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05/30/2011 02:40:00 PM · #1 |
Looks to be a good deal on Amazon if somebody is looking for it.
Edit: You must go through the Gold Box Deal of the Day to get the price. If you search or click on the link the price shows as $200.
Message edited by author 2011-05-30 14:41:42. |
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05/30/2011 03:13:46 PM · #2 |
I'm tempted. I tried the 30 day trial of lighttroom a couple of years back, but really didn't spend a lot of time learning it, because I knew I would not invest $300 in buying it. At $119 I might go for it. Everyone who uses it seems to rave about the software.
Would I have to obtain new versions of my plugins, designed specifically to work with Lightroom?
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05/30/2011 03:17:37 PM · #3 |
* I am a skeptic... LR3 is not exactly new so you might be buying in at the tail end and be up for an upgrade cost for LR4.
* Plugins - depends... I would say yes to most but some come with both a LR and PS hook. Some are available for PS and not LR.
* I like it but would not put me in the rave category.... some features are great (noise & non destructive edits), others okay but far from brilliant(exporting, keywords) and some suck hard ("smart" collections & publish services - far too restrictive). |
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05/30/2011 03:21:35 PM · #4 |
I've been using Lightroom 2.something for the last year and love it for keeping track of my files.
Can anyone who has used Lightroom 3 say what's improved or with a blanket yes or no if it's worth it in their opinion? (won't have a chance to try it out before the offer goes away).
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05/30/2011 03:22:26 PM · #5 |
If you don't already own it that is a very good price.
Lightroom(LR) is an indispensable piece of software for folks who take lots of pictures.
I've been a heavy duty Photoshop(PS) user many years but recommend LR over PS for a first-time editing software purchase for everyone. It handles all standard post processing and makes reviewing and organizing large groups of pictures a snap. These days I only bring in PS where it is needed for special purpose processing.
LR uses the same processing engine as PS and it is far, far more intuitive and easy to use. It speeds up image processing immensely.
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05/30/2011 03:25:02 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by NiallOTuama:
I've been using Lightroom 2.something for the last year and love it for keeping track of my files.
Can anyone who has used Lightroom 3 say what's improved or with a blanket yes or no if it's worth it in their opinion? (won't have a chance to try it out before the offer goes away). |
LR 3 is a serious upgrade and you can find it for an upgrade price less than Amazon's above price for a full copy.
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05/30/2011 03:30:17 PM · #7 |
Cannot help with a blanket answer - too damn hot where I am right now :-)
It's been a while since I hit LR3 - and it was on the second release of LR3 not the first one.
* I found the noise reduction a HUGE step better - not in the same field.
* I found the newer one was slower on my machine - normal for adobe IMO to be slower on each release.
* Publish collections are handy but just not developed enough to what they could/should be.
* The 3rd party extensions are better for LR3 but depends on if or what ones you use of those.
* Some included lens corrections are handy to some extent - depends on the specific lens but they have a few.
* The rest is pretty much meh... some changes here and there but nothing terrifying that I recall. Smart collections are still dumb, web panel still a waste of time, print panel still meh at best, keywords are still real basic e.t.c. |
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05/30/2011 03:50:54 PM · #8 |
This is a no-brainer of a deal, I'm not aware of LR4 being imminent and usually there is a Beta out first but even if it was around the corner the upgrade price has always been $99 so if you got this for $119 and then upgraded for $100 you would still save $80 off the usual $300.
"Can anyone who has used Lightroom 3 say what's improved or with a blanket yes or no if it's worth it in their opinion?"
Yes:-).
Probably the biggest upgrade is the noise reduction, very much improved in LR3.
The import dialog is different, weird at first but I love it now.
Slideshow module is better. The whole program just seems smoother and keeps getting better. Of course I built a new puter last year with post processing in mind, I game a lot also but working with raw files in Lightroom and Photoshop necessitated a new puter but the old one was really old. A quad-core processor goes a long way toward smoothing out LR, especially the gradient and adjustment brushes but I believe LR3 has improved these areas over earlier versions. I second Artifacts views.
NiallOTuama, you should upgrade for $99 if you already have LR2, rather than buy this great deal:-). This also gives you the chance to try out the 30-day trial. |
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05/30/2011 05:21:57 PM · #9 |
Ok I took the plunge and ordered it. I'll certainly be on a new learning curve for a while. I guess my days as a maverick using PaintShop Pro are probably coming to a close.
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05/31/2011 11:51:57 AM · #10 |
I doubt you'll regret your purchase Yo, there is a learning curve as with all new software but I wouldn't know what to do without Lightroom. Just remember you don't "save" anything in LR, all edits are non-destructive (no matter the file format), so if you've imported .cr2 (raw Canon files?) and want to "save" a jpeg to post on the net, you "export" to a jpeg. I have a bunch of presets in the export dialog so that I can easily exportg a jpeg at 800x640 constrained to 300K for the web, one to save a full size jpeg with whatever parameters you might want, to take to the printer, etc etc. Presets are a valuable friend in all aspects of LR. If you print your own photos I find the print module very flexible although some don't seem to like it. You can set up Smart collections so that, for instance, if you're a birder, and you keyword a photo "bird" it will automatically put the photo in your "Bird" collection. Then if you want to check out your bird photos, you go to your Bird collection and all the bird photos are there. LR is a database driven program so no matter what real folders all your bird photos are in, the collections gather them all up in a virtual folder, if you will. The collection doesn't make a copy of the photos themselves but it knows where all the photos are in the database. Of course, much of this depends on keywording so if you haven't been keywording your photos you will have a bunch of work to do:-). There are tons of tutorials on the net about all this and if you have any questions I'll help as much as I can as well as all the other LR users, I'm sure.
Good Luck!!
Oh, the biggest thing missing from LR is layers, I guess the gradient and adjustment brushes could be thought of as a kind of layer but they are not the same as a layer and layer mask in Photoshop. LR is great for normal editing of a photo and mostly all you might need but you can't take an element from one photo and add it to another within LR, for instance. LR has a spot removal tool but it doesn't remotely replace the cloning tool in a program like Photoshop either so you won't be throwing Paint Shop Pro out Yo, but you won't be using it nearly as much after you get up to speed in LR.
Oh, one more thing, lol.
I have the Topaz bundle and although there is a way for it to be called from within LR, depending on how I want to use it I usually use it from within Photoshop mainly because I can adjust the opacity of the layer if I wish or add a mask. If I send a photo to, say, Adjust 4, from LR and edit it and then bring it back to LR, I can't adjust that Topaz edit with a opacity change or layer mask, but if I just want to sharpen the whole photo I can send it to Topaz, work on it and bring it back into LR.
Message edited by author 2011-05-31 12:12:15. |
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05/31/2011 04:38:58 PM · #11 |
What comes in the box?
CD Only?
CD and good manual?
Is the deal still available as I don't see it on that link.
Message edited by author 2011-05-31 16:41:02. |
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05/31/2011 07:20:51 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by RamblinR:
What comes in the box?
CD Only?
CD and good manual?
Is the deal still available as I don't see it on that link. |
The deal was only good for yesterday, I'm afriaD.
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