Large stacks render much faster and use far less memory. Fixes StackLab closing when a project was saved after retouching. Cameras that need the Adobe DNG Converter, such as the Sony a7 V, now load correctly.

Deghost renders almost twice as fast with identical results. The progress bar now sits right above the Render button while rendering. How it works and the method tooltips explain when to use each method and why Adobe DNG Converter is the better RAW engine. The Adobe DNG Converter helper now updates itself with the app after a one-time install.

Faster loading of large stacks: frames convert in the background as soon as they are loaded, decoding adapts to available memory, and the progress bar shows which frame is being decoded. Large stacks now keep their cached frames between loads, so reopening, re-rendering or retouching a stack no longer decodes it again; the cache size limit defaults to 16 GB (Preferences). Update the Adobe DNG Converter helper in Preferences to get the full effect.

Better colour and tone along edges in the pyramid methods (A and B).

Bug fix in the License window.

• Filmstrip thumbnails always appear. A thumbnail that failed to show is now detected and reloaded automatically. • Unloading a stack is instant, and the preview is cleared right away. Reloading a stack no longer shows the previous render. • RAW decoding updated to LibRaw 0.22.2 for newer camera support. Rendering results are unchanged.

• Retouching is much more responsive. Brush strokes no longer pause at the start, and painting from another render is as fast as painting from a source frame. • Zooming the source pane with a render as the source is now smooth. • Rendering is faster on large stacks: Contrast Pyramid about twice as fast, High-Contrast Pyramid about 20 percent faster, with identical results.

• The Lightroom Classic plug-in now works. Sending a focus bracket from Lightroom to StackLab did nothing at all in the App Store version; the frames now load, and your exported result returns to the Lightroom catalog when you close StackLab. • After updating, open Preferences and click Install plug-in once. Lightroom keeps using the old plug-in until you do. • StackLab now opens image files handed to it by Finder or another app, so you can drag a bracket onto its icon or use Open With.

• Fixed the stepped contour lines where a near subject meets a far background. • Smoothing was applying far more smoothing than intended. It is now calibrated correctly, and has half steps below 2. • Fixed dark blotchy patches in flat areas such as fog and sky. • Focus breathing compensation can now be switched off, and hand-held mode works with it off. • StackLab remembers the settings you used last. • Fixed a render failure when switching outputs mid-render, and a crash on identical frames. • Exported filenames for High-Contrast Pyramid no longer carry a Radius value.

Method B (High-Contrast Pyramid) now keeps bright, low-contrast areas neutral. Scenes such as fog, mist or a blown sky could pick up a faint green tint where sharp edges met the brightest tones; those areas now render with true colour, with no loss of the fine detail Method B is chosen for. The render label under the image now always matches the render you are viewing when you switch between outputs. Plus minor fixes.