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Lightroom 4 is Coming!

 

Lightroom 4 is Coming! 

 

CES, the big consumer electronics show, started and ended this week. One of the big events was Adobe’s release of the first Lightroom 4 beta. 

 

While I have only had a few days to look at the beta and it is only a beta, I think it is safe to say we are in for some big changes and an awful lot of tweaks. My totally subjective list of big changes include the following:

  • Lightroom 4 will not run on Windows XP (Windows users have to be on Vista (yuck!) or Windows 7) or on Mac OSX Leopard (Mac user have to be on Snow Leopard or Lion).
  • The beta has some video editing capabilities but, don’t get too excited, it won’t replace a full featured editor. (You can import videos into Lightroom 3 now but that is about all you can do.)
  • The Basic tone controls got a major overhaul and will require some relearning.
  • RGB curves have been added to the tone curve control.
  • White balance and noise reduction adjustments can now be applied locally.
  • Soft proofing is available. THANK YOU Adobe!
  • Lightroom 4 has a Map module. From within the module, Lightroom 4 will, if you use a GPS to embed your coordinates inside your images, show where an image was taken on Google maps or allow you to geolocate your images manually.
  • Books can now be created inside Lightroom 4 and exported as pdf files or directly upload to Blurb.
  • Remember those tweaks? Well there is a lot of them and all together they add up to one big change!

 

If you are adventurous, you can download the beta from Adobe Labs. However, some have claimed that the Lightroom betas have caused problems and, if you have problems with your computer or your current copy of Lightroom after installing the beta (in the past, problems appeared to me to be more prevalent on Windows computers), NO ONE is available to help. You are on your own literally and legally. If you don't believe me, read the beta agreement which absolves Adobe for all liability if you lose all your images or your computer breaks.

 

REMEMBER: Beta means that the software is NOT a finished product and is NOT recommend for everyday work. The purpose of releasing the beta is not to help you but for you to help Adobe identify bugs, which it likely does contain, in the software. Moreover, Adobe specifically states that catalogs created in a beta version of Lightroom are not guaranteed to migrate to the final version. This is a BIG issue if you use the beta to process your images. If the catalog doesn't migrate over, you have a lot of work to redo.

 

You need to balance the potential for a corrupted catalog or other problems against the small, from my perspective, upside of learning a little about Lightroom 4 now.

 

So, if you aren’t interested in taking chances, what are you supposed to do while we still have Lightroom 3 but Lightroom 4 is on the way? 

 

First, relax. We are months away from release and you don’t have to upgrade immediately in any event. 

 

Second, shoot, shoot, shoot. We might as well have fun while we are waiting for the final release. While I have no special insight, I am not expecting Lightroom 4 to be released until April or May. However, the short answer is that Lightroom 4 will be released when it is released and not before and we can have a lot of fun taking pictures in the meantime.

 

Third, practice and get to know Lightroom 3 in depth. If you understand Lightroom 3, it will make the transition to Lightroom 4 all the easier. 

 

The bottom line and my recommendation is don't worry about Lightroom 4 right now. Instead learn and practice Lightroom 3 and go out and shoot some pictures so you have something to process in Lightroom 4 when it becomes available.