They are very different applications. They overlap in functionality in some areas but Lightroom is meant for DAM and Photoshop is meant for image editing. Photoshop gives you much more terms of tools and capabilities for image processing than pretty much anything else.
Is the feeling that Lightroom is the competitor for iView (and whatever Microsoft is calling it now)? I liked the Betas and had fun playing around in it, but it seemed somewhat limited in its ability to track file movement compared to iView (where you could actually move the files themselves or duplicate them to another location).
Does anyone have a feeling if this has been implemented in the "for-sale" version?
Alex, I haven't worked with iView but I think Lightroom is more of a competitor to Apple's Aperture. I'll let someone more knowledgeable speak to the specific features but personally I don't plan to purchase either. I don't manage huge stock databases where finding images by keyword or tracking their location is vital to my work.
The raw conversion controls in Lightroom are very nice (albeit very slow, from my experience, compared to other converters) and give you a large range of parameters to adjust. The new ACR (Photoshop's raw converter) now has many or possibly all these features as well, though the user interface is not nearly as good.
I do the bulk of my work in Photoshop though, not in the converter. The ability to make local adjustments, work in any color mode, and optimize my output is far and beyond what these applications provide.
Would Lightroom be a way to get a more functional RAW converter without springing for the CS3 upgrade? (I'm using CS, which predates my camera.) I can read my RAW files now, but there only very simple conversion options. I used the demo version of Capture NX for a while, but it is positively glacial in conversion speed. If lightroom will help me find images and do a goog job of RAW conversion I might bite.
Also, Pete, you can download the trial version and see if it works for you before deciding whether or not to spend the money.
Guy
Posted by Bill Chambers on January 29, 2007 at 10:18 PM
Pete - I think I would want to see how thw CS3 upgrade price compares against Lightroom also. If they're close, why not consider the CS3 upgrade and not only upgrade your RAW conversion ability but also the abilityto edit the image in one fell swoopl? Just a thought...
Discussion
7 repliesGuy
Is the feeling that Lightroom is the competitor for iView (and whatever Microsoft is calling it now)? I liked the Betas and had fun playing around in it, but it seemed somewhat limited in its ability to track file movement compared to iView (where you could actually move the files themselves or duplicate them to another location).
Does anyone have a feeling if this has been implemented in the "for-sale" version?
Cheers,
Alex
The raw conversion controls in Lightroom are very nice (albeit very slow, from my experience, compared to other converters) and give you a large range of parameters to adjust. The new ACR (Photoshop's raw converter) now has many or possibly all these features as well, though the user interface is not nearly as good.
I do the bulk of my work in Photoshop though, not in the converter. The ability to make local adjustments, work in any color mode, and optimize my output is far and beyond what these applications provide.
Guy
Pete D.
Guy
Guy