Lightroom 4 has landed

Another LR3 v LR4 comparison.
The blue light on stage left has produced nasty purple highlights that look horrible when this image is enlarged.
I couldn't fix them with LR3 and ended up taking the easy option - converting the image to Blank and White.

But with LR4 I've been able to do a local adjustment with a colour temperature that has calmed the blue down to the point where it is no longer distracting.
YAY for LR4!

LR3 - notice the purple light on her face.
i-dt3nZRX-XL.jpg


LR4 - fixed with locally adjusted colour temperature.
i-xqnG4mZ-XL.jpg
 
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Here's another example of really impressive highlight recovery.
It's taken on the X10, which in theory has less headroom than the 5DII used in my earlier highlight recovery post.
LR3 made the image usable - but it is pushing things pretty very hard and does not look natural viewed at 100%. This is the best I could do with LR3.
LR4 has done an amazing job - I probably need to back off my recovery to make the singer pop a bit more, but the tones tones looks completely natural viewed at 100% which is astonishing!

LR3 v LR4
i-pWKKmVv-XL.jpg
i-BPXJ4M2-XL.jpg


For reference - here's the untouched original.
i-P6j5ZMF-XL.jpg
 
DuncanDisorderly said:
Here's another example of really impressive highlight recovery.
It's taken on the X10, which in theory has less headroom than the 5DII used in my earlier highlight recovery post.
LR3 made the image usable - but it is pushing things pretty very hard and does not look natural viewed at 100%. This is the best I could do with LR3.
LR4 has done an amazing job - I probably need to back off my recovery to make the singer pop a bit more, but the tones tones looks completely natural viewed at 100% which is astonishing!

LR3 v LR4


For reference - here's the untouched original.
Click to expand...

Excellent, thanks both to you and the others putting these up, shows us it is def a worthy improvement in real world use.
 
Well I eventually got round to ordering LR4 (full version) and it will be arriving today.
I currently have LR3 installed and I was wondering what is the best way to install LR4.

Do I uninstall LR3 before I install LR4

Do I leave LR3 on my pc and install LR4 as well so I will have both versions installed at the same time.

Is it best to then uninstall LR3?

Any info on peoples experiences of replacing LR3 with LR4 good or bad would be useful

Thanks
 
It's painless.
Install LR4 in addition to LR3; the installation creates a new database based on the one from LR3, ditto with all your settings.
Once installation is complete, LR3 and LR4 can be used independently - but I wouldn't recommend it as it could be very confusing.
There is no need to keep LR3 as all your LR3 image tweaks are still usable in LR4 as Process 2010.
I suggest uninstalling LR3 once you are happy that LR4 upgraded OK and you've had a chance to put a few cards worth of images through it.
 
DuncanDisorderly said:
It's painless.
Install LR4 in addition to LR3; the installation creates a new database based on the one from LR3, ditto with all your settings.
Once installation is complete, LR3 and LR4 can be used independently - but I wouldn't recommend it as it could be very confusing.
There is no need to keep LR3 as all your LR3 image tweaks are still usable in LR4 as Process 2010.
I suggest uninstalling LR3 once you are happy that LR4 upgraded OK and you've had a chance to put a few cards worth of images through it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info I was hoping it would be as straight forward as you have described.
 
I have never managed to get Auto import working.....

I have selected an empty folder, enabled auto import, then moved files into the watched folder and nothing happens....

As per NOPs I've done a google, but I can't find anything that solves the problem.
 
redddraggon said:
I have never managed to get Auto import working.....

I have selected an empty folder, enabled auto import, then moved files into the watched folder and nothing happens....

As per NOPs I've done a google, but I can't find anything that solves the problem.
Click to expand...

Where abouts are you looking for the photos in LR after you've copied them to the auto import folder?
 
redddraggon said:
In the "Library", I started with an empty library, and there's nothing in there now.
Click to expand...

You may need to open the drop down panel up on the top left. You should find options for All Photographs and Recently Imported (or similar). Try looking in there.
 
DemiLion said:
You may need to open the drop down panel up on the top left. You should find options for All Photographs and Recently Imported (or similar). Try looking in there.
Click to expand...

"Previous Import 0"

I didn't manage to get it to work on the LR3 trial awhile back. It's not massive problem, it's just annoying.
 
Just got it installed and running. Pleased to see it's kept my settings from the beta!

It seems to be running slowly loading images (as it generates new previews I'm guessing), but adjustments feel much quicker to apply than in the beta.

Those example comparisons are interesting, a definite real world improvement there!

I'm pleased :)
 
redddraggon said:
"Previous Import 0"

I didn't manage to get it to work on the LR3 trial awhile back. It's not massive problem, it's just annoying.
Click to expand...

Now been able to check my own LR. Have you ticked both of the check boxes ' Enable Auto Import'? One on the File menu and one in the Import settings panel.
 
DemiLion said:
Now been able to check my own LR. Have you ticked both of the check boxes ' Enable Auto Import'? One on the File menu and one in the Import settings panel.
Click to expand...

Yes. I think the problem might be that I'm moving folders into the "Watched folder" but it's actually watching for files?

It's not so much of a big deal if I have to manual import each folder when I take the images off the card.
 
redddraggon said:
Yes. I think the problem might be that I'm moving folders into the "Watched folder" but it's actually watching for files?

It's not so much of a big deal if I have to manual import each folder when I take the images off the card.
Click to expand...

Errrm - Yes! :D

It's only designed to work with one folder (and no subfolders) that you drag photos into; ie you download an image and can't be bothered to do a full import.

If you're dragging in a whole card's worth, then it's much better to use the full import option.

The other use is for tethered shooting, of course.
 
Oh my! Just had to share this...
Going over some recent concert images and here's one that LR4 has made a HUGE difference.

LR3 v LR4
i-4P9kfRf-XL.jpg
i-bQ7tHxV-XL.jpg


The LR3 image was reworked well enough for submission and I was happy with it at the time.
But a quick play in LR4 and the reworked image has far more impact and punch.

Look at the hair - LR4 looks fantastic.
The forehead, right cheek and neck look far more natural in LR4 as it has reigned in the highlights with a far more effective algorithm.
There's more detail coming out the shadow details too; check the trousers.
The accordion wood has a lot more texture and now seems to have a lovely glow.

I'm increasingly impressed with what I can quickly achieve using the new LR4 sliders.
 
I have just purchased a copy of LR4. I already have PSE10 installed on my PC. If I now install LR4 will it automatically recognise PSE10 and configure it as a plug in for LR4 so I can then edit photos directly from LR4 into PSE10 without having to have re-open the edited RAW file again in PSE10 ?
 
wildman said:
I have just purchased a copy of LR4. I already have PSE10 installed on my PC. If I now install LR4 will it automatically recognise PSE10 and configure it as a plug in for LR4 so I can then edit photos directly from LR4 into PSE10 without having to have re-open the edited RAW file again in PSE10 ?
Click to expand...

Yep. You have the option to edit photos in PS from LR, with or without the changes you've already made in LR applied.
 
It should work, but there have been a few issues with it.
 
ive tried it as a trial and whilst i like the features it just makes my computer run like treacle, maybe i need a bit more RAM to make the most of it but for now il be sticking to LR3 :'(
 
Mine ran slowly at first, but sped up once the catalog had been indexed.
 
Brendan Mulachy said:
il give it another go then before deciding to ditch it or keep it, how many times or how long did you use it before it was acceptable:thinking:
Click to expand...

My library has over 80K images and I happily processed over 2K images last weekend.
I've only got a medium spec PC (i5 with 8Gb RAM).
One or two operations are fractionally less instant than they were with LR3; but LR4 is very usable.

And yes.... It was disappointingly slow when I upgraded. Stick with it :thumbs:
 
lightroom 3 is ok with me on XP

where do i get the best deal...i dont have any lightroom onboard to update
cheers
geof
 
The Auto Tone preset in Lr4 could come in very handy. But what I've noticed from the auto-tone option is that exposure changes widely and it's inaccurate when in Lr3 it was pretty consistent and accurate. Anyone else have this issue?

A quick google search shows I'm not the only one who noticed this, I hope it gets fixed.
 
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alexw9 said:
The Auto Tone preset in Lr4 could come in very handy. But what I've noticed from the auto-tone option is that exposure changes widely and it's inaccurate when in Lr3 it was pretty consistent and accurate. Anyone else have this issue?

A quick google search shows I'm not the only one who noticed this, I hope it gets fixed.
Click to expand...

I don't use Auto Tone very often - but you are right!
It's been absolutely rubbish when I've used it, and LR3 probably was better....
 
Waiting for 4.1 with all the fixes to go from RC to full release before I upgrade.
 
mrtoad said:
lightroom 3 is ok with me on XP

where do i get the best deal...i dont have any lightroom onboard to update
cheers
geof
Click to expand...


took the plunge ££ and got LR3 on ebay for £50
the other bid item ending later raised £60
so i am quite happy...took 24 minutes to update though...as it was a CD
cheers
geof
still early days though on using it effectively
favourite process is the noise reduction...very fine
 
I usually click Auto Tone to see the difference, but generally use it as a base and edit using the histogram. Sometimes it makes the image terribly dark.
 
Im pretty sure I've read that auto tone is one of the things being fixed in 4.1, there's a release candidate available now.
 
mrtoad said:
took the plunge ££ and got LR3 on ebay for £50
the other bid item ending later raised £60
so i am quite happy...took 24 minutes to update though...as it was a CD
cheers
geof
still early days though on using it effectively
favourite process is the noise reduction...very fine
Click to expand...


the sharpening is quite a fine adjustment as well..:geek:
followed by a mask..:cool:
 
Does anyone know if the educational version of LR4 still allows installs on 2 separate machines?
 
This maybe for another thread but how does the sharpening compare to Photoshop's USM, are they pretty much the same, could I use the same Photoshop USM settings in Lr4 and expect similar results? Thanks.
 
I'm generally fairly satisfied with LR's sharpening. With some careful work in Photoshop I think I can pull a little more detail out of a file, but it's difficult to justify the effort most of the time.

LR's Sharpening Mask is very useful. Achieving the same in PS is a lot of work.
 
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