On April 21, 2015 Adobe released Lightroom 6. I downloaded it and promptly found I could not start it. I would see the splash screen for an instant and then nothing. The solution to that problem is here. (instructions logoff of Adobe Creative Cloud and back in again).
If you are part of the monthly CC version, you can download LR6 at no additional charge from the Creative Cloud App.
If you wish to purchase LR 6 outright – Adobe seems to make finding the link difficult, you can download an upgrade for $79 US or purchase a new copy for $149 from here.
First Impression:
Its too early to determine if its stable, but a quick pass through most of the modules did not turn up any issues for me me. Time will tell.
One of the key features is that its suppose to be faster. It did recognize my graphics card and start using it. It does seem a bit faster switching from one image to another. There is a new preference that I turned on that helps in this regard in number 3 below.
During the upgrade, it only copied some of my preferences. Fortunatly I copied my LR 5 Catalogue and all of the associated files so I was able to start LR 5 and 6 at the same time and manually copy the preferences from one version to the other.
Whats New:
- LR 6 uses 64 bit and the Graphics card (so it should be faster) so for me this is the biggest driver to using the new software. The Panos and HDR are the other drivers I have (links to demo these documented below). All modern versions of Mac should be capable of utilizing the new features and speed. Windows users will need 64 bit and hardware that a GPU that is supported by LR although LR does also support “touch” now for Windows.
- New LR feature gems are summarized below or here by Adobe.
- Create Pano’s in LR and edit the results in camera raw, HDR, Facial Detection, free demo overview from my hero Julieanne Kost.
- There is a new preference: Catalog Settings: File Handling. Change the Standard Preview Size to the size of your Screen. This should improve performance and set the standard preview to match your screen (no larger/smaller = better performance when editing at 1:1).
- Under Import you can add to a Collection. Possibly adding to a CC collection would help use LR Mobile on a Pad. Will need to test.
- You can now filter for Collections so you can find them again
- Under Preferences Performance, ensure it is using your Graphics card – which will be set by default if your hardware is supported.
- In the Develop>Basic Panel> Shift Double Click White & Black to expand the tone to use the entire histogram.
- Slue of small improvements: You can copy pins from the brush to other photos, Pet Eye green removal, new Web galleries for export.
I will update my blog as I have more experience with the product.