Adobe Lightroom, comments?

[adlabs6]

I've been testing the Adobe Lightroom tryout for a while now, seeing what this program is capable of doing. So far I'm of a mixed impression, I do like the interface and work flow focus, but on the other hand the price is not far from the full Photoshop version, plus quite a few of these same adjustment tools are in the low priced Elements series.

Have any of you guys tested this app out? What are your comments on it?

I'll posted a few of my results so far, since a photography thread needs pics.

[BLOWHARD]

What does it do that CS doesn't? Sounds like it's for batch production photography.

[adlabs6]

Most of what Lightroom does, CS does as well. It's just presented differently. On the other hand, Lightroom does not have any burn or dodge brushes that I've seen, nor is there a layer stack. The most useful area for me has been the undo history stack, which does allow for rapid edits without worry.

As far as batch processing goes, there is a 'presets' section where you can save a group of settings changes and save them. Then from the main library area you can select multiples and apply a saved preset to that group, as well as apply a standard format or custom crop to the group as well.

One drawback is that it doesn't appear there is a way to integrate image exporting into a preset. In Lightroom, each edited image must be 'exported' to a file in order to get a 'real' copy of it. Being non-destructive, all the edits you make are applied in a preview mode until the image is exported. So any batch work seems to require two steps, applying the preset and crop process, then doing a separate group export command on the processed group.

I've not spent much time on batch options though, I've got this same functionality in my Minolta Dimage software that came with my Minolta camera, though I usually prefer to adjust my culled photos individually.

On the whole I think Lightroom is at it's best when it comes to presentation of both the image and the work flow. Clear advantage over my usual setup in Photoshop Elements.

[alexruseell]

Great picture quality! Amazing!