Lightroom 3 beta 2 adds tethered shooting, video support
updated 10:35 am EDT, Tue March 23, 2010
Image cleanup includes luminance noise reduction
Adobe has posted a second beta of Lightroom 3, its upcoming photo workflow package. The software is meant primarily for professional photographers managing or editing large numbers of RAW images. Beta 2 introduces tethered shooting -- the ability to shoot directly to a hard drive, instead of a CF card -- for some Canon and Nikon cameras.
Image loading and import speed is said to be improved, and owners of video-capable DSLRs should now be able to import and organize video files. The luminance channel has been added as an option in terms of color noise reduction, in theory enhancing output from high-ISO photography. Miscellaneous changes affect the nature of imports and watermarking.
The beta is a free download from the Adobe Labs website, measuring 68.6MB in a Mac version. Testers must have Mac OS X 10.5, 2GB of RAM and 1GB of hard drive space. A Windows version is 150MB, and has similar hardware requirements, but supports three operating systems including Windows 7, Vista and XP SP3.
