Adobe ‘Max 2024’ sees the announcement of Camera Raw 17, Lightroom Classic 14, Lightroom Desktop 8 along with updates to Lightroom Mobile and Web. Main features in desktop applications include:
Camera Raw, Lightroom Classic and Desktop
- (16) New Cameras
- (38) New Lenses
- Generative Remove (GA)
- Content Authenticity Initiative (EA)
- HDR Gain Map Support
Camera Raw
Camera Raw has received the majority of enhancements, most of which are not yet in Lightroom Classic or Desktop
Remove
- Revised UX with separation between controls that affect the selected spot vs. controls that will only affect the next spot you create
- Improvements to object removal: you can now circle objects to detect and remove them and their detected area is better optimised for Generative Remove
Generative Expand (Technology Preview)
Generative Expand (Technology Preview): You can use the Crop tool to expand the photo beyond its original dimensions, then use Adobe Firefly to fill transparent areas surrounding the image. This works both for the expanded Crop use case as well as Geometry transforms (e.g., Upright).
Denoise
The Denoise feature now supports almost all raw files including HDR and panorama DNG files, Apple ProRAW DNG, Samsung Galaxy Expert Raw DNG, and other types of raw files.
Non-Destructive Enhance (Technology Preview):
Denoise, Raw, Details, and Super Resolution can now be applied non-destructively via the Detail panel. Theres is no longer requires making a need to create a new DNG file nor is there a separate window in which the adjustments are made. Instead, Enhance now works directly with the image in the main Camera Raw workspace.
Lightroom Classic
Adobe’s focus with LrC 14 has been to improve the user experience when upgrading or renaming catalogs along with a method by which the size of the Previews cache can be managed
Catalog Upgrade and Renaming
The new workflow for catalog-upgrade includes a new UI
Notice that catalog name is not editable within the new upgrade dialog, Instead, it is upgraded with same name as current catalog.
The original catalog (.lrcat) is stored as backup so that user can revert back in case of any issues occur during the upgrade process. The original catalog is stored in a new folder named ‘Old Lightroom Catalogs’ The older catalog folder will be stored as compressed file inside ‘Old Lightroom Catalogs’ folder besides the original catalog folder and it will have .lrcat and .lrcat-data files.
Should you wish to rename the catalog, then simply choose Rename Catalog from the LrC File menu.
Preview Management
Should you wish to constrain preview size due to limited space on the drive containing your catalog, then by selecting “Limit Preview Cache Size”, you can now allocate a definite size to which you want to limit the size for your preview cache.
Based on the size allocated, preview purging will start as a background process and will attempt to bring the size closer to the allocated size.
The logic used to decide when and which previews are actually discarded is as follows:
Which previews are getting deleted ?
Previews which are 30 days or newer are never deleted
How often will the purge start?
Once the user sets the preview cache size, going forward lightroom will keep deleting the older previews (With a warning/Info first, and an option to increase that size) to satisfy the desired limit.
How to identify the limit size to be set?
Reasonable size should be what you want your space to be occupied for previews. This can vary from user to user. If you have enough space and don’t mind LrC consuming that space, you can keep it on a higher side.
Notification will be displayed when 90% of the allocated cache size is reached, and before starting standard previews purging begins.
Remove Tool Enhancements
Objects can now be selected by roughly brushing around them.
The following updates for Generative remove have also been added.
- UX updates in Remove panel
- Option to delete variations.
- Copy-Paste, Sync & Auto-Sync on Generative Remove edits would generate new variations on the target/destination image.
A three dot menu has been added beside Variations, which has an option to Report generated variation errors to Adobe.
Masking Enhancements
The ability to delete empty mask groups, which was a popular feature request
The “Delete All Empty Masks” command can be accessed from:
- Library->Photo->Develop Settings
- Develop->Settings
- Image->Right-Click->Settings
Denoise (also Lightroom Desktop)
The Denoise feature in LrC 14 now supports almost all raw files including HDR and panorama DNG files, Apple ProRAW DNG, Samsung Galaxy Expert Raw DNG, and other types of raw files such linear raw.
Content Authenticity
Content credentials are part of export preset. Now you can save Content Credentials related options inside export preset. Support for syncing CAI information to cloud is also supported. You can import an already CAI signed image and upload to cloud. This signature will be preserved in future valid workflows of CAI.
Provide Feedback
You can now provide feedback on Lightroom Classic by clicking Help – and selecting “Provide Feedback” option.
System Requirements
The minimum OS version for Camera Raw, Lightroom Classic and Desktop have changed from those applicable to the previous version. Each is provided at the following Links:
New Camera Support
Details of new camera support added since the last release can be found here
New Lens Correction Support
Details of new lens support added since the last release can be found here
New Tethered Camera Support [Lightroom Classic]
Details of new tethered camera support added since the last release can be found here