Format:Cd-rom Platforms:Windows Xp, Windows Vista, No Operating System Media:DVD-ROM Operating System:Windows Vista Shipping Weight (lbs):0.2 Dimensions (in):7.8 x 5.8 x 1.9
MPN:65007292 EAN:5051254255086 ASIN:B001CHLZ72
Release Date:September 3, 2008 Shipping:Eligible for Super Saver Shipping Availability:Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Product Description Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 software is essential for today'sdigital photography workflow. Now you can quickly import processmanage and showcase your images — from one shot to an entireshoot. With Lightroom 2 you spend less time in front of th
Customer Reviews:
Too many bugsDecember 27, 2008 M. D. Lumley(uk) I recently purchased this product and upgraded to 2.2 as I had read that this fixed the many bugs that were present in the earlier version. But when using the adjustment brush my computer crashed. I was advised to update my drivers for my Nvidia graphics card, which stopped the crashing issue, but the tool is slow to respond and after a while grey blocks appear and if I carry on using it the screen goes blank! If you go to the adobe site and look at the forums, there are many unsatisfied customers. The concept is excellent, on the face of it this programme is aimed solely at the photographer and in that respect I can really identify with what they are trying to achieve here, but for the time being I will return to photoshop and hope that the next Lightroom patch will address the many issues. If it does then this is a fine product. In the meantime I am left wondering why I paid good money for a product that isn't ready for the market!
An significant upgrade to a great applicationOctober 26, 2008 Keith Joseph(West Berkshire, England) 16 out of 16 found this review helpful
Ideal for anyone with an expensive camera, image management software Photoshop darkroom 1.0 was a great image editing and processing application. Now Lightroom 2.0 has arrived. Lightroom is kind of a batch processing application where it uploads photos from your camera card, tags and sorts them, and then allows image editing [cropping, enhancement, optimisation] before exporting them to disk, printer or web/email. It has a powerful set of editing tools built in and almost removes the need for a separate image editor like Photoshop CS4. You can download a 30 day trial from Adobe to see if it meets your requirements or whether budget consumer Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0 or the fantastically expensive Adobe PhotoShop CS4 is more suitable for your needs. Lightroom 2.0 even integrate into PhotoShop CS4 if you are lucky enough to own it, and passsing images to it no longer requires export as TIFF or PSD files. Lightroom 2.0 is an ideal application if you have to shoot loads of photos one minute and pass them on to visitors the next, or you simply want to minimise image editing time on the PC and get out there again with your camera.
The only downside is that the full version price of Lightroom 2.0 has jumped up to 230, although that makes this far cheaper upgrade price seem better value if you already own Lightroom 1.0, particularly as this is a worthwhile upgrade. The most obvious change in Lightroom 2.0 are dual monitor support, more options for localized image processing/editing, an ability to take 3rd-party plug-ins, better 'removable drive' handling and the 'smart collections' image database tool. There's now an Adjustment Brush and a Graduated Filter that can apply affects within the image rather than just globally as before, e.g. for doing things like softening skin on faces and darkening & colouring skies respectively. There's a new [search] Filter Bar and the Library Module has been redesigned and offers more image information [for image selection]. There's a new picture package layout engine for printing multiple copies of photos, offering 16-bit printing and adaptive output sharpening can be applied to the print output based on image resolution. In addition Lightroom 2.0 now has 64-bit Vista and Mac OS 10.5 support.
Be warned though the application layout has changed and you need Adobe's latest update patches and a modern fast multi-core Intel graphics workstation PC to get Darkroom running smoothly [which I have]. Plus I don't care for the trendy charcoal gray interface, text has been black on white since the written word was invented millennia ago for a good reason, and classic XP/Vista window colour schemes and layout are simply more practical during use. It does help you concentrate on the image though I suppose, and it recreates that vintage darkroom feel [where you can't see squat else]. Still that's a minor quibble given the merits of the application. School kids, college students and departments will qualify for significant educational discounts on all Adobe's software, so check these out if that includes you. Visit Adobe for further details of the software & educational discounts.
PC system requirements are an Intel Pentium 4, XP or Vista Premium, 1Gb system RAM, 1GB hard-disk space and a 1,024x768 display. The fact that AMD processors aren't mentioned might be significant. Adobe installers often reject any PC that falls below the minimum spec, plus 4Gb system memory, a ~3GHz multi-core CPU and a fast graphics card will certainly speed things up. To quote Adobe: "The new Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 is the serious photographer's essential toolbox, providing one easy application for managing, adjusting, and presenting large volumes of digital photographs so you can spend less time in front of the computer and more time behind the lens."
