Just have to say that I am pretty impressed with the work that has gone into 1.1.

Improvements that I really appreciate:
Interface is snappier and more responsive especially in library
Sharpening is excellent for making detail available to USM in PS for output
Defringe is superb
Hierarchies and synonyms can now be imported with keywords so a manageable controlled vocab is now possible

Oddities:
Left interface panel in develop always shows for newly imported images, even when set to auto hide
Tiffs, when no compression specified on export, still save as zip compressed by default with no prompt when saving from PS with >1 layer

Still griping about:
1:1 previews take an age to create (and update) and this really slows down editing for sharpness - maybe a selective loop view would help so the entire image doesn't need to be created as in C1
Dust spotting is jumpy and can still be unresponsive when tweaking

Can you describe this feature in detail, how to use this in LR & make use of it to the best.

As a quick rundown:

Create or buy a controlled vocab (google controlled vocabulary)
This will be a simple text or spreadsheet file containing a lot of keywords in a parent child structure. Format it for import into LR e.g.:
(_____ = a TAB indent)

parent1
_____child1
__________{child1synoynym1}
__________{child1synoynym2}
_____child2
__________{child2synonym1}
__________grandchild1
parent2
_____child1
__________grandchild1
_____child2
__________{child2synonym1}

Import and voila a big list of keywords and respective children and synonyms and on a basic level much easier and more consistent than thinking up keywords from scratch.

The heirarchy option (see filehandling under prerences) now in LR and Bridge provides a syntax for the keywords that sit in the metadata of your image file. This syntax can be read by an importing application (such as a future version of iView I hope, or a stock agency's search engine) which will then honour and understand the original heirarchical structure. (see Dan Hellers blog DanHeller for a very good primer on the issues)

In terms of management you can now have a master keyword text file that can be updated as you wish and then reimport into LR and Bridge to make use of it. And as far as I can tell Adobe have just leapfrogged the field with ease and manageability of keywording.

Hi,

Lots of good info about LR here. I'm trying to take it all in before I really start using LR as my RAW converter.

I'm looking for a guide to using the image previews. I know that LR can use the embedded previews on import and I also know that it will generate its own previews when needed. And I know that you can choose 1:1 previews which can be time consuming as mentioned above.

But what I don't have a handle on yet is exactly what are the previews used for (other than the obvious thumbnails) and when would you really want to pay the price for the overhead of the 1:1 previews.

TIA,

Gene

Standard previews are used for loupe view (and thumbnails maybe) in library ie double click a thumb and that's a standard preview.
1:1 previews are when you zoom into a standard preview. Used for checking focus but it may be just as quick taking each pic into develop rather than waiting for LR to create all the 1:1 previews and going for a coffee.

Thanks Timhurst, it makes some sense to me now & I will 1st create my own list & test it with the images before I venture further with LR DAM functionality.

Still playing with the new LR. Re the paint tool, if I create a keyword, it seems to reduce all my numbers in the folders to 0 and makes them unavailable. What am I doing wrong?

Update: If you delete the keyword in the find panel, everything returns to normal.

Seamus