Lightroom 2 Available!

[Photo-John]

Last night Adobe released the final version of Lightroom 2. I've got the Adobe store open on my computer and will download the upgrade later today. I'm very interested to see the new features and find out how they've improved Lightroom's performance. It's got a bunch of cool new enhancements that I'm excited about. The most interesting enhancements for me are the Local Adjustment Brush and Graduated Filter, which will make it possible for me to do some of the stuff I usually do in Photoshop in Lightroom, with RAW files. And for those of you with newer computers, you should see better performance because it now supports 64-bit processing with both Macs and PCs.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Press Release >>

After I get a chance to play with it, I'll post a short article on what I find

[fx101]

I GOT THE UPGRADE!!! It's actually pretty much the same as the beta, but I have to say that performance is fantastic on an intel core2 quad with 64 bit Vista Ultimate. The graduated filter still isn't as good as what photoshop can do, but I'm really liking the local adjustment brush.

[Photo-John]

I GOT THE UPGRADE!!! It's actually pretty much the same as the beta, but I have to say that performance is fantastic on an intel core2 quad with 64 bit Vista Ultimate. The graduated filter still isn't as good as what photoshop can do, but I'm really liking the local adjustment brush.

Nice. I don't have a 64-bit machine or OS. But it sure would be nice as Lightroom is definitely a resource hog. I'm sure that the graduated filter isn't as good as Photoshop. But every change that I can do in RAW instead of TIFF is good, I think. Fine-tuning and serious selective adjustment will still be done using Photoshop masked adjustment layers. I'm curious about Local Adjust Brushes. The idea makes me more nervous than the Graduated Filter. They sound like the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop, which I do not use. Ultimately, I still like the adjustment layer workflow, which is completely lossless. But some selective adjustment at the RAW level is deifnitely a good thing.

Gotta get some work done so I can download this thing and play with it a bit!

[SeanLA]

I used this link to order LR2 upgrade boxed version direct from Adobe. Using the link allows a 15% discount ($99 less 15% plus s&h)
I cant wait to do a clean install on my new computer

http://www.digitaleditor.com/adobe?k...rrw&redirect=1

[drg]

Installed it on one machine late today. Been waiting for the dual monitor support. So far, so good.

How flexible and robust the new file/database support is the next question.

Lots of files and catalogs to roll over.

The developer's kits for various modules looks good for full professional intergration possibilities. This has been a problem I've dealt with a lot over the past two years in how to serve customers with lots of images. Adobe I believe can deliver if anyone will.

[fx101]

Installed it on one machine late today. Been waiting for the dual monitor support. So far, so good.

How flexible and robust the new file/database support is the next question.

Lots of files and catalogs to roll over.

The developer's kits for various modules looks good for full professional intergration possibilities. This has been a problem I've dealt with a lot over the past two years in how to serve customers with lots of images. Adobe I believe can deliver if anyone will.

The dual monitor support is nice, but I sort of feel like more flexibility on what is displayed on each monitor would have been nice. I sort of feel that having the previews on one monitor, and everything else on the other isn't good use of screen real estate.

[drg]

The dual monitor support is nice, but I sort of feel like more flexibility on what is displayed on each monitor would have been nice. I sort of feel that having the previews on one monitor, and everything else on the other isn't good use of screen real estate.

The number of images you have to process may determine the usefulness of this arrangement. The preliminary SDK and a note in the help files makes me believe there are some other configurations available or upcoming shortly. I've really just started to work with the full release today and then only for a little more than an hour.

[gahspidy]

Dowloaded my upgrade this afternoon. Only had a few minutes to look around, but I like the placement of the tools. Love the selective editing ability now and looks like it will take a bit of time to get familiar with the controls and editing possibilities there.
I looked right away at the crop tool to see if they now offered perspective adjustment and it appears it does not. . .disapointed. GD filter is a nice addition.
Performance-wise, I found the old version was fine, but then again I have only working with about 10,000 images in my catalog.
I will be playing alot with this over the next few days and hope to be able to get familiar quickly.

[SmartWombat]

Well, this is one piece of software I will not be buying.
$84 in the USA, more than double that price in the UK !

Not that I'm hurting anyone but myself I suppose, certainly not Adobe.
But $84 is £42 why on earth (or whatever planet they are on) should I pay them twice as much to buy it just because of where I live?

[gahspidy]

Well, this is one piece of software I will not be buying.
$84 in the USA, more than double that price in the UK !

Not that I'm hurting anyone but myself I suppose, certainly not Adobe.
But $84 is £42 why on earth (or whatever planet they are on) should I pay them twice as much to buy it just because of where I live?

You make a good point and I could not argue with you. I have come across some other discussion about the new version and the price seems to have everyone scratching their heads.
I paid 99 for the upgrade on Adobes site.

Aside from the cropping tool having no added power, I find the version to be quite amazing.

From the obvious things like the selective adjustment tools to the more subtle improvements like being able to add sharpening during export (great for preparing a jpeg for web display), tighter integration with PS, and lots of fine enhancements to the other modules. It was worth it IMO for me, but I understand your concern over the principle of the price structure.

[SmartWombat]

I found the beta crashed my machine about 4 times less often than 1.4.1

[Photo-John]

For those of you who haven't noticed the link in the right-hand column, Carleton (DRG), wrote a Lightroom 2 review for us already. It's got screen shots of the new tools and everything!

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Review

I also added Lightroom 2 to the RAW Conversion and Workflow software review section. So when those of you who have it are ready, please post reviews. We don't get nearly as many software reviews as camera reviews. And your reviews are the foundation of this site!

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 User Reviews

I still haven't downloaded it. I've been doing so much shooting I haven't wanted to mess with my workflow by introducing new software. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll have it up and running. From all reports it looks like it's worth the upgrade. And I'm excited to try out the new Selective Brushes and Graduated Density filter!

[gilliamhome]

I ordered the HARD COPY UPGRADE for LR2 and am totally excited about the potential of the new ADJUSTMENT BRUSH TOOL, and the dual screen mode. LR1 really helped my archive storage issues. LR2 presents itself as a far more refined adjustment tool. I will read the Carleton review right now! Thanks all - Tim

[Photo-John]

This morning, I tried the new Graduated Filter for the first time. I dig it! I had this snapwhot of community member, Jimmy B, and the flash was hot on the foreground and left him a bit dark. It was the perfect test subject for the Graduated Filter. Normally, I would have done this same thing using a Photoshop masked Levels Adjustment Layer. But I was able to kock it out using just Lightroom, thanks to the new tool. I did still use Photoshop in order to apply my logo to the final image, though.

For the final image, see Jimmy B's thread about our meeting in ViewFinder: Utah & meeting The Captain of the ship

[gahspidy]

Great John. I'm also diggin the new tools and features. I intend to write a review, but want to get a bit more familiar with it.

I have a feeling there will be a patch or 2.1 update coming out in the very near future. There seems to be some issues and some kinks in this version

[gahspidy]

Well, this is one piece of software I will not be buying.
$84 in the USA, more than double that price in the UK !

Not that I'm hurting anyone but myself I suppose, certainly not Adobe.
But $84 is £42 why on earth (or whatever planet they are on) should I pay them twice as much to buy it just because of where I live?

Paul, just thought you might be interested in reading others comments about the pricing structure in Europe.
http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.59b5f71e

[Axle]

Just finished installing it here at work...So far I like it.

[Photo-John]

I've seen some people complaining about it not importing their catalogs or previews. But that's all I know about. Have you seen other complaints or experienced problems. For me, it's been solid so far.

[gahspidy]

I've seen some people complaining about it not importing their catalogs or previews. But that's all I know about. Have you seen other complaints or experienced problems. For me, it's been solid so far.

I personally have only had a couple of . . .glitches. When exporting a slideshow with the new "intro" and "Ending" pages the show wound up with just an intro page and then a blank screen with a diagonal red line through it. I had just done a set of work for an artist friend whose exhibit I was shooting is going to be a permanent installation at a major museum here in N.Y. I wanted to send her the best images in a slideshow, as I usually do and thought it would be nice to include the new intro and ending pages that is new to LR2.
Well that caused the issues it seems and I had to send a show without the intro end page and it worked fine. At this time, it seems to work ok and so I have no idea what that was all about. I did read in the LR forums of other members having a problem with the slideshow, but it was different from what I experienced.

Next, I had bought and installed SlideshowPro which is an Adobe approved (and recommended somewhat) plug in that fits into the Web Module. Creates a flash based slideshow with lots of functionality and features. The plug-in has a tendancy to crash LR every so often and seems to be very processor heavy. Still works ok, just have to be careful with it and let it finish every task before moving on.

When I insert my memory card to import, LR 1.4 opens up. I have to close it and open LR2, even though I have it in the preferences of LR2 to open upon detection of memory card. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to uninstall LR1.4 at this point as there was nothing mentioned about it during installation of LR2. What did you do in this regard?

The buzz around the LR forums are that the software works very slow and seems to lag, especially when using the selective edit tools and moreso when Automask is on. I have heard of many users complaining about freeze ups and crashes and it just seems that something must be wrong here.

I have not experienced any lag even when doing selective edits with Automask on or off. Other than the few weird glitches I had experienced, the software is running solid for me at this point.
I have heard of users claiming the beta version seemed to work better, so I think somewhere down the road there will be a fix released for whatever is ailing some systems.
The selective edit tools have me staying in LR much more often and only running to PS when some heavy PP is needed with selections and layers, etc.
Lovin it so far . . . .

[SmartWombat]

The buzz around the LR forums are that the software works very slow and seems to lag, especially when using the selective edit tools and moreso when Automask is on. I have heard of many users complaining about freeze ups and crashes and it just seems that something must be wrong here.

I had that in the Beta to the point the selective tools were unusable.
I've got a dual-core 3GHz Pentium CPU and XP Pro with 2G RAM, so it ought not to be under-powered.
I assumed that was due to beta-stuff and release performance would be better.

[gahspidy]

I had that in the Beta to the point the selective tools were unusable.
I've got a dual-core 3GHz Pentium CPU and XP Pro with 2G RAM, so it ought not to be under-powered.
I assumed that was due to beta-stuff and release performance would be better.

I am running an AMD Athlon 64X2 dual core, 2.2Ghz with 2GB of high performance RAM. Windows XP Home Edition SP2.
I have almost no lag at all working on large files and painting the brush like I was Van Gogh. . . .go figure.
Something else must be at play here.

[drg]

I'm finishing up two new projects in Lightroom 2.0 and I've imported half a dozen 1.41 catalogs seamlessly.

I've tried two large, 20,000 pixel long edge, images without incident. I think this will be saved for one of the 64-bit Vista Dual-Core boxes.

Some of the tools, the gradient tool in particular responds slowly. The rotate, but not drag adjustment has trouble keeping up with the mouse on some machines. Not enough definitive info to really assess this as some of the faster (I've got 2.0 running on 4 machines) boxes don't perform as well??? Haven't put it on a notebook. The gradient tool also doesn't always display the guides for the gradient immediately.

Here's a link to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips

if that link does not work type in www.lightroomkillertips.com.

The scroll through color selections for color overlay of Adjustment Brush by using Ctrl-O is real handy to know! There is some discussion or commentary there about the pricing variations.

An example follows of what else can be done in this new version. There is a before and final version shown via the Compare screen in the Library module. It is more than a before and after. This is a two step process, one set of adjustments and two vignettes. The file was saved and reloaded under a different name/ext and a second vignette applied. The final version with copyright/watermark is in the PR gallery.

I'm going to post the Killer Tips as separate post so you can add your own here at photography review.

[SmartWombat]

Well Gary, sounds like a good excuse to buy a new computer to me
Now if I get a bonus in Q3 I knoe what it's going on !

[gahspidy]

Well, one glitch confirmed and addressed. SlideshowPro makers replied to my inquiry about system crashes in LR2. they acknowledge that this does happen because every adjustment made to the slideshow refreshes and adjusts the entire set of images selected for the show. Until they put out a fix, they find that by using just a few images during the actual creation and look of the show and when that is done, import the full set of images and export the show.
Seems like a minor thing to live with for such a full functional integrated slideshow. . . .