« [ THE DIGITAL FRAME-UP ] | Main | [REVIEW—HEWLETT PACKARD Photosmart A716] »
March 29, 2007
[ REVIEW—ADOBE LIGHTROOM ]
ADOBE LIGHTROOM
Price: $345 until 30 April then $495
[NOTE: The price posted here originally was incorrect, based on wrong information supplied by Adobe's communications company]
Highly recommended
The low-down: This application is, as the name suggests, the electronic equivalent of the darkroom except that it is used in the light. It has been around in free beta form for some months so it is well tested for bugs.
Lightroom uses a Develop metaphor for photo editing, providing an array of tools to correct exposure, white balance, fill light and the usual functions of contrast, brightness, sharpness, saturation and so on. What makes it special is that it provides this range of post-camera processing tools for jpeg files as well as for RAW. Of course there is more latitude for recovering images if they are taken in RAW – which Lightroom assumes most photographers will do – but it is a boon to have this degree of control over compressed files.
Lightroom makes Photoshop RAW redundant and it is easier to use than the image editing functions in Photoshop. However it is a non-layer editing program so any changes that involve additional layers for effects still need to be done in Photoshop.
There is a cataloguing function that will make Picasa unnecessary for tagging and indexing images. Slideshows can be created and exported as a pdf and there is an elegant routine for making web galleries.
Like this: The interface is attractive and intuitive. It is a big improvement on Photoshop RAW and is much better than the crippled RAW converters that come with camera software. It is also faster in operation than any RAW converter we have used, with the exception of the excellent Bibble Pro.
Dislike that: We find Adobe’s curious redefinition of common English words to be misleading. As with all Adobe applications the learning curve is steep.
Parting shot: This program is now our basic photo editing tool. Once mastered it is a pleasure to use. The speed with which it does its job is dependent on processor and memory but with a decent setup it is much faster in opening and being ready for operation than Photoshop. Bibble Pro is similar to Lightroom in its functions and is available for download for US $130. Bibble is clearly better value for money.
Posted by terry at March 29, 2007 12:51 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://bleedingedge.com.au/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1224
Comments
where can you buy lightroom for $A195? clearly not the Adobe site!
(I've been using a trial version of lightroom 1.0 since the beta version expired and I've found it to be indispensible as part of my workflow.)
Nay
: )
Posted by: Nay at April 1, 2007 01:11 AM
Nay:
That is the price that I was given by Adobe and I presume that is the price that retailers are charging for Lightroom at the moment.
Here is the email I received from Adobe re pricing: "Hi Terry - thanks for your email. If customers purchase Lightroom before
April 30 2007 they save AU$150 off the expected retail price of AU$345."
You can buy it from Adobe's online shop:
https://store2.adobe.com/cfusion/store/index.cfm?store=OLS-AU&view=ols_prod&category=/Applications/PhotoshopLightroom&distributionMethod=FULL&nr=0
Hope this helps.
TL
Posted by: Terry at April 2, 2007 08:34 AM
Nay: On checking the Adobe shop site I believe that I have been mislead. The wording is ambiguous but looking at the small print I think the introductory price is $150 off $475 -- a far cry from what I was advised.
I will take this up with Adobe because it is seriously misleading.
TL
Posted by: Terry at April 2, 2007 08:38 AM