by Gavin Seim: Adobe is taking things up a notch once again. Lightroom 3 will bring lots of revamped and new features that should keep it’s current user base happy and continue to bring Lightroom converts into their fold.
Yep, it just went into public beta and is available for everyone as a free download that stays active until April of 2010, so presumably the retail version will be out near then. The beta does not support upgrading of LR2 catalogs however. Obviously the final version will, but for now it’s still in the feedback stage so you’ll have to make a fresh catalog to use it.
Resource Links.
- Download the beta on Adobe Labs.
- Whats new in LR3 videos. part1, part2, part3.
- NAAP’s LR3 Learning Center.
- Lightroom3 quick Q&A fromb Matt K.
Lightroom 3 will bring major architecture changes under the hood to help speed things up and run faster, but also a host of new features and perhaps even more when the final version ships. Here’s a few quick and dirty screenshots, musings and details on whats new.
Slideshows:
- Add a soundtrack and automatically match image speed to fit song.
- Export slideshows as video, even 1080P HD
Performance & network drives?
- Images can still be on your network drive (just like now) but you still can’t run your catalog from the network drive which is a real bummer. Adobe seems to be ignoring this which is not cool, but hopefully they’ll get it figured out before the final release.
- Revamped import dialog new new interface, import presets and faster imports.
- Faster performance when browsing thru images. This will be welcome for sure.
Brand new Effects panel.
- Post crop vignette has been redone (it was pretty bad in version 2)
- Improved noise reduction. Keeps images clearer during the process.
- Grain sliders allow you to add texture back in (Remove nouse, now add it back).
- Sharpening has been refined to produce better results.
Print Module:
- Custom Packages give you more control and allow drag and drop freeform print layouts.
- Control background colors of too. I’ll certainly be adding smooth black backgrounds to my Projectics presets.
Web module and more:
- Fully functional watermark tools including image overlays. This works in export print and web modules. No blending modes though. Looks like the Mogrify plugin will still be useful.
- Integrated tools for sharing sites using “Publish Collections” Set export settings, then simply drag images to the collection and click Publish.
No word on video integration with Lightroom. Product manager Tom Hogarty seemed a bit cagey about it in the press conference. That may mean nothing, but I sense they have some plans for video in the not too distant future.
Go try it yourself and see what you think. And if you’re looking to master Lightroom check out my Lightroom Power workshop.
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Looks very cool. Shame about the Network store and catalogues though I can see their pain with that. Personally, I hope Adobe NEVER puts video support into LR. If you are serious about video, you need serious video software. LR at £150 is never going to be able to offer serious video editing tools at that price. Either the price rockets, or the video support will be minor to say the least. LR is for photographers, Final Cut etc is for Videographers.
At last they’ve improved the print module for multi-image layouts and the addition of exportable slideshows will really help my workflow
I have to disagree with you Kevin, I think it will be mad not to put some basic video support in Lightroom. I currently do small video clips in camera so have to import my photos and videos onto my computer externally to Lightroom, then import them again into Lightroom which is a real pain and waste of my time. But I do think Lightroom should stay well clear of any editing more complex than basic trimming start and end of videos. Can’t wait to download and try the beta, it looks great!
STILL no network support? It seems like the two biggest needs are network support, and watermarking. I guess I should be happy ONE made it in. LR really needs to be network, and MULTI-USER aware. How many people have a media server? Where I work, we have 5 people that could use a more robust solution for our Media. I keep looking at Microsoft’s product for that alone, though, adding ONE MORE step into my workflow does not excite me.
It seems like Adobe assumes EVERYONE works by themselves… and doesn’t understand collaboration. This is very frustrating for me.
” no word on video”
A lot of people seemed to have missed something important in LR3 BETA. In LR2 it would totally ignore video files in the import dialog, it wouldnt even acknowledge that they were there. But in LR3 they show up in the import box and you can sucessfully copy them off the memory card and re-name them alongside your photos. I did this with a test batch from a 5dMKII this morning although it took several attempts due to bugs.
Once this is done they do not show up in the catalog but they do contribute to the file counter in the folders on the left of the library. My guess is that video support will be in the final version and that it has been disabled for now. There is no reason wy they cant do videos. But for now , at least you can copy them from your card without having to do it manually like you had to do with LR2
I like the fact that it automatically imported my LR2 presets without me doing a thing. The new features are nice. I love the new import dialog.
Thanks for that tip Dan! I didn’t realise LR3beta does now copy videos, something not detailed in anything I’ve read anywhere. That will save me so much time and hassle. Now I have been using LR3beta, I am loving it, especially the new vignetting tools. I can’t wait for the full release.
Thanks for this, can’t believe I’v only just found that I can export video slide shows, was going to purchase proshow or similar.
Amazing, can’t believe this. Thanks for sharing.
I far prefer version 3 to the new version 4! Thanks for writing the article.
Have been using lightroom 4 for a while and has made a big difference, loving the new sliders that don’t fight with each other in the way the old ones did.