Category: Computers

So it finally arrives (sort of), Adobes Lightroom is now released. V1 on the face doesn’t look too much different from the 4.1 beta. The first thing that is noticeable is the speed. The old 4.1 beta was a little sluggish in it’s operation. Ask it to do a relatively moderate task and it would give you the spinning beachball of death. Though this could be due to me using a MacMini 1.66 ghz Core Duo.

Is it a Photoshop replacement? No, more of a compliment to Photoshop. The main use for Lightroom is as a library. Images can be stored and referenced through metadata and keywords. This I guess is valuable for the pro tog. For me it’ll save me from having to remember dates and locations. But LR is more than just a library. The final release has expanded on the develop side of the application. The options for changing the image are very familiar to anyone that has used Adobe Camera Raw. Colour, sharpness, lens etc are all included within the package. Also the final release has included a spot removal tool. Though i’ve yet to fully test this.

Continue reading “Adobe Lightroom V1”

Right, just got my copy from the Microsoft Action Pack (typical shitty upgrade version though). Here goes. I’m keeping one of my PC’s probably as a multiboot box with XP/Vista and 2003 server.

Installation starts off crap, needs to be run from within XP. Ho hum, pain in the arse. Expect a fuller update soon.

/edit

Brief synopsis of my hour with Vista

Installation. Still takes a while, kinda annoying that it asks for network settings twice. Anyway language bar appears to still want to be American. Seems as slow to install as XP. Though no ‘Microsoft Timer’ for accurate install time.

Rebooting seems to take a while, explorer layout is broken. Who designed it? Stevie Wonder?

Widget bar, mmm wonder where that came from. One feature that looks good is the automated file recovery (from 2003 Intellimirror). Though didn’t test it.

Turned off themes service to run in ‘work’ mode. This seems to break the toolbar. The constant asking to run applications is quite annoying as well. I’m used to the Mac saying ‘OK to run this’ but Vista does it on installed system apps.
Anyway verdict of brief synopsis: Vista is shite, keep XP. There you go. Sure it’ll upset the PC fanboys, but who cares.

Workflow, guess that’s the buzz word in photography at the moment. So my first real attempt at using workflow software. I’ve played with Lightroom for a number of months now. Slowly getting used to the features. I guess the real beauty of software like this only shines when you know what you are doing.

Continue reading “Adobe Lightroom Beta 4.1”

At last, a universal version of PhotoShop. I’ve downloaded the demo of CS3 (however limited to 2 days use only due to not owning CS2). Initial impressions on the Intel Mac is it flies. No more long pauses due to rosetta emulation and lack of memory. Not doing a disservice to Rosetta, it worked admirably. But it wasn’t for me. That’s why as temporary stop gap I purchased Elements 4 (mac).

Again this was a little ropey in its operation, but it only cost £50. I’d much rather piss away £50 on a app thats sluggish and wait for proper version.

Looks as if CS3 is the polished version i’ve been waiting for. CS3 bridge seems much improved (still a little sluggish, but thats most likely my HDD on the mini), Camera Raw seems to have some more options added for correction. Like the ones found on Lightroom. A purchase of lightroom now looks less likely at the moment as Bridge might offer a compromise. Still the workflow of Lightroom would be something i’d miss. Maybe they’ll bundle it together, maybe not. We’ll see come the spring.