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Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0, Full Version (PC/Mac) | 
| From: Adobe Systems Inc.
Category: Software
List Price: £239.63
Buy New: £211.69
You Save: £27.94 (12%)
New (12) Used (1) from £112.97
Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 47
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows Xp, Windows Vista, Mac Os X
Media: CD-ROM
Operating System: Windows Vista
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.8 x 1.9
MPN: 65007296
EAN: 5051254255185
ASIN: B001B2PWN6
Release Date: August 28, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Product Description
ADOBE LIGHTROOM V2
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Great editor, but not a professional product. January 3, 2009
Arheddis Varkenjaab
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
RAW development software seems to be a weak point in the use of digital cameras. There are suprisingly few software packages specifically for RAW, and of those available they often seem to be either crippingly slow, chronically un-userfriendly, or give poor images.
Lightroom gives excellent results, is reasonably simple to use, and is powerful enough that you can use it as a photoshop replacement if all you do is edit your photographs and have no need of ever recompositing. You can easily remove dust marks, add gradient filters, do some dodging and burning and fiddle about to get the best from your shots. You can compensate for some of the pecularities of your lenses, or even add some if you're after a quirky lomo or holga look. You can then save any of your particular settings as a preset for resuse.
It's excellent for showing shots to clients, as you can instantly run a professinal looking slide show at any time, complete with your own logo. You can save hours creating beautiful websites automatically in seconds and easily print images complete with watermarks in moments.
However, there are downsides and they are big ones.
Firstly, this is meant to be a professional product. I'm sorry, but it just isn't. The reason? Complete lack of network support. Unbeliveably, lightroom works off a single database stored away from the image - that is, unlike most other RAW editors, there isn't a file sitting next to the RAW file with my edits in. They are stored seperately, on a single database, and that database can't be stored on a network. Any edit I make to a shot on my laptop can't be easily viewed on my desktop PC with the edits in place. Let me say that again - a PROFESSIONAL product that can't be effectively used on a network. Also, move a RAW file outside of lightroom, and database will lose it and your edits are gone. Any corruption to that single database, and you've lost everything. Trying to juggle multiple computers against a single database, without accidentally overwriting , moving or renaming a file is essentially impossible. For this alone, Lightroom is effectively not fit for professional use.
Documentation. When I spend 200+pounds on a product, I expect to get manual. Lightroom doesn't even come with installation instructions. Even on the CD, there is no PDF of a manual, and the in-program help takes you online to Adobe's website. Fine if you have internet access, but potentially very embarrasing if you're with a client out in the wilds somewhere and you get stuck.
Memory. Lightroom eats memory. Fair enough, it's doing a lot of work, but it's meant to be used in conjunction with Photoshop - but photoshop slows to a crawl because Lightoom has used up all the memory. Make sure you have a beefy PC.
Cataloguing. Because of the way Lightroom uses a single database, you have to use Lightrooms system of cataloguing. This is extrememly irritating - I might have an odd shot on a memory stick I need to convert quickly but I can't just file-open-save. I have to have to import it, give it keywords, and then as soon as I disconnect my memory stick I have an orphan file in my lightroom database. It's incredibly annoying, especially if you already have your own effective system of filing your shots.
This doesnt' take away from the excellent results Lightoom will give you, and I will use lightroom on the really important shoots because of it's quality, but I find myself using free open-source alternatives more and more such as Rawtherapee. It's a little harder to use, but the quality is as good, and it lets me work how I want to work, not how Adobe insist I work.
Also, be aware that if you don't shoot in RAW, or if you have no idea what that even means, then this really isn't the product for you. Lightroom is really intended for semi-pro and pro photographers. You can touch up and edit JPG files, but there are much better and cheaper alternatives for that.
Not exactly what it says on the tin January 1, 2009
David Russell (Newton Mearns, Scotland)
I picked this on the basis that, although I knew it was originally designed for professionals using SLR cameras and RAW format, it also has compatibility with JPEG images. The problem is that, although it does support JPEG images, it is essentially a waste of time - it can only provide basic 'touch up' functions the same as free 'photo album' packages. All of the program's features are geared towards developing RAW format images from professional cameras - if you have an ordinary camera that takes JPEG images then this doesn't offer you any features that a free photo album program won't.
Add to that the fact that it uses a huge amount of memory, seems a tad unstable, and has a poor user interface (I have yet to work out how to make it put the multi-photo 'album' view in the main screen, like it was on first run). If you are a professional photographer then you probably know already whether you're going to buy this or not (and in any event you'll be looking for technical analysis I can't give) - if you aren't, then I can promise you that buying this is likely to be a waste of money.
 Boundless opportunities December 30, 2008
Dave M (Hampshire, England)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am writing this review as an experienced amateur photographer who has been using digital cameras for over ten years now and have based the review on photographs taken with Fuji FinePix S9600 camera. Fujifilm FinePix S9600 Digital Camera - Black (9.0MP, 10.7x Optical Zoom) 2.0" LCD
The installation under Vista was problem free and easy. I did note, that immediately after the installation, the product checked for updates and asked me if I wanted to load an update. The mere fact that this was in excess of 170 Mbytes download leads me to suspect that the product has been rebuilt and re-released to fix the stability problems that other reviewers have mentioned. Since using this product, I have seen no bugs nor has there been any kind of problem with freezing and lock-ups that have been mentioned by previous reviewers. I think that Adobe have now got this right.
Another comment that has been made is the lack of a printed manual. Personally, I do not consider this to be a problem for two reasons. Firstly, the product is very intuitive to use (more of that later) and secondly, a really big plus for such an extensive product, is the fact that Adobe have provided a full suite of on-line videos that instruct you on how to use the product. The videos comprise a complete training course and, although I haven't yet completed the full set, will enable you to use the product very effectively.
The intuitive nature of the product is enabled by the use of various `suites' that comprise the right hand window (if you are using it in the default layout) that take you through the various tasks, in a logical order, to allow you to achieve the desired result. It is worth spending a significant amount of time playing with the options to see just what they are giving you. Based on my experience from my old non-digital darkroom days, the options will allow you to achieve anything you could achieve in a darkroom, but so much more efficiently and accurately.
I would fully agree with the product description that the Lightroom is firmly aimed at very serious amateurs and professional photographers rather than those who are more than happy to use a `point and click' approach. For the experience photographer, this is an excellent product and I would heartily recommend it.
 Darkroom 2 December 27, 2008
mystic fred (prog heaven)
Having been used to using Photoshop for many years for photo editing the new Lightroom 2 came something of a shock at first - the dark skin took a lot of getting used to but is quite easy to find your way around, and the images are very clear. Instead of "file" and "save as" you have to use the "import" and "export" options, the rest is really easy to work out. Excellent "darkroom" for digital photographers!
See the light! December 26, 2008
Cheatin' Jockey (Worcestershire)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Before Lightroom I thought I had the best solution with Photoshop CS3 and the accompanying Bridge program for getting my digital RAW files from my SLR and processing them. I decided to go RAW after reading journals and forums and hearing about how you can get better results instead of just shooting JPEGs. Unfortunately, the manufacturers software doesn't lend itself to speed and means you have to spend quite a while tied to you computer, despite the better results this is not ideal.
Bridge and CS3 change this and give you better workflow, but you do end up moving between 3 distinct programs; this is where Lightroom scores. Lightroom is a single application for capture, cataloging, RAW processing and output that is very work flow oriented. Navigation around your library is similar to Bridge except the preview files take a second or so to 'firm-up' but give you a much better display quality; zooming and navigating your image is also much better, more like Photoshop. The keyword system is a doddle compared to Bridge and the batch processing of groups of shots is also more integrated than the Bridge/ACR approach.
As for Lightroom's image editing tools they aren't a replacement for editors like Photoshop they are for correction and enhancement only - but they do give you everything you need for that purpose. You can take out spots, CA (purple fringing) edit curves, exposure, colour temperature, sharpness etc. and save the changes as presets for quick batch processing. Once complete the print tools are good and there is also a slideshow function that allows music to be added amongst other things, though it doesn't export it to anything that still resembles a slideshow meaning you still really need Lightroom for it to work.
Downsides? I had started to use Digital Negative format for long term storage and Bridge will convert to this on import, Lightroom doesn't which is a shame, as is the inability to export a complete slideshow in something like an MPEG format for use on a DVD player.
So, is it for you? Well, if you have an interest in shooting RAW then it will save you hours and deliver great results; if you shoot JPEG then removing purple fringing and some of the other tools like exposure, curves and temperature aren't in basic editors, though you will get limited benefit as the camera does a lot of processing with JPEG shooting and leaves you less to work with. If you have Elements and were considering CS3 or 4 for your RAW work, Lightroom and your current photo editor may well give you what you need for less than half the price of a full copy of Photoshop.
Note: I had no performance or reliability issues, straight after installation I downloaded the 2.2 update which works fine.
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