Quote:
Originally Posted by gusmur
Grant,
So good to see you here. I follow you on the LZN forum.
Is there a LZN4 coming this year?
Thanks,
Angus
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Hi Angus,
LightCrafts have indicated that they are working on the next version - one of the developers posted a screenshot on the forum a couple of weeks ago.
Some time late last summer there was an indication that they sort of hoped for something in Q1/Q2 2010 but I suspect it will now be later in the year. As ever with software development there are a lot of rolling unknowns, especially with the underlying technology choices, and things can take much longer than expected or hoped. This is especially true as products naturally increase in complexity and sophistication with each version. Supporting across 3 operating systems is also a challenge. Whilst we may think of Mac OS and Windows as being relatively stable and consistent (I did say and mean RELATIVELY) Linux is another game entirely.
That said there are few things (very few related specifically to image editing) that I don't find in the current version and I still have plenty to discover of course. I actually bought V2.4 not too long before V3 was first released (but long enough to miss the 'very recent purchaser' free upgrade!) but I felt that, even at the price then, the 'existing user' upgrade fee was well worth it. When the colour selection functionality was added for free a couple of point releases later it just got even better.
My guess (and it is very much a guess) is that we may see a similar approach this time. I hope the basic design concept as a photo editor (rather than graphics system) remains intact. LZ is one of only two pieces of software that I actually enjoy using - to the point where I will sometimes go looking for an image to edit to what I can do with it this time! (The other application is nothing at all to do with photo editing.)
Nice work from you as ever Angus. In fact browsing through the galleries here it's easy to find a lot of very strong images. It is really tempting to consider getting into the systems. Perhaps later in the year.
I was at one of the larger UK Photo equipment Exhibitions today and spent some time looking at the Panasonic kit to get a 'feel' for it (literally!). Sadly Olympus did not attend and getting 'hands on' through the retailer's stands is not so easy or useful.
Sorry, I have wondered off topic somewhat, but suffice it to say that the nature of the
images, especially the street and B&W genres, seem to be very suited to LightZone processing - which of course is what Brian discovered some time ago ...
All the best,
Grant
