ZERNO.
What's new

What's new

The list of versions. The “What's new” link in the program leads here too.

Windows · Version 5 · 5 October 2026

Several times faster, export in one window, a new look

The fifth version for Windows is about speed and order. Almost the whole pipeline now runs on the graphics card, and what is left to the processor runs on all of its cores: heavy papers and plates print 10–30 times faster, series export four times faster. Export is one window with the folder and your own file name, buttons share one style, and a bar over the frame replaces the status line.

3 new · 5 fixed · 7 changed

Export: one window for the settings and the folder · No status line under the frame · Ten new presets

Mac · Version 5 · 5 October 2026

Several times faster, export in one window, a new look

The fifth version is about speed and order. Heavy prints — offset, CRT, instant films, plates, the table and mats — are computed on the graphics card and come out several times faster, and batch export is two and a half times faster. Export is now one window with the folder and a custom file name, buttons share one style, and the status line gave way to a bar over the frame.

3 new · 5 fixed · 11 changed

Export: one window for the settings and the folder · No status line under the frame · Ten new presets

Windows · Version 4 · 28 September 2026

Zerno for Windows

The first version for Windows is the same program as on the Mac: the same films, papers, lenses and development, the same process rack and the same print — only computed by your PC's graphics card. It needs Windows 11 and a DirectX 12 graphics card; one licence works on both the Mac and the PC.

9 new · 4 fixed · 2 changed

The whole chain on the graphics card · RAW and HEIC · Source

Mac · Version 4 · 28 September 2026

The source and white balance

The fourth version is about the light that reaches the film: the rack's new first card, SOURCE, decides how much of it the film gets and what colour it is. A night frame no longer needs pulling back out of overexposure, RAW shadows develop in full, and white balance is now the light of the scene. And on the same day Zerno came out for Windows — the same version 4, one licence for both computers.

3 new · 9 fixed · 6 changed

Source is the first card of the rack · Open Recent · The Three matrices preset

Mac · Version 3 · 19 September 2026

Glass plates and English

The third version is about glass and about language. Wet collodion with ambrotypes and tintypes, an 1890s dry plate with a halation ring, albumen paper and developers of its own — a whole era before film. The program now speaks English throughout, down to the names of films and recipes. And the rack has tidied itself: a knob with nothing to change does not sit greyed out, it leaves.

6 new · 13 fixed · 13 changed

Wet collodion — the glass plate · The dry plate and the halation ring · RA-4 hand print

Mac · Version 2 · 13 September 2026

Cropping, the CRT screen and eighteen new films

The second version is the first you can download without an invitation and try without a code: five days of the full program, nothing held back. The shelf grew from 50 films to 68, inkjet, offset and a CRT screen joined the scans and silver papers, and a frame can be cropped and levelled. Prokudin-Gorsky's plates and the pinhole arrived. Thirteen recipes, twenty-five fixes.

45 new · 25 fixed · 7 changed

The CRT screen · Levelling the horizon · The accent colour is yours to pick

How updates work

The program checks for a new version once a day and tells you when there is one. For now an update is only downloaded: Zerno verifies the file's checksum and shows it in Finder, and moving it to Applications is done by hand. After the move the new version has to be allowed again in System Settings — every build has its own signature (how to do that).

Automatic replacement will come after signing with an Apple Developer ID and notarisation. Not the other way round: a self-replacing unsigned application is a hole, not a convenience.

The version number is a whole number, no dots: "Version 1", "Version 2". It grows with every release.

How updates work · Windows

The same as on the Mac: once a day the program checks for a new version, downloads the installer, verifies its checksum and shows it in File Explorer. You run it; your settings and projects stay where they are.

Until the installer is signed with Authenticode, SmartScreen asks for permission for every build: “More info” → “Run anyway”. Automatic replacement will come together with the signature.