Comments on: Adobe's Lightroom 2 beta broadens editing horizons

New version of Adobe software, going into public beta testing Wednesday, significantly expands editing possibilities--and brings it closer to regular Photoshop.

[grossph]

Way to go...sort of

Their only blunder is that it will only read 1.4 catelogs...though the 1.4 update is not out...

I duplicated my catelog to test it, but no luck. just started a new catelog and it works great...a bit snappier then version 1 and the dual monitor support rocks, one monitor is opened in the library grid and the other is opened to the develop module....exactly what I need...

[basraw]

Why buy this over photoshop?

I don't see the point.

What is happening with Elements?

Too many products?

[ImRaptor]

A couple of reasons

There is some better organizational functionality in Lightroom to manage a large library of images. As well as a web gallery developer.

I feel that Lightroom should be a bit cheaper than it is right now but as long as it stays a good range behind the cost of photoshop it will remain an alternative for low end users.

[Shankland]

Adobe certainly has a branding and product overlap challenge on its hands, but the various members of the Photoshop family do different things. (Express = online and very basic, Elements = home user, CS3 = pro user/enthusiast, Lightroom = photo buff.) The biggest overlap is with CS3 and Lightroom, but they're pretty different. CS3 is good for editing single images and can do a huge number of things Lightroom can't, such as compositing multiple photos, isolating a subject from its background, adding text, and using a huge number of plug-ins. Lightroom is specifically for handling photo files, especially raw files from higher-end cameras. It can be used to edit batches of files better--for example all the photos from your trip to New York--and includes cataloging tools to give photos captions, titles, keywords.

[kyle5434]

Keep an eye out for Bibble version 5...

...which is due out later this year (hopefully sometime this summer).

Bibble has already been offering a healing/patch tool for some time, as well integrated Noise Ninja for noise reduction and a plugin API. But it looks like version 5 is going to be pretty ground-breaking in many ways, including - rumor has it - some layering capability. Add to that the rumor of integrated code from from the Qimage folks for image output, and things look pretty compelling.

I started using Bibble after RawShooter was abandoned, and have since migrated from Windows to PCLinuxOS as my primary OS. Bibble's native Linux build, combined with the recent ability to run Photoshop CS under WINE, has helped me achieve a Linux-based photography workflow that's as elegant as anything I was doing on Windows.

I often don't need to do any other post-processing outside of Bibble, and I suspect that with Bibble 5, that will be even more true.

[djacobow1]

How does it install w.r.t. Lightroom 1.x

Does the beta install go "over" 1.x or beside it, so that you can run either program? After the beta, if LR 2 requires an upgrade fee, will my 1.x still be available to me?

I'm looking forward to playing with it!

--

[djacobow1]

Oh, all is explained on the Adobe website

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/

[Shankland]

The Lightroom 2 beta installs and runs separately and doesn't affect your 1.x catalog.

[kylegas]

STILL NO SOFTPROOFING??

Adobe, if workflow is your "goal", how about making the need to run Photoshop to print properly a thing of the past? That there is no soft proofing in Lightroom is just crazy.