Do I really neeeeed Lightroom 3?

[crimbfighter]

Well, no, I probably don't need it. But, I've always dabbled in the idea of getting Lightroom. I base this on reading posts from others on here about how they often make global adjustments before importing to PS, and use it for is great noise reduction and organizing work flow. And hear about how much it improved their editing through and through when combined with PS. The whole reason I'm asking, is because Adobe is offering full LR3 for $99 on a deal for PSE owners. And $99 is a lot more affordable than $300.

So, my question for this poll, is as follows: When you got Lightroom and Photoshop, as compared to having just Photoshop, did it make a worthwhile addition to your editing power and throughput as a whole? yes, or no?

 

[Baltas]

Yes

 

[Ed Bray]

I would say it would depend on how much you are shooting.

Being a casual amatuer shooter now and having been a Pro during the film era, I tend not to machine gun my images and I also have more than a reasonable idea of where I want my 'tones to fall' and thus how I want my exposure to be, this is not to say that I am infallable but as I tend to shoot for a specific image I found no real advantage to using LR3 over CS5 as the small number of images I take I can process individually in CS5's RAW editor as easily as I can in LR3's.

If you shoot a large amount of images and have issues with your processing then I would say that it is probably a 'must have' as it will allow you to bulk adjust your images as well as cataloging them for you.

I would say though that if you have the chance to purchase LR3 for $99 i would say that it is a bit of a no brainer that you buy it at that price whilst you have the chance.

I bought both CS5 and LR3 whilst undertaking some further education so qualified for the 'Student discount' but I find myself using CS5 and find LR3 does not get used that often.

 

[kylehess10]

I was in the same boat as you back in January. I was curious to know what the difference was between Photoshop & Lightroom so I decided to give it a try, and I never looked back! I absolutely love the options and different tools to help make photos look 20x better. I have a before & after gallery on Flick that you can see how much of a difference Lightroom can make:

Before & After - a set on Flickr (the first 6 photos were edited in Lightroom)

 

[flea77]

It all depends. Is there anything I can do with Lightroom that I can't do in Photoshop? Not really. Did Lightroom improve my workflow? Massively. The amount of time and effort Lightroom has saved me makes the app worth double the full retail price, easy. Now how much it will benefit you is really about how many images you take, how often, and if you have a need to get them out the door faster.

Allan

 

[rainking]

I couldn't imagine my work flow without LR3.

 

[Drake]

Agreed. Download the 30 day trial and try it yourself. It really speeds up your workflow, especially if you shoot in RAW.

 

[CCericola]

It's a nice out of the box solution if you aren't interested in customized studio management software.

 

[Gaerek]

I don't use LR, but I can see how it could help. Being budget minded, I had to decide between CS5 and LR3 (due to the expense of CS5, I could really only afford one or the other). I downloaded the trial of both. I used both as much as I could. But the thing that struck me was that everything I could do in LR3, I could do in CS5, and some. I'm not a pro. I have no need for a super efficient workflow. I prefer to edit one photo at a time, and I have my own management system I use for photos. LR3 is definitely a good product, that I will likely pick up eventually. But for me, I got way more bang for my buck with CS5. However, $99 is a great deal for LR3, and if I could get that price right now, I'd probably go for it myself right now.

 

[KmH]

If you have Photoshop CS5 you already have the same edit rendering engine (and the same batch editing capability) Lightroom 3 has - Camera Raw 6 (AKA - ACR 6).

So you'll gain nothing editing wise. What you would gain is somewhat better image management (database management) than that accorded by the other part of Photoshop CS5 that was included, which is Bridge (an image browser).

That gain will only be apparent if you make a lot of images, which is exactly what Adobe intended Lightroom be used for.

 

[crimbfighter]

Thankyou all for the replies. It sounds like having LR3 won't make a world of difference for me, right now, mainly because I don't take thousands of photos a month. In a busy month, I probably take a few hundred. Only 10% of which are probably keepers. However, I do shoot RAW, and I don't have CS5, I only have PSE8, and I'm really craving better management of my photos. So I think in those respects, it will be a big upgrade. Plus, I guess I can't really pass up the price... And I know this summer will see a big increase in photos. So, I think if it were full price, I wouldn't get it, because I don't take enough photos to justify it. But, with the price being right, the other benefits it can offer me, I think it'll be worth it. I'll download the trial first, just to be sure, though. Thanks again for the replies, very helpful in my decision making process.

 

[KmH]

Since you only have PsE 8, you have a very de-featured version of Camera Raw.

You would gain a lot of editing capability by getting Lightroom 3.

 

[o hey tyler]

I use LR as my primary editing platform mainly because I don't do a lot of layer specific editing, but I appreciate it more for the organizing and management functions. It's also easy to handle a high volume of images quickly.

If you're using PSE, I'd get Lightroom no questions. You'll be in love.

 

[mothdust]

I have Lightroom 2, I find it much easier to edit photos than using Photoshop, which what I used to use. Also makes organisation easier for me, as it saves into dated folders.

 

[KmH]

Which Photoshop do you use? Elements or one of the versions of CS?

CS(X) can save files into dated folders using Bridge, and CS4 and Lightroom 2 use the same edit rendering engine - ACR 5.