Adobe today announced the release of Camera Raw 9.6 and Lightroom CC 2015.6. The bulk of the update brings raw image support for new cameras, adds corrective profiles for more lenses, and squashes some bugs from previous versions.
There is, however, one key improvement to Lightroom CC, which architects (and photographers working for them) will greatly appreciate. It’s called Guided Upright, and is a new option found within the Upright tool. Upright was introduced to help correct the keystone effect that occurs when shooting buildings from a low angle, although it can also be used to simply straighten images or fix horizons. Previously, the effect was automatic, which worked fine in many situations. For buildings or scenes without clear vertical and horizontal lines, however, it was less accurate. With Guided Upright, Adobe is letting users manually identify lines in the image, essentially programing the tool for what to look for and fix.
The process works best with lens corrections enabled, as lens distortion can render straight lines as curves. Other than that, it is fairly straight forward: simply click “Guided” in the new Transform menu and draw at least two lines on the image. Upright then makes the automatic correction as usual, using the placed lines as a guide. Adjustments can then be made with sliders to fine tune the correction.
Among the new cameras supported in Camera Raw 9.6 are the compact Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II and Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX85. Tethering support has also been added for several new Canon DSLRs, including the flagship EOS-1D X Mark II and enthusiast-focused EOS 80D. Lens correction support has been expanded to included many Rokinon/Samyang models, the new Zeiss Batis 18mm for Sony mount, and Several newer Canon lenses, among others.
Of note, Camera Raw 9.6 is only available to Adobe Creative Cloud subscribers. Those who haven’t made the switch to CC yet can still use Adobe’s DNG convertor to convert raw files from cameras not natively supported by their version of Lightroom or Photoshop. For the full list of supported cameras, bug fixes, and other updates, head over to Adobe’s Lightroom Journal.
