Top Feature Requests

Gnits

Matt O’Brien
Joined
Mar 21, 2015
Messages
3,005
Location
Dublin, Ireland.
Lightroom Experience
Power User
Lightroom Version
Classic
This is partly for fun and partly serious.

As we do not know what Lightroom enhancements are in the pipeline, I decided to post my personal top 5 feature requests and see how many are announced shortly.

Feature RequestRationale
1. Add Smart AI features to the import module.
When importing to Lightroom Classic , analyse the media files and provide the user the ability to filter based on file type (ie raw, jpg, moves) or by capture dates found in the source media.
So many useful cases. At half time at a sporting event I only wish to import the jpgs.
When I get back to base I only want to import raw. There are 1000;s of images on my card. aaagh!!!

On a trip I do not have time to injest my cards. At the end of the next day I now have 1000's of images for 2 different projects. It would be so wonderful if I could select by date. Then I could import the images to the appropriate project/folder/ collection (and ultimately album).

Lots of other scenarios. Especially needed when large numbers of images need to be managed (ie 10,20, 120 frames per second).
2. Allow Printing of Our Metadata.
The Slideshow module is designed to allow placement of metadata related to an image relative to the cardinal points of the screen or the image. Please allow us to do the same with the printed page. Use the image cardinal points or page cardinal points as anchor points.
A major gap in the printing module. The metadata is there. Some metadata can be placed (badly) on the page. The necessary features are already in the slide show module. I expected this enhancement in Lightroom Version 1.1 , i.e. next sub release after product initial launch.
3. Library Module. Extra Sort Field.
Provide a new metadata text field (or use an existing field), which is editable by the user, but which can be sorted (and perhaps filtered or available to smart collections).
There are some many scenarios where images need to be presented in a sort sequence other than date or capture time.

A good example is presentation of images at a competition. If the scores were placed in this field, then these images could be selected and sorted in ascending or descending order as required.

The images may be of objects with specific reference numbers. The reference numbers could be entered in this sort field and appropriate images selected and presented in the correct sequence.
4. Library / Export Module.
Allow the user export a tabbed delimited (or spreadsheet, or Adobe custom format ) file of selected metadata fields in any filtered file or collection. This can be strategic in the sense that these metadata files can be used to provide efficient interfaces to the DataMerge feature for both Photoshop and Indesign and the vacant gap which is lack of integration between Lightroom and other Adobe products.
It is very sad that Adobe have not provided integration paths to Photoshop and InDesign.

A very simple and cost effect means to do this is to allow the metadata for selected images to be exported to a tabbed delimited file or spreadsheet, which Photoshop and InDesign will recognised and can be used to place metadata as required relative to the Image.
5. Slide Show Module.
Allow a specific font size to be specified for the Text Overlay and allow font point sizes down to font size 6.
This is a nice to have, I will survive with out. But if Adobe do not proceed with item 4 then this little tweak might get the nod. On the other hand, if no.4 proceeds it would be opportune to do this at the same time.
 
Last edited:
I'm not seeing your requests.
 
I posting requests since Lr 1.0 but gave up 5 or 10 years ago.

I have developed my own solutions to most of the above. My requests have disappeared, have been merged or with an old Adobe Id I have lost track of.

Someone posted something recently which made me think… what would my top 5 feature requests be now. I finally got around to making the list and summarised it as per post #1.
 
I see. :) I once requested Denoise AI and Eric Chan (as best as I can remember) responded. I'm not holding my breath for what I want in LrC 14 but we will see soon.
 
I see that the table above looks blank… I will post as an image tomorrow… too late tonight..
 
My first, second, and third requests would be to increase the accuracy of People detection.

Fourth (and extremely unlikely) is for Adobe to add support for custom metadata in a way that the average person can use (as opposed to the requirements today). Extremely unlikely of course, ever since Gunar Penakis left Adobe.

Fifth is not a feature request, but a process request. Adobe needs to make their feature request decision process less opaque. Same with bug fixes. Also, do like some other software companies do and hold public meetings (zoom) and allow people to submit requests, followed by a discussion period. That doesn't mean discussing product roadmaps or unreleased features.

Moderators could include some of our gurus and of course Victoria and Paul. Is that too much to wish for? I am not sure I want to hear the answers.
 
My first, second, and third requests would be to increase the accuracy of People detection.

Fourth (and extremely unlikely) is for Adobe to add support for custom metadata in a way that the average person can use (as opposed to the requirements today). Extremely unlikely of course, ever since Gunar Penakis left Adobe.

Fifth is not a feature request, but a process request. Adobe needs to make their feature request decision process less opaque. Same with bug fixes. Also, do like some other software companies do and hold public meetings (zoom) and allow people to submit requests, followed by a discussion period. That doesn't mean discussing product roadmaps or unreleased features.

Moderators could include some of our gurus and of course Victoria and Paul. Is that too much to wish for? I am not sure I want to hear the answers.
I watched (still have) a video where the presenter stated Adobe has Q&A's with their customers. Don't know what their definition of customers is. I'm pretty sure Victoria, Paul and others are involved in some way and know what is happening but Adobe does not disclose what they are working on for the next version release. Competitors don't either.
 
I watched (still have) a video where the presenter stated Adobe has Q&A's with their customers. Don't know what their definition of customers is. I'm pretty sure Victoria, Paul and others are involved in some way and know what is happening but Adobe does not disclose what they are working on for the next version release. Competitors don't either.

Occasionally, I will be contacted by email to participate in a Q&A poll. I think this is the Q&A mentioned above. Adobe MAX could be more of a two way event if Adobe were really interested in listening to feature requests.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I notice that the table above often appears blank on different devices.

Please find a pdf version of this table, which includes a few small typo/edit corrections.
 

Attachments

  • MoB_LrTop5EnhancementsOct2024.pdf
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As a newcomer to Lightroom mobile on iPad, feature request No 1 can be easily accomplished with very few keystrokes.
I have already done this few time as I was importing historical photos mixed raws, JPEGs, different dates, different cameras etc.
1 Import all into one album.
2 Use filter option to select all raws; then move all to new album.
3 filter photos by date taken. Use same format what it appears on metadata and move a project album.
4 If multiple cameras used, you can also filter by exact model shown in metadata. And move to .. if necessary.
5 You can repeat for JPEGs.
I wasn’t successful with multiple filtering in one go as filtering option lack advanced tools
 
Occasionally, I will be contacted by email to participate in a Q&A poll. I think this is the Q&A mentioned above. Adobe MAX could be more of a two way event if Adobe were really interested in listening to feature requests.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Occasionally, I will be contacted by email to participate in a Q&A poll. I think this is the Q&A mentioned above. Adobe MAX could be more of a two way event if Adobe were really interested in listening to feature requests.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
So how have you responded to these emails from Adobe? Have you ever done a Q&A with Adobe?

While I can understand that Adobe would want to talk with you You are a well recognized authority on Lightroom.Clee, with all due respect, you are one of the real gurus here, and very helpful and knowledge. I would wager that your product needs are very different from mine, as an example. I consider myself an "advanced average user." Lot of people on this forum are "beginning" or "less skilled average users." As a best practice, Adobe should be conducting Q&A, maybe focus groups, with all kinds of users. Do they do that now? Do they talk with "average people who have only started to use LrC or who have posted less than say 25 posts? Have they had a session with plug-in authors? I regard people like John R. Ellis, John Beardsworth ( and Jeffrey Frieldl and the late Rob Cole) as being very inventive and having great insights into gaps in Lightroom Classic and being able to devise plug-in solutions).

The risk of not talking to diverse group of people is called "sample bias" in market research. An analogy might be doing a survey about Donald Trump only with people who are members of Democratic Socialists of America. (No political message here, just trying to come up with a clearly understood example.)

If I were in Adobe product managejent, which I am clearly not, or even consulting to them, I would want to see a broad-based program of focus groups.
 
So how have you responded to these emails from Adobe? Have you ever done a Q&A with Adobe?

While I can understand that Adobe would want to talk with you You are a well recognized authority on Lightroom.Clee, with all due respect, you are one of the real gurus here, and very helpful and knowledge. I would wager that your product needs are very different from mine, as an example. I consider myself an "advanced average user." Lot of people on this forum are "beginning" or "less skilled average users." As a best practice, Adobe should be conducting Q&A, maybe focus groups, with all kinds of users. Do they do that now? Do they talk with "average people who have only started to use LrC or who have posted less than say 25 posts? Have they had a session with plug-in authors? I regard people like John R. Ellis, John Beardsworth ( and Jeffrey Frieldl and the late Rob Cole) as being very inventive and having great insights into gaps in Lightroom Classic and being able to devise plug-in solutions).

The risk of not talking to diverse group of people is called "sample bias" in market research. An analogy might be doing a survey about Donald Trump only with people who are members of Democratic Socialists of America. (No political message here, just trying to come up with a clearly understood example.)

If I were in Adobe product managejent, which I am clearly not, or even consulting to them, I would want to see a broad-based program of focus groups.

The Q&A is usually in the form of a survey with multiple choice responses. I have always assumed it was sent to a random sampling of registered Lightroom subscribers. I got one last week and responded. It was asking questions about AI features. And there was ample opportunity to expand my replies in a comment box.

Outside of this forum I don’t think I am recognized as an authority here or anywhere else. Other than that i have responded to similar surveys in the past I don’t think Adobe has singled me out over any other typical Lightroom user.

In the survey, they ask if I would agree to being contacted about my answers. ( I never have been contacted even though I agree) When also considered for Q&A at their location which is presumably at my own expense, I always decline.

I do not recall if any of my suggestions (including feature requests at Adobe) have ever been acted upon by Adobe.

My biggest hole that I’d like Adobe to fill is DeNoise for non RAW images. I will be greatly disappointed if that does not show up in LrC v14.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Outside of this forum I don’t think I am recognized as an authority here or anywhere else. Other than that i have responded to similar surveys in the past I don’t think Adobe has singled me out over any other typical Lightroom user.

Clee,

I think you are really being very modest.
Even a superficial review of this forum would show that you are a very influential person in this forum, along with people like Johan, John B, and John R. Ellis (no offense to those people I haven't mentioned.)
 
I am totally underwhelmed and disappointed with LRC V14. If I was a perpetual licence holder I would skip this upgrade.

This is the first time I feel trapped since the early days of the Lightroom/Ps subscription model.

The items added are deserving of point upgrades, not a major release.

I see an incremental benefit to some extending some of the raw files qualified for AI Denoise... but I get no benefit from that.

I do not want to draw too many conclusions... but right I am fairly depressed calling this an upgrade.
 
I'm not that surprised. This is not the first time Adobe has done a fall version upgrade without adding major features. I was hoping but not holding my breath. Oh well.
 
The items added are deserving of point upgrades, not a major release.
Since the subscription started, there are no major releases anymore. Everything is released if and when ready. That means that the biggest update was already released earlier: Generative Remove. Adobe makes it hard on itself by insisting that the AdobeMAX release is a new version number, suggesting something that isn't necessarily the case.
 
I understand the principle of subscription.... but I am still seriously underwhelmed.... I cannot change that and it appears Adobe do not care. Also, I still cannot get used to how often Adobe Marketing shoots itself in both feet. So be it....
 
LrC 13.3 got a huge update. DeNoise AI was released mid cycle. If you are a DXO user they released DeepPrime XD2 with PureRaw 4 in March. Everyone knew that PL7 would not get it until the fall release of PL8 and you would have to pay for it. Others like C1Pro, etc are the same. I'll just keep pressing on and hope Adobe updates the areas I'm interested in.
 
I am totally underwhelmed and disappointed with LRC V14. If I was a perpetual licence holder I would skip this upgrade.

This is the first time I feel trapped since the early days of the Lightroom/Ps subscription model.

The items added are deserving of point upgrades, not a major release.

I see an incremental benefit to some extending some of the raw files qualified for AI Denoise... but I get no benefit from that.

I do not want to draw too many conclusions... but right I am fairly depressed calling this an upgrade.
I was hoping that DeNoise would include non RAW filetypes, so I did not need to make a trip to Topaz or On1 PhotoRAW.

I think v13.3 was the big release. It required a database upgrade and should have been called V14 since the changes were so major.

OTOH, Lightroom desktop has had a major improvement by adding Smart Albums Unfortunately these to not equate to Smart Collections in LrC.
 
I was hoping that DeNoise would include non RAW filetypes, so I did not need to make a trip to Topaz or On1 PhotoRAW.

I think v13.3 was the big release. It required a database upgrade and should have been called V14 since the changes were so major.

OTOH, Lightroom desktop has had a major improvement by adding Smart Albums Unfortunately these to not equate to Smart Collections in LrC.
It can process DNG files but that does not cover others you need. I watched a video on Lr desktop. Bigger change there.
 
There were rumours about being able to open a file in Canon's DPP. I tried it and DPP did open but the file was not there. In DPP it just opened the last page I was on. LrC did create a TIFF. Not sure if that could be done in previous LrC versions as I never tried it before. Not usable anyway.

In some of the rumour videos it was not clear who would get the plugin - Canon DPP or LrC. If it ever even happens.
 
Since the subscription started, there are no major releases anymore. Everything is released if and when ready. That means that the biggest update was already released earlier: Generative Remove. Adobe makes it hard on itself by insisting that the AdobeMAX release is a new version number, suggesting something that isn't necessarily the case.
Johan is spot on here. This release number system implies a significant upgrade, as many people have noted with disappointment. Adobe has committed a marketing faux pas here, not quite marketing malfeasance, but still a self-inflicted wound, an unforced error.

Since Adobe is now on a predictable two month release cadence, perhaps Adobe should adopt Microsoft's scheme for Windows updates. E.g. 2H22 means 2022 update release, second half. For Adobe this release could/should have been called 2024-10. Next would be 2024-12, etc.

To the other software techies in this group. It almost seems like Adobe has adopted Agile Development, Scrum in particular, with two month sprints. I have no way of knowing, so this is pure speculation on my part. Whether the code base for Classic is even amenable to Agile Development, I have no idea.
 
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