Where is Lightroom 6?

[Hans Kruse]

Now we have had an update to Lightroom every year in May/June although some years probably not since we are at 5.6 since the start in 2007. I see lots of announcements from Adobe and mobile stuff which is nice but what about Lightroom?

[Simon Garrett]

From Wikipedia:

Lightroom 1 beta: 29 Jan 2007, Release Feb 2007 (I think)
Lightroom 2 beta: April 2008, Release July 2008
Lightroom 3 beta: October 2009, Release June 2010
Lightroom 4 beta: Jan 2012, Release March 2012
Lightroom 5 beta: April 2013, Release June 2013

This ties with my credit card records for the release versions.  In other words: the interval between major releases varies from 15 months to nearly 2 years.  And the beta period varies from 2 months to 8 months.

[Geraldo Garcia]

It is just around the corner, for sure. Not that I know how far we are from the corner, though!
There are some very nice improvements on camera raw that are missing from the current lightroom and this is an obvious evidence that something is on the oven.

[eliedinur]

Since ACR 8.7 was released a couple days ago, it seems likely there will soon be an LR 5.7, which would push back the schedule on LR 6.

[Simon Garrett]

Since ACR 8.7 was released a couple days ago, it seems likely there will soon be an LR 5.7, which would push back the schedule on LR 6.

Not necessarily.  There will be an LR 5.7 in a few weeks when we get ACR 8.7, but these are maintenance releases largely to support new cameras an lenses.  At some time in the coming months (but unrelated to that) there is likely to be a beta for LR 6 followed by several (or many) months of beta testing, and there could even be an LR5.8 by the time LR6 is released. 

[CatOne]

Since ACR 8.7 was released a couple days ago, it seems likely there will soon be an LR 5.7, which would push back the schedule on LR 6.

I don't see how this follows at all. Engineering teams are pretty much always adding small enhancements/fixes to the current version of a product, while simultaneously working on the next version of the product.

[PhotoEcosse]

I suspect that users of the CC rental package will see future Lightroom updates long before they are released to mere perpetual licence mortals like us.

[jrsforums]

I suspect that users of the CC rental package will see future Lightroom updates long before they are released to mere perpetual licence mortals like us.

I doubt that.  I think we will see a generally available beta, much as we have seen before.  The consumer testing has worked well for Adobe and I can see no reason for them to not continue it.

[alifatemi]

Do you think 6is in the Cloud?!

[john beardsworth]

No, but there are cloud-enabled features (LRmobile and web).

[Hans Kruse]

Thanks for the responses. I can see Adobe buys many other places so maybe Lightroom is a bit on the back burner, but I surely do look forward to what could be in LR6.

[rogan]

I don't care about features, just speed. And as Schewe has said, a retina large screen will only slow it down more. Exporting jpegs is painfully slow. Isn't there a way to use the already generated previews like c1 does to export jpegs quickly. I frequently have to do a 1000-2000 at a time and LR is hours where c1 is minutes with d800 files. Also, ingesting a card is crazy slow. Why is it so much faster to copy it to the desktop and then import it yet c1 flies when importing from the same cards? Also, building previews is way to slow. If feels like it's not trying to take over the whole machine as cores are never close to half used.......SPEED please.

[Hans Kruse]

I don't care about features, just speed. And as Schewe has said, a retina large screen will only slow it down more. Exporting jpegs is painfully slow. Isn't there a way to use the already generated previews like c1 does to export jpegs quickly. I frequently have to do a 1000-2000 at a time and LR is hours where c1 is minutes with d800 files. Also, ingesting a card is crazy slow. Why is it so much faster to copy it to the desktop and then import it yet c1 flies when importing from the same cards? Also, building previews is way to slow. If feels like it's not trying to take over the whole machine as cores are never close to half used.......SPEED please.

It is possible to export from smart previews which is about 3x faster than from RAW from what I measured on my MBP 15" late 2013 model (2,3Ghz i7 quad core). In order to export from smart previews you need to have the RAW files on an external drive. First generate the smart previews which takes about 1,2 second per D810 RAW file and then export which is about 0,8 second per fil (TIFF or JPG) but they are not full resolution (2178x1158). Full export of D810 files were about 5 seconds per RAW file running two exports in parallel. For a single export it was about 6,3 seconds per RAW file. These exports were to full resolution TIFF files. Some files were edited and others only minimally and they all had lens corrections applied. So if your exports are to a resolution smaller than what the smart previews provide there is a solution for you that is 3x faster. With two parallel exports all cores were fully loaded as much as they can. Remember a quad core i7 will show 8 cores in the task manager on the Mac but the 8 cores are not real cores and can never be fully loaded.

[digitaldog]

It is just around the corner, for sure. Not that I know how far we are from the corner, though!

Bad idea to even speculate these days. And the old saying holds true: Those that know can't and will not say. Those that don't know have a lot to say, much of it not worth listening to.

[rogan]

Thanks Hans, will give it a try.

[rogan]

So once I have created smart previews is there a trick to speeding up exports to jpeg or do I just use the standard export dialog box and chose pixels and quality. Seems like there should be a setting so it outputs them to already created sizes?
Thanks again

[Hans Kruse]

So once I have created smart previews is there a trick to speeding up exports to jpeg or do I just use the standard export dialog box and chose pixels and quality. Seems like there should be a setting so it outputs them to already created sizes?
Thanks again

I forgot to mention one important thing. After you generated the smart previews, you need to unmount the external drive. Otherwise the exports will be done on the RAWs and full resolution. When the external drive is not mounted the exports will be done on the smart previews.

The resolution I mentioned is the maximum you can output when exporting from smart previews. But you can resize to a smaller output size if your JPG's are just intended for selection with final edit later. If that is what you are doing and the reason for large number of JPG's exported then you could attach the external drive again and export those selected. Another thought if this is your scenario is to use Lightroom mobile on an iPad. when you sync with the LR Mobile it is doen via smart previews automatically and you don't need to export anything. Just create a collection with the photos and then mark the collection for synch with LR mobile. Then in LR mobile on the iPad you can pick and rate photos and this goes back into LR on the Mac/PC and you can then select the ones chosen for final edit and publishing. Does this make sense?

[rogan]

ARGGGGG such hacky workarounds......ADOBE, please help. Should just be an option in the export dialog box......
Thanks though Hans. Not sure than will work on a day in day out job basis.....Good to know it is possible though

[Hans Kruse]

ARGGGGG such hacky workarounds......ADOBE, please help. Should just be an option in the export dialog box......
Thanks though Hans. Not sure than will work on a day in day out job basis.....Good to know it is possible though

Well, well, I spent a lifetime dealing with software Now just in a different way.

But please tell us what is your workflow since you need to export that many JPG's. Was my theory right or not?

[rogan]

I'm an advertising photographer that shoots people. Normal day is 1000-4000 images and clients want to walk with jpegs at the end of the day. If we get done shooting at 6 the difference between c1 and LR is me leaving the set at 645 or 10 pm.......
I shoot to a MBPr or a iMac with SSD so I always shoot to internal for the speed and about half is tethered. I backup throughout the day but prefer for speed and stability to shoot to internal.