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Lightroom 3 Beta

Terry

New member
Adobe released the new beta version of Lightroom 3. I am on my iPhone and posting the link is a bit of a pain so, you can find the info on Adobe's site. The beta expires next April.
 

Diane B

New member
There's also a small preview of it on LL.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/software/lr-3-beta.shtml which also has the dl link.

I've done the betas from the beginning and by the time the actual version ships, you are pretty well on your way to having it under control--plus, they have surprised us with 'extras' after the beta--like the gradient and brush tool. There are already complaints because the print module doesn't offer softproofing---they've really spiced up the print module so I'm betting softproof wil show up next April.

Diane
 
Michael Reichmann's preliminary review indicated that Adobe is rewriting the raw processing engine. Raw conversion IQ seems to be the most serious objection most photographers have to the program. IQ wise, this is a really interesting development.

Paul
 

LJL

New member
There are several mini-reviews starting to come out on LR3 beta, so we should be getting a better idea of where things are headed. The changes to the processing algorithms is an interesting start. That could have a lot of promise. They are fighting the constant battle of speed and power. To get some of the better processing options, it needs horsepower. But that can cut into the desire to get things posted and done faster by some. Tough balancing act, as not all buyers of this kind of software are going to be using the latest and greatest speed demon machines in most cases, so Adobe sort of has to take that into account.

Also, some of the newer things in the beta appear to be very interesting for print layouts and noise reduction.

Here is another brief review that touches upon some perspectives:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-10380947-264.html

LJ
 

Diane B

New member
Michael Reichmann's preliminary review indicated that Adobe is rewriting the raw processing engine. Raw conversion IQ seems to be the most serious objection most photographers have to the program. IQ wise, this is a really interesting development.

Paul
That interests me a lot. Before Lightroom, I generally used C1 and an older RC (RSP--the developer sold to Adobe about the time LR came out and works there in development) for processing, but since I don't shoot commercially any longer, I can compromise a bit--and generally get the colors the way I choose in LR. When they added the profiles for the Canons it was a plus in my book--even though I generally still stuck with neutral (other times, it was quicker to get reds or greens 'right' to use one of the 5D profiles).

I've just installed beta 3.0 so I'll see for myself, but know that its not 'finished' as there will be lots of time to have input into the final.
 
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Greg Seitz

New member
I'm seeing a significant improvement in image quality. Especially with regards to sharpening. In the past Lightroom had really ugly transitions at the edges where it tried to smooth things too much causing what some refer to as a wormy effect. Now with LR 3 the transitions are much cleaner and detailed. Also seeing a reduction in color fringing - note the spark guard on the chimney. Here's the same file converted with the same settings in LR 2 and LR 3 at 200% to highlight the differences:

LR2 at 200%:


LR3 at 200%:
 

Greg Seitz

New member
Also, the high ISO noise handling is much much better. Much less clumpy and improved chroma noise reduction. Here is a 200% set of crops again at 3200 ISO on a 7D. This is with Color NR set to 25 on both.

LR2 at 200%:


LR3 at 200%:
 

jonoslack

Active member
Oh!
I've just downloaded it, and started importing this months photos.

A superficial look at the M9 presets look extremely helpful. The printing looks interesting. GF1 and A900 files look great.

Apple are going to have to come up with something rather fast to stop me changing.

And if I'm changing then there will be an awful lot of others. coming too!
 

Robert Campbell

Well-known member
Downloaded and installed onto Windoze. So it choked on import and went to 'not responding', and didn't want to be closed. Still hasn't managed to import all the files in a particular folder.

But, despite what it says, if you have tried noise reduction in LR2.x -- and write this to xmp -- then both denoise sliders work -- very well.

And -- I only found it once in Preferences -- you have the option to have commas or spaces as keyword separators -- and put a keyword which has a space into quotes -- this on reopening has disappeared.
 

kevinparis

Member
downloaded and tried it on Macbook pro... and am utterly underwhelmed...speed is nothing to write home about...( despite the fact it said it was 64 bit on my snow leopard machine)
OK so I am an Aperture user... and i know it has faults... but i find the Lightroom interface very confusing.... and the space allocated to me to see my photo is very small... even in one of their multitude of views that shows a little more.

More i look at it the more i hate the interface... can only see one set of controls at a time... the sliders seem even more unresponsive than Aperture. Everyhing just seems to take up too much space

As for the new import panel... well I just gave up trying to understand that.

Web and slideshow stuff... whatever... the only area i really like lightroom is the printing module... can make no comment on the printed quality but the layout options look cool.

your mileage may vary.... but despite its faults Aperture still is the king of the complete workflow application

Do hope we see an Aperture 3... because i dont know if i could learn to live with Lightroom

K
 

TRSmith

Subscriber Member
I really wanted to like it. I even have some experience with it so it's not completely foreign. But I just don't. It might be that the defaults need a lot of tweaking, but my stuff just looks better to me out of C1. I'm considering using it strictly for keeping an organized catalog of .tifs that I've processed elsewhere.
 

Terry

New member
can only see one set of controls at a time... the sliders seem even more unresponsive than Aperture. Everyhing just seems to take up too much space

.... but despite its faults Aperture still is the king of the complete workflow application

K
one set of controls seems like you have it set up wrong....

....only king of the workflow if it actually supports the cameras you use which for me has been an abysmal failure over its lifetime.
 

nostatic

New member
I'll download and play with it on my new MacBookPro. You certainly can see more than one set of controls at a time. While the UI isn't as clean as Aperture, Aperture DOESN'T SUPPORT MY CAMERAS. I've owned my DLux4 for how long?

I am hesitant to switch, but I'm really tired of being limited in what I can shoot. Yes, workflow within Aperture is very nice. BUT, if I shoot raw with the DLux4, I am forced into another completely different workflow. That means that the *real* Aperture workflow is worse than it seems. I'm switching machines right now, and have archived the last 5 years of images. Now is the time to jump and I'm about ready to do so...
 

jonoslack

Active member
I'll download and play with it on my new MacBookPro. You certainly can see more than one set of controls at a time. While the UI isn't as clean as Aperture, Aperture DOESN'T SUPPORT MY CAMERAS. I've owned my DLux4 for how long?

I am hesitant to switch, but I'm really tired of being limited in what I can shoot. Yes, workflow within Aperture is very nice. BUT, if I shoot raw with the DLux4, I am forced into another completely different workflow. That means that the *real* Aperture workflow is worse than it seems. I'm switching machines right now, and have archived the last 5 years of images. Now is the time to jump and I'm about ready to do so...
HI Todd
I'm half way between you and Kevin.
I'd really rather stay with Aperture (I've just been playing with the print module in LR3, it worked wonderfully . . . but the prints were horrible!).

On the other hand, I have four cameras, and the only one that Aperture supports fully is the A900 . . .that's kind of irritating!
 

nostatic

New member
HI Todd
I'm half way between you and Kevin.
I'd really rather stay with Aperture (I've just been playing with the print module in LR3, it worked wonderfully . . . but the prints were horrible!).

On the other hand, I have four cameras, and the only one that Aperture supports fully is the A900 . . .that's kind of irritating!
Of course if the output sucks then it is of little use. But I find limited camera support beyond irritating. I have a software tool forcing me to make a choice between adding another workflow or just shooting jpg. I now have 5 different photo apps installed - Aperture, LR (trial), Raw Developer, C1 (from the Leica), and DPP (Canon). If I want to shoot raw (including the sRaw for Canon), I need to use at least three different programs. And that is owning only two cameras!

I suppose I only have myself to blame for getting dependent the ease of use of Aperture. I let it organize my imports and works as my DAM. Well, unless I want raw files from the Leica or sRaw from the Canon, both of which require other applications. Perhaps the solution is to go full manual with the asset management, importing manually, storing manually, and then doing raw developing as needed. But that seems ridiculous in 2009...
 

Diane B

New member
one set of controls seems like you have it set up wrong....

....only king of the workflow if it actually supports the cameras you use which for me has been an abysmal failure over its lifetime.
All my controls work except for luminosity slider in NR. Import was as usual only a bit faster I thought (just imported this month's folders). I feel that moving from module to module is somewhat faster and I haven't had any issues with any tools being slow. The bummer for me is that I can't open the Print module. I've reported it and done what the one person said, but it didn't work. One of the suggestions was to create a new catalog so I'll try that. There are some great new options I'd like to try in printing.
 

Dale Allyn

New member
Perhaps the solution is to go full manual with the asset management, importing manually, storing manually, and then doing raw developing as needed. But that seems ridiculous in 2009...
That's exactly what I do and I love it! :) I hate when a software app. controls my files. For me, all image files are copied to my Mac at the Finder level. Backups are made, and then the fun begins... from any app I wish. Yum. ;)

Everyone works differently, but I don't wish to see any app. require importation or file control beyond my application-agnostic approach. I feel it breeds too many problems down the road as one makes changes to one's workflow or output requirements.
 

mwalker

Subscriber Member
Jono, make sure your not double profiling. I print from LR 2 some and my prints are good. They look horrible if I double profile. I haven't tried LR 3 yet.
 

tjv

Active member
Man, that really is a dramatic difference, isn't it!
Just getting into Lightroom and I really like it. Bring on the final release, I say!
Tim

I'm seeing a significant improvement in image quality. Especially with regards to sharpening. In the past Lightroom had really ugly transitions at the edges where it tried to smooth things too much causing what some refer to as a wormy effect. Now with LR 3 the transitions are much cleaner and detailed. Also seeing a reduction in color fringing - note the spark guard on the chimney. Here's the same file converted with the same settings in LR 2 and LR 3 at 200% to highlight the differences:

LR2 at 200%:


LR3 at 200%:
 
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