Lightroom Classic 12.3 has been released today. There are some exciting enhancements, along with bug fixes, and new lens support. The entire Lightroom Cloud ecosystem has also been updated.
New confirmed bugs in 12.3…
- Denoise creates purple lines on photos from Fuji X-H1
- Can’t launch the most recent update (see the link for temporary solution)
AI-Powered Noise Reduction
This is a feature so many photographers have been asking for – using artificial intelligence to remove noise from raw photos, but keeping fine detail. And it’s in this release!
At launch, it’s limited to mosaic raw files from Bayer and X-Trans sensors, but support is likely to be extended to other file types in the future. For now though, it won’t work with rendered files (e.g. JPEG/HEIC) or with raw files that have already been demosaiced (for example, sRAW or ProRAW.) If you’re an iPhone user, it does work with the raw files created by Lightroom’s camera but not the linear DNG’s created by Apple’s camera app.
How do you access it? Select the Photo menu (or right-click) > Enhance or click the Denoise button in the Develop module’s Detail panel. You can vary the strength of the effect with an Amount slider.
The existing edits are copied to a new DNG photo, which the exception of any existing noise reduction applied using the Detail panel. AI-based Healing and Masks are automatically updated based on the new image pixels. But like the other Enhance options, the output DNG file is large – so it’s best used for your best or most important shots that need better Noise Reduction.
This takes full advantage of the GPU, so if you’re using it frequently, a faster GPU will be of great benefit.
Here’s a noisy photo we took this week that shows the effect (Amount was left on default.)
Impressive for a one-click enhancement!
Eric Chan, the senior engineer responsible for developing Denoise, has written a blog post which is well worth a read.
Masking Updates
Another feature many have asked for is Tone Curve adjustments in the Masking tool. Now it’s here, and there’s even a Targeted Adjustment tool there! It works just like the main Tone Curve.
Also added to Masking are two new options in the People mask, namely Facial Hair and Clothes. Face Skin has been renamed to Facial Skin to match the changes.
Develop Indicators – Eyeballs and Dots!
How do you tell whether you’ve done any Healing or added a Mask to a photo? Previously you had to open the tool to check, but now there’s a dot under the tool button in the Tool Strip when a tool has been used. Even better, it turns red if an AI-based Mask or Healing needs to be updated.
There’s new eyeball icons on the panel headers, and they turn white when that panel has edits that don’t match the current defaults, so you don’t need to open a panel to see if you’ve used the panel’s sliders. If you click and hold the eyeball, the panel’s adjustments are temporarily disabled, so you can see the photo without those edits.
If you used the old panel switches to disable panels, you might notice that they’ve now disappeared. They are still there, but you have hold down the Alt key (Windows) / Opt key (Mac) to show them, as the new eyeball icons are better for temporary previews.
Edit in Photoshop – Added options
When multiple photos are selected, there’s a new option in the Edit in Photoshop menu: Open as Smart Object in Layers in Photoshop.
If you have multiple Photoshop versions installed, you can now select which version Lightroom should use in Preferences.
Tone Curve Presets
Until now, the only way to rename or delete a custom tone curve was to find it in the operating system. After all these years, that’s now been corrected. When a custom tone curve preset is selected, the Rename and Delete options now appear in the pop- up, as they do in other pop-ups throughout the app.
Performance enhancements
If you’re a Mac user, scrolling through the Grid views and flicking through images in full screen mode should be smoother, especially on 4K and 5K monitors, as these now use native macOS capabilities.
File Format Support
JPEGXL, AVIF and HIF can now be imported and synced. (HDR editing is not supported in Lightroom yet… it is available as a tech preview in Camera Raw.)
New camera support:
- Google Pixel
- Google Pixel 4a Front Camera
- Google Pixel 4a Wide Camera
- Google Pixel 5a Front Camera
- Google Pixel 5a Wide Camera
- Google Pixel 5a Rear Ultra-Wide Camera
- Google Pixel 6a Front Camera
- Google Pixel 6a Wide Camera
- Google Pixel 6a Rear Ultra-Wide Camera
Click to view the full list of supported cameras
New tether support:
- No new tethered support this release
Click to view the full list of tethered cameras
New lens correction support:
- Sigma L
- SIGMA 17mm F4 DG DN C023
- SIGMA 23mm F1.4 DC DN C023
- SIGMA 50mm F2 DG DN C023
- Sony FE
- SIGMA 17mm F4 DG DN C023
- SIGMA 17mm F4 DG DN C023
- SIGMA 50mm F2 DG DN C023
- Sony FE 20-70mm F4 G
- Sony FE 50mm F1.4 GM
Click here for the full list of available Adobe Lens Profiles
Bug fixes:
There are a number of bug fixes, but Adobe only publishes the ones that were reported by users:
- Lightroom Classic fails to open properly (large metrics.json file)
- Catalog opens in 12.1 but not in 12.2
- Memory Leak when syncing files with the cloud (Mac)
- Watermark incorrectly positioned on Export
- Watermark horizontal alignment settings not being applied
- Auto Advance Not Working for Keywords
- Collections based on Color Labels show 0 photos
- Crash when tethering
- Crashing while tethered (Nikon)
- Errors in keyboard shortcuts shown in Help windows
- Translation issues to Swedish
If you find another 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 Update on the left, then click the … icon (top right) and Check for Updates to give it a nudge.
Lightroom Classic book
The eBooks for Adobe Lightroom Classic – The Missing FAQ are already updated for these changes, and can be downloaded immediately after purchasing. If you already have a current Lightroom Classic Premium Membership, the updated eBooks are available for download in your Members Area.
Your Eric Chan link isn’t live.
Our mistake, we hit publish a bit too soon! It’s live now.
I guess everyone here lucky with this release. I’ll stop whining about the lack of AI powered NR. Thanks to all the staff and readers here and especially Adobe. I’ve waited for this for years.
I think it was worth the wait!
I agree. Today is a good day.
I’m not near a desktop computer at the moment, but I wonder how this new feature will compare to DXO Pure Raw, in terms of quality, speed and file size.
From the test shots I’ve seen, I suspect it’ll be a matter of taste. Some will prefer DXO, others will prefer LR. But that’s great, there’s room for everyone. I’m really impressed with Lightroom’s results and having it built in is so convenient.
In my first tests, DxO performs better – more details, smaller file size (Canon 80D, ISO 3200: CR2 – 30 MB, DxO DNG – 81 MB, LR NR DNG – 100 MB). But DxO has limited camera support, especially lacking support for mobile phone raw – tried with iPhone 12 and Samsung S20+, and here Lightroom shines! Excellent result, and adjustable level of noise reduction / detail.
What are mosaic raw files from Bayer and X-Trans sensors?
How do we know what our Raw Files are?
For instance Raw files from a Nikon Z9 such as NEF Raw (Lossless compression), NEF Raw High Efficiency?
Great question. Most cameras have a Bayer sensor, while Fuji uses X-Trans. The mosaic data is the unprocessed raw data. So it’ll work on most raw files, with the exception of partially-processed raw files such as sRAW or the iPhone’s ProRaw.
To check it’ll work on your camera’s raw file, just try opening one of the files into the Enhance tool… it’ll tell you if it can’t apply Denoise to your file. Your standard Z9 files should be fine. I’m not certain on the high efficiency ones, it looks like those might only be supported on certain operating systems.
Thank you I am currently using macOS Monterey v 12.6.5 … problems with the LRC print module reported here have kept me from updating to Ventura.
Does the denoise work on raw files that have been converted to DNG?
Yes, straightforward DNG conversion is just a wrapper around the mosaic raw data so they work fine. DNG’s created by other software may not work, depending on whether they include the mosaic data or not.
I need to test this with Halide raw then. Pure Raw does’t work these particular dng files, maybe lightroom’s new denoise will.
This figures, just last month I bought ON1 NoNoise AI 2023 which I really like. I downloaded the update LR & tried their version. To be honest it’s really nice but ON1 is better. That being said, it’s nice not having to go outside of LR to bo this function. I also guess that you can set up a preset to do it faster.
I would really like to see HSL as a mask. I know there are WB, hue and saturation sliders, but I find myself wanting more control. The tone curve will help but I still want HSL to make a quick adjustment instead of bringing the photo into PS.
Here’s the feature request to vote on: https://community.adobe.com/t5/camera-raw-ideas/p-hsl-adjustments-for-local-adjustment-tools/idi-p/12221254
I have tried the new denoise feature and disappointingly it crashes LR and my Mac every time I use it. I tried disabling the graphics acceleration, but it still crashes. Have you heard of this happening to anyone else? I am using a 2019 iMac with OS Ventura. My RAW files are CR3 from a Canon R5.
The Enhance tools always use the GPU even if it’s off in preferences. Is it crashing just Lightroom? Or the whole computer?
It crashes he whole computer unfortunately. I have tried clearing the caches, but still get the same problem.
Sometimes it works for a little while (3 or 4 images) without a problem, then it will crash everything randomly. Would reinstalling LRC help do you think?
Hi John
Reinstalling Classic is worth a try; usually the reports we’re getting involves the Graphics Card (specification or drivers)
Is it worse if there are other programs running too?
Hi Paul.
I will try reinstalling LRC, but as the iMac is only 3 years old I can’t see why the Graphics Card (AMD Radeon 64Gb) should be a problem. I rarely have other programs running other than mail and Photoshop. Hopefully a reinstallation may help unless you can think of anything else as well?
§We don’t know which macOS you’re running, John, but issues still generally come down to the GPU / drivers.
I have found that Denoise will not work on any file that has been converted to Lossy DNG type.
Yes that’s correct, because lossy DNG files are demosaiced before compression.
Does it seem likely that denoise woo eventually support Apple ProRAW files?
Yes, in Eric’s blog post he said that they have plans to expand to other file formats, and they don’t usually pre-announce like that.
Resulting file sizes are quite large. Thinking this might be because the DNG it creates also includes the original RAW. Adobe should have provided the option to exclude it. Bummer…
It’s also demosaiced, so instead of 1 bit per pixel, there’s now 3 (RGB). Eric said that they hope it integrate it as a slider in future, instead of needing a separate DNG.
Hmm looks good but its crashing LRC on my MacBook (All up to date software wise) though it is an older laptop, hiegh ho
Some have noted issues with GPU set to on in Settings; it’s worth checking that.
Not sure exactly what you mean , I’ve looked at the Mac preferences and there’s nothing for graphics that can be switched as far as I can tell
Sorry, in Lightroom Preferences – Performance. You’ll find it there.
Hi Victoria, I recently joined your Membership Plan specifically to ask this question. (But I’m very glad I did enroll, as I expect to learn a great deal.)
My question: Is Lightroom 12.3 currently available to download for all participants in the Adobe Creative Cloud program? I’m SO anxious to learn about the new Denoise feature. I have spent a great deal of time in the past several days Googling every phrase I could think of to find the download.
If it is a slower rollout, have you any “insider” hints as to when it will be available? If not, do you know how long past rollouts have taken to become available to everyone who is an authorized Adobe Creative Cloud user?
Can you tell I’m anxious?!!!
Thanks much, and I’m looking forward to all the jewels I can learn from your site.
Rhonda
Hi Rhonda
If you have the Photography Plan, then you should get the Classic updates – provided your system meets the specification. If you currently have the previous version installed (12.2), then there was no change of spec for Classic (in fact, 12.0 was the last change of spec).
If you have the Cloud plan (officially called Lightroom Desktop), then Classic isn’t included but the Cloud version (6.3) should download. Check your CC App for what you have and the Update button.
While it does take 2-3 days for the rollout, you should have it by now.
My 6 1/2 year old Dell PC XPS 8900, i7-6700 has never had a problem running LR Classic. . . Until this new denoise option. One photo took @ 8 minutes and then another one warned me that it would take 24 minutes to process! I get that my computer is “old” by some standards, but this is the first problem of this kind I’ve had. Is my computer now just too arthritic for denoise? Do I have to replace the entire computer for one adjustment? Also, it still only operates on Windows 10. Is that part of the problem? Thanks for any help.
The new Denoise is very GPU-intensive, and in computer terms yours is quite old. However, there’s been quite a lot of discussion on performance for Denoise, so it may well be improved in future updates.
Thank you, Paul! I’m not quite ready to buy a new computer–especially if I might not need to just yet. So the thought that Adobe might find a fix for this problem gives me, at least temporary, hope. I really appreciate your response.
My LR says that “Denoise is not currently compatible with this photo format” I shoot in RAW…is that why it’s not compatible? My settings are set to NEF Raw Compression and NEF RAW bit depth.
Try shooting uncompressed, I suspect the compressed file may already be demosaiced
Hi,
Having an issue switching to Full Screen (“F”) mode in develop. When pressing F, the screen flashes to Full screen and then right back to whatever mode it was in prior. Tried rebooting with no change. Anyone else having this issue?
It’s not one we’ve heard of. Probably worth logging with Adobe (see the bug reporting link at the top of our Forums page)
I’m having the same issue. I’ve reported it on Adobe’s site and there are many other reports of the same problem. Looks like Adobe is looking into the bug even though they can’t (yet) reproduce the problem themselves.
I should add that it only occurs when using two monitors. With one monitor the bug disappears
You’re correct, here’s the Adobe bug:
https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-kbsc-f-for-full-screen-returns-to-regular-view-when-second-screen-is-active/idi-p/13737948
Please add any details you’re able to that bug. I can’t repro either (using two screens) but I’m using Mac.
I have a different problem with FullScreen(F) since 12.3 on a two-screen M1 Mac – When I press F (also when my computer sleeps and wakes, or when I hide all the lightroom windows), the second window moves from the second screen and appears on top of the main window on the main screen. This is very annoying when using full-screen mode, as I can no longer reach the main window to easily fix it.
Others have reported this, and I’ve added my experience to the Adobe bug site.
Has anyone experience this issue after 12.3 update: Using masks, any kind, like radial, gradient, brush, etc., create the mask, get red overlay but no boundary dotted lines to be able to edit. Can’t move, expand, etc.
Is there a new setting that I missed. Tried this on 2 different computers and catalogues.
Try hitting the H key (for Show/Hide) or change the Show Edit Pins pop-up in the toolbar under the photo.