Bridge vs lightroom

domromer · Jan 16, 2008

I've ordered my copy of CS3 and it's on the way, my trial has since run out on lightroom and I was thinking of getting it again. I haven't used bridge in a while but I seem to remember in terms of organization it can do everything lightroom can. If I'm wrong please let me know. Otherwise I'm thinking with cs3 and bridge why bother with lightroom. Your thoughts?

Also is adobe raw a part of cs3 or is it a stand alone app?

Offbeat · Jan 16, 2008

I think the RAW plug in is already installed on CS3 but i would say stick to Lightroom, its so much easier

nicfargo · Jan 16, 2008

Depends on how beefy your computer it. Lightroom is nice because everything is already there, it's fast. With Bridge you'll also be opening up CS3, going back and forth between apps, having multiple pics open at once takes resources, etc. You may be able to get buy...I use Lightroom and CS3. I stick in Lightroom if I can, then for further editing I hit the "Edit in Photoshop" button. It is all very smooth this way.

lifeafter2am · Jan 16, 2008

I, personally, didn't like bridge. Once my trail ran out in Lightroom, I bought it.

Digital Matt · Jan 16, 2008

Bridge is just the file browser for Adobe products. It's not a raw editor. It opens raw images in Camara Raw, which is a photoshop plugin. Lightroom is a completely different application. I would say lightroom is more geared for photographers who don't get into anything more than basic photo editing.

domromer · Jan 16, 2008

Thanks for the replies, I'll probably end up getting lightroom as well. Who can so no when the student price is $89!

nightowlphoto · Feb 6, 2008

If my question is naive, I appologize in advance, but . . .

from what I've been able to gather regarding CS3 Bridge vs. Lightroom by reading forums and glancing through books at the bookstore, they STILL look like they do the same thing? I've been trying to figure out why everyone raves about Lightroom, and why so many people buy both Lightroom and CS3, when CS3 Bridge seems to be able to do everything Lightroom can? I've still never seen an example of something Lightroom can do, that I can't do with Bridge? I can import images into Bridge, I can tag them, I can keyword them, I can rate them, I can add other metadata, I can sort them. I can organize my windows for the best possible workflow to have my info at a glance. I can open images directly into Photoshop. All of these things are available in both Bridge and Lightroom. I know Lightroom uses a database, but what does that buy you? A database is an extra process (that Bridge doesn't need) that needs to run on my computer, using up memory, slowing down my computer. Why would I want that?

With all the people that rave about Lightroom, I know I must be confused about something. Can someone help me understand what I'm confused about?

Thank you.

domromer · Feb 6, 2008

nightowlphoto said:
If my question is naive, I appologize in advance, but . . .

from what I've been able to gather regarding CS3 Bridge vs. Lightroom by reading forums and glancing through books at the bookstore, they STILL look like they do the same thing? I've been trying to figure out why everyone raves about Lightroom, and why so many people buy both Lightroom and CS3, when CS3 Bridge seems to be able to do everything Lightroom can? I've still never seen an example of something Lightroom can do, that I can't do with Bridge? I can import images into Bridge, I can tag them, I can keyword them, I can rate them, I can add other metadata, I can sort them. I can organize my windows for the best possible workflow to have my info at a glance. I can open images directly into Photoshop. All of these things are available in both Bridge and Lightroom. I know Lightroom uses a database, but what does that buy you? A database is an extra process (that Bridge doesn't need) that needs to run on my computer, using up memory, slowing down my computer. Why would I want that?

With all the people that rave about Lightroom, I know I must be confused about something. Can someone help me understand what I'm confused about?

Thank you.

1. You can't edit non destructively in bridge.

nightowlphoto · Feb 6, 2008

I've heard that too, but I don't understand why that's so important? The human eye can't tell the difference between a print made from a non-destructively saved file, and a file destructively saved 100 times, so why is that important? What does that really buy me?

BTW, thanks for the reply!

domromer · Feb 6, 2008

nightowlphoto said:
I've heard that too, but I don't understand why that's so important? The human eye can't tell the difference between a print made from a non-destructively saved file, and a file destructively saved 100 times, so why is that important? What does that really buy me?

BTW, thanks for the reply!

It means you can make hundreds of changes and never touch the original. It means no matter how bad you screw up you can go back to the beginning. It means you can have 20 different version of the same photo, without taking up tons of space on your hard drive.

Bridge and lightroom are similar. But lightroom is a lot better at file management than bridge is.

Have you downloaded the free trial of lightroom yet?

I think bridge is going to not be bundled with the next version of photoshop.

nightowlphoto · Feb 6, 2008

domromer said:
It means you can make hundreds of changes and never touch the original. It means no matter how bad you screw up you can go back to the beginning. It means you can have 20 different version of the same photo, without taking up tons of space on your hard drive.

Bridge and lightroom are similar. But lightroom is a lot better at file management than bridge is.

Have you downloaded the free trial of lightroom yet?

I think bridge is going to not be bundled with the next version of photoshop.

Oh! I think I'm starting to see now. I haven't downloaded the trial yet, but maybe it's time I just did it. Thanks for your patience with my questions, and for your help.

domromer · Feb 6, 2008

Glad I could help. I was in the same boat a few weeks ago. After I compared the two is was obvious lightroom had a lot more functionality.

That being said, I paid the student price for lightroom. Which made the decision a bit easier.

kidchill · Feb 7, 2008

I guess I'm lost....I thought (and I'm using) bridge as a file opener and viewing program. When you click on a pic in bridge it opens it in CS3 to edit....Is bridge supposed to edit files, cause if it does, I've never seen it happen when I open the files in it!!!

Digital Matt · Feb 7, 2008

Bridge is not a photo editing program. It is a beefed up file browser. The comparison here is Photoshop (specifically, the camera raw plugin) vs Lightroom. They are two totally different applications.

patrickt · Feb 7, 2008

I had a friend who is a professional photographer and loves Photoshop critique my technique in Lightroom. I selected 15 photos with different problems and showed him what I would do to in editing with Lightroom.

He commented on a couple of things he could do with Photoshop I couldn't do with Lightroom, like layers, but then he said he was very impressed with how quickly my editing was done. He said he could have gotten the same results with PS but it would have taken more time.