Welcome to ON1 Photo RAW 2026.4 A to Z! Join Dylan Kotecki and Dan Harlacher as they walk through the biggest new features inside the latest version of Photo RAW.
We showcase the all-new Home Module for faster photo accessibility and browsing, along with the brand-new Restore AI workflow inside Photo RAW MAX for repairing, colorizing, and restoring old photos with AI-powered tools.
ON1 Photo RAW2026Dylan KoteckiDan HarlacherRestore
On May 21, 2026 at 11:39 am Charles Curry wrote:
On the Cub Scout photo, whatever the text over the right pocket was, AI made a mess! Is the only option to fix this is to save the new AI photo and send it to Effects and use the Perfect Eraser to delete it?
On May 23, 2026 at 6:32 am Andrew Gray wrote:
Firstly I am impressed with the speed improvements.
Only tried restore on a few images, old and new so far. And obtained mixed results, more trial reqd before final judgement. However, on image tried was an old image taken in 2013. Taken at a National Trust site, featuring a lake surrounded by reeds and a sculpture of a nude female form, made out of galvanised metal, therefore grey in colour.
AI decided it was a live female, and changed it accordingly…….. Very impressive should I say.
On May 23, 2026 at 6:45 am Adam Rubinstein wrote:
Thanks Dan for providing the road map to Restore AI. There are a couple of questions regarding its operation which were not addressed in the video. From my initial foray into employing it for portraits and landscapes, I’ve gained the following observations. First it appears that the AI is working on a small .jpg? of the image at low resolution and then PR employs Resize AI in the background to produce the final result when the image is saved? Is this correct?
With portraits, I’ve seen some amazing results with respect to image clean up, restoration, and colorization, however it still needs a lot of work with faces. Perhaps this is a consequence of the current state of AI, however the bias is towards facial feature replacement rather than restoration. Using “face recovery” produces a more pleasing and contextually appropriate result although that comes at a cost, namely feature replacement particularly in hair, eyes (gaze, color, shape, etc.), teeth (frequently with hallucinations), nose, lips, etc. Again, one would prefer the bias to repair rather than replace features. Turning face recovery off retains features but creates an “alien” like look which is magnified while saved (Resize AI?). Refine the results is a great feature, although with portraits I found that it was unwilling or unable to perform certain tasks such as changing a uniform color to historically accurate colors.
For landscapes, I was initially quite enthusiastic at first until I performed a deep dive into the process. The object removal was tremendous and overall it was able to accomplish tasks in seconds that I wouldn’t be able to perform with prolonged efforts. It appeared to have amazing abilities to transform scenes with respect to lighting and other characteristics. For example, I took a landscape shot in the late afternoon and prompted Restore AI to transform it into a sunset scene with amazing attention to realistic skies and color. However, it did so by destroying all of the original scene detail (again is this related to how it operates on a small .jpg and then enlarging it using Resize AI?) making the final product unusable except for small web images. Your thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.
On May 23, 2026 at 7:09 am Bob O'Neill wrote:
I’m afraid the home module doesn’t work for me – i have changed the default back to browse, which immediately takes me back to where I left off. Much simpler. Also would it be possible to improve (correct?) the tone sliders in develop? I have seen these criticized on Youtube as not working correctly. I first found this back in the first version of PR when I changed from Lightroom, and they haven’t improved since – particularly Shadows, which changes the black point and Highlights which appears to function randomly. I tend to use Brilliance AI and then use Effects to make the image look the way I want.
On May 23, 2026 at 10:25 am Jan Masař wrote:
Hello! So far, I have tried using the Restore AI tool to edit a landscape photo in the new version 2026.4, and I was very excited about how great it works. After a detailed look at the image, I found that the green grass in the foreground was without details thanks to AI.
On May 23, 2026 at 3:11 pm Greg Moore wrote:
What about those of us who are causal users and not professionals paying the Adobe Tax. I’m interested in Restore AI but not the Plugins. I don’t believe I’m that unique. maybe I’m just _Special_. 😛
On May 23, 2026 at 3:31 pm Roy Medina wrote:
I’m really impressed with the new updates but in your example featuring the vineyard, I noticed there’s a definite halo surrounding the dark trees. I hope that’ll be worked out in future updates.
On May 23, 2026 at 5:26 pm Mark Laurendet wrote:
The Split filter could come in handy if you have a suitable photo. Will try to remember to take a photo with a suitable middle ground to try this one