Here’s a quick summary of what’s new in this release:

• Improved performance throughout the application for faster importing and loading of images
• Native tethered shooting support for select Nikon and Canon DSLR cameras
• Luminance noise reduction has been added to the previous color noise reduction improvements available in the first public beta for outstanding overall high ISO quality
• Support for importing and managing video files from DSLR cameras for better overall photographic workflow control
• Improvements to the import experience in the first beta to reflect public feedback
• Improved watermarking functionality from the first beta to reflect public feedback

Here are a few early resources on Lightroom 3 beta 2.

Julieanne Kost walks through the changes in Lightroom 3 beta 2
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/what-s-new-in-lightroom-3-beta/whats-new-in-lightroom-3-beta-2/

A comprehensive blog post by Ian Lyons
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr3_beta_2_preview/lr3-beta2-1.htm

Victoria Bampton adds her detailed notes on the beta update
http://www.lightroomqueen.com/blog/2010/03/23/whats-new-in-lightroom-30-beta2/

Jeffrey Friedl provides a new Snapshot on Export plug-in that only works with Lightroom 3 beta 2
http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/snapshot-on-export

Sean McCormack posts his thoughts on the Lightroom-blog:
http://lightroom-blog.com/2010/03/lightroom-3-beta-2.html

Adobe today announced the immediate availability of Lightroom 2.6, Photoshop Camera Raw 5.6 and DNG Converter 5.6 on Adobe.com. Originally posted as release candidates for community testing on Adobe Labs, these final versions include raw file support for 20 new popular camera models, including the Canon EOS 7D and Nikon D3s. Additional DNG support has been added for the Leica M9 and Ricoh GXR camera models. A full list of the newly supported cameras is below.

The updates also provide a fix for an issue affecting PowerPC customers using the final Lightroom 2.5 and Camera Raw 5.5 updates on the Mac. The issue, introduced in the demosaic change to address sensors with unequal green response, has the potential to create artifacts in the highlight area while using the Highlight Recovery tool in raw files from Sony, Olympus, Panasonic and various medium format digital camera backs.

Adobe would like to thank everyone who downloaded and provided feedback on the Lightroom 2.6 and Camera Raw 5.6 Release Candidates. Lightroom 2 software is today’s digital photography workflow solution, allowing photographers to quickly import, process, manage and showcase images, and the Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in provides fast and easy access within Photoshop to the raw image formats produced by many leading digital cameras. Adobe’s Digital Negative (DNG) format is a publicly available archival format for the raw files generated by digital cameras.

Pricing and Availability
Lightroom 2.6 is available as a free download for existing Lightroom 2 customers, and Photoshop Camera Raw 5.6 is available as a free download for existing customers of Photoshop CS4, Photoshop Elements 8 (Win/Mac) and Premiere Elements 8. DNG Converter 5.6 is also available as a free download for all customers. Click here for more information and to download the updates: www.adobe.com/downloads/updates.

Newly Supported Camera Models

Canon EOS 1D Mark IV
Canon EOS 7D
Canon PowerShot G11
Canon PowerShot S90
Leaf Aptus II 5
Mamiya DM22, DM28, DM33, DM56, M18, M22, M31
Nikon D3s
Olympus E-P2
Pentax K-x
Panasonic FZ38
Sigma DP1s
Sony A500
Sony A550
Sony A850

Adobe has announced that Photoshop Camera Raw 5.6, Lightroom 2.6 and DNG Converter 5.6 Release Candidates are available for immediate download on Adobe Labs. The term ‘release candidate’ means this update is well tested but would benefit from additional community testing to provide the highest quality experience for customers working on a variety of hardware and software configurations.

The updates add raw file support for 19 new popular camera models, including the Canon EOS 7D and Nikon D3s, with additional DNG support added for the Leica M9 camera model. A full list of the newly supported cameras is below. The Release Candidates also provide a fix for an issue affecting PowerPC customers using the final Lightroom 2.5 and Camera Raw 5.5 updates on the Mac. The issue, introduced in the demosaic change to address sensors with unequal green response, has the potential to create artifacts in the highlight area while using the Highlight Recovery tool in raw files from Sony, Olympus, Panasonic and various medium format digital camera backs.

Photoshop Lightroom 2 software is today’s digital photography workflow solution, allowing photographers to quickly import, process, manage and showcase images. The Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in provides fast and easy access within Photoshop to the raw image formats produced by many leading digital cameras, and Adobe’s Digital Negative (DNG) format is a publicly available archival format for the raw files generated by digital cameras.

Pricing and Availability

The Lightroom 2.6 Release Candidate is available as a free download for existing Lightroom 2 customers, and the Photoshop Camera Raw 5.6 Release Candidate is available as a free download for existing customers of Photoshop CS4. The DNG Converter 5.6 Release Candidate is also available as a free download for all customers. Click here for more information and to test out the updates: http://labs.adobe.com/. Feedback can be provided on the Adobe User to User forum (http://forums.adobe.com).

Newly Supported Camera Models

Canon EOS 7D
Canon PowerShot G11
Canon PowerShot S90
Leaf Aptus II 5
Mamiya DM22, DM28, DM33, DM56, M18, M22, M31
Nikon D3s
Olympus E-P2
Pentax K-x
Panasonic FZ38
Sigma DP1s
Sony A500
Sony A550
Sony A850

Adobe today released the final Photoshop Lightroom 2.4 and Camera Raw 5.4 updates, available for immediate download at www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/. Both updates bring additional raw file support to 31 camera and camera back models including the Canon EOS 500D, Nikon D5000 and 18 Hasselblad models. A full list of the newly supported camera and camera back models is below.

In addition, Adobe released an update to its Digital Negative specification (DNG), the public archival format for digital camera raw data. DNG addresses the lack of an open standard for raw files created by individual camera models, helping to ensure that photographers will be able to access their files in the future.

DNG 1.3 now includes opcodes, a defined list of operations and their parameters for performing complex activities in the raw file conversion process. These activities include corrections and enhancements that are beneficial when performed prior to the demosaic process but are difficult due to a camera’s limited processing power. They also include corrections and enhancements that can only be performed after the demosaic process such as lens correction. By utilizing opcodes, photographers can maintain the advantages of raw mosaic data, giving them increased opportunity to improve their photographs with the maximum amount of image data preserved. The DNG SDK has also been updated to reflect the changes to the specification.

Pricing and Availability

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.4 update is available as a free download for existing Lightroom 2 customers and Camera Raw 5.4 is available as a free download for existing customers of Photoshop CS4, Photoshop Elements 7, Premiere Elements 7 and Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac. For more information and to download the updates visit: www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/. Details on the updated DNG Specification and SDK are available on www.adobe.com/dng.

Additional Supported Camera and Camera Back Models

Canon EOS 500D (Digital Rebel T1i /Kiss X3 Digital)

Canon PowerShot SX1 IS

Epson R-D1x

Hasselblad (3FR files only) CF-22, CF-22MS, CF-39, CF-39MS, CFH-22, CFH-39, CFV, 503CWD, H2D-22, H2D-39, H3D-22, H3D-31, H3D-39, H3DII-22, H3DII-31, H3DII-39, H3DII-39MS, H3DII-50

Kodak EasyShare Z980

Nikon D5000

Olympus E-450

Olympus E-620

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1

Pentax K-7

Sigma DP2

Sony A230

Sony A330

Sony A380

This movie extract is from  Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop.

One of the top requests for Camera Raw and Lightroom has been to include perspective corrections, so that users can apply perspective corrections to raw images. It so happens there is already a method in Camera Raw and Photoshop that will allow you to correct the perspective of a raw photograph while keeping the image in its original raw file state. This isn’t exactly a hidden feature in Camera Raw, but this movie does demonstrate a workaround for correcting perspective of raw files while keeping them fully editable in Camera Raw. Here’s how it can be done.

Please note this video is in Quicktime format. A player can be downloaded from apple.com.

This movie extract is a smaller version of the one found on the DVD disc that comes with  Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop, jointly authored by Martin Evening and Jeff Schewe. The book is published by Focal Press and contains 400 pages of tutorials and tips on how to achieve the best results out of Camera Raw and Photoshop. You can also find out more about the book by visiting the Photoshop for Photographers website where you can preview more of the content that will be appearing in this book.

The Lightroom 2.3 and Camera Raw 5.3 updates, originally posted as release candidates for community testing on Jan. 23, provide raw file support for the newly-released Nikon D3X and Olympus E-30 cameras. The Lightroom 2.3 update also provides support for eight additional languages including Dutch, Italian, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish, Swedish, Korean, Chinese (simplified) and Chinese (traditional). Additionally, it addresses several issues including a solution to a memory leak that affected some customers of the Lightroom 2.2 release. 

Pricing and Availability

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 update is available as a free download for existing Lightroom 2 customers and the Photoshop Camera Raw 5.3 plug-in is available as a free download for existing customers of Photoshop CS4, Photoshop Elements 7, Premiere Elements 7 and Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac. Both updates can be downloaded at www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/.

It seems some people see Conspiracy Theories where there really aren’t any. To address some users’ question Scott Kelby took the “easy way” out and did a video with Matt Kloskowski and talked about the timing of Lightroom 2, Photoshop CS4 with Camera Raw 5. I say “easy way” because it was easier for Scott and Matt to sit around talking than having to actually write (his words, not mine).

So check this post out (and watch the video if the mood strikes you–post comments on SCOTT’s blog, not here). Lightroom 2 vs. CS4 & Lightroom Conspiracy Theories

Press Release: BERKELEY, CALIF. (Aug. 25, 2008)— Peachpit today announced the publication of Lessons in DSLR Workflow with Lightroom and Photoshop , by seasoned photographer Jerry Courvoisier. This detailed guide, loaded with tips and techniques, delivers a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera workflow that allows readers to spend less time at their computer and more time behind the camera capturing great images. 

Now Scott isn’t just donating a portion of the proceeds, he’s donating the entire purchase price of all Lightroom 2 books sold today. Here’s a link to the story and a link to purchase the book from Kelby Training.

IMPORTANT: This opportunity to help out is available only today, Monday August 25th, 2008. Scott’s book is scheduled for delivery in early September. Not available with any other discounts. As always, Shipping & Handing is extra.

Lightroom-News.com (Photoshop News’ sister site) has posted an interview with Tom Hogarty, the Product Manager for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (can you say that in one breath?). Tom is also Product Manager for Camera Raw and DNG. Our own Martin Evening did the interview (pretty much by email although I think there were a few phone calls thrown in as well–particularly about a “permissions” issue).

Read the interview here.

Note: the portrait of Tom is uncredited (and no, I didn’t do it).

From the DNG Profiles page:

Overview
We have been actively working on improving color rendering for digital raw photographs. Our new color rendering package contains the following components:

• the DNG 1.2 specification, which expands and formalizes the concept of a color profile for raw (i.e., scene-referred) image data captured by digital sensors,
• Adobe Standard camera profiles that significantly improve color rendering, especially in reds, yellows, and oranges,
• Camera Matching profiles that match the camera manufacturers’ color appearance,
• DNG Profile Editor, a free software utility for editing camera profiles

Public Beta
The new camera profiles and DNG Profile Editor are being initially distributed online in public beta form. This public beta gives photographers the opportunity to try these new tools and provide feedback before we finalize them.

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Requirements
The new Adobe Standard and Camera Matching camera profiles require Camera Raw 4.5 / Lightroom 2.0 or later. In general, they can be used in any raw converter that supports DNG 1.2.

These camera profiles will NOT work correctly with earlier versions of Camera Raw (i.e., 4.4.1 and earlier) and Lightroom (i.e., 1.4.1 and earlier). These earlier versions do not support DNG 1.2.

The DNG Profile Editor’s basic system requirements (i.e., CPU, operating system, and memory) are the same as Lightroom’s requirements.

Resources
Since the profiles and DNG Profile Editor are still in public beta, there is no official Adobe support for them. However, we have put together an online FAQ, tutorials, and documentation to help you get started with both the profiles and DNG Profile Editor. You are also encouraged to post questions in the User-To-User forums (see links below).

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
DNG Profile Editor Tutorials and Documentation
Adobe DNG Home Page (includes latest DNG specification and SDK)
Camera Raw User-To-User Forums
Lightroom User-To-User Forums
DNG User-To-User Forums

In addition to new camera support (now at over 180 cameras), Camera Raw 4.5 and DNG Converter 4.5 also adds support for rendering the newly released Lightroom 2.0 functionality.

The direct download pages are here; Macintosh, Windows

From the Camera Raw 4.5 Read Me:

Working with Lightroom 2 and Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw
Lightroom and Photoshop Camera Raw share the same image processing technology to ensureconsistent and compatible results across applications that support raw processing. These applications include Photoshop CS3, Photoshop Elements 6.0 and Premiere Elements 4.0. Photoshop Camera Raw 4.5

Adobe applications must be updated with the Camera Raw 4.5 plug-in in order to ensure compatibility with Lightroom 2 develop module settings. Photoshop CS3 users can update the Camera Raw plug-in automatically using the Update tool listed under the Help menu. The Camera Raw 4.5 plug-in can also be downloaded and installed manually by visiting the Adobe web site: www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/cameraraw.html. Please follow the installation instructions carefully.

Sharing Lightroom Settings with Camera Raw 4.5
By default, Lightroom’s develop module settings are stored in Lightroom’s database. In order to ensure that Lightroom develop settings can be viewed by Camera Raw 4.5 the settings must be written to the XMP metadata block for that file. This metadata is stored in an XMP sidecar file (Imagename.xmp) in the current image directory of proprietary raw files or stored directly within DNG files. To update images with the latest develop settings, choose the library module and select the group of target images. Choose the “Export XMP Metadata to File” option in the Metadata:XMP file menu. Note: This menu option is only available in the Lightroom Library.

Viewing Lightroom settings in Camera Raw 4.5
Before working in conjunction with Lightroom and Camera Raw please set the Camera Raw preference to: Save image settings in: Sidecar “.xmp” files. By default Camera Raw will display the image adjustments exactly as performed in Lightroom’s develop module. However, at this time Camera Raw 4.5 is unable to support further adjustments to the following settings or tools:
• Clone/Heal Opacity
• Post Crop Vignette
• Graduated Filter Adjustment
• Local Adjustment Brush
The controls currently available in Camera Raw 4.5 will continue to function normally and provide incremental edits beyond those performed in Lightroom. The Lightroom adjustments that are not available in Camera Raw 4.5 can be cleared by choosing the “Clear Imported Settings” option in the Camera Raw settings menu.

Viewing Camera Raw settings in Lightroom
Raw files edited by previous versions of Camera Raw files will maintain their previous appearance when imported into Lightroom. Note: Those files must have been edited with the preference set to Save image settings in: Sidecar “.xmp” files in order for Lightroom to respect the previous edit. Files edited in Camera Raw after importation into Lightroom can be updated in Lightroom by choosing the “Read Metadata from File” from the Metadata file menu. Note: This menu option is only available in the Lightroom Library.

This new version of the Camera Raw plug-in replaces the original Camera Raw plug-in that was installed with Photoshop CS3, Photoshop Elements 6.0 and Premiere Elements 4.0. The Camera Raw 4.5 plug-in is not compatible with versions of Photoshop earlier than Photoshop CS3 or versions of Photoshop Elements earlier than Photoshop Elements 5.0 for Windows and Photoshop Elements 4.01 for Mac.

The latest version of the Camera Raw plug-in available for Photoshop Elements 3.0 customers is Camera Raw 3.6. The latest version of the Camera Raw plug-in available for Photoshop Elements 4.0 (Windows) is Camera Raw 3.7.

Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Creative Suite 3:
Automated installation on Mac or Windows®:
1. Select “Updates…” from the Help menu

2. Follow the on-screen dialogs to download and install the latest available Camera Raw update

Manual installation on Mac or Windows®:
Windows®:
1. Exit Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Bridge.
2. Open My Computer.
3. Double-click Local Disk (C:).
4. Navigate to Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Plug-Ins\CS3\File Formats.
5. Move the existing Camera Raw.8bi plug-in to another location (for example, a new folder on your desktop). Ensure you keep this version in case you need to revert back.
6. Copy the Camera Raw plug-in, Camera Raw.8bi, from the download into the same folder as Step 4.
7. Launch Photoshop CS3 or Adobe Bridge.

Mac:
1. Exit Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Bridge.
2. Open the Finder.
3. Navigate to the root of the local disk (not the user’

s home folder).
4. Navigate to Library/Application Support/Adobe/Plug-Ins/CS3/File Formats.
5. Move the existing plug-in to another location (for example, a new folder on your desktop). Ensure you keep this version in case you need to revert back.
6. Copy the Camera Raw plug-in, Camera Raw, from the download into the same folder as in Step 4.
7. Launch Photoshop CS3 or Adobe Bridge.

Photoshop Elements:
Windows®:
1. Exit Photoshop Elements.
2. Open My Computer.
3. Double-click Local Disk (C:).
4. Navigate to Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 6.0\Plug-Ins\File Formats
5. Move the existing Camera Raw.8bi plug-in to another location (for example, a new folder on your desktop). Ensure you keep this version in case you need to revert back.
6. Copy the Camera Raw plug-in, Camera Raw.8bi, from the download into the same folder as Step 4.
7. Launch Photoshop Elements

Mac:
Photoshop Elements
1. Exit Photoshop Elements and Adobe Bridge.
2. Open the Finder.
3. Navigate to the root of the local disk (not the user’

s home folder).
4. Navigate to location designated by your version of Photoshop Elements:
a. Photoshop Elements 4.01: Library/Application Support/Adobe/Plug-Ins/CS2/File Formats
b. Photoshop Elements 6: Library/Application Support/Adobe/Plug-Ins/CS3/File Formats
5. Move the existing plug-in to another location (for example, a new folder on your desktop). Ensure you keep this version in case you need to revert back.
6. Copy the Camera Raw plug-in, Camera Raw, from the download into the same folder as in Step 4.
7. Launch Photoshop Elements or Adobe Bridge.

Premiere Elements:
Windows®:
1. Exit Premiere Elements.
2. Open My Computer.
3. Double-click Local Disk (C:).
4. Navigate to location designated by your version of Premiere Elements:
a. Premiere Elements 3.0: Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Elements 3.0\Plug-Ins\ Common\PSA
b. Premiere Elements 4.0: Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Elements 4.0\Plug-Ins\ Common\PSA
5. Move the existing Camera Raw.8bi plug-in to another location (for example, a new folder on your
desktop). Ensure you keep this version in case you need to revert back.
6. Copy the Camera Raw plug-in, Camera Raw.8bi, from the download into the folder designated in Step 4.
7. Launch Premiere Elements

Major Software Upgrade Further Simplifies Photography Workflows

Press Release: SAN JOSE, Calif. — July 29, 2008 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the immediate availability of Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 2 software, the photographer’s essential toolbox for managing, adjusting and presenting large volumes of digital photographs. With new enhancements such as dual-monitor support, radical advances in non-destructive localized image correction, and streamlined search capabilities, Lightroom 2 is a compelling upgrade that simplifies photography from shoot to finish. As Adobe’s first application to support 64-bit for Mac OS X 10.5 Macintosh computers with Intel® processors and Microsoft® Windows® Vista® 64bit operating systems, Lightroom 2 also provides improved memory performance for dealing with large scale images.

“A worldwide community of photographers provided valuable insight and feedback, as part of the Lightroom 2 public beta program, ultimately helping us deliver a better product,” said Tom Hogarty, senior product manager for Lightroom and Camera Raw at Adobe. “We’ve considered their requests which helped us develop useful features that make it easier than ever for our customers to quickly refine, enhance and present brilliant photographs.

Photoshop Lightroom 2: Smarter, Faster and More Accurate
The enhanced Library module in Lightroom 2 helps streamline and accelerate photographers’workflows. With the ability to visually organize images across multiple hard drives, Lightroom 2 and its powerful Library Filter Bar makes it easy for users to quickly find the images they need. The Suggested Keywords feature helps photographers keyword their images by making intelligent suggestions based on their own previous efforts. New dual-monitor support allows users to expand their workspace, giving them flexibility to edit and organize images in a way that maximizes an additional display.

In the Develop module, the new Local Adjustment Brush lets photographers fine-tune specific areas of an image to precisely adjust color, exposure and tonal range without affecting other areas of the image. The new Graduated Filter expands the toolbox in Lightroom, allowing for edits to larger areas by applying gradually diminishing or increasing adjustment effects such as exposure, clarity, and saturation, alone, or in any combination. Lightroom 2 also helps photographers print more efficiently by quickly arranging photos of multiple sizes on one or many pages with flexible and customizable templates to maximize paper and ink. Intelligent algorithms automatically determine optimal sharpening for screen or print, producing crisper images faster.

Developers can further extend the Lightroom workflow with Web, Export and Metadata Software Development Kits available at the Adobe Developer Connection, http://www.adobe.com/devnet/.

Ground-Breaking Innovation in Raw Technology
New raw technology gives photographers access to flexible camera profiles. Camera profiles are the visual starting point for the raw processing workflow, but image preferences vary for every photographer. To minimize surprises, Adobe is supplying default camera profiles that closely emulate the visual looks that photographers are used to seeing from their favorite camera, while also providing the ability to create highly customized profiles to suit different tastes. Camera profiles are available for immediate download on Adobe Labs (http://labs.adobe.com) for use with Lightroom 2 and Camera Raw 4.5, along with the DNG Profile Editor for the community to test and create their own profiles.

The Adobe Camera Raw 4.5 plug-in and DNG Converter 4.5 are also now available on Adobe.com and support over 190 camera models including the Olympus E 420 and E 520 models.

“One of the big reasons why Lightroom has become such a phenomenon among serious photographers is that Adobe built it with the input of a very vocal user community,” said Scott Kelby, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP). “Adobe really listens to the issues and challenges today’s photographers face and they’ve built a complete solution that not only meets the needs of photographers; it really feels like it was made just for us. The enhancements to Lightroom 2, combined with the power of Photoshop, give photographers the ultimate freedom to produce professional images quickly.”

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 is available now through the Adobe Store at www.adobe.com/store in English, French and German with the Japanese language version planned to be released at a future date. The estimated street price is USD$299 for new users with an upgrade price of USD$99 for registered users of qualifying Lightroom customers. Recommended system requirements are Macintosh OSX 10.4, 10.5 1 GHz PowerPC G4 or G5 or Intel® based processor, or Microsoft Windows® XP SP2 or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise, Intel Pentium 4® processor, 1 GB RAM and a 1024×768 resolution screen. Additional information on product features, upgrade policies, pricing, and language versions is available on www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information –anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

© 2008 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Mac, Mac OS and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows Vista are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United Sates and/or other countries. Pentium is a trademark or registered trademark of Intel Corporation, or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

George Jardine, Adobe evangelist for Lightroom and digital photography is leaving Adobe effective the beginning of this month, July, 2008. George has winamp posted his farewell on his blog and can be read here.

This is the second time George has done time at Adobe. He had worked with Russell Brown during the 1990’s acting as evangelist for Photoshop. He left and turned to working in video and other mediums. He came back to Adobe for the purpose of working on Shadowland (AKA Lightroom) with Mark Hamburg. You can read the PSN story on Shadowland’s development here.

George will be missed but not forgotten and I suspect he’ll be around Acronis the industry working on different projects after he takes his summer vacation. I know that after our recent bike trip together he went out and bought a new K1200 GT BMW motorcycle that he’ll be touring around on. We may hook up for another trip later in the summer.

I personally would like to say a hearty thanks and congratulations to George on the work he has done and what he has brought to Adobe. Thanks George…see ya around!

George Jardine has just posted a video podcast of photographer, Martin Evening at work in his London studio, using and discussing how Lightroom fits in with his studio workflow. It shows all the steps in a typical fashion shoot from discussing the brief to looking at the finished shots, as well as discussing his upcoming book on Lightroom 2.

Click here to read the LRN article.

Click here to go to George’s podcast info.

Mark Hamburg, founder of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and former architect of Photoshop is leaving Adobe for a post at Microsoft. Mark, who was the second engineer hired to work on Photoshop after Thomas Knoll, has been at Adobe for over 17 years. He joined Adobe in the fall of 1990–the year Photoshop 1.0 shipped.

He left the Photoshop team after Photoshop 7 shipped and spent time in Adobe’s Advanced Technology Group (ATG) where he worked on a “sandbox project” originally called PixelToy which was later renamed Shadowland. Adobe changed that name to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom when it was released as a public beta in January, 2006. See the PSN story The Shadowland/Lightroom Development Story for more info.

Since Mark has been a good friend and co-conspirator over the years, I decided to use some miles and fly out for his going away party at Adobe last week. Mark’s last day at Adobe was Wednesday, April 23, 2008.

Mark’s office was littered with boxes–it’s unclear if those were his new packed boxes or left over from the recent move to 10 West. The Lightroom team was recently moved onto the same floor as the Photoshop team (I guess in an attempt at “togetherness”). Right: Mark explains that he needed to work on one more Lightroom 2.0 bug before going to the video conference with the Minnesota team, his last such conference.

Here we are in one of Adobe’s video conference rooms on the 8th floor. On the screen is the Adobe Minnesota office’s Frostbite Falls conference room. See this story about the Minnesota office on PSN titled A Visit to the Adobe Lightroom Engineers for an explanation of conference room naming.

The two teams, one in San Jose and the one in Minnesota, reminisced about working with Mark. Some of the stories were funny, some poignant and some were melancholy–but all were good natured.

In an ironic twist, Minnesota actually had some pretty good wine while San Jose only had beer to toast with. I say ironic because most of the time the drinks of choice would be reversed (since Mark and George are a bit wine snobbish).

I lucked out and got a Pilsner Urquell…

Mark and Kevin Conner (right) joke about “life with Mark”. Kevin stated his most memorable aspect of Mark’s career was his pure refusal to accept anything but the best. Mark joked that it was “never too late to change a feature”.

My main comment represented the general consensus of the alpha testers who have worked with Mark over the years; “Be careful what you wish for because you just may get it”–and Mark will make it completely different than you thought it would be.

The last goodbye from Minnesota wishing Mark well.

Mark’s last walk down the Adobe halls (on his way to his Adobe HR exit interview).

We walked out of 345 Park Avenue on the way to the Paragon restaurant where Mark’s going away party was to be held.

VP of Engineering for the Digital Imaging Group, Winston Hendrickson (left) and Kevin Connor, Senior Director of Product Management for the same group (right) hosted the party (and paid for the first two rounds–well, I think they paid for every round actually–there were a lot of rounds).

Here’s Kevin saying a few “words” about Mark’s tenure at Adobe…

…and Mark listening carefully.

Kevin presented Mark with a going away present. A 3D print made by Russell Brown.

On close inspection you can see it says “Mr. Microsoft”. But the 3D part actually shows more…

Here’s the 3D arrangement of image planes (below) showing that Mark is actually holding a sign saying Mr. Lightroom that turns into a sign saying Mr. Microsoft. With fire below of course.

Another parting gift was a guitar (I believe from a Photoshop World keynote or party) signed by the “Photoshop World Dream Team” instructors including Scott Kelby, Dave Cross and others.

If you don’t know, Mark is a bit of a guitar buff (spending a lot more money on guitars than camera equipment).

Winston said a few words, claiming he will always go down as the guy who was Mark’s boss when Mark left Adobe.

Bryan Lamkin, former Senior VP of Adobe’s Creative Solutions Business Unit, showed up to say a few words as well. Bryan retired from Adobe in March of 2006 (see the PSN story)

Sean Parent (center in red: researcher at Adobe Systems and manager of the Adobe Software Technology Lab) recounted the time he had spent working with Mark on Photoshop, including the time he wrote a script on Mark’s computer to turn every iteration of the word Photoshop to be spelled PhotoShop (the intercap was a pet peeve of Hamburg’s).

Russell Brown also talked about the importance of Mark’s contributions to Photoshop.

Mark didn’t seem to mind all the attention.

But Mark’s son Gavin didn’t like so much attention–people with cameras…

Gavin decided to hide.

Gavin was pretty much done (he was hungry). Here is Ann, Mark’s wife getting ready to go to McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant for a last supper.

Kevin was melancholic. Obviously Adobe would have preferred not losing Mark, but Mark had already “made his mark” at Adobe and was looking for a new challenge. Mark on the other hand characterized his departure as the scariest thing he had ever done (and mentioned something about RAIN).

At the restaurant, Winston points out that Mark was missing. Seems the long goodbyes took a long time. Finally Mark showed up.

Zalman Stern (from the Camera Raw team) pours some wine for Ann. I think George picked the wine (he usually does, otherwise he tends to complain about the wine).

Mark was eating oysters (left) while Gavin got his fav grilled cheese.

In a more serious moment, Winston wishes Mark well.

Mark’s now defunct Adobe ID–pretty well worn out.

The next morning, Mark and Ann were due to fly up to Seattle to start house hunting. The prospects were daunting–Mark noted that Seattle had just had snow the previous weekend (April 19/20) and that housing costs in Seattle weren’t a lot cheaper than San Jose. And there’s this thing called “RAIN” up there…

As for Mark leaving Adobe, I wasn’t surprised. Mark had talked about leaving the Lightroom team after 2.0 shipped for the last few months. He felt he had pretty much done what he wanted to at Adobe: 11+ years on Photoshop and almost 6 years on Lightroom. And while Mark is a brilliant coder and conceptually creative in the digital imaging/processing realm, he felt a strong pull to do something completely different. For somebody like Mark, there are really very few options; a startup or going someplace where there are few if any limits. He was heavily recruited by Microsoft and given an unbeatable opportunity to work outside his normal digital imaging field. Mark was invited by David Vaskevitch to come lead a team working on the future of OS User Experience at Microsoft.

This is the way Mark phrased it:
Now, given that I find the current Windows experience really annoying and yet I keep having to deal with it, this opportunity was a little too interesting to turn down. I can’t imagine doing serious imaging anywhere other than Adobe, but, I needed to do something other than imaging for a while.

Mark is leaving the Lightroom team at a time when 2.0 is pretty much done except for the bugs (which Mark was literally working on his last day) and the future of Lightroom is really no longer in doubt. The team that Mark has helped assemble for Lightroom’s development and engineering will now actually be able to step out from underneath Mark’s rather large shadow and take Lightroom where it needs to go.

The raw processing pipeline that Lightroom uses is in the capable hands of Thomas Knoll, Zalman Stern and new hire Eric Chan (and a few others). So there will be no let down there. And Mark has long been gone (but not forgotten) when it comes to Photoshop (although the Photoshop team aways seems to get Mark to try to “explain his code” when they come across something he wrote).

The one thing I noted was the gracious manner in which Mark left and the way everybody at Adobe honestly wished him well. Yes, there was a sense of melancholy and a degree of sadness at Mark’s leaving. But no bridges have been burned and Mark will always have a home at Adobe (hey, Adobe even has a Seattle office if the Microsoft thingie doesn’t work out).

Good luck Mark and best wishes. To Microsoft I’ll only say “be careful what you wish for, you just may get it”…

:~)

The Lightroom 1.4.1 and Camera Raw 1.4.1 updates are available immediately as free downloads at http://www.adobe.com/downloads. Senior Photoshop Lightroom Product Manager, Tom Hogarty, has included a complete list of the corrections on his blog at http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal.

“Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 beta provides early access to requested improvements over version 1.3 and continues our ongoing dialogue and open communication with the photography community,” said Tom Hogarty, senior product manager for Photoshop Lightroom and Camera Raw. “We’re excited not only for our existing customers, but also for the general public who will have an opportunity to take Lightroom 2.0 beta on a test run.”

New in Lightroom 2.0 beta
An improved layout in the Library module allows for a more intuitive approach to image organization by simplifying the location of the features needed to find and filter photographs. A new feature called Smart Collections automatically updates collections with images that match desired criteria such as star-rating, keyword or other metadata. “The Suggested Keywords feature eases the task of keywording by making recommendations based upon keyword associations across a catalog as well as the use of keywords in neighboring images.”

Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 beta includes improved memory handling through 64-bit support for OS X 10.5 Intel Macs and Vista 64-bit operating systems. Additional enhancements in Lightroom 2.0 beta include support for a dual monitor configuration that maximizes a photographer’s workspace and can be easily adjusted to meet a particular workflow. Additionally, the Develop module has been updated to provide the ability to correct specific parts of an image without affecting other areas. Now, fundamental photographic techniques such as dodge and burn can be performed using the same non-destructive approach, allowing unprecedented control within the Lightroom program.

Beta Availability
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 beta is available as a 30-day trial for free download on Macintosh and Windows platforms at http://www.labs.adobe.com/downloads. Existing Lightroom 1.0 customers will be able to test the beta for an extended period until Aug. 31, 2008 and can invite friends to take part in this trial period. Recommended system requirements are Macintosh OSX 10.4, 10.5 1 GHz PowerPC G4 or G5 or Intel-based processor, or Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise, Intel Pentium 4 processor, 1 GBRAM and a 1024×768 resolution screen.

For those not in immediate need of the updated camera support available in Camera Raw 4.4 or the DNG 4.4 Converter, it’s recommended that you also continue working with the 4.3.1 versions. (Mac, Win) This decision is based on the following errors that have been discovered with the recent update:

EXIF Time Stamp Error: There is an error in the EXIF time stamp update technology that causes Lightroom to believe that the files are out of sync with the correct time stamp as displayed in Lightroom. Any ensuing metadata update will attempt to incorrectly modify the EXIF time stamp in the original raw file itself. This is the only metadata field that Lightroom will write to an original proprietary raw file. This error will not impact the integrity of your image data. The Camera Raw plug-in also will incorrectly change the EXIF time stamp in files converted by the plug-in. The information written to the XMP sidecar files or XMP metadata in the converted files will remain correct.

DNG Conversion Error(Windows Only): With the latest version of the Lightroom 1.4 and Camera Raw 4.4 applications, Adobe has included technology to verify that the image data in a DNG file is unchanged from when it was originally converted to DNG. Unfortunately, when converting to DNG using Lightroom 1.4 on Windows, the application will write an incorrect verification tag to describe the image data. When Lightroom attempts to work with those files in the Develop module, the application reads that incorrect tag, believes that there is something wrong with the raw data and will present an error. Rest assured, there is nothing wrong with the integrity of your image data or metadata. For those that have already converted their files to DNG using Lightroom 1.4 (Windows only) we recommend using the DNG 4.3.1 converter to convert the DNG files you’ve created with Lightroom 1.4.

Olympus Conversion Error: There is an error in converting Olympus JPEG files to other formats in Lightroom 1.4 and the Camera Raw 4.4 plug-in.
To uninstall Lightroom 1.4 please see the instructions per your platform:
Mac: Delete the Lightroom application in the Application folder(Mac) and Delete the following file: Library/Receipts/Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.pkg
Windows: Choose the Uninstall Lightroom 1.4 menu item from the Windows start menu. The Add/Remove Program utility on Windows will also achieve the same result.

To replace the Camera Raw 4.4 plug-in with the 4.3.1 plug-in, follow the manual installation instructions provided on the download page linked above.

Additional information regarding a further update (expected to be LR 1.4.1 and CR 4.4.1) will be posted to the Lightroom Journal blog when it becomes available.