Month: October 2012

Help with Disappearing Books in Lightroom 4

Lightroom 4 includes the ability to easily create and publish photo books. While many Lightroom customers have enjoyed creating photo books inside Lightroom, some have reported a disturbing bug about which I’d like to provide additional information.

The Issue

While working on a page spread that contains a caption with multiple colored text, the book can disappear.

To Avoid the Issue

  • Update to Lightroom 4.2 immediately. Lightroom 4.2 contains safeguards that may aid in the recovery of a lost book. To update, please either use the Help-> “Check for Updates” menu option within Lightroom or download the update here [Windows, Mac]
  • Avoid using multiple text colors within the same text box

Recovering a lost book

  • If you are using Lightroom 4.2*, this warning will appear.

  • Click “Cancel”.
  • Quit Lightroom 4.2.
  • The warning will appear again. Click “Cancel” again.
  • Restart Lightroom.
  • In the Book module, your book will be there.

*We are not aware of any methods to recover a lost book in either Lightroom 4 or Lightroom 4.1. Please update to Lightroom 4.2 through the Help->”Check for Updates” menu option within Lightroom or download the update here [Windows, Mac]

Next Steps

The Lightroom team is currently researching and evaluating this bug to ensure that there are no other ways that it can be triggered. Our aim is to include a fix in a future update to Lightroom 4. In addition to the feedback we received from the Lightroom community and feedback forums, I’d like to also personally thank two Lightroom customers who played a critical role in helping us isolate and better understand the bug. Alan Shapiro and Marko Nara, thank you for all of your help in getting to the root of this issue.

DNG 1.4 Specification Notes

I’ve received a number of questions about what’s new in the DNG 1.4 specification that we posted earlier this week.  If you’re not comfortable diving into the 101 page document, here’s a quick summary with a few of the potential implications of the new enhancements to the file format.  [Please note that this content is an adaptation of a presentation created by Thomas Knoll, co-creator of Photoshop and creator of Adobe Camera Raw and the DNG file format.]  Before we dig into the new changes I think it’s worth looking at the history of DNG format innovations:

DNG Revision History

DNG Version 1.0 – September 2004

  • Initial Release

DNG Version 1.1 – February 2005

  • Preserving Masked Pixels

DNG Version 1.2 – April 2008

  • Camera Profiles (See also, DNG Profile Editor)

DNG Version 1.3 – June 2009

  • Opcodes (e.g. Lens Corrections)

DNG Version 1.4 – October 2012

  • Default User Crop
  • Transparency
  • Floating Point (HDR)
  • Lossy Compression
  • Proxies

 

Default User Crop

Many cameras have aspect ratio crop modes, e.g. 4:3 or 16:9, yet still save the entire sensor image to the raw file.  In the image below you can see that the raw file contains the entire black area within both of the camera’s crop modes.  The new tags allows the crop setting to be respected but to also allow the customer to “un-crop” the image to see the entire sensor area.  (See the new DNG Recover Edges Plug-in for Lightroom on Adobe Labs to “un-crop” a DNG file: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroomplugins/)

 

Transparency

When images are “stitched together” in an alignment process or panorama process the resulting image could have “undefined” pixels around the edges.  The new specification update now allows for those undefined areas to exist in a raw file format.

 

Floating Point (HDR)

HDR images have a high dynamic range that will not fit into a 16-bit linear integer encoding.  Floating point storage of information allows for a larger amount of dynamic range to be stored within a file:

  • 16-bit integer data can only store 16 f-stops of image detail.
  • 16-bit floating point data can store over 30 f-stops of image detail.
  • 32-bit floating point data can store hundreds of f-stops of image detail.

Lossy Compression

The current tradeoff in image quality and file size between a DNG and JPEG file:

A lossy compressed DNG file is much smaller but maintains the flexibility of raw data:

DNG Proxies combine the ability to utilize lossy compression with downsampling.

Summary

These new features to the DNG file format are exciting imaging advances that enable numerous workflow opportunities.

Lightroom 4.2 Now Available

Lightroom 4.2 is now available as a final release on Adobe.com and through the update mechanism in Lightroom 4.  The goal of this release is to provide additional camera raw support, lens profile support and address bugs that were introduced in previous releases of Lightroom.

Bugs Corrected in Lightroom 4.2:

The following bugs that were part the Lightroom 4 releases have been corrected. The team appreciates the very detailed feedback the community has provided on Lightroom 4 and we’re excited to correct a number of issues experienced by our customers. These issues have been FIXED:

  • Stacked photos were hidden in both the Grid view and Filmstrip. This occurred when photos get unstacked as a result of enabling auto-stacking.
  • Folder stacks with virtual copies were unstacked when moving to another folder.
  • When scrolling through the filmstrip (at somewhat fast rate), occasionally a “gray” image was displayed for an instant and then replaced by the correct image preview.
  • The Navigator Panel in Map did not pan correctly.
  • Parents and synonyms of “do not export” keywords also did not export.
  • Occasionally were unable to publish videos to Facebook
  • Audio did not play in video files after creating a slideshow that contains music (Win 7 only)
  • Image select arrow on keyword list didn’t display when keyword list contained a large number of keywords
  • Unable to edit Lightroom photos as jpegs in Photoshop Elements
  • Carriage Return in either the Title or Caption field invalidated a Flickr upload.
  • Tether capture bar disappeared after deleting photo (Win only).
  • Back Cover of Book layout had Horizontal text on spine rather than Vertical
  • Sharpening was not applied to books that were exported as JPEG files
  • Double-byte characters were not exported to Books saved as PDF files
  • Unable to type accented character in book module in LR4
  • Luminance Noise slider was unresponsive when Clarity is greater than 0.
  • Develop keyboard shortcuts (+ and – keys) no longer worked in older process versions such as PV2010

New Camera Support in Lightroom 4.2:

  1. Canon EOS 650D / Rebel T4i
  2. Canon EOS M
  3. Fujifilm XF1
  4. Fujifilm X-E1
  5. Fuji FinePix F800EXR
  6. Leaf Credo 40
  7. Leaf Credo 60
  8. Leica S
  9. Leica D-LUX 6
  10. Leica V-LUX 4
  11. Nikon Coolpix P7700
  12. Nikon 1 J2
  13. Nikon D600*
  14. Panasonic DMC-G5
  15. Panasonic DMC-LX7
  16. Panasonic DMC-FZ200
  17. Pentax K-30
  18. Samsung EX2F
  19. Sony Alpha NEX-5R
  20. Sony Alpha NEX-6
  21. Sony Alpha SLT-A99V
  22. Sony DSC-RX100

* Please note that the support for Nikon D600 is preliminary and there is a minor risk that the appearance of your images may change when the final support for Nikon D600 is available in an upcoming release.

Newly supported cameras for tethered capture:

  • Canon EOS Kiss X5
  • Canon EOS Kiss REBEL T3i
  • Canon EOS 600D
  • Canon EOS Kiss X50
  • Canon EOS REBEL T3
  • Canon EOS 1100D
  • Canon EOS 5D Mark III
  • Canon EOS 1D X
  • Nikon D4
  • Nikon D800
  • Nikon D800e

New Lens Profile Support in Lightroom 4.2:

Lens Name Lens Mount
Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 IS USM Canon
Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM Canon
Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM Canon
Canon EF-M 22mm f/2 STM Canon
Canon EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Canon
Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Canon
Sigma 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM Canon
Zeiss Distagon T* 2/25 ZE Canon
Zeiss Distagon T* 1,4/35 ZE Canon
LEICA APO-SUMMICRON-M 50 mm f/2 ASPH. Leica
LEICA APO MACRO SUMMARIT-S 120 mm f/2.5 (CS) Leica
LEICA ELMARIT-S 30 mm f/2.8 ASPH. (CS) Leica
LEICA SUMMARIT-S 35 mm f/2.5 ASPH. (CS) Leica
LEICA SUMMARIT-S 70 mm f/2.5 ASPH. (CS) Leica
LEICA APO ELMAR-S 180 mm f/3.5 (CS) Leica
LEICA VARIO-ELMAR-S 30-90 mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH. Leica
LEICA SUPER-ELMAR-S 24 mm f/3.5 ASPH Leica
Hasselblad HCD 4/28 Leica
Hasselblad HC 3,5/35 Leica
Hasselblad HC 3,5/50 Leica
Hasselblad HC 2,8/80 Leica
Hasselblad HC 2,2/100 Leica
Hasselblad HC Macro 4/120 Leica
Hasselblad HC 3,2/150 Leica
Hasselblad HC 4/210 Leica
Hasselblad HC 4,5/300 Leica
Hasselblad HC 3,5-4,5/50-110 Leica
Hasselblad HCD 4-5,6/35-90 Leica
Nikon 1 NIKKOR 11-27.5mm f/3.5-5.6 Nikon
Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Nikon
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR Nikon
Sigma 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM Nikon
Tamron SP 24-70mm F/2.8 Di VC USD A007N Nikon
Zeiss Distagon T* 2/25 ZF.2 Nikon
Zeiss Distagon T* 1,4/35 ZF.2 Nikon
Pentax smc DA 40mm F2.8 XS Pentax
Pentax smc DA 50mm F1.8 Pentax
Pentax smc DA 645 25mm F4 AL (IF) SDM AW Pentax
Pentax smc D FA 645 25mm f/4 AL (IF) SDM AW Pentax
Sigma 18-50mm F2.8-4.5 DC HSM Pentax
Sigma 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM Sigma
Sigma 18-50mm F2.8-4.5 DC HSM Sony
Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro Sony

Download Links

Windows, Mac

Thank You

A big thanks to everyone who submitted bug reports, posted entries in the U2U forums and blogged their issues so that we could improve the Lightroom 4 experience in this update. Thank you.

Camera Raw 7.2 and DNG Converter 7.2 Now Available

Camera Raw 7.2 is now available as a final release through the update mechanism in Photoshop CS6.  The goal of this release is to provide additional camera raw support, lens profile support and address bugs that were introduced in previous releases of Camera Raw.  Customers of previous versions of Photoshop can utilize DNG Converter 7.2 for raw file support for newly added cameras.

New Camera Support in Camera Raw 7.2:

  1. Canon EOS 650D / Rebel T4i
  2. Canon EOS M
  3. Fujifilm XF1
  4. Fujifilm X-E1
  5. Fuji FinePix F800EXR
  6. Leaf Credo 40
  7. Leaf Credo 60
  8. Leica S
  9. Leica D-LUX 6
  10. Leica V-LUX 4
  11. Nikon Coolpix P7700
  12. Nikon 1 J2
  13. Nikon D600*
  14. Panasonic DMC-G5
  15. Panasonic DMC-LX7
  16. Panasonic DMC-FZ200
  17. Pentax K-30
  18. Samsung EX2F
  19. Sony Alpha NEX-5R
  20. Sony Alpha NEX-6
  21. Sony Alpha SLT-A99V
  22. Sony DSC-RX100

* Please note that the support for Nikon D600 is preliminary and there is a minor risk that the appearance of your images may change when the final support for Nikon D600 is available in an upcoming release.

New Lens Profile Support in Camera Raw 7.2:

Lens Name Lens Mount
Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 IS USM Canon
Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM Canon
Canon EF 40mm f/2.8 STM Canon
Canon EF-M 22mm f/2 STM Canon
Canon EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Canon
Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Canon
Sigma 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM Canon
Zeiss Distagon T* 2/25 ZE Canon
Zeiss Distagon T* 1,4/35 ZE Canon
LEICA APO-SUMMICRON-M 50 mm f/2 ASPH. Leica
LEICA APO MACRO SUMMARIT-S 120 mm f/2.5 (CS) Leica
LEICA ELMARIT-S 30 mm f/2.8 ASPH. (CS) Leica
LEICA SUMMARIT-S 35 mm f/2.5 ASPH. (CS) Leica
LEICA SUMMARIT-S 70 mm f/2.5 ASPH. (CS) Leica
LEICA APO ELMAR-S 180 mm f/3.5 (CS) Leica
LEICA VARIO-ELMAR-S 30-90 mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH. Leica
LEICA SUPER-ELMAR-S 24 mm f/3.5 ASPH Leica
Hasselblad HCD 4/28 Leica
Hasselblad HC 3,5/35 Leica
Hasselblad HC 3,5/50 Leica
Hasselblad HC 2,8/80 Leica
Hasselblad HC 2,2/100 Leica
Hasselblad HC Macro 4/120 Leica
Hasselblad HC 3,2/150 Leica
Hasselblad HC 4/210 Leica
Hasselblad HC 4,5/300 Leica
Hasselblad HC 3,5-4,5/50-110 Leica
Hasselblad HCD 4-5,6/35-90 Leica
Nikon 1 NIKKOR 11-27.5mm f/3.5-5.6 Nikon
Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR Nikon
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR Nikon
Sigma 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM Nikon
Tamron SP 24-70mm F/2.8 Di VC USD A007N Nikon
Zeiss Distagon T* 2/25 ZF.2 Nikon
Zeiss Distagon T* 1,4/35 ZF.2 Nikon
Pentax smc DA 40mm F2.8 XS Pentax
Pentax smc DA 50mm F1.8 Pentax
Pentax smc DA 645 25mm F4 AL (IF) SDM AW Pentax
Pentax smc D FA 645 25mm f/4 AL (IF) SDM AW Pentax
Sigma 18-50mm F2.8-4.5 DC HSM Pentax
Sigma 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM Sigma
Sigma 18-50mm F2.8-4.5 DC HSM Sony
Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM Macro Sony

Camera Raw 7.2 Release Notes

These items have been FIXED in Camera Raw 7.2:

  • Cannot change “Erase” size, feather and flow settings while utilizing the Option key.
  • Cannot write metadata to images previously opened in some 3rd party software.
  • Luminance Noise slider is unresponsive when Clarity is greater than 0.
  • In certain cases, the new Defringe controls can cause vertical streaks to appear.
  • Some images from Canon 5D Mark II exhibited pattern noise in the form of maze/green split artifacts.
  • Adjusting the Blue channel does not affect monochrome images.
  • Certain TIFF files can cause Bridge to become unstable.
  • Defringe settings are not retained when editing the file in Photoshop as a Smart Object and then returning to ACR.

Download Links

Camera Raw 7.2 – Please use the update mechanism in Photoshop CS6

DNG Converter 7.2 – Windows, Mac