Adobe has made available release candidate versions of its upcoming Camera Raw 8.6 plug-in and DNG Converter, also at version 8.6, for final testing by users before an official release. As is now official policy with Adobe, users running Photoshop CS6 are limited to only receiving any new camera support and bug fixes; only Photoshop CC subscribers will receive any new feature updates. The release candidates a number of all three additions in the latest version.
For Photoshop CC subscribers, the new features included in v8.6 include camera matching profiles for Sony’s DSC-RX100 III, the Alpha SLT-A77 II and the A7S. There is also improved performance on 64-bit systems when batch-processing images via the Save button in Camera Raw and when converting images to DNG in DNG Converter.
All updates will gain support for Nikon’s D810 camera, Panasonic’s Lumix AG-GH4 and DMC-FZ1000 models, and lens profiles for new Canon, Nikon, Pentax, PhaseOne, Sony Alpha and Sony E hardware. Bug fixes for Adobe Camera Raw v8.6 include fixing crashes on launch on some Hi DPI (Retina) Macs, and a crash caused by opening some Sigma SD9 raw files.
Additionally, the company has fixed an issue with some Hasselblad H5D-50c and H5D-60 3FR raw images appearing too dark, though the problem’s resolution may affect the appearance of existing images captured with this combination of settings. “It is recommended that [users] (1) purge the Camera Raw cache via the Camera Raw Preferences dialog, and (2) review previously-captured images for unexpected brightness changes,” says the company.
Also fixed is an issue with JPEG images saved by Camera Raw not readable in some external applications, and a fix for automatic lens profile selection for Leica M (Typ 240) when using most recent firmware version. The company seeks feedback on the two release candidates, which can be left through Adobe’s feedback portal. No final release date for the 8.6 versions has yet been announced.
