Monthly Archives: July 2013

Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom Beta Previews

 Normally, when Adobe announce public betas of Lightroom and Camera Raw I tend to focus on the later. However, in a break with tradition I’ve chosen to focus on Camera Raw this time. Why the change? Well, this is probably the first occasion were the new features added to Lightroom and Camera Raw differ slightly.  The differences are subtle but do point the way for how things will be as Adobe move forward with Creative Cloud.

In addition to new camera support and a The new features included in Camera Raw 8.2 RC for Photoshop CC ** are as follows:

  • The Histogram is now interactive. This enables the ability to click and drag on the Histogram to adjust the Blacks, Shadows, Exposure, Highlights, and Whites slider adjustments. (Lightroom has had this feature since version 1)
  • A Colour Smoothness adjustment slider has been added to the Detail Panel. This helps to reduce low-frequency colour mottling artifacts
  • Separate Auto Temperature and Auto Tint controls, which is accessible via the Shift+Double Click on either the Temperature or Tint adjustment sliders. (Camera Raw only)
  • Workflow presets are now available and can be selected on context-clicking the workflow link. (Camera Raw only)
  • Refinements to the Spot Healing Tool:
    • New Feather control
    • Auto find source method now works better for images with textured areas like rocks, bark, and foliage
    • Auto find source method now prefers source areas within the crop rectangle
  • Refinements to the Local Adjustment Brush:
    • Move brush adjustments by clicking and dragging on brush adjustment pins (Camera Raw only)
    • Right Click (PC) / Control-click (Mac) on a brush adjustment pin to bring up a context menu to duplicate or delete
    • Control+Alt+Drag (PC) / Command+Option+Drag (Mac) on a brush adjustment pin to clone (duplicate) that adjustment Alt+Click (PC) / Option+Click (Mac) on a brush adjustment pin to delete the adjustment

** Camera Raw 8.2RC is also compatible with Photoshop CS6. However, other than new camera support (see below) the new features outlined above are not available.

New Camera Support in Camera Raw 8.2 Release Candidate

  • Canon EOS 70D *
  • Casio Exilim EX-ZR800
  • Fujifilm FinePix HS22EXR
  • Fujifilm FinePix HS35EXR
  • Fujifilm FinePix S205EXR
  • Fujifilm FinePix F805EXR
  • Fujifilm X-M1
  • Phase One IQ260 *
  • Sony DSC-RX1R
  • Sony DSC-RX100 II*