Lightroom 3 -- Worth the Upgrade?

[Vautrin]

So I just went to the Adobe site, and I looked at the new features of Lightroom 3, and I was a little dissapointed at how few new features there are (at least applicable to me, I could care less about flickr integration or ability to use video -- all i really saw that I liked was the noise reduction and lens correction)

Has anyone upgraded?

How big is the difference? Is it worth the $300?

 

[rpm]

im using it now but i wouldnt be able to tell you how it compares to LR2. but with every new feature comes significant improvements to established features as well...

 

[rpm]

btw if you have LR2 (legit), buy the 99usd upgrade.

 

[KmH]

Yep, if you have legal, registered with Adobe, copy of LR2, the upgrade to LR3 only $99.

If you qualify for it, the Student Edition of LR3 is also only $99.

 

[GeneralBenson]

I think $99 is worth it for the NR alone. If it's as good as I keep hearing, at least. I would love to hear people LR2 and LR# experiences, also.

 

[cfusionpm]

I think $99 is worth it for the NR alone. If it's as good as I keep hearing, at least. I would love to hear people LR2 and LR# experiences, also.

This is true. It made images from my 7D and 3200 and 6400 ISO look downright great. I can never go back to LR2. Also, another thing I greatly like is the custom watermark in LR. I used to run it in a separate PS batch, which was a PITA, but now it's all streamlined into my LR workflow.

3200 ISO example 1
3200 ISO example 2
6400 ISO example

 

[GeneralBenson]

I think $99 is worth it for the NR alone. If it's as good as I keep hearing, at least. I would love to hear people LR2 and LR# experiences, also.

This is true. It made images from my 7D and 3200 and 6400 ISO look downright great. I can never go back to LR2. Also, another thing I greatly like is the custom watermark in LR. I used to run it in a separate PS batch, which was a PITA, but now it's all streamlined into my LR workflow.

3200 ISO example 1
3200 ISO example 2
6400 ISO example

That's all I need to know. I'm upgrading. Even if the improved NR results in selling one more image than I would have, it already payed for itself.

What's the deal with catalog compatibility? Don't you have to rebuild your catalogs or something? Thanks for the input! Great shot of Usher, btw.

 

[cfusionpm]

You can import an existing LR or LR2 catalog or build a new one from scratch.

Thanks btw! I have more shots from the event on my Zenfolio in my sig. All shots were taken at 3200.

 

[sovietdoc]

LR3 is supposed to have better RAW conversion especially for high ISO

 

[pbelarge]

The following links may help you to decide if it works for you.


http://blogs.adobe.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?search=LR3&IncludeBlogs=125&limit=20http://blogs.adobe.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?search=LR3&IncludeBlogs=125&limit=20

 

[Garbz]

No catalogue compatibility for you if you were using the Lightroom 3 beta. As far as I've heard anyway. Backwards compatibility to LR2 catalogues works just fine.


Realistically though I'm not sure there's $99US worth of new features. The noise reduction is a bit better but still utterly crap compared to Noise Ninja or Neat Image's results, I don't feel one way or the other about the import and export functions, the quick collection button is back on the filmstrip of each photo (this was missing in LR2 but was in LR if I recall correctly), and ultimately the only killer feature (and this really is a killer feature: automagical camera distortion correction based on camera profiles.

The only downside is that very useful feature was rushed to market and there are currently a pitiful few lenses supported and no marketplace to upload, exchange or play with these correction profiles (all of these features however are due to appear soon).

 

[pbelarge]

Realistically though I'm not sure there's $99US worth of new features. The noise reduction is a bit better but still utterly crap compared to Noise Ninja or Neat Image's results, I don't feel one way or the other about the import and export functions, the quick collection button is back on the filmstrip of each photo (this was missing in LR2 but was in LR if I recall correctly), and ultimately the only killer feature (and this really is a killer feature: automagical camera distortion correction based on camera profiles.

The only downside is that very useful feature was rushed to market and there are currently a pitiful few lenses supported and no marketplace to upload, exchange or play with these correction profiles (all of these features however are due to appear soon).

I can see how people who are fairly new and read forums get confused. You do not believe it stands up to Noise Ninja and there are others who swear differently.



I believe that Adobe has set up a webpage just for people to work on correction profiles for lenses not yet supported.

 

[usayit]

I think $99 is worth it for the NR alone. If it's as good as I keep hearing, at least. I would love to hear people LR2 and LR# experiences, also.

Id be interested in LR3 NR compared to noise ninja.....

 

[table1349]

I hope so, I just gave adobe my money for the upgrade. :mrgreen:

 

[Garbz]

I believe that Adobe has set up a webpage just for people to work on correction profiles for lenses not yet supported.

Well if you can provide a link that would be great. It may also be a good idea to let the employees of Adobe know, because the Adobe Labs forums for the Lens Profile Creator are full of posts requesting and online profile sharing space, yet as soon as late last week some employee posts have only promised that it is "coming soon".

Currently you're limited to downloading the Lens Profile Creator and going through the process of taking some 81+ images to profile a typical zoom lens as well as dedicating the processing power of your computer too it for an afternoon