep breath, sit tight and see who comes out in front.

Lightroom 5

There’s been some confusion over whether Lightroom’s going subscription-only in the future. In the dpreview interview, Bryan O’Neill Hughes (Photoshop Senior Product Manager) said “We don’t have plans to make Lightroom a subscription-only option but we do envision added functionality for CC members using Lightroom.” Yikes, what did he mean by that?!  There hasn’t been an official announcement on that yet, but logic would suggest he was referring iPad/tablet/cloud facilities that Tom previewed on The Grid last week, which of course would require some kind of cloud subscription, otherwise it wouldn’t work!  That doesn’t mean the Lightroom perpetual license software is about to be dumbed down or hobbled.

EDIT – I’ve just had confirmation that Bryan’s comment was a mistake and there won’t be a different CC version of Lightroom. The future iPad/tablet/cloud facilities might not even be linked to Creative Cloud.

Hold that thought…

So what does that mean for photographers? Let me see if I can answer some of those questions…

What’s going to happen to Lightroom and Photoshop Elements?

Tom Hogarty has confirmed that Lightroom will continue to ship as a standalone product by electronic download or as a boxed copy, as well as being available in the Creative Cloud. There’s no official word on Photoshop Elements or Premiere Elements yet, but the expectation is the same will apply.

There are some rumblings around the web suggesting that Lightroom will soon go subscription only too. Nothing Adobe’s said suggests that’s true – exactly the opposite, in fact. Lightroom has a completely different target market to the main Creative Cloud software, so I’m not anticipating changes there in the foreseeable future.

What if I want Photoshop but not the whole Creative Cloud?

There are individual subscriptions available, and a year’s worth of a single-product subscription (i.e. Photoshop) costs about the same as the yearly upgrade.

Also, Tom Hogarty announced on The Grid recently that Adobe want feedback from photographers on what YOU want from the cloud. Do you want a photographer’s cloud with a subset of programs, perhaps?  They’re listening, so this is your chance to influence the future of Adobe.

Do I have to go on subscription?

They are continuing to sell perpetual licenses for CS6 for the time being, and they’re going to continue adding new camera support to CS6 too. So if you only use Photoshop for retouching, you’re not being forced into upgrading.  That said, the new features in Photoshop CC are well worth considering.

I already own a perpetual license – any upgrade discounts?

Yes! If you have CS3 or later, you can get discounts of up to 60% off on single app or the whole Creative Cloud for the first year! Single apps cost just $9.99/month for the first year.

Will Adobe stop innovating once they’ve got everyone tied into a subscription?

No! If they’re going to stop users looking elsewhere for suitable software, they’ll have to keep innovating and pushing boundaries. They’re going to be working just as hard, but the flexibility should mean they can use some of their time to clean up some of the older irritating bugs and smaller features that make our working experience better.

I don’t want to be tied to the cloud – what if I’m offline?

The programs are installed on your computer, as they are at the moment. They ‘phone home’ once a month to confirm you’ve paid, but if you’ve paid for an annual membership, you can go up to 180 days even if you’re offline.

Where can I find more information?

There’s further FAQ’s on Adobe’s website. If you can’t find the answer to something, ask in the comments and I’ll see what I can find out for you.

Edit – Jeff Tranberry’s just posted a good FAQ too http://blogs.adobe.com/photoshopdotcom/2013/05/answering-your-questions-about-photoshop-cc.html

In the meantime, here’s a quick summary of the discussion:

Photographic software has changed a lot in the last few years. It used to be a closed system – mainly a camera and a desktop computer. These days, there’s a huge choice of additional software, multiple computers, laptop, tablets, and phones involved. Photographers are having to cobble together their own workflow solutions, using a variety of different apps like Dropbox, Flickr, and SmugMug.

Adobe want to solve that issue, and focus on a solution that extends beyond the desktop. The new Smart Previews included in Lightroom 5 beta are just a start. Those Smart Previews are tiny in comparison to the original raw files – Tom said they’re 2-4% of the original raw file size. Imagine pushing those to the cloud, and those photos seamlessly appearing on your other devices – computers, tablets and phones. Adobe Revel started exploring that workflow, but it’s limited to JPEGs. Imagine being able to select and rate your photos on your phone while you’re sat on the train or lounging in front of the TV. Imagine being able to edit your raw photos on your tablet using exactly the same Devleop module sliders as Lightroom… and then when you get back to your Lightroom catalog, all of the changes are there waiting for you.

It’s already in progress. It’s some way from shipping yet, but Tom showed a working demo on his iPad. Adobe are looking for feedback. They want to know what you want to be able to do on your tablet, and how you think it should work.

They then went on to talk about the Creative Cloud. Technology’s moving faster and faster, and waiting 18-24 months for a software update is an eternity in computing terms. As a subscriber – either to the Creative Cloud or just Photoshop alone – you get access to updates to new features as soon as they’re available.

At $50 a month, the Creative Cloud’s a brilliant deal for users who need multiple programs, but if you’re a photographer, not so much…  But did you realise you can subscribe to Photoshop alone?  It’s just $19.95 a month, and it has to be one of Adobe’s best kept secrets!

But Tom went further. They want feedback.  What do YOU want as a photographer?  Do you want your own Photographer’s Cloud?  What would you like to see included? Lightroom?  Photoshop?  The new tablet/cloud offering? Anything else?  And what would you consider a fair subscription price for that service? Now’s the chance to have your say. You can catch Tom on Twitter as @LR_Tom, on the Facebook Lightroom page, or you can leave your comments on this blog post and I’ll make sure they’re forwarded on to him.

What do you think?

It seems to be clashing with some earlier Lightroom preferences, but we haven’t figured out which one yet.  The fix is quite simple – temporarily remove existing preference files.

LRuser24 wrote great instructions on the forum.  Here’s his instructions:

1. Go to the “Preferences” folder (Win: C:\Users\Name\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom\Preferences – you can also get to this by opening LR4 and going to Edit menu > Preferences > Presets tab > Show Lightroom Presets Folder button > double click on Preferences folder)

2. Delete “Lightroom 5 Preferences.agprefs” should it be there

3. Rename the “Preferences” folder to “PreferencesXY” or the like

4. Start LR5 – it should now start and create a new LR5 catalog

5. Stop LR5 again

6. Move your old LR1…4 preferences files from “PreferencesXY” folder to the newly created “Preferences” (so that LR1…4 retain their preferences)

7. Delete the “PreferencesXY” folder

8. Start LR5 again. Because it now only reads from its own prefs, it starts OK.

Adobe would love to take a look at all of the preference files that cause LR to crash, so they can find the cause of the crashes and fix them.  You can post to the thread linked above, or send them direct to me at members@lightroomqueen.com and I’ll pass them on.  If you’re sending me, it would help to know which windows version you’re using too.  Thanks! 

Update 17 April – Thanks for all the preferences files – Julie Kmoch of Adobe QE has now confirmed that she’s reproduced the bug in house, so they can now get an engineer on the case.

Creative Live offer a wide range of high quality live workshops so it’s well worth exploring their calendar to see what other upcoming topics may be of interest to you.  If there any you’ve missed, they’re also available for purchase.  John Greengo’s Fundamentals of Digital Photography is one of my recent favorites, appealing to new and more advanced photographers.

The cause is very simple – Lightroom creates a placeholder while exporting, and Dropbox is now grabbing those 0kb placeholders to sync them.

Dropbox are aware of the issue and I’ve heard they’re working on a fix. Great customer service as always!

The workaround for the moment is to pause Dropbox sync while you’re exporting from Lightroom, or to export to another location and then move the exported files into your Dropbox folder.

Update 12 March – Dropbox now have a new beta build on their forums

Here’s the download link you’ll need:

Lightroom 4.4 – Adobe Labs

So what’s new?  Camera support, for a start:

• Canon EOS 1D C
• Casio Exilim EX-ZR700
• Fujifilm X100s, X20
• Hasselblad Lunar
• Leica M
• Nikon 1 J3, 1 S1
• Pentax MX-1

The improved Fuji X-Trans sensor support applies to:

• Fujifilm X-Pro1
• Fujifilm X-E1
• Fujifilm X100S
• Fujifilm X20

The new Fuji sensor design provided plenty of challenges for all raw converters. Although Adobe was one of the first third-parties to introduce support, the early results showed some color smearing and a watercolor effect. 4.4 has made great strides, and although the improvements result in slightly softer images, that can easily be offset with a little extra sharpening. You can see some examples of the improvements in DPreview’s review.

There are also a number of other small bug fixes for issues that affected 4.3.

How are you finding 4.4 RC?

There’s no secret sauce in commercial Develop presets.  They simply move the Develop sliders to new positions, just like the presets you can create yourself.  The key is knowing which combination of sliders to move to get the result you want, and therein lies the appeal of presets.  The preset creators have already spent the time experimenting, so you don’t have to.  Simply find a preset you like, and apply it to your photo.  You can then tweak the settings further to suit the image or your personal taste, but you’re 90% of the way there.

I’ve just updated my list of the most popular free and commercial Lightroom presets.  If there are any other presets you’d like to highlight, please feel free to add them to the comments on this post.

Finally, have you ever wished you could adjust the ‘strength’ of a preset effect?  You might want to take a look at The Fader plug-in, which does exactly that.

Laura Shoe has written an excellent post on how to update your Metadata presets for your 2013 copyright.* Did you remember to update yours? If not, you can update the metadata on photos shot so far this year. You’ll need to find the 2013 photos first, so go to All Photographs in the Catalog panel and then turn on the Metadata filters at the top of the Grid view. If the Filter bar’s missing not there, press the / key. Select Metadata along the top, and then in the Date column select 2013. That will then show you the 2013 photos, so select all (Ctrl-A for Windows, Cmd-A for Mac) and then head for the Metadata panel.

As with most things in Lightroom, there are multiple ways of updating the metadata. If you’ve already updated your preset, you could just apply the updated metadata preset. You can also type directly in the Copyright field, but there are a few other settings that might result in it only applying to the active photo (for example, Show Metadata for Target Photo Only, or if you’re no longer in Grid view). So we’ll use the way that’s guaranteed to work – press the Sync Metadata button below the Metadata panel. It might just be labelled Sync, depending on other settings.  That will show the Synchronize Metadata dialog, so scroll down to the Copyright field and enter your new copyright. Mine is © 2013 Victoria Bampton. Make sure the only checked boxes are fields you want to update.  Now press Synchronize and all of your photos will be updated. Great job!

Finally, a project for this weekend… CHECK YOUR BACKUPS. Every single day I hear of someone who has had a computer disaster and discover that their catalog backups weren’t up to date, or they’ve lost all of their precious photos, and I’d hate for that person to be you. Here’s the list of all the things to check you’re backing up but at a minimum, make sure you’re backing up your Lightroom catalog and photos on another drive, ideally in the same folder structure so it’s easy to restore. And then, would you know how to restore from your backups if a disaster happened? Ever tried a test run? Don’t put it off any longer. If you need some help, or want to check that your backup plans sound logical, drop me an email and I’ll be pleased to help.

* Rikk Flohr’s just dropped me an email to say that the date in the copyright, at least in the US, should technically be the date of publication rather than capture date. As with most things legal, there also appears to be plenty of confusion around the definition of published – are your photos posted online published or not? I have no legal training, so please check the legalities in your own country for the exact details.