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The Lightroom 3 beta 1 was meh but beta 2 is AWESOME SAUCE

post #1 of 45
3/23/10 at 6:54am
Thread Starter 
Check out these changes:
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr3_beta_2_preview/lr3-beta2-1.htm
http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2010/archives/9165
http://lightroomers.com/my-take-on-lightroom-3-beta-2-2/924/

Wow look at that noise reduction.  If you take a lot of low light shots (and I do, which is why I want a D3s =) hehe) this is a pretty incredible bump and reduces or removes the need for a dedicated noise tool almost completely.  Sharpening likewise gets a nice bump.  Add in perspective lens correction and they will have this trifecta locked up.

Adding in an initial cut on video handling is more a annoucement that 'this is in our future big time' rather than a comprehensive suite of video tools in this cut, but it's a bold statement!

Sam
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post #2 of 45
3/23/10 at 10:28am
Do all the different Adobe products (Photoshop, Lightroom, Elements) use the same Adobe Camera Raw processing engine? I only have Elements, and find that I use Canon's own Digital Photo Professional application instead for the vast majority of my post processing, preferring the results I get in Raw conversion with it over Elements. It also offers lens correction for most Canon lenses. The one area DPP lacks in, though, is noise reduction.
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post #3 of 45
3/23/10 at 12:37pm
Thread Starter 
Essentially yes, but there were major improvements to the rendering engine over the last few updates and big big changes today.

I have tried DPP.  It is a UI disaster, regardless of the results =)  Nikon's in house app is even worse tho.
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post #4 of 45
3/23/10 at 3:23pm
I have the latest version of Elements (version 8), so I should have a pretty recent version of ACR. While the user interface for DPP may not be stellar, it works fine for the basics required to post process raw files, and that is all I need most of the time.
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post #5 of 45
3/23/10 at 7:55pm
Thread Starter 
OK, now that CS5 is official, watch this and tell me you are still satisfied:
http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2010/03/caf_in_ps.html

And then these
http://cs5launch.adobe.com/

=)

Also, this video partly explains how ACR has evolved from 2003 to 2010:
http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2010/03/video_whats_new_in_lr3_beta_2.html

More details on that to come.

More on Lr3:
http://terrywhite.com/techblog/archives/4906#more-4906
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post #6 of 45
3/23/10 at 9:43pm
Thread Starter 
A quick before and after test with the new Lr 3 Beta 2 noise reduction:
http://bit.ly/ahja43

Yeah, I can work with this!
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post #7 of 45
3/24/10 at 1:32pm
Thread Starter 
Much better example than mine:
http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/880945/0#8275966

Woah!
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post #8 of 45
3/27/10 at 5:02am
Sam and Scott -

When I heard CS5 was looming, I said, naw, I'm totally happy with CS4.

Then I ran across that same video demonstrating Content-Aware fill.

Damn! I gotta get me some of that!

(still not sold that I need LR3, though)
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post #9 of 45
3/27/10 at 7:22am
Thread Starter 
If you are happy with bridge and CS stick with it. I love that LR let's me do all of what I want to do with my photos quickly and elegantly tho, it's a matter of mindset more than capability now...
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post #10 of 45
3/27/10 at 11:29pm
Jon, are you currently using Lightroom?  I wasn't sure what to think about it, but kept hearing good things about it and decided to give it a try.  I love it and am looking forward to the improvements in version 3.  I believe you can download a trial version.  I'd suggest giving it a try.  And the content-aware fill in PS CS5 is amazing.
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post #11 of 45
3/29/10 at 7:09am
The content-aware fill and noise reduction do look impressive.  Not being a person who does a lot of image manipulation, though, I'm wondering if it's worth the cost?

A tool I could really use would be something for easily creating HDR images.  How is Lightroom for this? Elements was very tedious the couple of times I tried the technique. Would getting a tool dedicated to this function be a better way to go?
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post #12 of 45
3/29/10 at 11:36am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Merryfield View Post

A tool I could really use would be something for easily creating HDR images.  How is Lightroom for this? Elements was very tedious the couple of times I tried the technique. Would getting a tool dedicated to this function be a better way to go?

There are no real specific tools for HDR or Panos built into Lr, you are expected to round trip to Photoshop for those.  Wouldn't surprise me to see Panos, HDR and lens correction being the big features for LR4.  After those (and maybe softproofing) are in I have no idea what they will focus on, it will have to be the esoteric techy stuff because they simply have outdone themselves so far at the core idea of what Lr is all about.  How can they continue to add more real functionality without it looking like bloat?

Look at Kelby's wish list:
http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2008/archives/932

How much of that hasn't been accomplished?  Not much I'd say.
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post #13 of 45
3/29/10 at 12:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Merryfield View Post

The content-aware fill and noise reduction do look impressive.  Not being a person who does a lot of image manipulation, though, I'm wondering if it's worth the cost?

A tool I could really use would be something for easily creating HDR images.  How is Lightroom for this? Elements was very tedious the couple of times I tried the technique. Would getting a tool dedicated to this function be a better way to go?

For HDR, you'll find a lot of recommendations for Photomatix Pro from HDRsoft (http://www.hdrsoft.com/).  It is easy to use and works well--- much better than Photoshop's Merge to HDR.
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post #14 of 45
3/29/10 at 12:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidJ View Post




For HDR, you'll find a lot of recommendations for Photomatix Pro from HDRsoft (http://www.hdrsoft.com/).  It is easy to use and works well--- much better than Photoshop's Merge to HDR.
 

David,

I have heard good things about Photomatix elsewhere, too. When I have some time, I need to download a trial version of the program and check it out.
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post #15 of 45
3/29/10 at 3:43pm
Thread Starter 
I dislike all but the most subtle of HDR so not much help there other than I've heard good things about photomatix too
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post #16 of 45
3/29/10 at 4:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Posten View Post

I dislike all but the most subtle of HDR so not much help there other than I've heard good things about photomatix too

I'm not a big fan of the surrealistic style either.  Well, I do appreciate the art behind them, but it is not my type of photography.  I do like HDR for the fact that it allows you to do a better job of capturing and representing the range that the eye can see. 
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post #17 of 45
3/30/10 at 4:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidJ View Post




I'm not a big fan of the surrealistic style either.  Well, I do appreciate the art behind them, but it is not my type of photography.  I do like HDR for the fact that it allows you to do a better job of capturing and representing the range that the eye can see. 

That's all I am looking for in HDR -- for those shots where the dynamic range is just too great to capture with a single exposure.  I've started experimenting with split ND filters, too, but those only work where you have a fairly straight line transitioning light to dark.
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post #18 of 45
3/30/10 at 7:08am
Thread Starter 
I'm all for that.  I think the Trey Ratcliffe stuff is a bit too much tho.  He's an excellent communicator but I just don't dig his style.
http://www.stuckincustoms.com/

If you are into HDR he's got some tutorials on it, linked top right on that page.
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post #19 of 45
4/29/10 at 10:03pm
Thread Starter 
CS5 just shipped, you can go get a FULLY FUNCTIONAL 30 day trial, no more half assed trials of Premiere!, at www.adobe.com

I'm currently downloading all 9GB of CS5 Production Premium =)
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post #20 of 45
5/14/10 at 4:18pm

Well I seem to have won a copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 from a contest I barely remember entering.

Got an email a few weeks ago asking for my shipping address.

Seemed a little shady but gave it to them anyway, and today the package came in the  mail.

Hmm.

 

Anyone remember a contest anytime in the last few months for this, I have a vague memory of something....

 

Btw, I'm not really sure what I'd use it for since I'm not much of a photog.

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post #21 of 45
5/25/10 at 11:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sam Posten View Post

CS5 just shipped, you can go get a FULLY FUNCTIONAL 30 day trial, no more half assed trials of Premiere!, at www.adobe.com

I'm currently downloading all 9GB of CS5 Production Premium =)

 

Premiere pro trial doesn't support audio in MPEG :(  But I LOVE the speed over Premiere Elements when dealing with AVCHD. 

 

Now I just need to learn these tools if I'm going to buy them :)
 

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post #22 of 45
5/30/10 at 12:06am

Off to ebay!
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyD View Post
Btw, I'm not really sure what I'd use it for since I'm not much of a photog.
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post #23 of 45
6/7/10 at 9:33pm
Thread Starter 

It's out!

http://thomashawk.com/2010/06/adobe-lightroom-3-i-feel-the-need-for-speed-oh-and-the-most-significant-advancement-in-photo-noise-reduction-i-have-ever-seen.html

http://terrywhite.com/techblog/archives/5499

http://lightroom-blog.com/2010/06/lightroom-3-now-available.html

http://www.lightroomqueen.com/blog/2010/06/08/whats-new-in-lightroom-3-0-final-release/

http://lightroom-blog.com/2010/06/lightroom-3-resources.html

 

More today:

http://www.peachpit.com/podcasts/channel.aspx?c=3fb38e18-6612-4f81-b0eb-e899b5813b57

http://www.photoshopuser.com/lightroom3


Edited by Sam Posten - 6/8/10 at 11:43am
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post #24 of 45
6/10/10 at 9:44am
Thread Starter 

Another review:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20006381-264.html

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post #25 of 45
6/10/10 at 3:05pm
Thread Starter 
Well it took 18 months but my uni is now set in the Adobe education program! In addition to lr3 I'm now in for CS5 production Premium, at the amazing $350 price point!
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post #26 of 45
7/29/10 at 2:21pm

Sam - how are you liking Lr3? I'm thinking of picking it up, primarily for perspective correction, lens distortion correction and de-noising (for low light high ISO shots). At my academic price of $99 it's hard to pass up...

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post #27 of 45
7/29/10 at 3:42pm
Thread Starter 
It's rock solid and a terrific value. Love the noise reduction in this rev!
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post #28 of 45
7/29/10 at 4:17pm

Cool - I'm really teetering on this purchase. I have Lightroom 2 but never liked the whole workflow aspect of it, seemed unintuitive but maybe I just didn't get to know it well enough.

 

I can buy Lr3 for $99, or Adobe CS5 Design Standard for $209, which would give me Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Acrobat Pro. Am I correct in thinking most of what is in Lr3 is also in Photoshop CS5 (primarily lens and perspective correction and noise reduction)?

 

I guess now that I type it out I shouldn't be on the fence about which one to get...

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post #29 of 45
7/29/10 at 8:21pm
Thread Starter 

Right, get both!

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post #30 of 45
7/29/10 at 8:21pm
Thread Starter 

Right, get both!

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