Adobe lightroom 5 Beta is out

[Hoogle]

For those of you that have not tried lightroom or even if you cant live without it (I know I do 99% of my post processing using it).

It is that time of year Again where Adobe are releasing the beta for 3 months of their latest product. Great thing about Beta is it is free.

So here you go knock yourselfs out and try it while you can. I have never had a serious problem with any of adobes betas so I assume you wont either.

Download link from Adobe Labs.

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?sdid=KFENU&e=labs_lightroom5

 

[ibclare]

Yeah! Thanks. Just downloaded and installed it. It's updatable till the end of the trial period?

 

[Hoogle]

It is fully updatable til the end of June and I think possibly even past the beta stage

 

[Tom Mann]

Any chance you have a link to what's new In LR5?

 

[Steve]

I found this Tom.
http://blogs.adobe.com/photoshopdotcom/2013/04/lightroom-5-beta-now-available.html

 

[Tom Mann]

Thanks, Steve. Since I posted my question, I was curious enough that I also found several nice descriptions of the changes.

To be honest, it doesn't look like this is a major revision. I may skip it.

T

 

[Steve]

I've tried Lightroom several times and I never found a use for it.
I've used PS since version 5 and as a photographer I don't see why I could possibly need or use it.

 

[Tom Mann]

The part of LR that I really like is how it handles the copying and application of ACR settings from one image to a group of similar images in a shoot or in a particular venue that I have shot in previously. I know that in principle, I can do the same in ACR, but it's a much smoother and seamless process in LR because of features like the improved organization of processing presets, easier selection of images that should be processed similarly, the "synch"-related buttons, etc.

These sorts of things can be real time-savers when you come home with hundreds, if not thousands of images after an event shoot.

However, I must confess that if I'm just doing a few images I don't even bother firing it up and just go straight to PS.

I also like the slide show and printing features in LR better than their counterparts in Bridge and PS, but I don't use them all that much.

Some people like to use LR for image ingestion, but I'm real old school and have been using Photo Mechanic for that part of the process for maybe 10+ years. I've kept PM current and haven't found anything that can beat it for that part of the workflow.

LR's database capabilities are OK, but I find that I have all the DB capabilities I need using Photo Mechanic to keyword and add other routine IPTC info when ingesting images. I then use simple, dumb old Picassa for image search and retrieval. FWIW, I have an archive of well over 200k images and usually don't have a problem finding and pulling old images.

However, what I absolutely HATE about LR is that it is a real resource hog and can be slow as molasses, so it's essentially impossible for me to use on any of my small machines.

Just my $0.02. YMMV.

T

 

[MikeMc]

I was going to ask why.....But Tom you answered all my questions. I see no need for it in MY workflow, I love ACR and Bridge, and work perfect for todays needs.

 

[Hoogle]

Major change really is that they have added a clone brush rather than just the spot removal tool {heal}. And they have added a brush filter for things like gradient filters so you can have more control rather than working from center of image etc.

As for Pros of Lightroom When it comes to serious photographers that process several images at a time you cant beat it the speed of mass editing 1 image and applying it to all images in that folder or if you have a splodge on your lense you dont realise til your processing it you can remove it in 1 image and apply it to all images etc.

But what gets me is the custom templates for example 1 client has an internet shop every month he sends me 100+ pictures all taken in same studio same camera same lighting etc. I can mass edit his pictures by just clicking 1 button 2 mins later all done $100 in my paypal easiest money I will ever make I have even tried teaching him and sent him the preset but still he sends it to me.

When it comes to photos mine is nearly always processed in lightroom split view so I can see side by side. Only if I really want to have a play with special effects will I load into photoshop. Especially now with plugins like topaz and nik color effex etc all being able to run in lightroom.