What’s New in Lightroom 5.0 Beta?

Adobe have just announced the release of Adobe Lightroom 5.0 Public Beta!

Here’s the official announcement:

And the download link:

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.