This morning, Adobe released its latest update to the Lightroom ecosystem. Included are performance and workflow optimizations for both Lightroom and Lightroom Classic, making it easier for photographers to complete tasks.

Lightroom Classic updates

In Adobe’s blog post, the company said they’re committed to the future of the Lightroom Classic product:

“Adobe is dedicated to developing the best in-class tools and experiences to help all photographers find and express their visions. That’s why we’re actively investing in more Develop tools (including AI/ML features), workflow optimization, as well as customer experience and interface updates for Lightroom Classic that will empower all photographers to achieve desired results faster and easier than ever before.”

With today’s update, Adobe brought some workflow improvements to the table, with improved RAW default settings, PSB file support, secondary display selection, auto-sync improvements and more.

Improved RAW default settings

You can now easily change RAW images and configure the default Develop settings. Just open up Preferences and click on the Presets tab, to use either Camera Settings, Adobe Color or a preset of your choice. Defaults can be applied universally or customized by camera model. You can even apply them based on serial number. If no specific default is selected, the “Master” settings will be used.

This is handy when you’re importing photos and consistently want the same look applied to them, but want control based on the camera used. With the new RAW default settings, you can preserve the “as shot” look for future imports, reducing your edit time.

PSB file support

Lightroom Classic now has Large Document Format support (.psb). This is useful for landscape photographers, especially those that stitch multi-gigabyte panorama images in Photoshop, and export as a PSB file to maintain the highest quality and resolution. Now, you can import, catalog and edit these PSB files within Lightroom Classic.

Note that the maximum dimensions allowed are 65,000 pixels on the long edge, or 512 megapixels.

Secondary display selection

For editors using three or more displays, opening a second window will now automatically appear in the designated background.

Auto-Sync improvements

Be more aware when Auto-Sync is enabled in Lightroom Classic, and which batch edits have been applied. Messages and a more visible button are available. The notifications can be turned off in the Interface tab in Preferences.

Performance enhancements

This update to Lightroom Classic adds expanded GPU support, with full GPU acceleration now available for Lens Correction and Transform adjustments. Further, Enhance Details now leverages external GPUs on macOS 10.15 Catalina, resulting in faster processing.

Photoshop Elements 2020 support

You can now import your catalog from Photoshop Elements 2020 into Lightroom Classic.

FAQ Link for Sync

Adobe has created a Frequently Asked Questions document for syncing to the cloud from Lightroom Classic, to help users to understand the process and benefits to edit and share photos from the web or any mobile device. This link can be found under the sync status.

Lightroom updates

The updates to Lightroom for Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, iPadOS and ChromeOS expands on Adobe’s updates to the ecosystem in December 2019. Some highlights include improvements to exporting, shared albums, importing, Photo Merge and more.

Import and export improvements

When importing via drag-and-drop, you can now import to a specific album by dragging and dropping directly onto an album in the Albums list. Available for Windows and Mac systems.

Additionally, Lightroom now allows you to export photos in the DNG format, a feature that was already available on Android and iOS.

Shared album metadata

When you’re contributing photos to a shared album owned by another user, you can now choose to include or omit metadata. Additionally, if you’re the owner of a shared album, you can now export photos which other people have added. Available for Windows and Mac systems.

Photo Merge enhancements

You can now bypass the Photo Merge dialog when creating an HDR or panoramic image, using the previous merge settings. To do this with an HDR, use the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + H. For a panorama, use Ctrl + Shift + M. Available for Windows and Mac systems.

Import presets

Prior to this release, you could only import edit presets and profiles on Windows and Mac systems. Now, you can import edit presets and profiles directly in Lightroom on Android. This feature will be coming soon to Lightroom on iOS.

Learn and Discover improvements

In the Home view, the Discover content is now presented in a two column view for easier browsing.

Additionally, the interactive tutorials in the Learn section now include a before/after step, so you can see the effect of the edits in the tutorial. Available for iOS and Android.

Split Screen

Lightroom on iPad now supports a split screen view.