[glee46]

(Thought I posted this already)

Thanks to the mostly positive feedback here for LR3, I've bought it.

Thanks everyone.

It was onsale yesterday on Amazon for $119.95. 2 to 4 weeks backordered, but for $120 full edition, I got it myself since I've been testing it for the last week and love it.

[George Lama]

Welcome to the fold!

[glee46]

Welcome to the fold!

For $120 Full version, I couldn't say no. It (Might still be) on sale at Adorama for $169.

[reeftool]

It's worthwhile if you're shooting RAW. If you're shooting JPEGS with only the occasional RAW then Photoshop Elements 9 would be a better starting place.

[glee46]

It's worthwhile if you're shooting RAW. If you're shooting JPEGS with only the occasional RAW then Photoshop Elements 9 would be a better starting place.

I like the great control over the shot. I'm never happy the way Jpeg ever turned out. Even my Canon SD400 P&S, I used a firmware to get it to shoot a form of RAW.

To me, there is great control in LR then PhotoPlusX4 from what I can see so far.

[reeftool]

I use Lightroom and like it and think it is pretty straight forward and easy to use. My complaint was the price. I used Elements for years (and still do) and shot mostly in JPEG with occasional RAW shooting which I processed in ACR. When they offered it earlier this year to Elements users for $99, I bought it. I would NOT have paid $299! As a photo organizer, the free Picasa is as good as anything. I brought up the RAW-JPEG because Lightroom is really intended as a RAW processing program although it will work with JPEG's. Whether you buy Elements or Lightroom, I would suggest a trip to your local bookstore and pick up one of the extensive tutorials available on these programs. Add 50 bucks for the book.

[glee46]

I use Lightroom and like it and think it is pretty straight forward and easy to use. My complaint was the price. I used Elements for years (and still do) and shot mostly in JPEG with occasional RAW shooting which I processed in ACR. When they offered it earlier this year to Elements users for $99, I bought it. I would NOT have paid $299! As a photo organizer, the free Picasa is as good as anything. I brought up the RAW-JPEG because Lightroom is really intended as a RAW processing program although it will work with JPEG's. Whether you buy Elements or Lightroom, I would suggest a trip to your local bookstore and pick up one of the extensive tutorials available on these programs. Add 50 bucks for the book.

I agree the Picasa is just as good as LR. However, it has a problem with my K5 with a Black line on the Left and a 1/4 in Pink line on the Right. So, I have to crop every picture if I use Picasa which I've been using since it 1st came out.
I'm going to do Adobe's tutorials 1st, then catch some things of special interest on youtube or a Google search. I find while the books are great, I've found just as good of advice on the cheap.

Thanks for the info on Elements. Some times I want something just because I think I need it, when in reality, I'm not even that good of a photographer at this point in time.

[eddie1960]

I agree the Picasa is just as good as LR. However, it has a problem with my K5 with a Black line on the Left and a 1/4 in Pink line on the Right. So, I have to crop every picture if I use Picasa which I've been using since it 1st came out.
I'm going to do Adobe's tutorials 1st, then catch some things of special interest on youtube or a Google search. I find while the books are great, I've found just as good of advice on the cheap.

Thanks for the info on Elements. Some times I want something just because I think I need it, when in reality, I'm not even that good of a photographer at this point in time.

i will give a thumbs up to this book (i took it out from the library = free but it's also on Kindle etc)

Amazon.com: Black and White in Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom: A complete integrated workflow solution for creating stunning monochromatic images in Photoshop CS4, Photoshop Lightroom, and beyond (9780240521596): Leslie Alsheimer, Bryan O'Neil Hughe

[reeftool]

As a side note, I have found that Picasa doesn't always play nice with Windows 7-64 bit either. Kind of a bummer really because I liked that program a lot. When I first began shooting digital and knew nothing about PP, Picasa was a lifesaver program for me. I had used Corel Photo Paint, Microsoft Picture It, and the dreadful software that came with my Fuji P&S and the equally dreadful Pentax software that came with my K10D (sorry guys, I hate that software). I struggled with all of them and pretty much didn't do any PP at all until I discovered Picasa. For ease of use and workflow, the program was awesome although limited in what it could do. Lightroom is similar to Picasa in that a pure beginner with basic photography knowledge can cruise through their photos rather quickly and get decent results.

[glee46]

It's $8 more then I paid, but still a good deal.. Free shipping as well.

Buy.com - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v.3.0

You can paid for it with an Amazon Account if you have one as well.

[glee46]

As a side note, I have found that Picasa doesn't always play nice with Windows 7-64 bit either. ..

Lightroom is similar to Picasa in that a pure beginner with basic photography knowledge can cruise through their photos rather quickly and get decent results.

1st, I wanted to point out that LRv3 is on sale for $128 + Free Shipping at Buy.com I got mine last week for $120, so this is still a good deal. Here's the link.

Buy.com - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v.3.0

Ya, I know what you're saying there. I have Win 7-64 bit Pro.

So far, the only problem I had was after I got my k5. Both Serif PhotoPlusX4, Picasa, Gimp would all show the lines I mentioned earlier.

So, I DL the Pentax SW for the K5, and I liked it. I used it for RAW & liked many of the setting to tweak a shot. Not the best tools, but after I learned it, not too bad.
Then if needed PPX4.
Picasa for export to Jpeg and organization.

Now, it's LR which does more for me then Pentax SW & Picasa.
I use PPX4 for layers adjustments. However, as you know, I'm testing Elements9.

[glee46]

i will give a thumbs up to this book (i took it out from the library = free but it's also on Kindle etc)

Amazon.com: Black and White in Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom: A complete integrated workflow solution for creating stunning monochromatic images in Photoshop CS4, Photoshop Lightroom, and beyond (9780240521596): Leslie Alsheimer, Bryan O'Neil Hughe

Thanks Eddie for the info and link. I'm pretty sure I can get it from my local library. Also, thanks for the comment on my self-portrait picture. Wish I had all this SW when I took it. You would have thought I was part of the Royal Family.

[Ryan Trevisol]

I've worked with Aperture since version 2.0 and so I have a LOT of experience with it. It does much the same thing as Lightroom, but I think it has a lot more flexibility. I've thought often about switching to LR3 because it seems to be the industry standard, and I can get it for $80 because I work in education. However, every time I try it, I just keep screaming back to Aperture.

First, though, I will say that LR has the lens correction which is pretty great. However, LR3 doesn't have any Pentax profiles baked in. There may be some out there, but it's an unknown. For me, it's not enough to warrant jumping over. If that's a feature you need, you can get PTLens which has quite a few Pentax lenses it corrects for, and it works as a standalone product, with Aperture or Lightroom.

The tools in LR3 look like, if you took the time to learn them, might be quicker to use than Aperture. However, it's a very intimidating interface. That said, it's a very well done interface if you take the time to learn it.

Aperture does a few things that I really like. In the Adjustment tab, you can turn on and off the adjustments you want or don't want, as in, you can hide them from the adjustment drawer, so that you don't have to scroll past stuff you're not using.

Aperture also has the flexibility to either store images in folders (referenced masters) or inside the Aperture Library. I couldn't figure out how to do that with LR3. With all your images bundled in one huge file (actually it's a folder but Mac OS interacts with it like a file) it makes it easier to move them from one place to another, and for me, easier to organize large groups of images. I shot a wedding recently and ended up with ~24GB of PEF's. That became one Aperture Library, and I was able to work with it, export my output, and dump the whole thing (adjustments, crops, edits, masters, and all) on my file server for archive. With referenced masters, the catalog with all the adjustments gets completely screwed up if you move the masters around. This way, even your backups can be fully functional.

I'm sure there are plenty of other things that LR3 does that Aperture doesn't, one is the before/after side by side view, which is cool (aperture has a similar feature but it's not side by side), split toning, and I'm sure the LR users can mention many others.

So if you're on a mac, Aperture I think is the better choice as it's available for $80 without any academic discount, and it does probably most of what LR does with some advantages.

If you're on PC, definitely get the best deal on LR that you can - it's a great program and well worth learning.

[eddie1960]

I've worked with Aperture since version 2.0 and so I have a LOT of experience with it. It does much the same thing as Lightroom, but I think it has a lot more flexibility. I've thought often about switching to LR3 because it seems to be the industry standard, and I can get it for $80 because I work in education. However, every time I try it, I just keep screaming back to Aperture.

First, though, I will say that LR has the lens correction which is pretty great. However, LR3 doesn't have any Pentax profiles baked in. There may be some out there, but it's an unknown. For me, it's not enough to warrant jumping over. If that's a feature you need, you can get PTLens which has quite a few Pentax lenses it corrects for, and it works as a standalone product, with Aperture or Lightroom.

The tools in LR3 look like, if you took the time to learn them, might be quicker to use than Aperture. However, it's a very intimidating interface. That said, it's a very well done interface if you take the time to learn it.

Aperture does a few things that I really like. In the Adjustment tab, you can turn on and off the adjustments you want or don't want, as in, you can hide them from the adjustment drawer, so that you don't have to scroll past stuff you're not using.

Aperture also has the flexibility to either store images in folders (referenced masters) or inside the Aperture Library. I couldn't figure out how to do that with LR3. With all your images bundled in one huge file (actually it's a folder but Mac OS interacts with it like a file) it makes it easier to move them from one place to another, and for me, easier to organize large groups of images. I shot a wedding recently and ended up with ~24GB of PEF's. That became one Aperture Library, and I was able to work with it, export my output, and dump the whole thing (adjustments, crops, edits, masters, and all) on my file server for archive. With referenced masters, the catalog with all the adjustments gets completely screwed up if you move the masters around. This way, even your backups can be fully functional.

I'm sure there are plenty of other things that LR3 does that Aperture doesn't, one is the before/after side by side view, which is cool (aperture has a similar feature but it's not side by side), split toning, and I'm sure the LR users can mention many others.

So if you're on a mac, Aperture I think is the better choice as it's available for $80 without any academic discount, and it does probably most of what LR does with some advantages.

If you're on PC, definitely get the best deal on LR that you can - it's a great program and well worth learning.

I'm not at home to look butLR does have some Pentax profiles (a large number of the 645 lenses and some others AFIAK) You can also make your own profiles which will be specific to your own gear. the process is pretty simple the profiler is a free download, and if i am not mistaken there are a large number of profiles people have made available on the forum

[Ryan Trevisol]

I'm not at home to look butLR does have some Pentax profiles (a large number of the 645 lenses and some others AFIAK) You can also make your own profiles which will be specific to your own gear. the process is pretty simple the profiler is a free download, and if i am not mistaken there are a large number of profiles people have made available on the forum

Well that's good. I loaded up my LR3 installation and the only profiles installed were canon, nikon, Apple (!) and a couple others. No pentax. Maybe that's the difference in the Mac version, or the Demo.