Lightroom 3 Beta - DPChallenge Forums

10/22/2009 04:44:44 PM · #26

First impression.

Noise Reduction - hmmm, I prefer neat image in Photoshop to be honest - this seems like a blanket reduction and doesnt seem to profile for the camera or the current image - I just tried it on a ISO1600 shot and when I put it above 50% reduction it looked almost out of focus due to the NR. Must be doing something wrong so will have to play a bit more - maybe it works better when exporting the image. Very slow to apply as well.

Film Grain - added to an ISO100 image and it actually looks quite good - it does only add grain though, doesnt add any repsonse in highlights like some film stock filters do.

Post Crop Vignette - seems to `feel` better - more `there and natural` than before - seems to blend with the image more realistically.

Features that I didnt see mentioned were for the adjustment brush tool - whereas before there was a `soften skin` preset tucked away - now they have expanded it with

Burn
Dodge
Iris Enhance
Soften Skin
Teeth Whitening

Obviously handy for the portrait photographers out there - and of course, all non-destructive!

Import tool will take a bit of getting used to, but nicely integrated into the Grid/Develope Module UI.

Still seem to be forced to work in ProphotoRGB colour space - yes I know its a wide colour space, but I would like the choice of working in AdobeRGB or even sRGB so I know what I export will look the same in Photoshop without all the extra hassle of setting up the colourspace in there.

Still chugs along on my PC pretty slowly - need to upgrade in the New Year anyway as I would of had this one for 3 years then.

Still playing though.

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED

10/22/2009 05:12:49 PM · #27

OK - I was too hasty on the noise reduction - it seems to work slightly differently to other NR applications out there, this seem more to attack the coloured noise whilst leaving it looking monochrome, which seems to retain a lot of sharpness in the image -its not perfect, but a hundred times better than the NR that is in Lightroom 2.

to be continued...

cdrice

Nikon D7000

10/22/2009 05:16:58 PM · #28

I've been fiddling for most of the day with LR3. While I appreciate the changes that have been made, I really don't see anything here that justifies a "major update" in my mind. Just a collection of minor updates.

I'm not saying I'm going to jump ship or anything silly -- I'm just saying that in my opinion, this is more like what I'd expect a minor (2.6?) release to be. Not a major product update to 3.x.

Remember, upgrading to 3.x will cost you $$$. Was LR1->LR2 worth $? YES! LR2->LR3? Hmm, from the looks of it, that's a little harder to justify...

10/22/2009 05:33:09 PM · #29

Originally posted by cdrice:

Agree - I think the same point was made earlier but after some tickering the improvement is nothing like LR1 -> LR2

I doubt I will update initially, but who knows, after some more experimentation I might change my mind. I still remember the final beta of LR1 and it was appalling! Slow, cumbersome but when they released the final version, it was such an improvement - almost a different product.

Thankfully I wasnt even expecting LR3 to be released this soon, so its not something I have been waiting for and all of a sudden feel let down - the first I knew of LR3s impending release was this post!

Citadel

Nikon D7500

10/22/2009 05:34:01 PM · #30

There might be additional features upgraded as we get closer to the final version.

Quote:
Note: This is a public beta, not a final product. Neither the quality nor the features are complete yet. We want to show you our direction and get your feedback so that we can incorporate it into future releases. This public beta release does not include all of the features that will be part of Lightroom 3, but instead gives you a preview of some of the new features.

10/22/2009 09:47:40 PM · #31

Cool! I love lightroom. I haven't read the blog, but the feature I'd like to see most is support for plugins using METADATA rather than making a copy of the image. I have the Nik plugins, and they "freeze" all changes in your LR settings as soon as you use one, since they export a TIF in order to work. I love the way LR changes are not actual edits but rather a description of the edits. WE NEED MORE (and with plugins!)

nova

Canon EOS-6D

Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM

10/23/2009 07:11:59 AM · #32

=

Message edited by author 2009-11-13 23:46:52.

Dirt_Diver

Nikon D3s

10/23/2009 09:44:15 AM · #33

Is it just me or does it seem like Adobe jumps the gun on updating their software? It's almost like if they would have waited longer before creating a new version of product X that we would still be on (for example) Photoshop 7 but it would be the same as the soon to be out PS CS4. Just thinking they could have saved the public some time and money...

Ken

Canon EOS-7D

10/23/2009 10:23:21 AM · #34

Originally posted by Simms:

Still seem to be forced to work in ProphotoRGB colour space - yes I know its a wide colour space, but I would like the choice of working in AdobeRGB or even sRGB so I know what I export will look the same in Photoshop without all the extra hassle of setting up the colourspace in there.

Now this is interesting and something I didn't notice before. When I export my photos from LR, they look exactly like they do in LR, even the jpgs which are supposedly converted to srgb. So does LR convert to srgb differently than PS? If I work in something other than srgb in PS, when I convert to srgb there's the colors shift, but not in LR.

10/23/2009 10:36:47 AM · #35

Can it be installed side by side with LR2?

Also: I was going to post this in another thread, but it's mainly a LR issue. Does anyone know how to hide all the XMP files so you don't need to see them when looking through folders in Explorer? If need be I can mark them all hidden, but I wonder if LR will be smart enough to still "see them"?

At one point I thought about switching to DNG in order to avoid the XMP files...BUT...then I realized that every time you tweak an image, the DNG is updated. This forces your backup programs to make another backup of a full size image file rather than a tiny XMP file. That killed DNG for me (I use incremental local, and online backup, and that would be a real waste of space! Plus you lose the external dates on your image files since they would be updated with the metadata changes.

(Note: I mean (relatively) permanently hide; I know how to filter for one file type...that's not what I'm looking for.)

Message edited by author 2009-10-23 10:38:05.

Ken

Canon EOS-7D

10/23/2009 10:43:07 AM · #36

Originally posted by nshapiro:

I asked the same and was told that it could run side by side with LR2.

Can you just change the file attributes and then have windows explorer not show hidden files? Assuming windows here of course. There may be an option in windows explorer (or mac equivalent) to not show a certain filetype.

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED

10/23/2009 10:44:22 AM · #37

Originally posted by Ken:

Originally posted by nshapiro:
Can it be installed side by side with LR2?

Also: I was going to post this in another thread, but it's mainly a LR issue. Does anyone know how to hide all the XMP files so you don't need to see them when looking through folders in Explorer? If need be I can mark them all hidden, but I wonder if LR will be smart enough to still "see them"?

At one point I thought about switching to DNG in order to avoid the XMP files...BUT...then I realized that every time you tweak an image, the DNG is updated. This forces your backup programs to make another backup of a full size image file rather than a tiny XMP file. That killed DNG for me (I use incremental local, and online backup, and that would be a real waste of space! Plus you lose the external dates on your image files since they would be updated with the metadata changes.

(Note: I mean (relatively) permanently hide; I know how to filter for one file type...that's not what I'm looking for.)

I asked the same and was told that it could run side by side with LR2.

Can you just change the file attributes and then have windows explorer not show hidden files? Assuming windows here of course. There may be an option in windows explorer (or mac equivalent) to not show a certain filetype.

I can confirm that the two do remain completely separate installs. You cant even use your current catalogue in LR3 - so no chance of messing it up.

cdrice

Nikon D7000

10/23/2009 11:33:34 AM · #38

Originally posted by Simms:

I can confirm that the two do remain completely separate installs. You cant even use your current catalogue in LR3 - so no chance of messing it up.

Also, keep in mind you cannot convert your current catalogs to LR3... Nor even IMPORT an existing LR2 catalog into LR3.

You must start with a new catalog from scratch and import photos anew. So, even if you have XMP sidecars, you'll still "lose" your virtual copies, collections, etc., if you attempt to migrate any existing catalogs manually.

(While I appreciate this is a method to keep people "safe" and not use LR3 Beta in production, in my view this makes it a royal pain to seriously test, and I continue to be unimpressed. At least LR2 Beta included an LR1 catalog converter -- even if it did hose your keywords...) ;)

10/23/2009 11:35:14 AM · #39

I just did a test on a folder...you can hide all the XMP files by setting their attribute to +H and LR still finds them and uses them.

So I just did to all my XMP files in a CMD window:

attrib +h *.xmp /s

I'll have to rerun that periodically to handle new files added.

The only caveat is that you have to be sure and move these files separately if you copy individual files; but if you do it in LR they will be moved. Moreover, if you copy the file (just tested this), it copies the XMP file and it stays hidden.

Message edited by author 2009-10-23 11:35:57.

Ken

Canon EOS-7D

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED

10/23/2009 12:05:48 PM · #40

Originally posted by nshapiro:

You know you're dating yourself by admitting that you know how to change attributes in a CMD window...

cdrice

Nikon D7000

10/23/2009 02:56:16 PM · #41

A point mentioned earlier for which the implication may have been overlooked --

LR3 Beta is "good" until April 2010. That means if you would like to try out LR, instead of the normal 30-day trial, you've potentially got a 5+ month trail if you want to start with the beta version. Just a thought for those still on the fence.

ETA - Also, did anyone else notice the ACR detail in the version info for LR3? Haven't seen a lot of jibber-jabber about it, but check it out -- ACR version 6.

Message edited by author 2009-10-23 14:57:47.