| Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (PC/Mac) | 
 enlarge | From: Adobe Systems Inc.
Category: Software
List Price: £210.99
Buy New: £197.98
You Save: £13.01 (6%)
New (5) from £197.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 277
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Mac Os X, Windows Xp
Media: CD-ROM
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 7.8 x 2.1
MPN: 19250102
EAN: 5051254088349
ASIN: B000MQCFJQ
Release Date: March 14, 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
Lightroom - with some room for improvement still December 6, 2007
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
Firstly I have used most workflow software in my photography business includis media, acdc, Adobe Bridge, Aperture and most creative imaging software including PaintShop Pro, Corel, Photoshop and Capture NX so I think I have the feel for this type of programme. Further I had the beta version from Adobe when it was in trial mode.
Likes, well its a lot like Aperture in layout and I like the look. You can customise the look also to what you want and thats a cool feature. The grid and loupe features allow you to have the screen as you want it and its so easy to load in a few images to compare. Lightroom also gives you the opportunity to do some immediate modifications for example you are easily able to change white balance, sharpness, contrast and crop. A great feature which make it stand out against the rest.
Dislikes, well loading images from a camera/disk can be a pain if you do not follow procedures. A few times I have loaded up, forgotten to make a file on my computer and the images are imported into Lightroom without a folder being made. The images are still there but you have to go to "last import" to retreive them and its a bit of a game then to make a file and transfer them.
To get the best from this software you really do need to read a good book - such as Scott Kelby's Lightroom for Photographers or join an online class like www.lynda.com. However, both cover version 1.1 and latest version is 1.3 and the interface has changed substantially in my view so beware that not all chapters in the book or lessons on the web are up-to-date.
How do I rate Lightroom. In my view, even with the parts I do not like, its probably the best bit of software for workflow on the market. I have ditched Aperture, since it is RAM hungary and still slow and use Lightroom instead. But since I am a Nikon user I transfer my images to Capture NX first, do any modifications I need there first, then transfer to Lightroom. Part of the reason for this is that Capture NX will transfer black and white images I take on my camera whilst if I use Lightroom first, Lightroom converts then back to colour. I am sure Adobe can fix this but no doubt another update is needed.
So there you have it. Great software but you do need to put in some time to learn even the basics to get the best from it.
 Untrustworthy product December 3, 2007
4 out of 14 found this review helpful
I bought this product when it was first released. A steep learning curve was involved, but I persisted and I thought at that time it had a lot of good points. There are drawbacks, such as inability to make selections and work on those. So you find yourself chopping back and forth between it and CS3. I also had quite a good filing system of my own, which worked well.
The crunch for me came with version 1.1 and the promise of sorting the merging of different databases. All 1.1 did however was to corrupt my existing database. Adobe admitted this after the release and put info on their website. That was of little use to my corrupted files. Adobes workaround did not work either, and who is to say that some future "improvement" will not result in the same calamity on an even bigger database. Fortunately I still had my old system and backups of all my files, but I am not in any hurry to rush back to this product again.
 Essential! October 6, 2007
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
It's hard to write a review about Adobe Lightroom that hasn't been written before, the software made a big impact on its launch and really unseated the previous champion, Apple's own Aperture, in it's appearance.
Generally, one of the things I like most about Aperture is its interface. It's just so intuitive, buttons and so on are placed exactly where you'd expect them to be. It's almost as if the software is reading your mind. As well as this the interface is very clean and well presented. There aren't many custom options other than opacity, and a blank/pinstripe option. But then, this is all to keep everything tidy and uncluttered; how you want it to be.
The editing options are great, and get better after the 1.2 update which sees sharpening getting an entirely new life with many added options. It's great to be able to have many copies of the same file, with different edits, and use up virtually no space at all thanks to the Virtual Copies feature.
Using Adobe Lightroom as an image catalogue is a pleasure too, thumbnails are detailed and their size can be adjusted to your personal preference. The sorting options are good, and you can assign keywords, folders, metadata etc to images in very few steps. I like how Lightroom remembers previous keyword tags so you can tag your photos in less and less time each time you have to do it.
I use Lightroom on both Mac and PC and to be honest, there's very little in it. The program is great on both platforms and having the CD which is multiplatform is only a bonus.
In hardware terms, I would suggest you employ a good amount of RAM in the computer you're going to be putting Lightroom on. Lightroom loves RAM, and will use anything you throw its way. Caching all those thumbnails and performing those non-destructive edits takes it's toll on the software, and when your catalogue goes above 1,000 images the program will start to slow down if you don't have enough RAM!
Overall, Lightroom is a fantastic tool for both pros and amateurs alike. Its feature set is good and it's price is within most peoples range. Highly recommended!
Great software September 20, 2007
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
I downloaded a 30 day trial from Adobe (version 1.2)and after a couple of days finding my around the software, I new that it was an excellent piece of software. I agree with one of the other reviewers that it's a pity that the dodge and burn facility isn't there, although if you have CS2, CS3 or Elements, you can right click on a photo inside Lightroom and go straight to your other editing software. Amazon was the cheapest place that I could find this program - even around 40 cheaper than buying the download from the Adobe shop (which I thought was a bit odd). If you just want to crop and get rid of red-eye, buy something else, if on the other hand you are enthusiastic about your digital photography then buy this. You wont regret it.
Excellent BUT ensure you the right CD ROM version. August 29, 2007
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
I bought this from Amazon end of March and received a 'Tryout' copy CD ROM in the box. How is this possible? This has issues that the programme won't recognise the Serial Number properly and counts down the days to expiry. I have approached Adobe about this and was given advice to consult their online solutions pages. This advises some Registry modifications to allow the programme to recognise the Serial Number. I should not have to and wouldn't like to go there as I know nothing about such procedures. I am awaiting their response, but why was Amazon selling 'tryout' copies as the full status product?
The programme is excellent and I recommend it, but I hope you get a CD ROM that allows full installation.
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