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addieleman
Known Participant
May 29, 2026
Answered

P: New Camera Raw features not available in Lightroom Classic

  • May 29, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 10 views

Not as much of a question, but more a critical remark. Recently I noted that some new features in the latest Camera Raw update were not available in Lightroom Classic. Specifically I mention some masking features like "Depth Range" and the "Feather" and "Edge" options in the "Sky" mask. Earlier on we had "Denoise" in Camera Raw not needing to create a separate DNG file, when Lightroom Classic's Denoise resulted in an extra large additional DNG file.

This is very inconvenient. To use these (very useful!) features, I now have to open a raw file as a smart object in Photoshop to continue with raw editing and save the result as a very large psb file. Later when continuing with the edit, I have to reopen the psb file from Lightroom Classic.

I hope it is not Adobe's policy to continue with supporting new features in Camera Raw first and only later in Lightroom Classic, I find it cumbersome and annoying when Lightroom Classic lags with feature updates, complicating the workflow and resulting in bloated storage requirements.

    Correct answer Rikk Flohr_Photography

    Camera Raw is the Edit/Develop Engine powering the Lightroom clients. New Edit features must be built in Camera Raw before the Lightroom clients can adopt them. Unburdened by the additional cataloging, syncing, and other workflow functionalities, Camera Raw can move more quickly to get these desired new features into your editing workflow. Our goal is to eventually port these features into the Lightroom clients. 

    3 replies

    Rikk Flohr_Photography
    Community Manager
    Rikk Flohr_PhotographyCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
    May 29, 2026

    Camera Raw is the Edit/Develop Engine powering the Lightroom clients. New Edit features must be built in Camera Raw before the Lightroom clients can adopt them. Unburdened by the additional cataloging, syncing, and other workflow functionalities, Camera Raw can move more quickly to get these desired new features into your editing workflow. Our goal is to eventually port these features into the Lightroom clients. 

    Rikk Flohr: Adobe Photography Org
      A
      addielemanAuthor
      Known Participant
      May 29, 2026

      Understood, thanks.

      JohanElzenga
      Community Expert
      JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 29, 2026

      Camera Raw lives in its own little world. It does not have a catalog to deal with and it does not sync with anything in the cloud. That makes it a lot easier to add new features to Camera Raw to test, and to see how the general public responds to these new features. It only makes sense that the Lightroom apps cannot be updated to work with these new features at the same time they are added to Camera Raw.

      -- Johan W. Elzenga
        dj_paige
        dj_paige
        Legend
        May 29, 2026

        I think Adobe wants to do due diligence to make sure the code for these features is ready in LrC before turning them on, and if they feel the LrC code isn’t working or ready, they delay the implementation until the code is working. So will Adobe continue to do this in the future? I think that is likely. But really, I cannot speak on behalf of Adobe.

         

        For now, you can (this is a workaround) send the LrC photo to Photoshop, it will open in ACR (if it was a raw photo), you can make your edits in ACR and then click on Done. Back in LrC, read Metadata from File will then display your edits from ACR in LrC. No bloated storage that I can see other than the storage required by the mask.

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        addielemanAuthor
        Known Participant
        May 29, 2026

        I figured out the workaround, thanks.

        I don't know the reason behind Camera Raw features front-running Lightroom Classic. If it were only about using Camera Raw as a test-bed, then I'd say, release the features in Lightroom (Classic) as well and label them as beta/experimental/technology preview/whatever. But again, there may be other reasons, so I'd like to hear from an Adobe spokesperson what's behind this and if this approach can be changed.

        dj_paige
        dj_paige
        Legend
        May 29, 2026

        Adobe gets criticized by some for releasing products too early which have too many bugs. Others criticize Adobe for not moving fast enough. No matter what they do, the criticism comes in.

         

        I’m okay with the way they are doing it.

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