Quick Review: Using this product has been a great and enlightening experience for me. I loved everything it had to offer besides some glitches on the maneuvering and organizing skills it had to offer. As with all new product versions, it had some helpful add-ons and whether they are worth changing a past version of Adobe Lightroom is completely up to its’ users and what they need out of the product.
Adobe 3’s Newer Features:
- A great RAW engine which is virtually indestructible
- Tools to use other apps including ways to collaborate with Flickr and portfolio making apps
- A preset feature that will correct whatever lens you are currently using it with
- Additions for video tethering
- Retail value of $299 and $99 if you are doing an upgrade between versions
The Upside:
- Great processing power
- Simple changes to the tone can be made
- In ports and out ports are made easy as well
The Downside:
- Not very well thought out organizing
- The board has some confusing shortcuts
- Didn’t like the user interface
The Main Squeeze:
I didn’t go too crazy into this product to give it an extensive review. A review done by DP is much more extensive than mine. Since photos are important to me, I gauged this product based on what I would have wanted. If you’re familiar with the product, I’m only going to focus on many of the newer add-ons to the Lightroom 3 version. Already, the 3.2 has been put out to the public and in doing so fixed a lot of residing problems and incorporated more functions for the lenses.
The version of Lightroom is more work-based than any of the other competition out there. When using this product the businesslike tabs and import/export modes are setup in a much formatted style which includes a user interface design that allows you to work easily and strategically.
The engine that Adobe processes is a great reason for them to show a lot of pride. Professionals who are used to viewing pixels in an up close and personal manner should notice a fine-lined quality change in this version. With a lot of the pixels you can make changes to your adjustments to the pictures only so far before the picture becomes overly processed. I have provided a few pictures for you to see the changes.
The first picture shows some portions of the photo that are un-focused, but it still shows a good quality of pixel content. What makes the other picture much more detailed is the use of the brush tool on the Lightroom 3 version. When it’s used correctly, it can make good shots even better. This brush tool also tops any of the others I’ve ever used.
There was a dedicated effort on Adobe’s part to make a phenomenal correcting tool for the lenses that you may use. Although the cameras I use are outdated and not functioning camera on this version, it is not something that should be over-looked by its’ users. This tool is very simple to make changes to your photographs with. It will allow you to customize.
The basic orientation of a picture and how it can be changed is very important to me. I really was impressed with this particular versions correction based on perspective. Once again, you have the ability to customize your images in detail.
When you have pictures in bulk, having a good preset to make the pictures all in the same lighting and contrast is a good tool to have handy. By creating a pictures atmosphere in a way that could positively affect the rest, you are giving yourself a much easier way to get your images the way you want them. You will find that having these presets will give you a larger variety of “favorite” photographs.
One of the things that I would like to see changed is the messy order everything is bunched together in. Everything just seems to be really confusing to read through quickly. There are some things that make the confusion a bit more bearable like an added database for searching. It shouldn’t be this confusing to confuse everything.
As far as using your keyboard to direct actions, that also rates high on my list of confusing items on this version. The directions that have been set into the system don’t really help me, it actually makes things worse. If this type of navigating is something you’ve succumbed to, it may be extremely helpful to you. But like I said, this version is for more work-related people.
If you have a few different plug-INS you think you might want to use with Lightroom, you will definitely have you pick out outputs. There are is large arrangement that you will have to pick from, so no worries in that department.
It’s nice to store some of your videos on Lightroom, but as far as putting them in any kind of order, you may want to nix the idea. Keep those for something more fitted for editing purposes. You’ll still have the option of placing them in a Lightroom folder.
The Way The Cookie Crumbles:
If you are willing to use Lightroom enough to make it habitual, then you will be very happy with this version of Lightroom. If you are relying on it for photo collecting purposes, this also delivers in that area. It’s very simple to use and allow a system for bulk photo changes, which Photoshop doesn’t. Especially for those photo customizers out there, Adobe’s Lightroom 3 version is the best on the market