Lightroom Classic 9.0 has been released today. This isn’t a 9.0 in the conventional sense, because it’s now subscription software instead of single payment. New features have been released every couple of months, rather than having to wait for a single x.0 release. In the last year, we’ve had:
- 8.1 (December 2018) – customize Develop panel order, Book module Snap to Grid, preset management improvements, photo merge improvements
- 8.2 (February 2019) – Enhance Details, Nikon tethering, Map altitude
- 8.3 (May 2019) – Texture Slider, Flat Field Correction, Preserved Filename, Faster Import from Memory Card
- 8.4 (August 2019) – Advanced GPU Improvements, Batch HDR/Panorama Merges, Book Auto-Create Cell, Export as PNG, Collection panel Color Labels, Filmstrip Index Numbers
- a mass of mobile and Lightroom Cloud-based improvements, as well as smaller features.
This release upgrades your catalog format, so you can’t easily roll back to 8.4.1. Adobe also moved the Sync.lrdata file to sit alongside the relevant catalog to improve performance and reliability.
The entire Lightroom cloud-based ecosystem has also been updated today too.
Update a few days after release…
9.0 is looking pretty stable, but some issues are being reported:
- Acronis Active Protection (an anti-ransomware app) is conflicting with Lightroom 9.0, causing performance issues
- For some people, the crop tool is lagging
- A few people are hitting an error message when they try to upgrade their catalog
- Catalina-specific issues are ongoing, so we don’t recommend upgrading to Catalina yet
Updated System Requirements
On Windows 10, you now need Version 1809 or later. To use GPU acceleration, your graphics card and driver must support DirectX 12.
Windows 7 SP1 64-bit still has limited support, but can’t take advantage of some performance improvements, such as GPU acceleration, or HEIC file format support.
On macOS, you need 10.13 High Sierra or later to run Lightroom 9.0. To benefit from GPU acceleration, you need macOS 10.14.5 or later and a computer that supports Metal. There’s a list of supported hardware here.
Fill Edges for Panorama Merge
Previously, any missing edges caused by creating a panoramic photo would need either cropping or use of Boundary Warp. Now there’s an additional option, a checkbox called Fill Edges, which works similarly to the Content-Fill Aware in Photoshop.
Export Presets
Many photographers have asked for the Export dialogue to allow multiple exports at the same time. For example, a wedding photographer may want a full resolution set of JPEGs to send to the print lab, a medium resolution screen-sharpened set to give to the bride and groom, and a low resolution watermarked set to upload to an online gallery.
This is now possible using the checkboxes next to presets in the Export dialogue. You can still, of course, simply click the preset you want and export one set of photos.
Additional Filter Options
Folders and Collections can now be filtered by their color labels (if used). Also, Image has Depth Map has been added to both Metadata Filters and Smart Collection criteria.
Keyword Performance
This has now been improved, especially for photos with lots of keywords applied.
Remove Photos Shortcut
To delete all selected photos in Loupe and Develop views, you can use the new shortcut Shift-Delete instead of having to switch back to Grid view.
Develop Presets
The Export command has returned to the right-click menu so you can easily share your presets with others.
Clear History Above Selected History Step
Have you ever experimented on an already-edited photo, and then decided you preferred the earlier version? In 9.0, you can now right-click on a history state and choose Clear History Above This Step to clear the history states of the failed experiment.
Process Version Auto Update
Any photos currently set to PV3 or PV4 will automatically be updated to the current version (PV5 introduced in 8.0) when you start editing in order to benefit from performance improvements.
Post-Crop Vignette Preview
If GPU acceleration is enabled, the post-crop vignette is visible while cropping.
New camera support:
- Apple
- Apple iPhone 11
- Apple iPhone 11 Pro
- Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max
- Fuji
- Fuji X-A7
- HUAWEI
- HUAWEI Honor 20 Pro Rear Main Camera
- HUAWEI Honor 20 Pro Rear Telephoto Camera
- HUAWEI Honor 20 Pro Rear Wide Camera
- HUAWEI P30 Rear Main Camera
- HUAWEI P30 Rear Telephoto Camera
- HUAWEI P30 Rear Wide Camera
- HUAWEI P30 Pro Rear Main Camera
- HUAWEI P30 Pro Rear Telephoto Camera
- HUAWEI P30 Pro Rear Wide Camera
- Nikon
- Nikon Z 50 (Preliminary support)
- Panasonic
- Panasonic DC-S1H
- Sony
- Sony A6100 (ILCE-6100)
- Sony A6600 (ILCE-6600)
- Sony A7R IV (ILCE-7RM4)
- Sony RX100VII (DSC-RX100M7)
- Click to view the full list of supported cameras
New lens profiles:
- Apple
- Apple iPhone 11 back camera 1.54mm f/2.4 (JPEG+HEIC)
- Apple iPhone 11 back camera 4.25mm f/1.8 (DNG+JPEG+HEIC)
- Apple iPhone 11 front camera 2.71mm f/2.2 (JPEG+HEIC)
- Apple iPhone 11 Pro back camera 1.54mm f/2.4 (JPEG+HEIC)
- Apple iPhone 11 Pro back camera 4.25mm f/1.8 (DNG+JPEG+HEIC)
- Apple iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2 (DNG+JPEG+HEIC)
- Apple iPhone 11 Pro front camera 2.71mm f/2.2 (JPEG+HEIC)
- Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max back camera 1.54mm f/2.4 (JPEG+HEIC)
- Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max back camera 4.25mm f/1.8 (DNG+JPEG+HEIC) Pro
- Apple iPhone 11 Max back camera 6mm f/2 (DNG+JPEG+HEIC)
- Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max front camera 2.71mm f/2.2 (JPEG+HEIC)
- DJI
- DJI Osmo Action
- HUAWEI
- HUAWEI Honor 20 Pro Front Camera
- HUAWEI Honor 20 Pro Rear Macro Camera
- HUAWEI Honor 20 Pro Rear Main Camera (DNG+JPEG
- HUAWEI Honor 20 Pro Rear Telephoto Camera (DNG+JPEG)
- HUAWEI Honor 20 Pro Rear Wide Camera (DNG+JPEG)
- HUAWEI Mate 10 Pro Front Camera
- HUAWEI Mate 10 Pro Rear Camera (DNG+JPEG)
- HUAWEI P30 Front Camera
- HUAWEI P30 Rear Main Camera (DNG+JPEG)
- HUAWEI P30 Rear Telephoto Camera (DNG+JPEG)
- HUAWEI P30 Rear Wide Camera (DNG+JPEG)
- HUAWEI P30 Pro Front Camera
- HUAWEI P30 Pro Rear Main Camera (DNG+JPEG)
- HUAWEI P30 Pro Rear Telephoto Camera (DNG+JPEG)
- HUAWEI P30 Pro Rear Wide Camera (DNG+JPEG)
- Sony E
- Sony E 16-55mm F2.8 G
- Sony E 70-350mm F4.5-6.3 G OSS
- Sony FE
- SIGMA 14-24mm F2.8 DG DN A019
- Sony FE 35mm F1.8
- Click here for the full list of available Adobe Lens Profiles
Tether SDK Update
Nikon Tether SDK is updated to the latest version. This should fix an existing tethering connection issue with the D700 camera. Additionally, new firmware support is included for the D850, Z6 and Z7 cameras. However, the Nikon SDK needs further updates for Catalina. Workaround – turn the camera on before invoking the Start Tethered Capture command.
Issues reported with 9.0
There have been a few issues / things to be aware of since ones have updated to Classic 9.0, particularly connected with Plugins:
- LRTimelapse isn’t working when exporting since the new Export options in Classic. Solutions / workarounds are to either hold off updating to 9.0, or there is also a temporary workaround described on the LRTimelapse Forum.
- A number of Plugins will need an updated version, for example the ones written by Jeffrey Friedl, as they relate to the Classic catalog database structure (visit Jeffrey’s site for his updated ones).
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 Classic 7.3.1: Preset Export problem
- Lightroom Classic CC: JPEG Identity Plate does not print when set to Render Behind Image
- Lightroom Classic 8.2: Impromptu slideshow keyboard shortcut doesn’t work on Windows 10
- Lightroom Classic: French translation error to delete = effacer, to remove=retirer
- Lightroom SDK: Preserved File Name not accessible via the SDK
- Lightroom Classic: “Synchronize Settings” very slow, using 10% CPU
- Lightroom Classic: Pick up flag shown on bottom list of photos when mouse hovers
- Lightroom Classic: Copying metadata from videos in no longer working since last update
- Lightroom Classic 8.4: Keywords entry not working
- Lightroom Classic: Tethering for Nikon D700 stalled when Photoshop open at same time?
- Lightroom Classic: Apply During Import missing from Import window
- Lightroom Classic: Side panels erratically overlay import dialog on macOS Mojave
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?
The eBooks for Adobe Lightroom Classic – The Missing FAQ are already updated for these changes, and available for download in the Members Area for current Classic Premium Members.
The single biggest feature still hoping for and each time never seems to arrive is full apple file support. That is full support for Portrait Mode (aka being able to edit the depth map fully non-destructively like in Apple Photos and still be able to export such a file back to Apple Photos without losing the ability to edit it in Apple Photos later on. Aka non destructive importing/exporting of that file format.
Same for Live Photos being able to import and export them, and being able to choose a key photo, and have it retain those features when imported back into Apple Photos. Currently when importing it just imports as a video and if you later send back to Apple Photos will just be a video, not a Live Photo.
No update or LR Classic CC in my Creative Cloud updates section.
Continue to try it, Adobe have a number of servers and tend to try and level out demand. You could also try logging out then back in to your account in the CC App, that’s been known to kick start things too.
Yesterday Adobe’s message window popped-up saying an update is available for my version of LR. I decided to postpone the update procedure for a while. But when I now try to install the update the Creative Cloud update section tells me that my actual version of LR is up-to-date! This in spite of the fact that it is version is 8.4.1. The only option I can get from the Creative Cloud is a complete new Installation of LR9. So not an update. Even though I log in and out several times from the CC App.
Am I overlooking something perhaps?
Thank you for your reply in advance.
Cor
Cor
Check the updated system requirements and whether your computer matches them, it could be that.
If you logout and login again, the update will appear.
In your email message announcing the recent updates to LR classic v. 9.0, you mention improved sync reliability when using multiple computers but I didn’t see anything specific about that improvement in your blog.
There’s been a few internal improvements, and also changes to the sync file (as a result it’s more compressed for example), hence the generalized comment in the Blog:
This release upgrades your catalog format, so you can’t easily roll back to 8.4.1. Adobe also moved the Sync.lrdata file to sit alongside the relevant catalog to improve performance and reliability.
Its called version 9 and this is what they come up with? This is what we pay for. A huge list of fresh…air.
Its April fools every month at Adobe headquarters.
Since it’s subscription software, they add new features every couple of months, so the numbering is just used for support these days. If you look back at all the stuff they’ve added over the last 18 months – 2 years, which was a normal paid upgrade cycle, they’re adding features at a similar pace to “the old days” but we’re just getting them sooner.
I was also wondering about the sync improvement that was mentioned and picked up by RalphS. Did I miss something? Since when will LR sync between computers (This would be the key function that I’m sure many of us are waiting for…..)?
It doesn’t sync Classic catalogs, that was not the design. This refers to sync to the mobile cloud.
So if you were to put your catalog on an external drive and plug in into your desktop and later into your laptop, previously the sync had to almost start over, trying to work out what changed since you switched machines. Now, because the sync data is stored with the catalog, it can just pick up from where it left off, which makes it faster and more reliable.
That’s nice! I actually sold my27″ imac last year and now just run everything off of a MacBook Pro and external screen because syncing used to be such a chore. I would have to keep my catalog on an external drive so it would keep up with any changes I made and that slowed things down a lot. Now it’s all on my laptop and. I can easily work in a cafe or on the big screen. This also makes backing up everything a lot more streamlined,
Maybe I need to ask differently. What is the function of the “Sync.lrdata file”?
It’s used for syncing to the cloud version / mobiles if you have one of your Classic catalogs set to sync.
Thanks Paul!
Hi, I have an old geforce210 that doesnt support directx12. I have to upgrade.
Can you advice me a new GPU for this new version of LR? (max $150)
Is it a big difference to use a sub $100 GPU with directX12 or a $300+ GPU? Where will i notice more diference?
Thanks a lot!
That’s a good question, and I’m not up to date on Windows hardware options, but if you ask on the forum (link in the menubar), we’ve got some good Windows guys who have their finger on that pulse.
Is this new version (v9) compatible with Mac OS Catalina ?
Some of the known issues listed in our Catalina blog post were discovered too late to get into this release, so some are still outstanding. https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-macos-catalina-compatibility/
Considering the number of Catalina issues being reported across a whole multitude of apps, I’d be inclined to give it another couple of months yet, at least on your main machine. I’ve updated my laptop and most things are ok, but I won’t do my iMac for a while yet.
Yikes, help!! Rather than carry one huge catalogue around, I have my catalogues arranged by year dating back to 2004. Just updated to the new Lightroom Classic and upgraded my 2004 catalogue – it brings in all the sub-folders but not the photos!! This is a nightmare – what’s going on?
Hang on, what? Ok, what can you see. You mean the photo counts for all the folders are 0’s? Or you just can’t see thumbnails? Or what?
But in the meantime, don’t panic. The upgrade only creates a copy of the catalog, so your 8.4.1 one will still be there.
It loads the sub folders but the photo count is zero in each folder. If all else fails I’ll revert back to the previous version – this is scary!
(iMac retina 5K 27″ late 2014 – High Sierra 10.13.6)
That does sound scary! If it was me, I’d:
1. delete the upgraded catalog
2. rename the previews and other files to lose the -2 (so they match up with the original catalog again)
3. roll back to 8.4.1 https://www.lightroomqueen.com/roll-back-update-previous-classic/
4. check that the photos are still available in the original catalog.
If they are, I’d upgrade again and check they came through this time. If they didn’t, I’d get a bug report into Adobe so they can investigate. https://www.lightroomqueen.com/send-bug-report-feature-request-adobe/
Reverting back to 8.4.1 worked fine – all photos available as before. I’ll try another upgrade this evening. Thank you.
I have reverted back to 8.4.1 without issue and all photos are displaying as normal. I’ll try another upgrade this evening. Thank you.
The “Process Version Auto Update” is automatic whether we want it to or not? I think in my experience when I have tried to do this, it has not turned out well. Yes, I like to use the newer tools, but I usually make a virtual copy, change the Process Version, hit Reset, and thereby start over. Or maybe I use synchronize to copy selected adjustments.
That was the case with some of the earlier PV’s, which is why if the old PV is 1 or 2 it doesn’t change to 5. It only changes when you change a slider in Develop and in all my testing I’ve found nothing amiss with it. It was done to enable additional functionality rather than provide a fundamental change to the structure.
Hi, nice discussion of batch mode, but you left out the one failure of batch mode that poisons the whole well: File Naming settings are ignored. I’m a professional photographer, and when I deliver products to my customers, filenames really do matter. And I seriously can’t imagine why Adobe would omit that setting from batch mode, as it renders the new feature useless for people like me. I’ve discussed this disappointment with a number of my photographer friends, and we all agree that because of that one flaw, LR 9.0 batch mode becomes “The Little Batch Mode That (Almost) Could.”
Run that past me again Walter? That sounds like a bug.
It’s either a bug, or the most glaring pre-release testing failure this year in a major software application. When you choose batch mode, the File Naming settings are ignored. Try it and you’ll see. Before you choose your presets, set up File Naming with whatever naming convention you want. Then, select even just one checkbox, and then export. Look in your destination folder and you’ll see that the filenames are not what you specified in the File Naming option for export.
Using a Preset by clicking on the name you can set renaming (so like you always could)
Using batch, it reads the presets as they have been saved, so you’d need to set the renaming and save the preset if you want to include it in a batch output.
Just to clarify, LR Classic 9.0 batch mode will ignore the File Naming preset setting and instead use the default filename for the photo itself. Additional note: if you immediately run the batch mode again, and your preset is configured to ask you for a destination folder, LR will now ignore that preset, generate an export set, and without asking for a destination folder, send it somewhere (but not the previous destination folders). As of right now, I don’t know where it is going. There is definitely something wrong going on.
See note above on file naming.
Second point on destinations, that does sound like a bug. We’ll look at that but suggest log that as such with Adobe:
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/send-bug-report-feature-request-adobe/
Hi Victoria
So why does the new version of LR Classic want to upgrade my LR Catalog on my mac? Is this ok to proceed? Having been doing my annual accounts today, I am going to shutdown and await your reply. I have a screen shot, but am unable to upload it on this platform.
Regards
Martin
I’m in the same boat. I upgraded then saw the catalog change and that it’s not backwards compatible. I’m waiting for the call back from adobe. must be a lot of us as it’s an hour wait.
It’s exactly the same kind of catalog upgrade that we used to do from LR1>LR2, LR2>LR3, LR3>LR4… well, you get the idea. It creates a copy of the catalog (so no risk) and upgrades the copy.
It’s true that it’s not easy to roll back to 8.4.1, so you may want to wait a few days in case any big bugs are found. That said, by this time, I would have expected anything serious to have been spotted, so you’re probably safe to go ahead.
If you do go ahead and update now, just keep an eye open for bugs that would affect your normal workflow. If, for some reason you needed to roll back, you would simply open the earlier catalog. It’s not as scary as the dialog makes it sound. It would just be missing the work you’d done in the LR9 format catalog, but you’re likely to hit any major issues before you’d done much work, so no big deal.
I updated to Lightroom CC Classic V9.0. The software requires that the catalog is updated, but it seems to be getting stuck on “Adding Depth Information to Catalog”. I have my catalog on my “C” drive, and my files are located on an external drive. I ended up having to reload Version 8.41 to get back to work. I have seen that others are also having issues with the catalog update. I had an Adobe tech muck around remotely for over 2 hours last night trying to find out what the problem was, but he got nowhere. He recorded the issue and bumped it up, hopefully to a more experienced tech.
Is the external drive attached and accessible. I’ve just seen this comment from someone else who had the same issue:
> I had the same issue when upgrading the library. After trying several times and removing the library lock file, without any result I came up with the idea, that Lightroom is probably checking files. Since all my media is on various external drives I connected them and started again with upgrading the catalog. And Finally it working without any problems.
I continue to be frustrated by LR not recognizing Olympus ORI 20mp raw files which are produced by the EM1 mkII’s Hi-Res mode in addition to the ORF 80mp files. ORI files are identical to normal size ORF files so don’t require any extra work from Adobe.
I’m Olympus myself, so it would get my support. I don’t hear much in the way of requests for it though. It’s only got 4 votes in 3 years, so extra votes could help https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/please-support-olympus-raw-ori-files
In the Adobe release notes for LR Classic V9.0 it states: “You can now find photos with depth information by selecting Depth as the metadata criteria using the Metadata option in the Library Filter bar”. I’ve had a bit of a “google” and conclude that its not something my Nikon cameras do. I am I missing something??
You’re not missing a thing, it’s usually mobile phones.
FYI. I’m working on a MacBook Pro 2015, Catalina 10.5. When I upgraded to 9.0 from 8.41, LR started to crash on any HDR merge. Panos might have been affected as well, but I didn’t stick around to try those. Reverted to 8.4.1 and everything was fine. When I got in touch with Adobe — via chat — they asked me if I was working on files from external drives. Answer: yes. They took my # and said they would call back the following day. That didn’t happen. Thought I would share, in case anyone else has this issue. No resolution yet.
The chat support can be a little, erm, variable. If you haven’t already done so, put it on the bug report forum because then it gets directly to the engineers. Here’s instructions: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/send-bug-report-feature-request-adobe/
I use LR Classic on a iMac and Macbook Pro with local copies of the master files, catalog and associated files on both machines synchronised via Dropbox. I also synchronise about half of my photos in a number of collections to Creative Cloud to allow access on my phone and iPad. All worked pretty well but upgrading to LC9.0 on both machines has been tedious with difficulties keeping a single consistent catalog (Dropbox seems to be struggling to recognise a changed catalog on one machine and copy it to the other for some reason). LR on both computers seems to want to synchronise large numbers of images with Creative Cloud every time I use it on one or other of the computers.
Hoping all will settle down but it does seem as every iteration of LR, Dropbox (and MacOS although I’m still using Mojave) results in more complex programmes that play less well with each other.
Why is nobody talking about the Tone slider changes? Have they not noticed???
Can you explain what you mean? Tone as in Vibrance & Saturation? (there’s no change) or Temperature? (also no change)
Performance of Lightroom 9 got noticeably slower than the 8.x versions. Often Lightroom responses only with a delay and reacts very slow. What are your experiences?
What are you doing when you notice slowness? There’s two changes that spring to mind, the graphics card system requirements increasing, and the ability to show the post-crop vignette while cropping. Some people have needed to update their graphics card drivers from the manufacturers too.
Just overall performance with ordinary tasks (like changing exposure even a smart preview is available). Concerning the graphics card driver: I have a Acer Aspire V Nitro Notebook with a 4K display. I use the most recommended (from Acer) Nvidia VGA driver which dates back to December 2016 (of course there are much newer ones available directly from Nvidia but my experiences in the back showed me that frequently updating – those almost monthly versions – of the VGA driver usually created much more problems than staying with a stable driver version . On the other hand my Windows 10 has recently been updated to 1909 and has DirectX 12.
You may have been falling back on the legacy OpenGL graphics acceleration, which was removed completely in 9.0. It now requires the more modern DirectX12, so you probably need the most recent driver.
but I’m already on DirectX12 and everything works. Is there a way to check your assumption?
Yep. Go to Preferences > Performance tab and see whether it says you’re using no graphics acceleration, basic or full. Either way, I’d still guess the driver needs an update.
Meanwhile I did check the performance tab (and it said that basic acceleration was active). So I manually switched it to full acceleration and did work some time with Lightroom. After that I re-checked the performance tab again (and now it said that the acceleration had been disabled as an error has occured). Because of that I did a complete backup of my windows and installed the newest Nvidia driver available (version 441.20 from November 2019) and re-tried… for the moment every think looks good and enabling the full acceleration is still active… (after having worked some time with Lightroom and also having done some large images export for around 400 photos). So let’s see what happens the next days…
Can you fill edges after merge or do you need to go back into library and recreate panos?
No. fill edges is a part of the merge process.
Why does Auto Crop and now Fill Edges increase the exposure (lighten the HDR Pano too much) when Auto Settings is also selected? If Auto Crop or Fill Edges are not selected, Auto Settings gives a pretty good look. Is this just a bug?
I don’t know if this is new to this release, but it is now possible to batch process HDR Panos from stacks. Preview window does not appear and I am not sure if it remembers if you had Fill Edges or Auto Crop selected.
Batch HDR Pano does remember settings.