What’s gone in Lightroom CC 2015.2 and Lightroom 6.2 ?

[Simon J.A. Simpson]

From the Lightroom Queen’s post:
“You will need to be aware of some Import features that are no longer available. They are:
    • Move is gone. You can only Add the photos at their existing location or Copy the photos to a new location.
    • Eject After Import is gone. You must now remember to eject memory cards using the operating system (although this will hopefully return in a future update).
    • Duplicate photos can’t be imported (without workarounds).
    • Zoom is gone from the Import Loupe view.
    • Filename is now hidden under a tooltip.
    • Destination panel folders preview is gone, including the italic preview showing your chosen folder structure, the checkmarks to their right, and the volume information showing how much  space was available on each drive.
    • Thumbnail filtering by Destination folder is gone.
    • Total file size is gone from the bottom left corner.
    • The filename preview (when renaming) is gone.
If you feel strongly about any of these missing features, the best place to request their reinstatement is the Official Feature Request/Bug Report Forum at  http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family, explaining clearly how it will impact your workflow.”

Since I do in fact use several of these facilities this seems somewhat of a backward step to me and so I won’t be ‘upgrading’ in the foreseeable future; or at least until Adobe puts these facilities back.  I’m puzzled as to why Adobe would take them out in the first pace ?  Simplification, perhaps ?  Odd.

[john beardsworth]

Why? OK, it's gone too far in some ways, but the underlying goals were to:

1. Assist early users by streamlining the dialog. I can see how Duplicate, Move, DNG confuse many users.

2. Discourage use of the Import dialog as a culling tool. Get the pictures in Library and use its better review and metadata tools.

[Jeff Griffin]

1. Assist early users by streamlining the dialog.

And it has taken them to version 6.2 to do it !

But to be fair,  concentrating resources on processing / develop module features was more important in earlier versions.

[Rhossydd]

Why? OK, it's gone too far in some ways, but the underlying goals were to:
1. Assist early users

If you want to help people use LR why cripple it ? It would be better to supply better tutorial advice for new users as they're going to be faced with the full interface in the next step anyway.

2. Discourage use of the Import dialog as a culling tool.

Why ? If it works for some people why impose changes to their workflow ?

What next ? Those develop controls too complex for phone users ? lets just hide those and leave the auto button because we know what's best.

[john beardsworth]

People can make any old method work, but that doesn't mean you have to treat those methods as equally worthy of preservation. Quite the opposite when they have overloaded the import step with functions duplicating those well-implemented elsewhere. And does the world need any more tutorials?

[Rhossydd]

And does the world need any more tutorials?

It does now because Adobe have changed the program!
A new user will still need to understand all the options that have now become harder to use. By making unnecessary change it not only annoys existing users, but it also makes all older tutorial material redundant, so making the transition potentially harder, totally daft.
Which is cheaper and more reliable ? Making a good transition tutorial or rewriting lots of code ?


There's lots of protest about the change on the Adobe forums, so far I haven't read anything in favour of it.

[hjulenissen]

If you want to help people use LR why cripple it ? It would be better to supply better tutorial advice for new users as they're going to be faced with the full interface in the next step anyway.Why ? If it works for some people why impose changes to their workflow ?

As an application matures (and its developers and existing users comprehension does), it is quite possible that one finds new, "better" ways of doing things. Better as in 1) Takes less manual effort, 2) Can be more easily understood by new users without consulting a tutorial 3) Is more consistent with how the applications generally behaves and how other applications on that/other OS behaves.

I for one find that after using every release of Lightroom, there are still sections of the program that feels "clumsy". I.e. I have to spend more time figuring out how to get the job done than I feel I should have to.

The "danger" of having a 20 year old program with a million features and a million (expert) users around the world is that it often becomes very hard to maintain the code base, to deliver new features, to streamline the user interface, to adapt to new platforms and formats without alienating the fan-base.

I like "boring" programs. I.e. programs that does not try to reinvent the wheel, but rather present the options that one would expect to see at a given place and time given our individual but still highly correlated experience with software products.

-h

[Rhossydd]

I for one find that after using every release of Lightroom, there are still sections of the program that feels "clumsy". I.e. I have to spend more time figuring out how to get the job done than I feel I should have to.

Really ?? I've always found one of the key advantages of Lightroom is the ease and intuitive nature of the interface. As features have been added they've been easy to understand and quick to learn.

[fdisilvestro]

I personally don't mind the changes, while agree that the changes have been radical.

I see is as a move to get rid of folder-tree-structure way of thinking and just use the Database with the superior available tools. There is nothing that can be done with a folder structure that cannot be done better using the database tools.

Why would you want to import a duplicate image? It is better to keep the database without duplicates always.

Move: While it might be convenient, it is a higher risk operation that copy. Better to format the card in the camera

Eject card after import: agree, but I see it as a minor anoyance

Rename: chose "Edit" and you will see a sample of how the new names will look like

I agree with John, don't use the import dialogue for doing what it is best done with other tools.

P.D. If you want to review and pre-select your images before importing them to LR, consider FastRawViewer, a fast and excellent tool built for that purpose.

[john beardsworth]

There's lots of protest about the change on the Adobe forums, so far I haven't read anything in favour of it.

Well, complaints are always much louder than praise, and there's not much else to talk about in the Desktop update, is there?

I think you've got to take each individual removal on its own merits. One that no-one even mentions is having someone else's photo as Import's background - I hate that and have looked hard for a way to change it. But the removal of others can be defended, and the real problem is they aren't available elsewhere, in the right place in Lightroom. Move for instance is mainly used as a workaround for the lack of a Reorganise Masters command in Library itself, and the same applies to Duplicates too.

[john beardsworth]

Move: While it might be convenient, it is a higher risk operation that copy. Better to format the card in the camera

Move could never be used to do that, Franco, despite lots of complaints from people who wanted to do so (aargh!). It's more useful to reorganise photos that are already on a hard drive such as when you're migrating from a legacy folder structure. So it has value, just in Library as a generic Reorganise Masters tool.

If you want to review and pre-select your images before importing them to LR, consider FastRawViewer, a fast and excellent tool built for that purpose.

One day we'll have GPU-accelerated review of embedded previews in Lr. Dream on, John.....

[Rhossydd]

There is nothing that can be done with a folder structure that cannot be done better using the database tools.

A folder structure makes back up and archiving easier for me. It also allows easier use of other programs that work on the images.

[Rhossydd]

One that no-one even mentions is having someone else's photo as Import's background - I hate that

I have mentioned it and hate it too. What really annoys me about it is the underlying 'our photos are better than yours' message it sends, insulting.

[Simon J.A. Simpson]

Why would you want to import a duplicate image? It is better to keep the database without duplicates always.

Perhaps you need to import a duplicate of an image to another location on your hard drive.

Move: While it might be convenient, it is a higher risk operation that copy. Better to format the card in the camera

Perhaps you might want to move an image from one folder to another on your hard disk using some of the import dialogue options.

Eject card after import: agree, but I see it as a minor anoyance

Unless you have a lot of cards to import from.

We know there are other ways of doing things in Lightroom but I believe these facilities also give us the option to dig ourselves out of a hole when we've screwed-up.  And we all do that from time to time, yes ?

[john beardsworth]

I have mentioned it and hate it too. What really annoys me about it is the underlying 'our photos are better than yours' message it sends, insulting.

Sorry, I hadn't noticed it. I'm not sure it sends out that message, more like you're only renting so you don't choose the wallpaper

[Rhossydd]

you're only renting so you don't choose the wallpaper

I'm not renting and changes like this reinforce that choice even more.

[Jeff Griffin]

Have I missed something ?

It appears in the release note on Lightroom Journal that the redesigned  import experience is also in the standalone 6.2 version but I thought these dot release updates would only include new camera / lens support / bug fixes

[john beardsworth]

Have I missed something ?

It appears in the release note on Lightroom Journal that the redesigned  import experience is also in the standalone 6.2 version but I thought these dot release updates would only include new camera / lens support / bug fixes

It's a change to an existing feature, not a new feature which might conflict with their accounting policies. 

[ButchM]

1. Assist early users by streamlining the dialog. I can see how Duplicate, Move, DNG confuse many users.

Why? Was the Import Dialog so intimidating that Adobe was losing sales of subscriptions to newbies? Really?

2. Discourage use of the Import dialog as a culling tool. Get the pictures in Library and use its better review and metadata tools.

Why? Was this perceived abuse of the Import Dialog causing undue harm or inflicting hardship upon Adobe, the executives in charge, the product manager, the engineers or fellow users of Lightroom?

This is a classic example of one of the extreme flaws of the subscription model. All Adobe employees from the CEO, who hauls in nearly $18M annually, to the newest member of the janitorial staff receiving a minimum wage, will receive the exact same amount of compensation no matter what code is updated, changed or created.

We, the end users can no longer influence the outcome as we are a captive audience. If we want new camera support and other features that are acceptable, we must take it in an all or nothing scenario ... or use the older version and incur the same exact cost if we adopted the new software. We can no longer speak with our wallets to influence the direction of development.

Everyone is left to the whim of a small group of people that simply believe they know what is best for us ... and demand equal and consistent payment regardless of our opinion of their efforts.

[john beardsworth]

Ever heard of companies testing to see what problems users may be having? And despite being strung out on subscription income, they decide they need to revisit an existing tool/ in other words, it has f all to do with subscription models.