Lightroom 4 Beta

It's available!

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 | photo management software beta - Adobe Labs

Looks like you can try it free until March 31st (is that the release date?).

The big thing I see is a new white balance spot adjustment and better highlight/shadow recovery.

Posted this once already, but it disappeared.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 | photo management software beta - Adobe Labs

The big advantage I see is the new white balance brush.

[NathanFranke]

Looks like it was just moved.
Lightroom 4 Beta

Ah. Figured this was just as good a place as any.

[NathanFranke]

I'm not really all that interested. I haven't even scratched the surface of what Lr 3 can do--I guarantee that it'll be years before I have a use for 4. If it my copy of Adobe Creative Suite CS1 weren't mac-only, I'd still be using that.

[Insert the Edward Weston quote that I'm always using here.]

I just can't get behind the upgrade-for-the-sake-of-upgrade mentality that camera and software companies want to keep us in. Learn to use what you have, and then use it to its full potential. Upgrading and changing every 2-3 years will only keep you in a perpetual learning curve. The curve might be shorter each time, but you'll never master anything. You'll just stay in the process of mastering.

[gturner]

Interesting to see that brush, I needed it last week when I had 3 seperate light sources casting completely different light in a wide angle shot. (cave system)

Funny you should mention that.

I ended up teaching an impromptu one-hour class on Sunday to about 80 photographers at a local camera club (wasn't supposed to, but the presenter didn't make it, so they stuck me with it). I am by no means an expert on LR3, but would say I know quite a bit. But there were several other photographers in the class that pointed out a lot of features that I didn't know about, and quite a bit more that we didn't even go over (like printing and slideshow).

That said, Lightroom is incredibly powerful and a fabulous editing tool. Lightroom 3 added some really good noise reduction, and LR4 looks like it's adding a white-balance brush.

What's the big deal with a white-balance brush? When shooting indoor events and weddings, it can be challenging in some locations to get the white balance right, and gel your flash accordingly. My favorite example is a church basement I once shot in...florecent lighting, but the lights were off on one end, and big windows and a bright sunny day. Depending on where you shot, the white balance of your background was different. The white balance brush would basically allow you to fix the background and subject in mixed lighting conditions.

[dakwegmo]

There's really some cool features in there. I'm sure there are some good reasons for the changes to the basic adjustment sliders names and positions, but it's going to take some getting used to.

Originally Posted by gturner

Interesting to see that brush, I needed it last week when I had 3 seperate light sources casting completely different light in a wide angle shot. (cave system)

I have that problem at weddings and other events. A large room can have multiple different sources of lighting, and DJ's can do some screwy crap. I had one DJ that used black lights...could've strangled him.

[NathanFranke]

But is that one feature worth all the other baggage--buying/borrowing and having to read new manuals, shelling out more money, all the muscle memory that will have to be relearned--e.g., sliders in new spots?

It sounds like "OMG here's something I never knew existed but desperately must have!"
Or maybe I'm a luddite. Either way, they'll probably be on Lr6 by the time I'm ready to upgrade.