Today is the beginning of CES in Las Vegas.(ConsumerElectronics Show)So, naturally, we’re going to see TONS of awesome new products announced in the next few days; many will have absolutely nothing to do with photography,and some will.

I’ll post another news article later this week to discuss all the awesome things announced in the photography world,(Sigma 180mm f/2.8, Canon GX1, SWEET!!!)…but for now I’d just like to mention that I’m curently downloading and testing the Lightroom 4.0 beta, and I’m pretty excited to see what comes up.

As usual, here are my random thoughts on what I see so far.I’ll probably update this article as I get a chance to play around and learn more, so check back often!

 

CLICK HERE to download and try out the new Adobe Lightroom 4.0 Beta!

 

 

• 2012 process version, yay!Hopefully it will be a significant enough improvement that I’ll get cleaner images at high ISO’s!

• I’m scared that they merged exposure and brightness.That is REALLY surprising, considering how much I use those two adjustments separately, to manipulate my dynamic range…

• It SOUNDS like they’ve dramatically improved highlight recovery options, but I can’t be sure yet.

• Local WB adjustments, NICE!Now I guess I don’t have to use my warming / cooling preset color brushes anymore!

• RGB curves – YESSSS!!!!!This was one of the things on my LR 4.0 WISHLIST.I cannot begin to explain what new worlds this opens up.Simply put, I just cut my Photoshop needs down by 50-75%…(Except now, HOURS AND HOURS of work creating Photoshop actions may have been in vain, OUCH, but that remains to be seen…)

• Direct book design, including Blurb.Thank you, Adobe.I will be using this like there is no tomorrow.From clients to personal photos, I’m loving this.Honestly I hardly ever used the other Lightroom modules before now; I’ve been 100% “Library + Develop” for years.This is exciting…

• GPS maps.Creepy, but inevitable and probably VERY useful for many.(I’ll be surprised if every camera doesn’t have GPS capability within the next 1-2 generations.Although I’ll be sure to turn it off ANY time I shoot a photo that includes someone’s face, but that’s a “big brother” discussion for another day!)

• A bunch of video features.Nice, but it doesn’t sound like LR is a video editor, yet, just a catalog system.And I don’t see any way to compile time lapse videos from still frames, that’s lame.I guess I’ll just keep using Quicktime Pro…

• It sounds like we can now CATEGORIZE our PRESETS a little better.I just hope I can DELETE the hundred useless Lightroom presets!I hate those things!(If that was possible in LR3 I’m gonna feel kinda dumb, but please feel free to point it out if you want!:-P

 

 

• Unfortunately, there are plenty of wishlist items that did NOT make the cut…
– No word on multiple catalogs
– No word on access to in-camera processing
– No sign of that “relative adjustment” capability I was brainstorming
– Nothing about easily programming hotkeys for individual adjustments
– Yeah, youget the idea.There is of course the fact that this is a BETA release, and the final version could and probably WILL be quite different.So for now, I’m just gonna fire it up, see how buggy it is, and probably close it and go back to LR 3.0 within 30 mins LOL because I can’t get work done.(AT least, that’s how it was with the LR 1.0 and 2.0 betas.:-(

 

Take care,
=Matt=