LR7 in beta?

[dreed]

According to a story on photorumors, 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.

[digitaldog]

Those that know can't say.
Those that don't know say lots that's often wrong.

[Damon Lynch]

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 

[ButchM]

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. 

[Alan Goldhammer]

I can only say that I am NOT an LR7 beta tester!   I think I am on the list to beta test LR8 however.

[rdonson]

Alan, is that LR8 or URL8 

[Rhossydd]

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

[Alan Goldhammer]

Alan, is that LR8 or URL8

Not certain other than it does NOT employ Flash.

[Whitney Dunn]

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? 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.

[Rhossydd]

or Project 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.

[digitaldog]

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?

[digitaldog]

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.

[Rhossydd]

So every customer is a sucker.

I didn't write that, pay attention.

[digitaldog]

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.

[Alan Goldhammer]

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.

[digitaldog]

Andrew, Affinity Photo is a reasonable alternative to PS and available for a flat fee. 

I know, I own (purchased a license) for it!

[Rhossydd]

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.

[rdonson]

My question is what Lr competitor offers DAM?

[ButchM]

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?

[Whitney Dunn]

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.