DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY NEWS

Adobe will be releasing updates to Photoshop Lightroom and the Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in this evening at 9:01 p.m. Pacific Time.  Both updates are free upgrades for Lightroom 2 and Photoshop CS4 users.

The releases provide added raw file support for 15 digital cameras including the Nikon D90, Nikon D700, Canon EOS 50D and Canon EOS 1000D.

The Lightroom 2.1 update also includes improvements to Photoshop integration, Web module stability for Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit operating systems, performance with 64-bit Mac OS X 10.5 Macintosh computers, and Keyword migration from Lightroom. A complete list of improvements is available in the Lightroom update documentation.

In addition, Adobe has released a new set of camera profiles available on Adobe Labs. The camera profiles are targeted at improving Adobe's default raw processing and emulating the color rendering provided by camera manufacturers. The update includes added support for the Leica M8, Canon EOS 50D, Canon G9, Nikon D90 and Pentax models. Camera profiles are the visual starting point for the raw processing workflow.

Since image preferences vary by photographer, Adobe minimizes surprises by supplying default camera profiles that closely emulate the visual looks that photographers normally see from their cameras.

The 15 new digital cameras supported in Lightroom 2.1 and Camera Raw 5.1 include the Canon EOS 1000D, Canon EOS 50D, Fuji FinePix IS Pro, Kodak EasyShare Z1015 IS, Leaf AFi II 6, Leaf AFi II 7, Leaf Aptus II 6, Leaf Aptus II 7, Nikon D700, Nikon D90, Nikon Coolpix P6000, Olympus SP-565 UZ, Pentax K2000, Sigma DP1, and Sony A900. Additionally, Adobe recently released Camera Raw 4.6, which includes the same raw file support for Photoshop CS3 customers.

Pricing and Availability

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.1 is available as a free download for existing customers at www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/Photoshop

Lightroom 2 can be purchased through the Adobe Store at www.adobe.com/store.The estimated street price is USD$299 for new users with an upgrade price of USD$99 for registered users of qualifying Lightroom customers. The updated camera profiles are available as a separate download on Adobe Labs at http://labs.adobe.com. The Photoshop Camera Raw plug-ins are available as free downloads for existing customers. Camera Raw 5.1 for Photoshop CS4 users and Camera Raw for Photoshop CS3 users are available at www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/.