12/16/2008 Adobe Releases Lightroom 2.2
New cameras supported:
- Canon EOS 5D Mark II
- Canon PowerShot G10
- Panasonic DMC-LX3
- more
You can download the update from here. Read also our V2.0 review below.
Lightroom 2.0
Most of the new features of LR 2.0 were disclosed with Lightroom 2.0 Public Beta. This article is an updated version of our Beta review.
Library
- The general UI got a bit different organized. Especially the left tools pane is now only reserved to folders and collection (makes a lot of sense I think).
- New Smart Collections
As part of now three collection types:
Collection Types
- Normal Collection: same type of collections as in 1.x
- Collection Set: Can contain other collection
- Smart Collections: The collection content is dynamic and defined by rules (rules can be changed later)
Smart Collection Rules
Filter Bar
The filters are off the left panel and now on top of the grid. They take a little bit of space from the grid but it is a more logical place in the UI.
Display on the second monitor
You can now also use the second monitor for extra information. This means you can see the Grid and the Loupe at the same time. This is very useful indeed.
LR2.0 shows now the disks where the folders reside. We find this a very useful addition. Especially because we can now also see the remaining capacity of these disks. Online disks are indicated with a green light and offline disks with no light.
- Photoshop CS3 Integration
Open single files in CS3
Open multiple files in CS3
Develop
New Toolbar
- Localized Corrections: Brush based
This is likely the hot new feature in Version 2.0. In essence it is a sophisticated brush based dodge & burn. Localized Corrections are also non destructive!
Correction Types
Correction Types
You can correct for:
- Exposure
- Brightness
- Contrast
- Saturation
- Clarity
- Sharpness
- Color
Brush Control
Brush controls
You can control brush size, feather and flow. You can also adjust the amount of the effect.
Add or Delete
You can add to a stroke (or maybe I would call it stroke set) or also Erase from the set.
Edit Strokes
Now it gets really exciting. You can edit all the stroke sets later (even remove some of them):
Selected Stroke (gray shows where the stroke is)
- Localized Corrections: Gradient Based
Gradients are very useful tools and easy to use in Lightroom 2.0. Here is an example:
Gradient off
Gradient on
Print
- Output sharpening improved:
New Print Sharpening options
Sharpening can now be targeted differently for glossy and matte media.
DNG Profile Editor and Camera Profiles (Public Beta right now)
Lightroom 2.0 and ACR 4.5 now support more camera profiles (these are no ICC profiles). There are many ready to use profiles available.
List of profiles
The new DNG Profile Editor allows users to create and especially also to tune their own profiles. Better you understand what are you doing before you mess up your colors. We only recommend that more experienced users try this new tool (we are not really good doing these things ourselves). Likely some talented photographers will share their own profiles.
Camera Raw 4.5
You should use Camera Raw 4.5 together with Lightroom 2.0 because this version of ACR is the best match right now for Lightroom 2.0 (for further details and restrictions please consult the Lightroom 2.0 readme file).
Conclusion
There are many new improvements in Lightroom 2.0. We are most interested in:
- Smart Collections
- CS3 integration
- Dual Monitor support
- of course the new localized corrections
We work with a catalog that holds 40,000 images. Using LR2.0 with this catalog works just fine for us.
Our Wish List for 3.0
- Multiple catalogs open at the same time (2 would be good start)
- Lens Corrections
- Perspective corrections (like perspective crop in CS3)
- Softproofing
- Auto import folders (as many as I like) that scan in defined intervals (e.g. every 10 minutes)
- Floating Window for collections
Downloads
|
