I have just installed the demo
I want to know from users :what do you think about it?
I have photoshop CS3 and i am an amateur photograph
Thank

I'm extremely tempted to buy it... i too have downloaded the trial.  However i find it is extremely draining on my computer, so for any sort of sanity while processing photos i would have to upgrade.  Just make sure the things like adjustment brush work smoothly on your system. If they do i would probably recommend getting it - the filing/import system looks great (something i need to do manually and always cant be bothered to so now i have a cluttered filing system where i cant find anything). 

The other benefit i see in using it as your primary editing system is that you dont get too bogged down in photoshopping and "effects"... you can produce clean and great looking images in the same program you use to file away your photos.  It's like a photographers Bridge and Photoshop moulded into one neat package... of course anything "advanced" you want to do will have to go to photoshop, but hopefully you wont have to if the shot is good enough for just colour corrections and minor enhancement

Tho if you have a good filing system and are adept with photoshop i dont think the £200 price tag is something to take lightly...

Lightroom is now part of my workflow and I must admit its part is big now. let's say 80%.
With more than 120,000 pictures a year, I was searching a tool that was able to reduce my wokflow  process time. Lightroom is that (magic) tool. Its interface is nicely oriented for the photographers and its learning curve is rather fast. And for me, time is money.

First of all you have to understand that Lighroom doesn't replace Photoshop in any way.
It's a powerful tool to manipulate images files (mainly raw files). You can import, order, tag, select and modify your files on-the-fly without loosing too much time. Of course, you must have a "decent" computer with decent "perfomances" .

However, it's quite a "new" tool in digital workflow and it has some lacks (a gentle word to say "bugs"). For example the new adjustment brush tool is quite a nice "add-on" but the way it works is really frustrating. Good for little enhancements, but again Lightroom isn't Photoshop, Photopaint or Gimp. But it seems that adobe tries to improve it in each release.

And the most important thing you must understand for a better use of Lightroom is: it's a "database"  software  (not a retouching software).

To be short:

Pros:

• really improves your workflow process time.
• very intuitive with a fast learning curve, photographer-oriented tool

Cons:

• some  bugs
• requires a "good" computer with high perfomances.
• not  a retouching software but a post processing one.

hope it will help you.

Peace,
Aegy

Thanks both of you
I have Windows Vista 64 bits with 8 gigs ram
And Lightroom2 has 64 bits version That the first reason for me to get a try
I have used demo today
The library side is very good so far
The local brush in Developpe feature works slow but give good results on some photos
Th print feature have given me better results than Photoshop Cs3 (i dont know why)
I will continue to try it  (299$ are 299$ so......)

Pff only $299. Over here in the Netherlands it's €301. At the current exchange rate, that's about €407. It seems anyone outside the use gets screwed over by Adobe.

Luckily I already have a legit version of LR1 so I can upgrade for just €118 (€160). Strangely enough, having them ship the box to me is €2 cheaper(!) than the download option.

Hi!!

I really like LR2 but i have a problem.If i use irfanview (image viewer) my picture color on both monitor is ok, but when i use LR2 my picture on the  first monitor is with a little bit red and in my second monitor it's very red. Someone has this problem?

My OS Vista 64.

Sorry for my bad english i'm french.

Thanks!!

Puzzwizz

Bonjour PuzzWizz
J'utilise aussi LR2 en demo(pour l.instant) sur Windows Vista 64bits.L`affichage ne pose aucun problem  sur un seul écran.Je vais essayer d'ajouter l'écran de mon fils en fin de semaine et voir pour deux éccrans
Have you tried to see yours video card settings ??I think i have seen someone on others forums talking about ndvidia problem using Lightroom

Bonjour Martial,

As-tu essayé avec un autre logiciel comme irfanview pour comparer?

J'aimerais beaucoup que tu me donnes le résultat avec deux écrans s.v.p.

My video card is Ati radeon X1950 pro with the lastest driver without Catalyst.

I dont have Infanview for comparaison but i have many graphics soft and the colors are constant. Sorry but i dont know exactly what to do with your problem
Have you take a look on  Lightroom preferences ,may be something related to colors space??
I did a  specific screen for my LCD  using Spyder3 pro.Have you tried another colors profil from Focus numerique.com (many Lcd profils there)?
Peut-être à essayer :
dans le menu preferences  de Lightroom  regarder  dans les settings quelque chose reliée au profil couleurs utilisé par le programme par défaut
ou ajuster le profil couleurs de tes écrans.Si tu n'as pas accès à un outil spécialisé , vas chez Focusnumérique .com Rien à perdre à essayer Tu l'enlèveras si cela ne fonctionnait pas
bonne chance
 

I will be doing a full review for this software very soon and going over this fully and also how well it works within Photoshop CS3

I use LR2 on a regular basis for my workflow, in conjuction with CS3 and it works well.  I probably use it for about 90% of my processing of raw files, CS3 doesn't get much of a workout anymore.   I also no longer use a separate cataloging software to organize my photos as LR seems to do a fine job of it.

I do have  to say that I have noticed it's a bit slower on my system the LR1.4 was however,  I think my desktop system is close to 3 years old now and could use some upgrading. 

Really my 2.0 version is far faster than 1.4 even on my laptop! and on a 64 bit system it flies!

Adobe CS4 will launch later this month, on September 23rd.  It will be interesting to see how many will uograde.

For Puzzwizz see these thread (colométrie,red tint)
http://www.utiliser-lightroom.fr/2008/07/29/bonjour-a-lightroom-20-camera-raw-45-et-dng-profile-editor-10/

http://www.megapixel.net/phpBB2f/viewtopic.php?t=117928

I think that's where people tend to not understand lightroom when they compare  it to Photoshop.
I love photoshop and I love lightroom. doing photos i wouldnt pick one or the other I find you really need them both. light room is perfect for having better control over colors and levels and exposure adjustments. I find they are not even close to levels and exposure that photoshop has. the ones in light room seem so much more advance and a lot more control.

and photoshop is great for going in and fixing flaws in a photo like a pimple on a model bring out the highlights in her hair and so on.

lightroom you really have to look at it as a tool to get the raw photo perfect... for example in a photo you tend to get hot spots or way to dark of blacks. lets say you shot a white sheet with great patterns. but you have a hotspot that kills that pattern. I have never been able to bring that back in photoshop. but in light room slide the recovery fader and the hotspot falls out and im amazed the pattern hidden was there all along. this photoshop will not do. and dark spots use the fill light fader and you find neat things in the shadow without a ton of pixel problems that photoshop would give you.

so my view on the 2 is you can not compare the 2 its apples and oranges . if I didnt have both after doing a shoot I wouldnt even try an edit any of my photos lol

and to end the computer slowing down when using light room. dont allow it to open up every picture you have at once. just open the ones you want to work on. and the slow down problem goes away. lightroom wants to import every image in any folder you choose and that causes a slow down. you can change this and fix that problem as well :-)

it also creates a back up on your main C drive of everything you do. make sure you shut that off as well because after a month you will max out your C drive and that will cause a slowdown as well

hope this helps

I finally order it friday
Maybe i will buy a book about it
 What about this one:
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book, The: The Complete Guide for Photographers
By Martin Evening
Published Jul 29, 2008 by Adobe Press
Someone have it for version one of LR ?

To Promiselamb:thanks for your comments
would you be more explicit about your last comment ;do you know exactly where it back up on drive c:  ?I have lots of space and 3  hard drives

@ Martial

Merci! pour les références.

I found my problem with the red tint, like you say windows set two difference profil in color management.

Thanks!

PuzzWizz

To Promiselamb:thanks for your comments
would you be more explicit about your last comment ;do you know exactly where it back up on drive c:  ?I have lots of space and 3  hard drives

Yes when you install it. it will make its own folder called adobe lightroom. in there it will back up in folder i think called back up.

but my husband said on his computer it did the backup in documents/images.

maybe you can tell it where to backup when installing it. and we just didnt look when we did so.

and by the way that is a good book I have it :-)

thanks promiselamb
I find it  in users/myname/pictures (on Windows Vista)
About the book :find a critical comment saying it is too technical for  commun user (but i like technical topics)
I find this other one annonced for october
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby (wait and see)
 

Quote -
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby (wait and see)
 

My fave is digital photographers guide to adobe photoshop lightroom by John beardsworth :-)

very easy read and very fast book to get through :-)

I had to use my hubbys account for this my computer is down with some virus and it wont let me get to google or here :-)
Miranda