Lightroom Classic 10.0 has been released today. As Lightroom is now subscription software, this isn’t a 10.0 in the conventional sense. Adobe tend to update the main version number annually around the time of Adobe Max and this year is no exception. Of course, new features have been released every few months, rather than having to wait for a single x.0 release. In the last year, we’ve had:
- 9.1 (December 2019) – macOS Catalina compatibility.
- 9.2 (February 2020) – Custom Defaults, PSB file support, Auto Sync button, multiple monitor preferences, Export Dialog updates, GPU updates, Photoshop Elements 2020 migration.
- 9.3 (June 2020) – Local HSL adjustments, new Presets for Defaults, ISO Adaptive Presets, new Tone Curve UI, Sync Activity display, Batch Export, Performance improvements, Tutorials and new icons.
- 9.4 (August 2020) – Built-in Lens Corrections, Import Dialog Save option.
- a mass of mobile and Lightroom Cloud-based improvements, as well as smaller features.
The entire Lightroom cloud-based ecosystem has also been updated today too.
Update 1 week on…
There are some reports of performance issues on macOS, which are currently being investigated.
There’s a confirmed issue with copying and pasting white balance to other photos.
If you come across an Unexpected Error Opening Catalog, the cause is currently unknown, so roll back to 9.4 and track the progress of the investigation here.
A few people are reporting an error: ?:0: attempt to compare two nil values when adding photos to a collection when the sort order is set to Custom.
Likewise, there seems to be a ?:0 Attempt to index field ‘font’ error when trying to send photos using the built-in email function.
Some are reporting issues with Some Smart Previews were not built on Import.
And finally for now, there’s a change in the preview rendering which improves performance but at the expense of image quality in the Library module in some cases, which is under investigation.
System Requirements
The system requirements have been updated:
The minimum Windows 10 supported is v1903 or later. Windows 7 and Windows 10 v1803 or v1809 are no longer supported.
The minimum macOS now supported is 10.14 (Mojave) – 10.13 (High Sierra) is no longer supported.
RAM has also increased to a minimum of 8GB, with a recommendation of 16GB.
Catalog Upgrade
This release upgrades your catalog format, so just be aware that you can’t easily roll back to 9.4. In the past, Lightroom has always appended a -2 to the end of the old catalog name, which has become confusing with some ending up with catalog names like Catalog-2-2-2-2. In version 10.0, you can now set the name for the new catalog in the upgrade dialog. The default is to use the old catalog name followed by -v10.
For more details on catalog upgrades, see our blog post Why is Lightroom asking to upgrade my catalog and what does it do?
Color Grading
The big news in this release is the new Color Grading feature. It replaces and expands upon the previous Split Toning controls, allowing much finer control.
In addition to the pre-existing Hue and Saturation controls for Highlights and Shadows, you can now also apply a tint to the Midtones, and you can play with the Luminance of each tint. The existing Balance slider remains, and it’s now joined by a Blending slider, which controls how much the tones blend into each other. Color Grading is still fully compatible with your old Split Toning settings and presets, you just have to set Blending to 100 to replicate the old Split Toning effect.
Whereas the White Balance and HSL tools are primarily used for color correction, Color Grading is designed for color effects, such as those frequently used by video editors.
Read all about the new color grading direct from the lead engineer, Max Wendt, on Adobe’s blog.
Zoom
The Zoom tool has some nice enhancements in this release. The ratios have been replaced by percentages, and there are two new Zoom tools—Box Zoom and Scrubby Zoom.
Hold the Ctrl (Windows) / Cmd (Mac) key to show the Box Zoom cursor and click and drag on the image to draw a recentagular marquee. Lightroom zooms in to fill the preview area with the selected area of the photo.
Hold the Shift key to show the Scrubby Zoom cursor (currently only available in the Develop module with GPU enabled) and then drag left<>right to zoom in/out continuously.
Live View Tethering
Canon tethering has been improved, with the ability to view a live preview on your computer screen and manually adjust the focus. Due to the impact of Covid-19 restrictions, it’s only been possible to test a limited range of Canon cameras, but others may also work. These features are expected to be added to Nikon tethering in due course. The tested cameras are:
- Canon EOS 5D Mark III
- Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
- Canon EOS 6D
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II
- Canon EOS 7D
- Canon EOS 80D
- Canon EOS 5DS
Performance
We love performance improvements, and this release is no exception. The GPU is now utilized when using the local adjustment brushes and gradients, to make these tools feel much smoother.
Grid scrolling should also be smoother for some people, although that’s dependent on the computer specification.
Updated Font
If you’re particularly eagle-eyed, you might also notice that the font has been updated throughout the app, to use Adobe’s newly standards. While many formatting issues have already been identified and fixed, you might still find a few odd gremlins or spacing issues.
New camera support:
- Fujifilm X-S10
- Panasonic LUMIX DC-S5
- Sony A7s III (ILCE-7SM3)
- Sony A7C (ILCE-7C) (preliminary support)
- Click to view the full list of supported cameras
New lens profiles:
- MFT
- Voigtlander MFT 60mm f/0.95 Nokton
- Leica M
- Voigtlander VM 21mm f/1.4 Nokton Aspherical
- SIGMA L Mount
- SIGMA 16mm F1.4 DC DN
- SIGMA 30mm F1.4 DC DN
- SIGMA 56mm F1.4 DC DN
- SIGMA 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS C020
- SIGMA 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS C020 + TC-1411
- SIGMA 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS C020 + TC-2011
- Sony FE
- Voigtlander APO-LANTHAR 50mm F2 Aspherical
- Voigtlander NOKTON 35mm F1.2 SE Aspherical
- Voigtlander NOKTON 40mm F1.2 SE Aspherical
- Voigtlander NOKTON 50mm F1.2 SE Aspherical
- Click here for the full list of available Adobe Lens Profiles
New Tether Support
- Nikon
- D6
- D780
Bug fixes:
This is a major update so lots of work was put into the new features but it did also include bug fixes. Adobe only publishes the ones that were reported by users.
- Lightroom comes in to focus during launch even when the launch is not complete.
- When using the Edit In Photoshop command, ZIP compression is not applied to the exported TIFF document.
- Custom sort order does not work as expected.
- [Win only] Splash screen appears twice on launch.
- The arrow keys shortcut is broken in Lightroom Classic 9.4.
If you find a bug, click here to learn how to report it to Adobe.
How do I update?
To update, go to Help menu > Updates or click the Update button in the CC app. The update servers take a while to push the updates around the world, to avoid overloading the servers. You can also open the Creative Cloud app, click the … icon (top right) and select Check for Updates to give it a nudge.
Is the book updated?
Is the book updated?The Adobe Lightroom Classic – The Missing FAQ ebooks have had a major update, incorporating all the new features added over the last two and a half years, including those added in this release. Additionally, there’s a whole new chapter covering an introduction to editing (which is popular in our book Edit Like a Pro) and also a completely updated and expanded Cloud Sync chapter. Anyone who has purchased or renewed their Classic Premium Membership in the last year can download the latest release from the Members Area.
This Second Edition is also being released as a new paperback version, for those who prefer a printed book. We’re waiting for proof copies to come back from the printers before we can ship, but these can be pre-ordered (placed on back-order) by visiting our Shop page.
I’ running into a strange performance issue with LR10 on Win10.
When I’m in Develop mode and I change photos (usually by using the left/right arrow keys), LR seems to “lock up input for a few seconds” when the new photo is displayed. That is, when I move the mouse for say the first ~2 seconds after showing a new image, the pointer does not move on the screen.
I use a Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch, and the mouse is a Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000.
Since I have muscle memory of pressing right arrow, and then moving the mouse towards the develop controls I’d like to use while the image is loading, this “lag” is actually quite annoying, as it disrupts my workflow.
This lag did not happen with 9.x
There have been a number of performance issues reported with 10.0, although especially on Mac. Quite a number have reverted to 9.4 while waiting to hear if the next release (10.1) solves some of them.
I’ll delay updating until Adobe releases the fix.
We’ll post a blog when they do (it’ll be the next dot release).
Every time I use the new lightroom my computer freezes after about 15 mins of use. Im about to go crazy! Please help!!!
Hi Dylan
Some have found issues with this release, you might consider rolling back to 9.4 until fixes come out (instructions are linked in red at the top of this post)
On my Macbook Pro (late 2017) I made sure everything was updated, then I rebooted and then finally I updated LightRoom Classic. And all the other Adobe updates. Happy to say no issues at all. Now on to the Big Sur upgrade 🙂
Excellent! Thanks for sharing good news, and all the best with your Big Sur update!
V10 Lightroom Classic on Mac Pro Catalina 10.15.7 . Cannot import any photos, either from a card or from file on hard drive. This just occurred a week or so ago–and it happened when I was running 9.4, so I thought I should “upgrade” to V10. Same problem. As soon as you tell LR to import and select a folder of images on the hard drive, I get the beachball of death and eventually have to force a quit. Other people have reported this on Adobe chat site. I think it’s something in Catalina’s last update. Would love to hear if other people are having this problem
Not one that’s cropped up here – check Lightroom has all the permissions in System Preferences > Security and Privacy > Privacy > Files and Folders (to start)
I am sorry but this is the worst Lightroom upgrade I have seen in a long time.
Face recognition is seriously compromised.
Worst of all is that photos I took yesterday (after the upgrade) and am developing in Lightroom keep getting flagged every few seconds as having “metadata been changed by another application”. This is very frustrating indeed.
Can I suggest drop onto the Forums, so we can ask for some screenshots and more details? There are some issues (main ones above) but we’re just not seeing these ones, so it’d be really helpful to understand what’s at the bottom of them and try to help.
I am sorry to say that this upgrade is riddled with bugs.
When I went to crop a picture (Develop module), I found the aspect ratio was unlocked. I locked it and then cropped my picture.
For the next picture I wanted to crop, I saw the “lock” was on; however when I started cropping I noticed that it was in fact NOT on and I had to click on it again.
If you follow these steps it should remedy:
– open a photo in Develop
– click Crop (or hit ‘R’ to open Crop)
– lock the padlock
– Crop as required.
Lightroom remembers the first step, so if it’s unlocked and you adjust all subsequent ones will be unlocked until you do the above.
Following up on my previous post, I don’t know which option to select when I get that message: should I import settings from disk or overwrite them from the catalog?
Is it the upgrade to the new catalog format that is messed up and causing this problem?
Hi
This just isn’t something we’re seeing with others; it tends to more usually be a problem with file timestamps, so Lightroom thinks something external has updated the file.
Assuming nothing has, then you’re safe to overwrite (you are simply saying Lightroom is the correct authority for the file status)
I just upgraded to -v10 today and I’m pretty upset. When I go back and look at older directories, a random number of pictures are flagged saying the metadata has been changed by another application!
I am just processing some pictures I took today. When I do an HDR merge of three photos, the resulting merged .dmg photo is likewise flagged saying the metadata has been changed by another application!
I´m finding about 10% of my black and white pictures while filtering color images in library module. Seems Treatment is set to color for those and they show color HSL when opening them in develop module, even if the picture is still shown as B&W.
I need to re-choose individually Adobe Monocrome or Camera B&W Profile for them to be set as B&W again… Shortcut “V” or “Convert to B&W” option in the menu do not work for this images, had you faced something similar?
I have seen something similar, but without an obvious cause. Here’s instructions on how to report it to Adobe: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/send-bug-report-feature-request-adobe/
thanks!
Thanks, Mr. McFarlane 😉
If I want to try to roll back to Version 9.4, do I uninstall v10 first?
No, run through the instructions on this blog:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/roll-back-update-previous-classic/
So this will take me from v10 back to where I was the day before yesterday? Is it my best option?
I’ve now installed version 9.4 but when I then try to open LrC I can’t get passed the Upgrade windows without it letting me upgrade. I don’t want to go round the same circle again. It’s still telling me 2-2 no longer exisits.
Sounds like you still have 10.0 loaded; check the CC App to determine.
Not sure what you mean by the CC App, but on the CC Desktop when I now open the … Other Versions window, LC10 has Install by it and LC(9.4) has Uninstall by it. So I guess I am in 9.4 and that’s why I’m getting the Update windows blocking my way.
Yes, CC Desktop. So, if it’s 9.4 that’s opening (as it would indicate; perhaps compare the splash screen when it’s opening, 10.0 is the pinkish mountains) just be sure it’s the catalog you’d used until 10 came around.
Help!! The upgrade happened automatically yesterday and somehow has managed to upgrade an older catalogue not the one I had been using. (How I wish I had read my latest Lightroom Queen email when it first arrived!) I have tried several times to get back to the catalogue I have been using but the 2-2 no longer exists apparently, and when I go into any named v10 (I’m now up to v10-4 in an effort to try to upgrade the correct catalogue but I’m just going round the same circle), I get the older catalogue I abandoned some years ago. Any recommendations gratefully received.
Hi Linda
In Lightroom, check Preferences > General > Default Catalog. You may have it set to a specific one, in which case it’ll try and keep opening and trying to convert it.
It’s to ‘load most recent’ – the list of catalogues beneath then shows all of the updated v10s I have created in my frustration as well as the originals of the ‘older’ catalogues but not the 2-2
Has anyone had any issues with his or her catalog being upgraded? I put v10 on my (windows) laptop and so far, so good. I haven’t upgraded my desktop yet so I’d be able to fall back to the previous version (yes, I saved a previous version of the catalog as well) in case someone noticed A Bad Thing happening.
There are always some issues, but generally these are found very quickly once upgraded (odd plugin problems, solved by updating the plugins, some performance troubles on specific combinations of hardware) but it’s easy enough to revert as long as you check all is good before processing lots on v10.
Most are running fine.
fwiw I noticed v10 messed around a bit with my watermarking presets. I use Vladimir Script for my watermarking font. When I opened v10 (windows) the presets were all changed to Adobe Clean. I was eventually able to change them back by picking a font other than Vladimir Script, saving that font as an updated preset, then reopening the preset, selecting Vladimir Script and saving that as an updated preset. There may be a more elegant solution for folk who have a bunch of watermark presets (I only have seven at the moment), but that workaround worked for me. ymmv. r/Dennis Hess
Thanks for sharing Dennis
I was having problems with android (Pixel 3) downloading to LrC, but after update 10 all of my backlogged photos promptly downloaded. Thanks Victoria for the tip that Adobe was working on the problem.
Always good to hear about Adobe clearing some of the annoying problems!
I have updated today. Every time I try to use a preset LR crashes saying it is not responding.
Hmmm, we’ll need to troubleshoot that further. Can I get you to post it as a bug on the official site: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/send-bug-report-feature-request-adobe/
I’m not going to upgrade for at least a week. I find Adobe to be just like Microsoft…there are always bugs!!!
I have just upgraded to V10 and find that when adjusting highlights etc the slider no longer appears to work with the Ctrl key in Windows.
Just to clarify, what were you expecting the Ctrl key to do John?
I find Lrc 10 a worthwhile upgrade. On my older PC (i7 2600 / 1550 Ti / 16GB / SSD) it is distinctly “snappier” than v9.
I have encountered only one problem: In the e-mail photo “module” I get this fault:
Unable to export
An internal error has occurred:
?:0: attempt to index field ‘font’ (a nil value)
Has anyone else seen this?
Does a normal export work for you Torje?
Hi, in this blog at the section “System Requirements” it says:
“The minimum macOS now supported is 10.14 (Mojave) – 10.13 (High Sierra) is no longer supported.”
My Mac Pro (2010) cannot be upgraded to 10.15 (Catalina), so does this mean if LR v11 comes I cannot upgrade LR anymore??
I’m afraid so, yes. Adobe supports 3 operating system releases at any one time. That will be an 11 year old computer by October 2021.
The Mac Pro 2010 can be forced to accept Catalina, search the internet for clues on how to do this. (My Mac Pro 2010 is running Catalina)
As an aside as part of the benefit of the monthly/yearly fee to use Photoshop how will Adobe comensate users who cannot update to the supported level of the operating system due to hardware limitations.
> how will Adobe comensate users who cannot update to the supported level of the operating system due to hardware limitations.
Sorry to disappoint, but they won’t. It’s up to the customer to ensure they have hardware that can meet the minimum specifications of the software they want to run.
Thanks for the tip!!
The link in this article to Max Wendt’s blog about the new color grading feature didn’t work for me. I had to extract the following to actually get to Mr. Wendt’s blog.
And a very good blog it is.
Thanks Sam, we’ve fixed the link.
After close and restart LR10 all is fine, image presentation is ok.
Ah good, thanks for the update Helmut
Hello,
After LR 10 update (Windows 10): my first look to my photos is rather frustrating. All Images appear darker and yellow.
What’s the reason?
It does not upgrade my Lightroom Classic a it’s reminds me the minimal Windows 10 version is 1903 but have already 1904 installed.
Any ideas?
Strangly it shows Windows 8 as System …
Operating system: Windows 8 – Business Edition
Version: 6.2.9200
Application architecture: x64
System architecture: x64
Logical processor count: 12
The powershell comand shows the right version :
PS [10/21/2020 08:43:17] QCK090> [System.Environment]::OSVersion.Version
Major Minor Build Revision
—– —– —– ——–
10 0 19041 0
That is odd. Might be worth seeing if Adobe Support have come across that one before, as I haven’t. Was there a Windows 10 1904? Microsoft only lists 1903 and 1909 on their website, but I’m Mac based so I haven’t watched too carefully.
There is an issue with the windows 10 version numbers, the version should show the month that the update was cleared for release by the developers, in this case 1903. However the are people who use the Date number for the actual date it was available for download, in this case 1904, this is made worse by some bloggers and press publications using this incorrect reference.
It’s worse for some of us as I get my versions early due to Release Preview, plus I am often in an additional pre release group for the RP
Oh interesting. I’ve just found on Microsoft’s website “Windows 10, version 1903 (the May 2019 Update) is designated ready for broad deployment for all users via Windows Update.” So if that was the May 2019 release, and yours was the April 2019 release, it’s possible that could explain it. Otherwise, Adobe Support is the best bet.
LR was underexposing the new Canon R5 files by ½ to 1 stop. Not sure if the R6 was also effected. Seems like version 10 corrected it. That was an important fix.
That’s excellent! Adobe don’t publish all the various fixes, but yes, that will have been an important one!
The fix also breaks any existing R5 edits brought over from 9.4 as they are now made brighter so I’ve had to roll back to 9.4 until they can fix their fix.
As you’ve likely seen on the bug report, Adobe’s said they don’t plan to make further changes there as it’s such an easy fix. Quick Develop would allow you to update the existing photos in one go.