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ON1 has released a refresh to Photo RAW and their plug-ins. This is a free update to owners of the current ON1 2021 products, so hit that “Check For Updates” option in the menus if you haven’t seen the notice for the update yet. The latest release has new features for both the Photo RAW users and the plug-in crowd. Here are five things in the latest release I think are cool and noteworthy.

1. Smart Photos Are Back!

Smart Photos enable Lightroom users to round-trip to ON1 plugins and maintain re-editability. If you’ve been a long-time ON1 plug-in user, you might remember Smart Photos. It’s back! Only this time, ON1 has made the plug-in experience even smoother. It is crystal clear you are working with a Smart Photo PSD when you round-trip from Lightroom now. It is the best Lightroom to ON1 workflow.

I have a separate video and article showing how ON1 Smart Photos works with Lightroom.

2. Batch Edits With ON1 Plug-ins

Another feature for the Lightroom plug-in crowd - batch editing with the ON1 plugins. With 2021.5, you can take a select a group of photos and push them all through an ON1 plug-in automatically.

I really like how ON1 implemented the plug-in workflow. The “Pause on First Photo” workflow is my preferred method. I can tailor my look with the first photo and then let the batch process automate the rest. And yes! Pair this with Smart Photos and you can re-edit the batch processed images.

I have a separate article and video describing batch editing with ON1 Plug-ins.

3. Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

The ON1 Photo RAW 2021.5 update adds custom keyboard shortcuts. You can define keyboard shortcuts for a wide variety of things, including basic Tone & Color sliders to menu options to tools. For the longest time, I’ve wanted custom hotkeys to change the mask view overlay. Now I can set these up! There are a host of things you can customize to tailor ON1 to how you use it.

I have a separate video and article about setting up your own ON1 custom keyboard shortcuts.

This also sets up the potential for workflows using alternative input devices like Loupe Deck or buttons on a Wacom tablet. Buttons can be mapped to hotkeys, and hotkeys can be customized in ON1!

4. Finer Slider Controls

The slider controls can now be controlled with the keyboard. Click a slider to activate it, then use the up and down arrow keys to fine-tune the value. This is quite helpful when precise, subtle changes need to be made. Getting an exact look can be hard with the mouse or trackpad, and keying in numbers by hand to set a slider is cumbersome. Watch the video at the top of this post to see this feature in action.

5. Cloud Sync All Your Extras

Cloud Sync (formerly ON1 360) got a boost of functionality also. Cloud Sync already synchronizes your images across your desktop, laptop, and mobile devices. Now, all of your ON1 Extras are synchronized as well. Presets, textures, LUTs … all of those are managed for you through Cloud Sync. Install that texture pack on your desktop and it’ll show up on your laptop. A very nice addition.

So that’s the big news for ON1 2021.5. Very good stuff. Thanks as always, ON1.