Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Adobe Lightroom Q&A => Topic started by: dreed on September 23, 2017, 10:01:34 am

Title: LR7 in beta?
Post by: dreed on September 23, 2017, 10:01:34 am
According to a story on photorumors (https://photorumors.com/2017/09/18/adobe-lightroom-7-rumors/), Lr7 is finally in beta. No word on new features has been provided. The only topic that really gets discussed is performance and the subtext of what that rumor says is "If you want Lightroom to be work in reasonable fashion, buy an expensive computer." Ugh.
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: digitaldog on September 23, 2017, 10:24:46 am
Those that know can't say.
Those that don't know say lots that's often wrong.
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: Damon Lynch on September 23, 2017, 11:25:27 am
Those that know can't say.
Those that don't know say lots that's often wrong.

Rumors function much like gossip.  People gossip for many reasons, both good and bad. 'Gossip is often thought of as unseemly, but it has both good and bad qualities. As the philosopher Aaron Ben Ze’ev observes, “Gossip is engaged in for pleasure, not for the purpose of hurting someone.” He notes that most damage from gossip is minor. Gossip, Ben Ze’ev concludes, isn’t “virtuous” but it is not “vicious” either.' (Solove, Daniel J. The future of reputation: Gossip, rumor, and privacy on the Internet).

Personally I don't much like gossip and try to avoid it. But experience suggests those who do like gossip don't give a toss what its detractors think about it  ;D
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: ButchM on September 23, 2017, 11:50:19 am
Regardless of the existence of a private beta for a completely new iteration ... something more than usual must be in the mix. Otherwise, where is the normal update for Lr to balance the scales with ACR 9.12.1?

Surely there is nothing in that updates that should rock the boat with Lightroom 6.x. I would think it would be rare for the addition of one new camera, four new lens profiles and color fixes for one camera would be the cause of such a delay. So it begs the question as why there has been such a relatively lengthy delay and no update for Lr.

Let's hope it's not another round of 'improvements' for the import process.  ::)
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: Alan Goldhammer on September 23, 2017, 12:54:57 pm
I can only say that I am NOT an LR7 beta tester! ;D  I think I am on the list to beta test LR8 however.
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: rdonson on September 23, 2017, 01:28:31 pm
Alan, is that LR8 or URL8  ;D
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: Rhossydd on September 23, 2017, 02:31:23 pm
So it begs the question as why there has been such a relatively lengthy delay and no update for Lr.
If you've managed to sucker so many people into subscriptions that you can make $4billion* a year without much innovation, why bother doing anything more ?

*https://www.dpreview.com/news/8938513475/adobe-announces-record-breaking-1-84-billion-in-revenue-for-q3
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: Alan Goldhammer on September 23, 2017, 02:32:04 pm
Alan, is that LR8 or URL8
Not certain other than it does NOT employ Flash.
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: Whitney Dunn on September 26, 2017, 11:29:36 am
Regardless of the existence of a private beta for a completely new iteration ... something more than usual must be in the mix. Otherwise, where is the normal update for Lr to balance the scales with ACR 9.12.1?

Presumably Lightroom 7 / CC 2017 will be introduced at or before Adobe Max in October: note the featured session by Julieanne Kost covering the "future of photography: capturing, editing and sharing from anywhere". The blurb specifies she'll be discussing "recent enhancements" to Lightroom; there's a hands on lab with Matt Kloskowski using identical wording.

To me the most interesting question isn't "is the next version of LR coming soon?". Of course it is; if it isn't, the Adobe team's been grossly derelict in their duties. We're already at the longest gap between major versions in the program's history. The real question is, "is the next version a continuation of the existing program, or the iOS / Android version?" That is, are we seeing Lightroom 7, or Project Nimbus (https://www.lightroomqueen.com/future-cloud-based-photo-editor-nimbus/)? I'd much prefer the latter: it's cleaner, presumably faster, and avoids the design and usability fail of Lightroom's modular approach. Plus the future of photography is increasingly mobile; maintaining two separate codebases seems needlessly duplicative and a drag on long term development.
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: Rhossydd on September 26, 2017, 11:42:51 am
or Project Nimbus (https://www.lightroomqueen.com/future-cloud-based-photo-editor-nimbus/)?
Sounds dreadful. The same interface on mobile and desktop ? That'll be a mess.
Everything in the cloud ? how fast to scroll through your library ?
Slow or lost internet connection ? you're stuffed.

Lightroom is fantastic as it is. All it needs is refinement and maintenance.
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: digitaldog on September 26, 2017, 12:31:49 pm
If you've managed to sucker so many people into subscriptions that you can make $4billion* a year without much innovation, why bother doing anything more ?
So every customer is a sucker. You don't suppose a few find the price to benefit ratio to their liking and have zero issue subscribing to the product?
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: digitaldog on September 26, 2017, 12:33:22 pm
Sounds dreadful. The same interface on mobile and desktop ? That'll be a mess.
Everything in the cloud ? how fast to scroll through your library ?
Slow or lost internet connection ? you're stuffed.

Lightroom is fantastic as it is. All it needs is refinement and maintenance.
Agreed, Adobe is spending way too much of it's (limited?) resources on the web stuff while the desktop application gets so little love. Or maybe version 7 will have a slew of new performance increases and new features. Maybe.
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: Rhossydd on September 26, 2017, 12:34:01 pm
So every customer is a sucker.
I didn't write that, pay attention.
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: digitaldog on September 26, 2017, 12:35:59 pm
I didn't write that, pay attention.
Then forgive me if it was attached to your name; whoever wrote it should seriously consider the question.
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: Alan Goldhammer on September 26, 2017, 02:03:56 pm
So every customer is a sucker. You don't suppose a few find the price to benefit ratio to their liking and have zero issue subscribing to the product?
Andrew, Affinity Photo is a reasonable alternative to PS and available for a flat fee.  It can be used with LR pretty easily.  I've seen no reason to move over to the CC version of LR/PS and now use Affinity Photo regularly even though I have a copy of PS CS6.  Now maybe Adobe refuses to market a stand alone version of LR when the new version is released.  If so, I and others who have taken the same path will have to evaluate things and make a decision.
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: digitaldog on September 26, 2017, 02:06:35 pm
Andrew, Affinity Photo is a reasonable alternative to PS and available for a flat fee. 
I know, I own (purchased a license) for it!
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: Rhossydd on September 26, 2017, 02:15:18 pm
If so, I and others who have taken the same path will have to evaluate things and make a decision.
Capture One is a fine alternative to LR. I prefer LR, but it wouldn't be a major problem to switch.
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: rdonson on September 26, 2017, 02:44:18 pm
My question is what Lr competitor offers DAM?
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: ButchM on September 26, 2017, 03:58:04 pm
Presumably Lightroom 7 / CC 2017 will be introduced at or before Adobe Max in October: note the featured session by Julieanne Kost covering the "future of photography: capturing, editing and sharing from anywhere".

So they are sandbagging support for the Nikon D850 in Lightroom so as to be the showcase a Adobe Max? Then why not sit on ACR 9.12.1 until then?
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: Whitney Dunn on September 26, 2017, 04:16:47 pm
Sounds dreadful. The same interface on mobile and desktop ? That'll be a mess.
Everything in the cloud ? how fast to scroll through your library ?
Slow or lost internet connection ? you're stuffed.

Hmm, not sure I agree with you on those points. For the interface, the idea would be the same paradigm and design language, but optimized for a pointer, not touch. That also allows for greater density, exposing elements and options that are tucked away on phones and, to a lesser extent, iPads. Have you tried LR Mobile on an iPad? It’s very good; IMHO a more efficient, effective program than LR for desktop.

And no, cloud centric design would not slow your library browsing. There’re different possible implementations of that model. The bare minimum simply requires the library—but not photos—to be synced through Adobe’s servers. The next step would be hosting the originals online. But every connected device would still keep a copy of the library, previews of every image, and, depending on storage and preferences, a local cache of recently imported or edited photos, or all of them. Each device can pull non-local originals down as needed. This is, in fact, how Apple Photos handles it, and browsing on that program is faster than on LR.

Regardless, if Adobe does go down the Project Nimbus route, I’d still expect them to leave the option where to store the originals to each user; there’d be no mandatory cloud upload.

Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: Whitney Dunn on September 26, 2017, 04:52:37 pm
So they are sandbagging support for the Nikon D850 in Lightroom so as to be the showcase a Adobe Max? Then why not sit on ACR 9.12.1 until then?

The lack of D850 support doesn’t make much sense. Even presuming they intend to announce a new Lightroom at Adobe Max, there’s no obvious reason to hold that support back now. The only three explanations I can think of are: there’s some technical problem with the D850 and LR; all the team’s resources are devoted to polishing the new program; and D850 support will be exclusive to the new program.

The first and second explanations don’t seem particularly plausible, and would imply a poorly managed team, while the third would be absurdly customer hostile.
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: Rhossydd on September 26, 2017, 05:23:54 pm
Have you tried LR Mobile on an iPad? It’s very good; IMHO a more efficient, effective program than LR for desktop.
If you seriously think that a 10" screen without effective colour management is better than a properly calibrated, colour managed desktop screen it's really not worth discussing anything else with you.
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: TomFrerichs on September 26, 2017, 06:20:33 pm
The lack of D850 support doesn’t make much sense. Even presuming they intend to announce a new Lightroom at Adobe Max, there’s no obvious reason to hold that support back now. The only three explanations I can think of are: there’s some technical problem with the D850 and LR; all the team’s resources are devoted to polishing the new program; and D850 support will be exclusive to the new program.

The first and second explanations don’t seem particularly plausible, and would imply a poorly managed team, while the third would be absurdly customer hostile.
Adobe tends to offer more than new camera support in a dot release; there are also bug fixes. And, of course, even adding new cameras requires almost a new install, although I think the last few times it has been patching rather than a full install. I may be wrong.

So, it's quite possible that Adobe doesn't see any utility in adding support for a new camera when they might have another version ready to roll out.

An historical example is this: Adobe didn't add support for the Nikon D7200 until the release of LR6. The release did follow much closer on the release of an ACR that processed those RAWS, but it has happened.

Tom
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: Whitney Dunn on September 26, 2017, 06:51:40 pm
If you seriously think that a 10" screen without effective colour management is better than a properly calibrated, colour managed desktop screen it's really not worth discussing anything else with you.

More efficient and effective does not mean better. The desktop version is still the more capable one: colour and print management, direct integration with Photoshop, etc. But LR Mobile avoids some design pratfalls which have hobbled it from the beginning — no modules, for one, and no awkward disjunction between files and collections, for another. Sync is integral, not bolted on. And LR Mobile seems more responsive, presumably — and this is speculation on my part — since it was first built for low powered devices and leverages newer technologies from Apple and Microsoft.

So yes, more efficient and effective. Combining those attributes with the full desktop capabilities would, in my mind, be ideal.
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: ButchM on September 26, 2017, 08:21:37 pm

An historical example is this: Adobe didn't add support for the Nikon D7200 until the release of LR6. The release did follow much closer on the release of an ACR that processed those RAWS, but it has happened.

Tom

The only flaw with your example is the D7200 was indeed held over to Lr v6 ...but is was also held over to ACR v9 as well. ACR 9.12.1 was released on Sept. 6, 2017 with support for the D850. It is rare for Adobe to have such a split in release dates for ACR and Lr.
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: Rick Popham on September 27, 2017, 03:36:56 am
Regardless of the existence of a private beta for a completely new iteration ... something more than usual must be in the mix. Otherwise, where is the normal update for Lr to balance the scales with ACR 9.12.1?

Surely there is nothing in that updates that should rock the boat with Lightroom 6.x. I would think it would be rare for the addition of one new camera, four new lens profiles and color fixes for one camera would be the cause of such a delay. So it begs the question as why there has been such a relatively lengthy delay and no update for Lr.

Let's hope it's not another round of 'improvements' for the import process.  ::)

I'm a little worried that it might have something to do with this:

Adobe Survey (http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=117898.0)
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: Walter Rowe on October 18, 2017, 06:58:17 am
My question is what Lr competitor offers DAM?
Capture One Pro. V10.2 was released with D850 support pretty much alongside the camera announcement.
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: kirkt on October 18, 2017, 09:47:13 am
 A while ago, Schewe started a thread asking the question what would you like to see if Thomas (Knoll) designed a new Photoshop for photographers?  Here is the thread:

http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=78240.0

The thread was started in 2013.  Here is Jeff's opening paragraph:

Quote
Thomas Knoll designed Photoshop over 27 years ago for a very different time and technology and user base well before digital cameras and printers. But, Photoshop evolved over the years to be everything for everybody...so, if Thomas were to through everything out and start over from scratch to design a new version, a Photoshop for Photographers (and not web, design, prepress, science nor video) what would be a core set of features?

I think that photographers would agree that much of Photoshop is unnecessary for their workflow and that Lightroom is almost the perfect tool - in fact, Lightroom is actually called "Photoshop Lightroom" - or at least it was, maybe it still is.  If the Lightroom program at Adobe really wanted to repair its image and solidify its user base, it would behoove its team to take a risk and consider starting over.  A lot has changed with camera technology, computing platforms and workflow requirements since Lightroom's inception.  There are good things about Lightroom, there are bad things and there are things that people may want to embrace but can't with the current implementation.

If Adobe really is serious about not just improving tools and workflow for photographers, but innovating and advancing the field, then I believe it might be time to take a good hard look in the mirror and do something awesome.  Patching a well-worn application might be a short-term fix, but I think the world is ready for something way better.  The smaller companies that are nibbling around the edges of this need give one the idea of what can be done, but it will take an Adobe to show the world of photography how it really is done well, if they choose to step up to the plate and do it right.  I have to believe that this is, at some level, going on at Adobe now.

A nodal, customizable application that permits the user to configure their work environment and cull, edit and output their images quickly, efficiently and with the highest quality and creative flow is a simple request.  In the design world, as the saying goes, you have quality, speed and cost - pick two.  Well, I think most folks have been forced to accept the cost for a while now, leaving them only one other choice, at the expense of their enjoyment of Lightroom.  For a lot of folks, their investment in time and money in an Adobe-dependent workflow keeps them tethered to the application.  My guess is that the underlying sentiment in the Adobe survey was that users are a little fed up with having to accept the cost, at the expense of having to use software that is not only stale, bloated and inefficient, but also lagging behind smaller, more innovative applications that leave Adobe users less and less convinced to continue paying the subscription.  Of course you can "vote with your wallet" and abandon Adobe; however, I think a lot of us long-time Adobe users hope that Adobe can get their act together and give birth to something truly extraordinary.

True innovation takes visionary leadership and an emphasis on investment in the artists, engineers and designers, not the shareholders.  Here's hoping.

It will be interesting to see if LR 7 is just a new splash screen, with "bug fixes" and another UI facelift, or if it is something that is truly innovative and validates users' increasingly painful decision to stay patient with Adobe.

kirk
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: davidgp on October 18, 2017, 10:03:17 am

It will be interesting to see if LR 7 is just a new splash screen, with "bug fixes" and another UI facelift, or if it is something that is truly innovative and validates users' increasingly painful decision to stay patient with Adobe.


New version has just been announced: http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=121083.0
Title: Re: LR7 in beta?
Post by: kirkt on October 18, 2017, 10:14:28 am
New version has just been announced: http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=121083.0

Chaos!  Now there are four versions of Lightroom, and v7 no longer will offer perpetual licenses.

So, it appears that the Classic CC version is the desktop CC version and Lightroom CC is the cloud-based version, currently in v1.0.  Well, this ought to be interesting.  It appears that the Classic CC version has gotten refined masking tools and whatever speed improvements one might realize on their machine.  Thanks for the links @davidgp.  I noticed in my CC desktop application that the Classic version is available for update.

Well, hopefully v8 will be the paradigm shift.

kirk