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04/04/2011 01:18:57 PM · #1 |
Would be interested in opinions on Lightroom 3. I currently use PSE9, HDR Darkroom and HDR Pro for my photo processing so I was wondering what benifits I would get from Lightroom 3?
Appreciate any advice to the pro's/con's of this programme
Thanks
Mike
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04/04/2011 01:52:02 PM · #2 |
| I would say, technically, that LR3 wont offer much more than what you can already do in PSE9. What it may do is offer an easier interface to work within and a much better photo organizing/accessing capability. |
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04/04/2011 02:01:42 PM · #3 |
Whether you will find Lr of value to you is probably a matter of personal workflow preference.
For me, the benefits of Lr are as follows:
- Streamlines the process of importing, keywording, and organizing my RAW files.
- Makes it easy to apply the same processing to multiple images
- Makes it easy to export with the settings I need, including resolution, watermarking, file naming, file format, etc.
- Makes it easy to correct automatically for lens aberrations
- Allows me to apply default processing differently for different cameras
- Allows direct publishing to some photo sharing sites (functionality I don't currently use) |
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04/04/2011 02:05:21 PM · #4 |
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04/04/2011 02:27:09 PM · #5 |
I bought LR3 based on the raves it got from a lot of people.
It just doesn't work for me. I'm very happy with CS5 and Bridge, but the terminology (libraries, importing, export, etc.) used in Lightroom just don't make sense to me. It comes with a lot of pre-sets, and I like to process shots individually. I'm not a "one size fits all" kind of person.
I've watched tutorials and bought a couple of books to explain LR3, and I'll be the first to admit that I'm the problem, but so far, I've been monumentally disappointed with LR3. |
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04/04/2011 02:28:38 PM · #6 |
I find LR both essential and very annoying.
It is great for speeding up your workflow, running fast edits and publishing on the web. Its best feature is it's keywording, which allows fast sorting by word search. Of course you need to start entering keywords for that to be useful.
It is a pain in the butt because it can't look at anything that isn't imported into it, so to look at images on an external hard drive you have to import the images into LR. This is slow. On the positive side, once those images are catalogued in LR you can search them even when the hard drive is not connected at the moment. It is a crappy browser because it isn't really a browser, it is a file management system with some editing tools built in. Oh and because of the file systems, all edits made to an image in LR are kept in LR, not made in the file. So all editing is non destructive. As long as Im in LR I don't have to worry about overwriting my original file.
Message edited by author 2011-04-04 14:32:31. |
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04/04/2011 02:49:39 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by Germaine:
It just doesn't work for me. I'm very happy with CS5 and Bridge, but the terminology (libraries, importing, export, etc.) used in Lightroom just don't make sense to me. It comes with a lot of pre-sets, and I like to process shots individually. I'm not a "one size fits all" kind of person. |
That sounds a *lot* like me wen I first started to play with Lr. I couldn't for the life of me understand why it insisted on cataloging everything before it could deal with it, and why I had to "export" instead of just "save as."
Once I got my mind around really using Lr as my organizational tool, I began to realize the workflow benefits and why it is like it is. You need to come to the understanding that it is a completely different way to work. You can still tailor your processing image-by-image, and you have exactly the same controls as in ACR, because the software "engine" is the same.
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04/04/2011 04:26:08 PM · #8 |
| There are a LOT of great things about LR and since you don't have any not reasons figured I would add one :-)..... if your on an older machine (or at least some configurations of older machines as some people can run on old machines).... It's a pig with poor 80's lipstick and will suck the life out of it. My old machine; one of the versions of LR (I think v3) became completely unworkable. Even on a new machine (I have quad@2.3Ghz with 8Gb memory) other tasks are unworkable when it's generating previews. |
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04/04/2011 05:23:53 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by kirbic:
Originally posted by Germaine:
It just doesn't work for me. I'm very happy with CS5 and Bridge, but the terminology (libraries, importing, export, etc.) used in Lightroom just don't make sense to me. It comes with a lot of pre-sets, and I like to process shots individually. I'm not a "one size fits all" kind of person. |
That sounds a *lot* like me wen I first started to play with Lr. I couldn't for the life of me understand why it insisted on cataloging everything before it could deal with it, and why I had to "export" instead of just "save as."
Once I got my mind around really using Lr as my organizational tool, I began to realize the workflow benefits and why it is like it is. You need to come to the understanding that it is a completely different way to work. You can still tailor your processing image-by-image, and you have exactly the same controls as in ACR, because the software "engine" is the same. |
One of these days I'm going to lock myself in a room with LR3 and not come out until I've conquered it. I hope it will be worth it... 8) |
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04/04/2011 05:43:42 PM · #10 |
As you have a canon 7d you will have Canons Digital Photo Professional (DPP).
I think the current version is 3.9 (has a number of upgrades)
I am currently using this to process RAW from my 60d and 7d and it's not to shabby at all.
(CS3 does not read 7d and 60d raw files, I also have PSE8 which does not read the 60d)
You can find tutorials on the internet from canon.
It may be a little slow to convert to JPG but it's free and I love the colors it renders.
You can select images shot in similar light and bring them to the edit window.
Then you can adjust one of the images, copy the recipe and paste it to the other images in the screen.
You can then individually tweak them if needed
Might be worth giving it a look if you haven't already.
Just a thought.
I'm sure Lightroom 3 is excellent but I just don't have a need for it at this time
Message edited by author 2011-04-04 17:47:12. |
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04/04/2011 08:32:42 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by Germaine:
One of these days I'm going to lock myself in a room with LR3 and not come out until I've conquered it. I hope it will be worth it... 8) |
Make sure the room has an attached bathroom and a bombshelter sized stock of food. It took me about six months of banging my head against the computer screen before the bulb went off for me. |
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04/04/2011 08:36:38 PM · #12 |
| download the demo, decide for yourself. |
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04/04/2011 08:43:31 PM · #13 |
Is there a way to turn LR off so that it doesn't open automatically every time I put my card in the reader?
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04/05/2011 01:06:19 AM · #14 |
Originally posted by PennyStreet:
Is there a way to turn LR off so that it doesn't open automatically every time I put my card in the reader? |
Yes. I believe it is - Go to Edit the Preferences General tab and uncheck the box Show Import Dialog when memory card is detected. |
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04/05/2011 04:05:53 AM · #15 |
Thanks for all your advice, much appreciated.
I did download a trial of LR yesterday and am just looking at what it gives me before I decide to fork out £135.
I can see it being useful to catalogue my photos (currently 23,600) but that would be very time-consuming and I dont know if I have
the patience for that! :-)
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04/05/2011 12:56:20 PM · #16 |
Originally posted by jbsmithana:
Originally posted by PennyStreet:
Is there a way to turn LR off so that it doesn't open automatically every time I put my card in the reader? |
Yes. I believe it is - Go to Edit the Preferences General tab and uncheck the box Show Import Dialog when memory card is detected. |
thanks, I'll try that! |
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04/05/2011 01:16:01 PM · #17 |
Also, I recently got an email for $100 off the full version so there may be a promotion you can take advantage of.
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