Lightroom Classroom

ISO Adaptive Presets

With the launch of Lightroom Classic 9.3 comes the new feature of ISO Adaptive Presets. It allows a single preset to apply different edit settings to different photographs based on their ISO settings.

The offer of Free Creative Cloud tools is available to students through to 31st May 2020. Adobe is giving their higher education and K-12 institutional customers globally, who currently make Creative Cloud apps available to students who login through on-campus labs, the ability to request temporary “at-home” access for their students and educators. This will be granted at no additional cost.

To learn more please check this Adobe blog.

If you are into the analogue film look on your photos and want something based on real film stock then RNI All Films 5 Lightroom presets could be for you.

RNI All Films 5 claims to be a state of the art package of profile-based film presets. Carefully crafted after real film stocks it brings the magic touch of analogue film into your digital workflow.

RNI All Films 5 incorporates real film colour profiles. This enables really sophisticated and precise colour transformations which are far beyond what's been possible with Lightroom colour adjustments alone.

Unlike typical LUT packages, RNI All Films 5 not only transforms RGB values but also achieves more natural film-like tonal response by recovering otherwise hidden data from RAW files.

With RNI All Films 5 your highlights will never clip, no matter how far you push them.

You can tune down the strength of your film look, or even push beyond 100% in some cases.

It can be synced to Lightroom Mobile via Adobe Creative Cloud, for both iOS and Android.

Presets Included (180+ in total)

NEGATIVE FILMS

Agfa Optima 100

Agfa Optima 200 / v2 / v3 / v3 faded / v4 / faded / HC / muted / warm

Agfa Vista 100

Fuji Natura 1600 / II

Fuji Pro 160ns / v2 / v2 HC / v3 / v4 / faded

Fuji Pro 400h / v2 / faded

Fuji Superia 200 / v2 / v2 normalised / v2 normalised + / v2 normalised HC / v2 warm / v3 / v4 / v5 / v6 / v6 HC

Fuji Superia 400 / v2 / faded

Fuji Superia 800

Kodak Ektar 100 / v2 / v3 / v4 / cool fade / warm fade

Kodak Gold 200 / v2 / v3 / v4 / v5 / v6

Kodak Gold 800 / faded / soft red cast

Kodak Portra 160 / II / III / IV / v2 / v2 warm fade / v3 / v3 faded / v4 / v5 / v5 HC

Kodak Portra 400 / v2 / normalised / warm

Kodak Portra 800 / v2 / v3 / v4

Kodak Ultramax 400 / v2 / v3

Rollei Digibase CN 200 / v2 / warm

SLIDE FILMS

Agfa Precisa 100 / II

Agfa RSX II / v2 / v3

Agfa Ultra 100 / v2 / warm

Fuji Astia 100F / v2 / v3 / v4 / v4 warm / v5

Fuji Fortia SP / v2

Fuji Provia 100F

Fuji Sensia 200

Fuji Velvia 100F

Kodak E 100G / v2

Kodak E 200 / v2

Kodak Elite Chrome

INSTANT FILMS

Fuji FP 100C / v2 / v3 / v4 / v5 / v5 HC / v6 / v6 expired / v6 faded

Fuji Instax Mini / normalised

Polaroid 600 / v2 / v3 / expired

Polaroid 669 / terribly expired

Polaroid 690 / v2 / v2 expired / v3 expired/ expired / muted

VINTAGE FILMS

Autochrome / v2 / v3 / v4 / v5

Autochrome 50s / plus

Agfacolor 40s / aged / warm

Agfacolor 50s / HC / muted

Agfacolor 60s / faded

Agfacolor XP 160 / v2 / vibrant / normalised

Kodachrome 70s / v2 / v3

Kodachrome 1958

Kodachrome Generic / v2 / v3 / v4 / v4 muted / v4 muted faded / v4 normalised / v5 / v6 / faded

Kodachrome / v2 HC / HC

Technicolor 2 / v2 / HC

Technicolor 4 faded

B&W FILMS

Agfa Scala 200 / + / ++ / faded / faded HC / faded plus

Ilford Delta 100 / faded / HC

Ilford Delta 400 / faded / HC

Ilford Delta 800 / faded / HC

Ilford Delta 3200

Ilford FP4 / faded

Ilford HP5 / faded

Kodak Tri-X 200 / HC

RNI TOOLKIT

- Fade

- Hard Fade

- Grain settings for various ISO values

- Slide Frames

- Smart Contrast

- Vignette

- Analog Softness

- Vintage Lens Effect

Love it or hate it Apples latest OS now only supports 64-bit applications instead of 32-bit applications as well. This leaves a problem with some colour calibration devices, for example Datacolor Spyder Pro 5 and 4. Datacolor has now updated their software for the Spyder 5 so it supports 64-bit but where does that leave you with the Spyder 4. Either you do not update to Catalina or you update your Spyder 4 to a SpyderX through Datacolor’s website. Neither is an ideal solution. There is a third option though but only if you know about it and it will not cost you anything unless you choose to donate to it’s continuing development. Even then how much you donate is up to you. Also this third option will work with other colour calibration devices that do not offer 64-bit support from their manufacturer.

Display CAL is a display calibration and profiling solution with a focus on accuracy and versatility (in fact, the author is of the honest opinion it may be the most accurate and versatile ICC compatible display profiling solution available anywhere). At its core it relies on ArgyllCMS, an advanced open source color management system, to take measurements, create calibrations and profiles, and for a variety of other advanced color related tasks.

Calibrate and characterize your display devices using one of many supported measurement instruments, with support for multi-display setups and a variety of available options for advanced users, such as verification and reporting functionality to evaluate ICC profiles and display devices, creating video 3D LUTs, as well as optional CIECAM02 gamut mapping to take into account varying viewing conditions. Other features include:

Support of colorimeter corrections for different display device types to increase the absolute accuracy of colorimeters. Corrections can be imported from vendor software or created from measurements if a spectrometer is available.

Check display device uniformity via measurements.

Test chart editor: Create charts with any amount and composition of color patches, easy copy & paste from CGATS, CSV files (only tab-delimited) and spreadsheet applications, for profile verification and evaluation.

Create synthetic ICC profiles with custom primaries, white- and blackpoint as well as tone response for use as working spaces or source profiles in device linking (3D LUT) transforms.

DisplayCAL is developed and maintained by Florian Höch, and would not be possible without ArgyllCMS, which is developed and maintained by Graeme W. Gill.

So here we bring you some more photos of the TourBox consule.

Today Lightroom Classroom has received it’s Kickstarter ordered TourBox consule. It’s been a long wait but first signs appear promising. We decided to go for the right handed version in grey.

The box just says ‘TourBox’ on the lid. The inner box for the consule itself ‘15 Jul. 2019’. The black packing inside the main box is a very high density black foam which is a nice touch and adds to the overall quality feel of the product. Boxed it all adds up to over 1 kg in weight, which was a surprise when it arrived.

In the box you get the TourBox console and a USB connecting cable. USB for the computer at one end and Type-C at the other end. Here are our first photos of the Tourbox consule. As well as the unboxing itself we have tried to capture different aspects of the consule. Let us know what you think. Later we will post our first impressions of the device. Have to say it is nice to see it has arrived with a printed instruction book.

The following new lenses are now supported in Lightroom:

Canon

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM 

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM +1.4x III 

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM +2x III 

Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM Canon 

Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM +1.4x III 

Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM +2x III 

Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM Canon 

Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM +1.4x III 

Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS III USM +2x III Canon

HMD

HMD Global Nokia 9 PureView Front Camera

HMD Global Nokia 9 PureView Rear Camera HMD

LG

LG V40 ThinQ Front Standard Camera

LG V40 ThinQ Front Wide Camera 

LG V40 ThinQ Rear Main Camera 

LG V40 ThinQ Rear Telephoto Camera 

LG V40 ThinQ Rear Wide Camera

PENTAX

HD PENTAX-DA 11-18mm F2.8ED DC AW 

HD PENTAX-FA 35mm F2

RICOH

Ricoh GR III 18.3mm f/2.8

SIGMA

SIGMA 28mm F1.4 DG HSM A019 Canon, Nikon F, SIGMA, Sony FE 

SIGMA 28mm T1.5 FF HIGH-SPEED PRIME Canon 

SIGMA 40mm F1.4 DG HSM A018 Nikon F, SIGMA, Sony FE 

SIGMA 40mm T1.5 FF HIGH-SPEED PRIME Canon 

SIGMA 60-600mm F4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM S018 Nikon F 

SIGMA 70-200mm F2.8 DG OS HSM S018 Canon, Nikon F, SIGMA

SONY

Sony FE 135mm F1.8 GM Sony FE

TOKINA

Tokina FiRIN 20mm F2 FE AF Sony FE 

Tokina opera 16-28 mm F2.8 FF Canon, Nikon F 

Adobe has stopped offering via it’s Creative Cloud older versions of Lightroom. The company announced its decision to limit download availability on the Adobe blog. You can now only download the two latest version of Lightroom.

Adobe say the 'vast majority' of Adobe CC customers are already using the two most recent major release versions of both Lightroom.

By making the remainder of users update to a newer version of Lightroom, Adobe says it can 'ensure peak performance and benefits across Windows and Mac operating systems.'

Lightroom’s original rival Aperture will stop working later this year when the replacement to OSX Mojave comes out. Launched in 2005 Aperture came out just before Adobe’s Lightroom. It was at first a popular editor for Raw files amongst Apple users. Where Adobe out manoeuvred Apple was to make Lightroom a free beta. This achieved exactly what adobe wanted, lots of people trying it out. Even after a full launch Adobe still did betas for new versions of Lightroom. They listened to their customers unlike Apple who did not and brought out new requested features or improved how existing one did based on feedback. Apple took a long before they even started to offer a 30 day free trial.

Unfortunately after the death of Steve Jobs, Apple began to lose interest. Often slow with updates for new cameras Raw files, people began to drift away to look at alternatives. That mainly beginning Lightroom. Apple got worse at talking to its customers. Customers had no idea when updates would come out. The second to last update had a gap of 11 months before the final one.

That final update to the software came in October 2014, shortly after Apple had announced in June it was going to discontinue Aperture. By April 2015 it was gone and removed from sale.

Now with the launch of the new of Apples new OSX later this year, Apple have announced Aperture will not even work anymore.

On Thursday Adobe introduced new pricing for its Photography bundle, which has been available for $9.99 a month. The starting price currently for new customers on Adobe's website is $19.99 per month.

"From time to time, we run tests on Adobe.com which cover a range of items, including plan options that may or may not be presented to all visitors to Adobe.com. We are currently running a number of tests on Adobe.com."

The majority of customers appear to be seeing the new pricing on Adobe’s website, although in a hidden section of their website you can still purchase the Photography plan for $9.99 per month with 20GB of storage.

The new update of Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic comes with updated lens profiles and additional camera support in Lightroom version 2.2.1 and Lightroom Classic version 8.2.1.

It adds lens profile support for the following lens and its adapter combinations:

Nikon AF-S NIGHT KKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR + 1.4x

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR + 1.7x

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR was 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR + 2.0x

Camera wise Adobe has added support for the following bodies:

Canon EOS RP

Panasonic LUMIX DC-FZ1000M2 (DC-FZ10002)

Panasonic LUMIX DC-S1

Panasonic LUMIX DC-S1R

Panasonic LUMIX DC-ZS80 (DC-TZ95, DC-TZ96, DC-TZ97)

The latest updates can be downloaded directly from Adobe's Creative Cloud desktop app for users with the compatible Adobe plans.

You will find when you bring Raw files in from these two new cameras into Lightroom, that any various in-camera settings are now recognised and transferred to Lightroom. So for instance on a Nikon D750, colour noise reduction would be set to 25 by Lightroom, with a Raw file. 

HEVC encoded video (also known as H.265), as many will already know, replaced H.264 / AVC. HEVC is now supported in Lightroom CC 2.0 and Lightroom Classic CC 8.0 running on macOS High Sierra v10.13 or later. Unfortunately the Windows version of Lightroom Classic CC and Lightroom CC do not currently support HEVC. Adobe is currently working on providing support.

iOS support for HEVC video import, playback, and syncing to the cloud storage has been provided in since April 2018 release of Lightroom CC for mobile (iOS) 3.2.1 running on iOS 11.  

With the release of Lightroom Classic CC 8.0 and Lightroom CC 2.0 comes a new process version. Process Version 5 offers improved Negative Dehaze and better Blacks subtraction.  

The improved Black subtraction will enhance the appearance of high ISO photos, especially those taken on small sensor cameras such as those taken on smartphones. Having tried this on some older theatre production photographs, there is a significant improvement on the removal of purple shadow on high ISO captures. So much so it is worth revisiting existing photographs and applying the new version. 

Above a 100% crop with Process Version 4 applied.

Above a 100% crop with Process Version 5 applied.

The example above is taken from an old 3200 ISO Raw file. You can see that the black area is now deeper in colour. With also the correct colour of the microphone showing through. 

The latest realises of Lightroom Classic CC and Lightroom CC bring with them added support to cameras, lens and tethering. The updates are available immediately for download.  

New camera support:

Canon EOS R

Fujifilm X-T3

Nikon COOLPIX P1000 (preliminary support)

Nikon Z7

Panasonic LUMIX DC-LX100 II

New lens profiles:

Canon EF

Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS II USM

TAMRON 17-35mm F2.8-4 Di OSD A037E

Canon RF

Canon RF 24-105mm F4 L IS USM

Nikon F

TAMRON 17-35mm F2.8-4 Di OSD A037N

Parrot

Anafi 23mm F2.4

Sony FE

Venus Optics Laowa 15mm F2 Zero-D

Tethering for new cameras:

Canon EOS 2000D / Rebel T7

With TourBox being available in December and Loupedeck having recently launched their second generation product, the third main player of Lightroom controllers is ‘Palette’. For anyone who is not aware of Palette, it offers one very unique feature... it is modular.

“Palette is a modular controller that can be used with virtually any type of software. With tight integrations with Adobe products Lightroom and Photoshop, Palette is the perfect addition to a photographer’s workflow as it increases efficiency for repetitive tasks with laser-like precision. The revolutionary innovation also transcends borders of functionality as it can also be used as a MIDI device for music control, joystick, or as a substitute for keyboard shortcuts. It’s magnetic interface allows for a customisable layout that fits everyone’s individual workflow.”

Palette was founded in 2013 by product designer Calvin Chu and has since grown to 6 full-time employees. Palette participated in the HAX Accelerator, the University of Waterloo’s Velocity program, and the Creative Destruction Lab at the University of Toronto. Palette has been funded by Extreme Venture Partners, SOSventures, and through Palette’s successful Kickstarter campaign in 2014.

“Palette offers creative professionals a game-changing experience. Unlike generic one-size-fits-all keyboard and mouse interfaces, users can fully customise the layout, function and even colour of each control module to fit their own workflow and favourite software. Where touch screens require users to look down and offer no sense of feedback, the use of physical controls allows the user to engage directly with their work and can drastically improve workflow.”

“At Palette, we’re creating a new category of hardware and software offering flexibility of both form and function because we recognise that everyone works differently,” 

Calvin Chu, founder and CEO.

“We’re excited to see people use Palette’s hands-on controls to make interaction with your computer more natural and enjoyable.”

Palette is improving the editing experience for photographers today, and plans on doing the same for video editors and musicians next. As an expandable modular platform, Palette’s hardware team is already conceptualising next modules, such as motorised sliders and trackballs.

In May next year, a forth controller hits the market. Cooler Master ControlPad. 24 Keys with Analog Control Technology. Primarily aimed at gamers Cooler Master has developed keys for Adobe Lightroom and has Lightroom in it’s sight. The controller is currently available to preorder via Kickstarter.

In two days time Tourbox launches on Kickstarter.

You can preview it on the Kickstarter campaign page to find out more about TourBox. If you click the "Notify me on launch" button you will then be informed when it can be ordered so you can grab a super early bird deal.