Adobe have announced Lightroom 3.4 and Camera Raw 6.4 Release Candidates on Adobe Labs. An updated version of DNG Converter is also available for download. As in the past, the “release candidate” label is used to indicate that these updates have undergone internal testing but would benefit from additional user testing.

These updates included support for the following recently recent cameras:

• Canon EOS 600D (Rebel T3i / Kiss X5)
• Canon EOS 1100D (Rebel T3 / Kiss X50)
• Hasselblad H4D-40
• Olympus E-PL1s
• Olympus E-PL2
• Olympus XZ-1
• Samsung NX11

A small number of additional lens profiles have also been included.

The following bugs that were part of previous Lightroom 3 releases have been corrected:

• Lightroom encountered issues presenting double-byte character metadata after the image was edited on Photoshop.com.
• Publish collections did not work properly if the sort order is set to descending. (“Z to A”).
• Using the up/down arrow keys or the mouse wheel to adjust a parameter while the graduated filter is activated caused increments of plus or minus 100 instead of 1.
• Interlacing artifacts, and a slight magenta cast in the deepest shadows could have appeared on some high-contrast edges of Canon mRaw files.
• A magenta color cast could have appeared on Nikon D7000 images if the multi-exposure feature was used with raw capture.
• Video files were allowed to be added to a SmugMug publish collection not capable of supporting video uploads.
• Folder creation caused an expanded folder hierarchy to close unexpectedly in the Library Module.

A small number of bugs found in Camera Raw 6.3 have also be fixed. They include:

• Camera Raw did not allow write-back capability for the EXIF GPS properties
• The DNG File format did not support XMP Media Management
• A JPEG file with a specific characteristic was found to have a pink cast
• The undo command (Command Z) was failing to undo crop adjustments
• Single images marked for deletion were not moved to the trash
• A magenta color cast could have appeared on Nikon D7000 images if the multi-exposure feature was used with raw capture

Adobe have just released an updated version of the Adobe Lens Profile Creation tool (discussed elsewhere on this website) and a new Lens Profile Downloader application.

The lens profile downloader is a standalone Adobe AIR application. It’s a free companion application to Photoshop CS5, Photoshop Lightroom 3, and the Camera Raw 6 plug-in, and is intended to allow customers to search, download, rate and comment on the online lens correction profiles that are created and shared by the user community. Lightroom 3 users in particular will find this application very useful, especially if they don’t have a copy Photoshop CS5.

As can be seen from the screen shot shown below the UI is relatively straightforward. To find a lens profile it’s a simple matter of first selecting the camera vendor name (e.g. Canon). A list of all available* lens profiles will appear. This list of available lens profiles can be further refined by choosing the lens model from the relevant drop-down menu. Further refinement can be achieved from within the Camera Model and Crop Factor  drop-down menus.

Adobe Lens Profile Downloader Application

The downloader application also provides users with the facility to rate and comment on any lens profiles that they have downloaded. However, to comment or rate a lens profile you must be logged on to Photoshop.com. Typically, this will be by inserting your Adobe Account user name and password into the Sign In dialog.

* Only community created lens profiles are available via the downloader application. Profiles created by Adobe or their partners (e.g. Sigma, Tamron, etc) are incorporated into the download package for Lightroom and Camera Raw.