Benefits of upgrading to Lightoom 6 from Lightroom 3

[Jon_Are]

I have been using LR 3 for several years. I'm thinking it is time to upgrade to LR 6, but I'd like to be convinced that this is a good idea before pulling the trigger.

I am pretty familiar with 3, but I am definitely out of the loop with regard to the subsequent updates.

So, please tell me what useful features LR 6 has vs. LR 3.

(I've done some online searching, but I'd like some Photo Forum folks to indicate what, specifically, they like in the newer versions)

Thanks!

 

[Dave442]

I really like the change from the 2010 to 2012 Process that I have on LR 5.6 that I am using. Recovery and Fill Light changed to Highlights, Shadows, Whites.

You can paint in with the Clone Brush.
The Radial filter (don't use it as much as I could).

I haven't tried LR 6 or CC yet, but would use the panorama there and not go to PS for that.

 

[jaomul]

The noise reduction in adobe camera raw significantly improved after version 3. A lot of people who used to use a seperate noise reduction software found that when using lightroom 4 they no longer required this

 

[tiaphoto]

I am actually on Lightroom 5 still lol. I need to update my Creative Cloud apps because I'm also still on Photoshop CC 2014 (i procrastinate on updates terribly lol)

Anyway I think it is a good idea to go ahead an make the upgrade to LR 6. Although, I haven't used 6 yet, I really appreciated my initial upgrade from Lightroom 3 to Lightroom 5 a little while ago. I got attached to the Fill Light and Recovery sliders; however, quickly adapted to the Shadows and Highlights sliders and absolutely ADORE how powerful they are!

Plus, I just found out you can still go back to editing your images with Fill Light and Recovery if you want while in newer Lightroom (including 6 I believe). I found out you can do this through the Camera Calibration Panel.

So yeah, I say go for it!

 

[KmH]

Soft proofing was also added to LR after LR 3.
There are several new tools, functions, and capabilities.

As mentioned the Process version has also been updated.
Lightroom CC new features | Buy Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC