01/09/2006, 12:45am, EST
Monday, January 9th
Adobe's Lightroom takes on Aperture
Adobe Systems (booth 1307) today introduced the public beta of Adobe Lightroom, an all-new digital imaging solution for professional photographers. Much like Apple's Aperture application for professionals, the modular, task-based and streamlined environment delivers a complete photography workflow. The company says it plans to continue to augement and add features based on customer feedback: "As Adobe collects more feedback from photographers, modules and feature sets will likely change, as customers decide on their popularity and priority within digital photography workflows." Initially available as a beta for Macintosh, Lightroom will later support both the Windows and Macintosh platforms. The image-focused application will be showcased at the Expo and is available as 111MB download for Mac OS X Tiger users now from the Adobe Labs website.
"We first showed an early version of Lightroom at the Adobe Ideas Conference in April 2005 to demonstrate a new streamlined digital photography experience, from capture to print," said Shantanu Narayen, president and chief operating officer of Adobe. "Today's Lightroom Beta leverages Adobe's renowned digital imaging innovation, in areas such as raw image processing, so that even in beta form photographers will find world class technology that complements Photoshop. We look forward to the feedback from the photography community as we refine the product over the next few months."
"Radical" new image-focused interface
Adobe said that the Lightroom Beta has been designed with a "radical new user interface that puts the focus on what photographers really care about: the image. With just one click, the control panels and tools fade into the background in Lights-Out mode, allowing the image to take center stage. The innovative Identity Plate feature allows photographers to apply their own branding to the application and its output, so that it becomes their own personal gallery for showcasing work." The company said that photographers also can rapidly scroll through hundreds of images and its new "Quick One-to-One Zoom" features allows instant magnification of the finer points within the image.
"Lightroom defines the future workflow for the professional digital photographer," said Seth Resnick, a premier corporate, editorial and stock photographer. "It delivers exactly the functions photographers need to speed up their workflow in a way that was never before possible."
High-Quality Raw Processing.
Lightroom supports over 100 cameras
Leveraging Adobe's Camera Raw technology, Lightroom supports over 100 cameras and incorporates raw conversion into a single workflow. Adobe says that its advanced raw processing features new split-toning controls which create richer black and white images as well as extends photographers' creative control with new parameters for making adjustments. Lightroom allows files to be converted, on import, to Digital Negative format (DNG) or renamed and segmented by folder or date.
Users can also showcase images via slideshows with drop shadows, borders, Identity Plates and different colored backgrounds. The size and position of the images can be manipulated and offered to clients in Macromedia Flash, Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) or HTML formats. It includes a variety of templates for contact sheets with the ability to add identity plates or produce a fine art print.
Recommended system requirements are Mac OS X 10.4.3, 1GHz PowerPC G4 processor, 768MB RAM and a 1024x768 resolution screen. Regular updates to the software will be posted on the site, according to the company. It also said that feedback will be collected and the final product is expected to be introduced in late 2006. Further details around pricing, system requirements and availability have yet to be determined.
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Can I keep my files as files (accessible, easy-to-backup) in folders rather than Aperture's single file (vulnerable, hard-to-backup) vault? Will Apple please stop hiding my files (for my own convenience), and let me manage them?
So, I guess they let you have te photos however you want.
That's hilarious.
I downloaded Lightroom last night and imported my photo library but I haven't had a chance to do anything else yet. Will check it out over the next couple of days.
To the poster that said Lightroom allows you to keep photos in your own directory, that is correct. However, you cannot add/edit any metadata unless you allow Lightroom to manage your images.
All I know is Aperture is out and runs on my system now. Light room is not out regardless of what you can download.
I do know one thing, somebody is copying somebody here. They are just too similar.
Are there any hints as to who copied who? Did Apple step on Adobe's toes when they released iPhoto, NO. They didn't even step on their toes when they went PDF crazy. The only territory they crossed into was video editing which NEEDED to be done because Premier sucked on the Mac.
If you follow this line of thought, I doubt Apple stepped on Adobe's toes here. Adobe is the copy cat. It's clear what Adobe is thinking, "Aperture only works on Mac. We'll copy it and put it out on PC and Mac and make a bunch of money. Thanks for the ideas Apple!"
I've said it before and I'll say it again, APPLE NEEDS TO GET A BETTER PATENT AND COPY WRITE PROCESS!
Then we would know who is writing code and who is copying it.