LR3beta2 is out! Here are some noteworthy points:

• • Speed is greatly improved.
• • Importing has been improved and refined.
• • Tethering for popular Nikon and Canon cameras is now supported.
• • Watermarking is improved (although still not ideal).
• • Luminance Noise Reduction has been added to complement the new demosaicing and color noise algorithms.
• • New Vignette styles.
• • Adjustment Brush and Gradient tools can now be stacked to strengthen the effect.
• • New Print Layout capabilities with Rotate to fit and Rotate Cell options.
• • Video files can now be imported from DSLRs along with still images.
• • The X key conveniently toggles the orientation in the crop tool.
• • Perspective Control and Soft Proofing are not in this beta (but are in development for future release).
• • While LR3beta1 catalogs can be updated for use in LR3beta2, LR2 catalogs still cannot be. This is after all, a beta release that is not intended, nor recommended for production work.

Commentary
The biggest thing for my own workflow is the speed and overall responsiveness of this release, which is better than any 1.x or 2.x  release. When I upgraded to the 21mp Canon 5Dmark2 I’ve been frustrated with the responsiveness of Lightroom ever since – until now. It’s pretty hard to go back to 2.6 for production work. On high resolution 20+ megapixel files, LR3beta2 is far, far faster – sometimes more than 20 times faster when lots of localized adjustments are used. (more…)

Adobe is releasing the second public beta of Adobe Lightroom 3 today. LR3beta1 users won’t be disappointed as there are a significant number of noteworthy features in the new beta that were not in the first. You will be able to download it from the Adobe Labs Lightroom 3 Beta2 page for details. I’m going to play nice and hold my tongue on the new features until it’s officially released.

Checkout Adobe’s video demonstrating the new features in LR3beta2.

You know night photography has become mainstream when Apple uses a night image for the default background image on their newest device. Note the star trails near the top! I would guess this is a ~25 minute exposure not too long after sunset considering the daylight glow along the horizon and gentle lighting on the foreground. If anyone knows who’s image is used on the iPad, please let me know.

Update: The iPad background image is licensed from RIchard Misrach. (via Mark Menjivar)

Update: See this in-depth article about the image and Misrach at ARTINFO

My good friend and mentor Dan Burkholder is boldly blazing a new path in a way that only he can. Dan is shooting exclusively with an iPhone and is making and exhibiting some serious fine art prints from it. Don’t laugh – Dan’s not just snapping low resolution images and applying filters to them, he’s capturing sometimes dozens of frames, stitching them together and using half a dozen applications to develop the images to his liking. His final results are fairly high resolution files that make for nice prints. His images are made and developed completely on the iPhone.

In his own words these images are "Untouched by Mac hardware or Adobe software. It’s liberating in so many ways. For the first time we have both camera and darkroom in the palm of our hands." Dan has, at the moment, four "iPhone Artistry" workshops planned around the country that focus exclusively on iPhone based image capture and development. Visit iphoneartistry.com to see more images.

Dan is also credited for inventing the digital negative for contact printing process, pigment over platinum and pigment over gold leaf printmaking.

This review provides a little insight into what will surely become a standard feature in all DSLRs in the future: Auto HDR. Sony currently combines only two exposures (+/- 3 EV) which Pentax combines three.

Many of Nikon’s latest cameras may only be 12 megapixels but they are an insanely clean 12 megapixels. Nikon’s latest, the 12.1 megapixel D3s is the current clean pixel champion that’s startlingly “professional” at high ISOs like 12,800. Check out these full res image samples.

I particularly like the improved sharpening, noise reduction, demoasicing, watermarking and new grain tools. There are significant quality improvements especially for high ISO and long exposure photographers. The completely redesigned Import dialog allows you to browse all images on the hard drive (similar to Bridge functionality). LR3 now archives the catalog during exit instead of upon launch (but they use the term “backup” incorrectly). There are also some exciting features in the wings that aren’t in this public beta yet. The LR3 beta takes up lots of RAM, isn’t optimized for speed and can be sluggish compared to LR2.5. This is fun to play with but professionals should continue using LR2.5 for their work until LR3 is ready. The LR3 beta is available for download from Adobe Labs.

Leica has just announced two new camera systems – the M9 and the X1. The M9 is the latest in the famous M series – it’s the same size and format as the M8 yet it’s chockfull of refinements. The M9 packs a 18.5 megapixel full frame sensor and has 3,5 or 7 frame exposure bracketing for HDR. Its fit and finish are all Leica and its the smallest full frame digital camera on the market. It’s available in 2 weeks for $6995.

The new X1 (pictured above on the right) is a compact sized camera that uses an unusually large and high quality sensor for a camera of its size. It has a 12.2 APS megapixel sensor and comes with a fixed 35mm equivalent f 2.8 aspherical Elmarit lens. At 10 ounces, it offers the image quality of the M8 yet in a smaller format. It will ship by the holidays for $1995.

My favorite feature on the M9 is that it shows highlight clipping (in red) and shadow clipping (in blue) just like lightroom does. Yes!! (illustrated on the right) Workshop participants will note that I’ve been predicting this in-camera feature for years now. We’ll see how long it takes to trickle down to the other manufacturers.

Both cameras save DNG formatted RAW files and include a Lightroom license when registered. Leica followers, you know who you are.