September 14th, 2026
Version 2026.09.14
This is mostly a follow-up to yesterday’s BIG release.
StackCheck stops chasing its own tail
The new StackCheck button kept offering follow-up suggestions even when they weren’t helpful. Now it doesn’t.
Denoise, rebuilt
The last released improved all the Adjustments but left Denoise behind. You might say it got lost in the noise. Now it works much better!
September 13th, 2026
Version 2026.09.13
Adjustments improvements, and Whites/Blacks
All Adjustments have gotten a tune-up to work better. Also, added Whites and Blacks as two new Adjustments!
Run StackCheck on-demand!
New "Run StackCheck" command on the Editor toolbar and by right-clicking a thumbnail in the Editor and Library. The Editor will show a small blue dot if an image has StackCheck recommendations.
Lightroom plugin imports every file a multi-format save writes
Selecting TIFF and DNG used to import only the DNG, now it imports both.
Brush settings are remembered between sessions — Retouch Size/Feather/Strength, plus the Spot Correct and Defringe sizes.
Spot Correct got Feather and Strength sliders.
Retouch and Spot Correct brushes can now go down to 1 px.
Zoom now goes to 800% on every canvas.
Autostack can filter a mixed folder to one file type, so a RAW+JPEG folder whose names don't match no longer stacks both filetypes.
Safety warning on mushroom and plant Species IDs. Never a guide to what's safe to eat.
"Delete from disk" — the Library menu item says what it does, shows a clear warning in amber text, and undoes with Cmd+Z.
The First/Last marker appears the moment you press the key, not when the cursor moves away.
The Folders tree sorts case-insensitively, matching Favorites, and both trees now follow symlinked folders.
Intel Macs update in place now, instead of opening a browser download. (On the next update AFTER this one.)
September 9th, 2026
Version 2026.09.09
Retouch repairs are no longer dropped from long editing sessions
Past about 2000 brush gestures, the oldest were silently discarded, and the Raw DNG then refused to save your repairs at all. (Sorry, Glenn!)
Preferences menu fix
For Italian, Spanish and French users on Mac, the Preferences menu opened the documentation page. That was a pretty obscure (but really annoying) bug!
The Library footer learned how to count
If you selected 4 frames, it used to say “3 frames selected.” So I sent it back to kindergarten and now it can count better!
StackCheck is now on by default for new installs
Early feedback has been positive, so I’m turning it on for new users. You can always change this in Preferences.
September 7th, 2026
Version 2026.09.07
Adobe Bridge and ON1 Integrations!
Stack straight from Adobe Bridge and ON1 Photo RAW. In Adobe Bridge, right-click the bracket, choose "Stack in Macro Studio", and the result opens ready to adjust. In ON1 Photo RAW, right click and “Send to” Macro Studio.
Faster stacking!
Stacking is faster on every machine, especially on older computers and ones that stack on the CPU alone.
Macro Studio now runs on Intel Macs
A few things work differently there: for now, updates arrive as a download from the site rather than an auto-update, and very new cameras may need the free Adobe DNG Converter.
StackCheck badge on thumbnails
Library thumbnails show a StackCheck badge on images where StackCheck has a recommendation.
Better support for newer cameras
Some newer cameras were stacking successfully but the color was wrong. These situations are now detected and routed to the Adobe DNG Converter to give proper color.
September 4th, 2026
Version 2026.09.04
Faster stacking!
Note that stacking performance is very particular to your computer (OS, memory, GPU, etc.) In general, camera-raw mode (Raw DNG output, using the Adobe DNG Converter) stacks are nearly twice as fast as they used to be, on both Mac and Windows. On Windows machines without a strong graphics card (meaning they mostly stack on the CPU), normal-mode stacks are roughly 10%-40% faster, and older machines should see the most improvement. In general, the best thing you can do to speed up stacking is to close apps you aren’t using, to free up memory. And in general, Macs are faster than Windows at stacking. Every Apple Silicon Mac's GPU can use all of the computer's memory, so stacking runs on the GPU on every Mac. On Windows, that depends on the graphics card having enough memory of its own (roughly 4 GB or more for a 24 MP camera, more for higher resolutions), and machines whose card falls short stack on the CPU instead.
StackCheck works with Autostack and Lightroom
If you have enabled StackCheck in Preferences, then Lightroom-exported stacks and Autostack will now show StackCheck recommendations.
Adjustment sliders using arrow keys
Hover over a slider or click its text box and press Up or Down. Hold Shift to step ten at a time.
Trial user “remaining days” countdown
Trial users get a countdown, and buying before the trial ends now upgrades the licence you already have instead of issuing a second one.
August 30th, 2026
Version 2026.08.30
This was a small release containing some improvements to the Info Card Watermark editor.
The font dropdown now paints a proper background to make them more readable.
The template box uses a single readable size regardless of font size so that it always remains readable (the live preview reflects the actual font size).
The live preview widens when you widen the window, making it easier to see.
August 30th, 2026
Version 2026.08.29
Lightroom plugin improvements!
Now you can stack straight from Lightroom's Export menu. Right-click a selection, choose Export > Macro Studio, and pick the RAW or TIFF preset. The File > Plug-in Extras route still works as well.
StackCheck (Beta) got smarter!
StackCheck’s algorithm got smarter, so you should have fewer false positives. And it only makes a recommendation on the original stack, not on the re-stack. If you want to try it, enable it in Preferences.
Draft Social Post update
Updated the default social post template to put camera, lens and exposure on separate lines. Hashtags can now be turned on/off with a checkbox.
August 29th, 2026
Version 2026.08.28
This update touched much of the product, so if you see anything weird, please report it.
Lightroom Classic plugin!
Send frames straight from Lightroom, stack them in Macro Studio, and the finished image comes back into your catalog. Install it from the new Integrations menu. Your LrC edits travel with the frames (as either RAW of TIFF files) for easy pre-processing. [read about it here]
StackCheck (Beta)!
After a stack, StackCheck points out frames that look like they hurt the result and offers to stack again without them. This is off by default since I’m still tuning it, but I’d love for folks to try it out and give me feedback. Enable it in Preferences → General → Enable StackCheck (Beta). [read about it here]
Faster Retouch frame loading
Loading source frames in Retouch is up to 4x faster, and pre-caches more frames.
Library enhancements
New right-click options for more file management features
"Select All [A]" now flips to "Deselect All [A]" when everything is selected, to make deselecting more intuitive.
August 26th, 2026
Version 2026.08.26
Your adjustments now show while you retouch!
Retouch, Spot Correct and Defringe were showing the unadjusted stack, not reflecting any adjustments or masks. Both panes now show the image with your adjustments and masks applied, and you can toggle it on/off by pressing “A".
Find Focus now works on smooth subjects
If you missed the last update, Retouch now lets you press “F” to jump right to the frame where your brush area is in focus. The first version didn’t always work well on smooth surfaces. Now it does.
Editing a saved Raw DNG offers retouch, crop and adjustments
Raw DNGs that you reopen later can now be Retouched, and saved again as a Raw DNG.
Retouch opens both panes on the same part of the image
Sometimes you would open Retouch and the two frames started in different positions. That’s now fixed.
Leftover scratch folders are cleaned up properly now on Windows.
August 25th, 2026
Version 2026.08.24
Configurable file names!
You can now choose how saved files are named. Build your own filename pattern from over 25 tokens like date, file names, frame count, and EXIF metadata.
Find focus in Retouch
Press “F” and the source pane jumps to the frame that's in focus under your brush — no more scrubbing a 200-frame filmstrip! This is one of my favorite new features. It doesn’t always work on smooth subjects, but I can improve that in a future release.
Copy and paste app text
Banners, EXIF, and Species ID are now selectable.