Lightroom 4 Beta Released

10 years after Lightroom made its debut we have a new beta version from Adobe Labs, Lightroom 4! Lightroom’s history is outlined on this Wikipedia page. Beta software is not for everyone so be sure to backup your work, and understand this beta software should be used for learning features, testing and tinkering. The final release may or may not be compatible with what you do in the beta so keep this in mind. Lightroom 4 beta will be available for download until the products expiration on March 31, 2012. We’ll post our impressions just as soon as we have a chance to test it out.

Download the Lightroom 4 beta

Here’s a quick look at the new features from Adobe’s website

New Features in Lightroom 4 Beta

  • Highlight and shadow recovery brings out all the detail that your camera captures in dark shadows and bright highlights.
  • Photo book creation with easy-to-use elegant templates.
  • Location-based organization lets you find and group images by location, assign locations to images, and display data from GPS-enabled cameras.
  • White balance brush to refine and adjust white balance in specific areas of your images.
  • Additional local editing controls let you adjust noise reduction and remove moirĂ© in targeted areas of your images.
  • Extended video support for organizing, viewing, and making adjustments and edits to video clips.
  • Easy video publishing lets you edit and share video clips on Facebook and Flickr®.
  • Soft proofing to preview how an image will look when printed with color-managed printers.
  • Email directly from Lightroom using the email account of your choice.

Adobe Camera Raw 6.4 RC

Adobe Labs has just released Adobe Camera Raw version 6.4 RC (release candidate – the final step before production and one step past beta) to accommodate several newer digital cameras and lens profiles. This is an Adobe Labs beta product so there can be some issues but for someone who’s just purchased a new camera without current Adobe Camera Raw support, you may want to give it a try. Rest assured though a full tested version will be released soon. If you’d like to try the beta software visit the Adobe Labs Camera Raw page for this download. Please feel free to offer you feedback on this beta product by using the link from the Adobe Labs Camera Raw page listed above. ACR 6.4 RC was released on 10 March 2011.

  • Canon EOS 600D (Rebel T3i / Kiss X5)
  • Canon EOS 1100D (Rebel T3 / Kiss X50)
  • Hasselblad H4D-40
  • Olympus E-PL1s
  • Olympus E-PL2
  • Olympus XZ-1
  • Samsung NX11

Additional Lens Profiles added

Canon Canon EF 28-70mm f/2.8 L USM
Canon Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 L IS USM
Canon SIGMA 85mm F1.4 EX DG HSM**
Canon TAMRON 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3DiII VC PZD B008E
Leica Leica APO-MACRO-SUMMARIT-S 1:2.5/120mm
Leica Leica SUMMARIT-S 1:2.5/35mm ASPH
Leica Leica SUMMARIT-S 1:2.5/70 mm ASPH
Nikon Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
Nikon Nikon AF-S DX VR Zoom-NIKKOR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED
Nikon Nikon AF-S Micro NIKKOR 60mm f/2.8G ED
Nikon Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-120mm f/4G ED VR
Nikon SIGMA 85mm F1.4 EX DG HSM
Nikon TAMRON 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3DiII VC PZD B008N

Adobe Labs – Adobe Camera Raw & Lightroom Beta

Adobe Labs is currently beta testing Adobe Camera Raw Release Candidate version 6.3 to accommodate several newer digital cameras. This is an Adobe Labs beta product so there can be some issues but for someone who’s just purchased a new camera without current Adobe Camera Raw support, you may want to give it a try. Rest assured though a full tested version will be released soon. If you’d like to try the beta software visit the Adobe Labs Camera Raw page for this download. Please feel free to offer you feedback on this beta product by using the link from the Adobe Labs Camera Raw page listed above.

Newly supported camera models include:

  • Nikon D7000
  • Nikon Coolpix P7000
  • Nikon D3100
  • Canon PowerShot S95
  • Canon PowerShot G12
  • Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2
  • Samsung NX100
  • Samsung TL350 (WB2000)

Lightroom 3.3 is in beta and is also available from Adobe Labs.

Lightroom 3 now in Beta

If you like being on the cutting edge with your favorite imaging programs, Adobe Labs is giving you an opportunity to try Lightroom 3. Just released to beta testers, version 3 is promising a better import feature, easier file management, publishing to photo-sharing sites, better shareable slideshows with audio, watermarking and more control over custom print packages. As with any beta program there can be unforeseen issues so be sure to have a complete backup before installing. Adobe Labs welcomes and appreciates your feedback – a driving force to get the functionality that the users are looking for in the release version.

You can get the download from the Adobe Labs Lightroom page. Have Fun!