In short: - Bugfixes - RAW support for additional cameras (no µ43) - Additional Lens Profiles (no µ43) Lightroom 4.4 Now Available
By that I think you mean that lens profiles are built into the RAW file that LR processes. No additional work is required.
Key question is: what are the bug fixes. If sluggish performance is one of them I'll be very excited.
They are, but they don't always correct as fully as possible. Lightroom has profiles for the Sigma lenses, and there is a (slight) difference when applying them to an image. It corrects a little more vignetting, and does change the geometry slightly. I haven't been worrying about it, even though I use the Sigma 30 a lot, the changes just don't make a real difference for my most common subject (my almost 9 month old son). If I were shooting architecture or doing product shots, it might be worth applying the profiles. That said, even though there are not included profiles for the lenses, Adobe does have a free tool that you can use to create your own. Probably not worth it for most people, but there may be some that find a reason to do so.
WHAT??? I am totally downloading that, to create a PL25 and other Panny lens profiles for use on my Oly bodies!! linky http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=5489
Let us know how it works out. It sounds like a fair bit of work (many images of test charts), especially for zoom lenses.
Why bother? The only difference between the two is CA correction. I thought the 25 has no CA correction on even a Panasonic body. Also the guy at Adobe who does the lens profile and CA code said the auto CA correction actually works better than the profile based correction. Just tick the CA box and save yourself the trouble. FWIW I used their profile software to do the Rok 7.5 profiles I have in a old much bookmarked post on DPR. Actually their software was the starting point and then I made the modified profiles from there. So the software does work reasonably well.
Also bug fixes Lightroom 4.4 Now Available Scroll down to see bug fixes The following bugs that were part the Lightroom 4 releases have been corrected. The team appreciates the very detailed feedback the community has provided on Lightroom 4 and we’re excited to correct a number of issues experienced by our customers. These issues have been FIXED: ■The crop overlay tool resized incorrectly when used in conjunction with the “Constrain to Crop” checkbox in the Lens Correction panel. ■Background graphics were not correctly rendered within the Book Module. ■Reading metadata from file would sometimes result in keyword and and GPS metadata to not save for video files. ■Updated the “Missing File Icon” for HiDPI / Retina displays ■The supplied lens profile for the Sony RX-1 did not contain vignette information. ■Preview in Develop Module was not updated with the latest adjustments. ■Square tile artifacts while painting with brush. ■Previews of photos in portrait orientation were blurry when viewed in the filmstrip in the Develop module. (Mac only). ■Image in Book Disappears After Changing Modules. ■Error changing modules when in Slideshow with second monitor connected. ■Stack badges displayed the wrong count when creating new stack that included a preexisting stack. ■Local Adjustment Effect (Brushed Adjustment) Disappears (temporarily) After Selecting a Pin (Win only). ■Book changes are not saved after switching between modules. ■The Filter scrollbar within the Library module was not rendering properly. ■Auto-tone was not working properly when used in conjunction with the Exposure adjustment slider. (Win only) ■The Black&White button was not creating a History state within the Develop module. (Win only) ■When switching from image to image, remnants of previous image visible on fringes of new photo. This occurred on Retina screens only. ■RGB color readouts were specified in the Adobe RGB colorspace rather than the ProPhoto linear colorspace. This occurred when working in Soft Proofing within the Develop module. ■Horizontal artifacts would occassionally appear in DNG files. ■Adding a page behaved inconsistently in the Book module depending on the method used to add a page. ■The state of the “Remove Chromatic Aberrations” checkbox within the Lens Correction was not persistent between sessions of Lightroom. ■Cannot add contacts from Address Book to email on Mac. ■Sliders can no longer be moved on Win by using mouse wheel.
Yeah, I was gung ho at first but after doing one lens I was totally unimpressed by the results compared to the effort. I'm happy to encourage you to go for it ... I even repeated the whole thing thinking maybe I screwed up - same results. Maybe for some lenses the effort is worth the return but for the lens I tried there was basically minimal improvement that was not as good as a few slider tweaks in LR.
I have it downloaded and keep meaning to set it up to do corrections on the MD lenses I have. I can't find any corrections online for them.
Anyone else notice that Adobe re-introduced the ability to associate files to open with the lightroom.exe program, in Windows? Adobe had previously said that LR was not meant to be used this way, and it was disabled in 4.3, possibly 4.2 also, I can't remember - it was definitely available in 4.0 & 4.1. You can once again right click on your RAW file, click on "Open With" in the context menu, browse for your lightroom.exe (this would never show up in the last version, no matter what tricks you tried to find it), select it, and make sure you check the Always Use this Program option. Now, if you double-click on a RAW file (with that extension, mine is .orf), it opens up LR in Import mode, in the Folder that the file is in, with only that file checked. Useful, sometimes :smile:
Anyone noticing a bit of a hang in lightroom when editing 16bit tiff files that have been re-imported back into LR from an edit in PSD? I'm finding excessive screen redraws when using the gradient tools on these reimported tiffs. Very strange.