Both minor updates, offer stability enhancements

Apple and Adobe both chose Thursday to offer minor updates to each company's most well-known photo-management programs. Apple has boosted iPhoto to v9.2.3, addressing a specific multiple-user bug and overall stability, while Adobe has issued the first Release Candidate of Lightroom 4.1, which fixes a number of issues including possible lost book layouts, performance in certain situations, and properly opening external apps for further editing.

Apple's iPhoto update specifically fixes an issue that could cause iPhoto to quit unexpectedly on systems with multiple user accounts, and this thus recommended for all users of iPhoto 9.x (otherwise known as iPhoto '11). Recent updates added the ability to delete photos from the Photo Stream synchronized feed, and improved the management of the import widow along with other issues such as preserving saved slideshows and books during a library rebuild.

The update is available through Software Update or directly from Apple's Support Downloads section. It is 354.55MB in size and requires Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later.

The Lightroom update offers only one "new" feature, support for the Canon EOS 5D Mark III camera. It also fixes a number of issues found in the previous beta, including sometimes not opening external applications for the "Edit in" functionality, restoring Point Curve adjustments made in Lightroom 3, restoring the ability to update DNG previews and metadata for more than 100 photos, and preserving the layout of a saved book which could be lost after quitting.

RC1 also addresses performance issues when loading GPS track logs, using a secondary monitor or the controls within the Develop module, and adds improved viewing of subfolders and stacks in folders with a large number of photos. It is important to note that installing the Lightroom RC1 update will overwrite and replace any existing Lightroom 4.0 installation, and that while well-tested the Release Candidate may still have issues that could benefit from further testing.

While users can return to Lightroom 4 after trying 4.1 RC1 by deleting the program and reinstalling Lightroom 4 from the original download or disc, users should proceed only with verified backups of their photos and data. The 4.1RC version will expire on June 30th. For Macs, the Lightroom 4.1RC release requires a multicore Intel Mac with 64-bit support (ie a Core2Duo chip or later) running OS X 10.6.8 or higher. Users can report issues by filing a bug report, and discussion the product in Adobe's forums.

by MacNN Staff