Lightroom 3.2 RC is available on Adobe Labs (and so is Camera Raw 6.2)

As you can read from the title, there is a new intermediary version (called a ‘dot’-release) of Lightroom available on Adobe Labs. It’s an RC, which stands for Release Candidate. While actually very close to the final version, there might still be some tweaks: the purpose of ‘releasing’ Release Candidates is that the software can be tested by a lot of user So if you want to give it a spin, be sure to take the necessary precautions (use a duplicate of your Catalog, for example).

If you’re anything like me, you’ll also probably wonder ‘Where did 3.1 go? I’m still at 3.0?’. Don’t worry, so am I. For some reason, Adobe decided to skip 3.1 and move straight on to 3.2. This has a happy side-effect, though, in that the numbering for Camera Raw and Lightroom now has the same decimals: i.e. Camera Raw 6.2 will now equal Lightroom 3.2; Camera Raw 6.3 will equal Lightroom 3.3 and so forth. So now, before you rush over to Adobe Labs to test drive it for yourself, what has changed? Well, first and most important of all, there were a big number of bug fixes. Since bug fixes only tend to interest those who were affected by the bugs in the first place, I won’t go into detail, but you can find the list here. Of course, there are newly supported cameras:

• Casio EXILIM EX-FH100 (DNG^*)
• Leica S2 (DNG^*)
• Panasonic DMC-FZ100
• Panasonic DMC-FZ40 (FZ45)
• Panasonic DMC-LX5
• Pentax 645D
• Samsung NX10
• Samsung TL500 (EX1)
• Sony A290
• Sony A390
• Sony Alpha NEX-3
• Sony Alpha NEX-5

Other than that, there is great news for the zillion Facebook users (a fair percentage of who probably are using Lightroom): there is now a Facebook Publish Service. I’ve already said that at first, I did not think much of this whole Publish Services idea, but now, I find it one of the most important new features of Lightroom 3. My only worry is that now that it’s easier and faster to put pictures on Facebook, we will now get even more totally irrelevant Status Updates . (‘Going to the toilet while Lightroom Publish Services is uploading my pictures to Facebook’ and stuff like that…) I’ll try and post something on how to use the Facebook Publish Service late. There’s also a nice list of new lens correction modules. Not quite as much as the 100 that DxO cranked out lately but still: while there are – again – signficantly more Canon lenses than Nikon lenses corrected (I console myself that maybe Canon lenses just need more correcting ) I’m very happy to see the 16-35 f4 VR and the 16-85 VR in the list, two lenses that I use quite a lot and the former does need some optical correction, indeed! Here’s the list:

• PowerShot S90 Lens
• Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
• Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM
• Canon EF 14mm f/2.8L II USM
• Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
• Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
• Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
• Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
• Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM
• Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
• Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 16-35mm f/4G ED VR
• Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G
• PENTAX-D FA645 55mmF2.8AL[IF] SDM AW
• PENTAX-FA645 33-55mmF4.5AL
• PENTAX-FA645 35mmF3.5AL[IF]
• PENTAX-FA645 45mmF2.8
• PENTAX-FA645 45-85mmF4.5
• PENTAX-FA645 55-110mmF5.6
• PENTAX-FA645 75mmF2.8
• PENTAX-FA645 80-160mmF4.5
• PENTAX-FA645 MACRO 120mmF4
• PENTAX-FA645 150mmF2.8[IF]
• PENTAX-FA645 150-300mmF5.6ED[IF]
• PENTAX-FA645 200mmF4[IF]
• PENTAX-FA*645 300mmF4ED[IF]
• PENTAX-FA645 300mmF5.6ED[IF]
• PENTAX-FA645 400mmF5.6ED[IF]
• Samsung EX1
• Samsung 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 OIS
• Samsung 30mm f/2
• Samsung 50-200mm f/4-5.6 ED OIS
• Schneider LS 80mm f/2.8 (For Phase One 645DF System)
• SIGMA 17-50mm F2.8 EX DC OS HSM (Nikon mount)
• SIGMA APO 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM (Nikon mount)
• Sony E 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OSS (For NEX System)
• Canon Zeiss Distagon T* 3,5/18 ZE
• Canon Zeiss Distagon T* 2,8/21 ZE
• Canon Zeiss Distagon T* 2/28 ZE
• Canon Zeiss Distagon T* 2/35 ZE
• Canon Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/100 ZE
• Canon Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/50 ZE
• Canon Zeiss Planar T* 1,4/50 ZE
• Canon Zeiss Planar T* 1,4/85 ZE
• NIKON Zeiss Distagon T* 2/28 ZF.2
• NIKON Zeiss Distagon T* 2/35 ZF.2
• NIKON Zeiss Distagon T* 2,8/21 ZF.2
• NIKON Zeiss Distagon T* 2,8/25 ZF.2
• NIKON Zeiss Distagon T* 3,5/18 ZF.2
• NIKON Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/50 ZF.2
• NIKON Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/100 ZF.2
• NIKON Zeiss Planar T* 1,4/50 ZF.2
• NIKON Zeiss Planar T* 1,4/85 ZF.2

Also, the following three profiles were improved

• Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
• Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM
• Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

Finally, if the only filters you use are the ones that you put in front of your lens, then you probably won’t be bothered by the following, but there’s also a signifcant change (again) in the way that the main Filter Bar work In Lightroom 2, if you set up the Filter Bar to show only your five star pictures in a certain folder, then that setting would be ‘sticky’: which meant that, if you would change to another folder, and than change back to the original folder, the filter would still apply.

Some people built a big chunk of their workflow around this feature, but others, returning maybe only days later (and having forgotten that they set the filter in the first place) found it confusing because they saw only a small subset of the pictures they were expecting to see! So, the filter behaviour was changed in Lightroom 3: the ‘Sticky Filter’ was removed: if you applied a filter, but changed to another source and then back to the original source, the filter was gone.

There was an option to put a lock on a filter, so that it would remain effective. However, this lock would then turn on the filter in ALL visited folders or collections. So there was no longer an option of having different Sticky Filter settings for different folders. The problem was that while being more user-friendly to a lot of people, those who had built their workflow around the Lightroom 2 concept of Sticky Filters, were at a loss. Fortunately, Adobe listened to their complaints and in Lightroom 3.2 you now have the choice between the two Filter Behaviours. You set the behaviour of the Filter Lock icon (top right in the screenshot) in the new File Menu item File => Library Filters. Checking ‘Remember Each Source’s Filters Separately’ will give you the Lightroom 2 Behaviour. Unchecking it is Lightroom 3 Behaviour. When you hover over the little lock icon on the top right, there will be a nice Tool Tip telling you how the current behaviour is.