Customer Rating: 
Summary: Pre-order version 2
Comment: For several years I just shot jpeg and used Photoshop Elements 4 to manage my library of photos and for editing. I was very pleased with Elements for this purpose. Then I started to shoot raw and started to learn about colour management. I also bought Silkypix to read the raw files from my Canon and Olympus cameras. I had outgrown Elements.
By accident I saw Lightroom on Amazon and tried out the 30 day offer. It was quite different from Elements but it read all my raw files including the Olympus E-410 ORF ones which are a challenge for most packages. That decided me, I bought Lightroom and Martin Evening's book (which is absolutely necessary but a little out of date; v1.1 only).
There are many reviews that set out the details of what Lightroom can do; I wont repeat this information here. A few practical tips to think about:
I found it necessary to upgrade my ageing PC from 1GB to 2GB memory. This helped with the speed of Lightroom. It still feels slow compared to Elements then I remember all my photos are now 16 bit raw files (20 bits as they come from the camera). The size of the raw file makes a difference; the Olympus E-410 at 10MB is faster to process than my Canon EOS 5D at 12MB.
I also bought Photoshop CS2 (cheap but beware of pirated copies). Lightroom links beautifully with CS2. I use CS2 for advanced editing only, mostly everything I need is in Lightroom. No problem loading both together.
Like other reviewers I am well pleased with Lightroom. So pleased that I have pre-ordered the version 2 upgrade and Martin Evening's new book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Seriously efficient
Comment: I have been using this software for my web design photo workflow, and have been seriously impressed.I shoot in camera raw, load it into
Lightroom's library and then get to work.When I'm finished I save the original to dng, and copies in tiff for manipulating in photoshop,and for print, and in jpeg to go to web without manipulation.For initial development whilst in raw format this software outperforms photoshop at bringing out the image that you are looking for. It will not do a fraction of the things that photoshop can, but it will allow you to process your initial shots perfectly, add metadata, categorise, catalogue and export into any format you wish with great ease and convenience.It really is an indispensible piece of software for anyone serious about photography.
I don't know how I coped before I bought this. Ah yes I do; slowly and laboriously.
But not anymore.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Version 1.4.1
Comment: With software at this price, I always think it's a good idea to try before buying and the Adobe 30 day free trial offer is great for this. I would suggest however getting one of the great books on the subject as although many tools are intuitive, there are many more powerful tools that only a book can really help with. I was able to put it through its paces before investing and do shop around for the best deal.
Be wary though this is not a replacement for photoshop, elements or paintshop pro. It is a sophisticated set of tools for organising, developing (digital equivalent of a darkroom), slide show, printing and web facilitator. In those areas it is simply the best.
This is the most used software on my system now and is a real must for the serious photographer. Do try before buy though and ideally make sure you have more than the minimum RAM. It will work at 1 GByte but 2 plus will make it zip.
Handles RAW like a dream!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Superb library and RAW editor
Comment: Quite simply this is the best raw image processing software on the Mac (possibly the PC as well). The cataloguing system works well, although I have to say it does slow down when you have many thousands of images. The develop modules works very well, with the history, snapshot and virtual copy features really helping you to get the best from your images. You do however need to understand how to process RAW, the only slightly week area is the sharpening controls.
Add to this slide show, web gallery and print modules. The only missing feature being the lack of soft proofing.
Excellent value and works well on a medium spec Macbook Pro (2GHz and 2Gb RAM).
Highly recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good beyond what I thought it would be
Comment: OK, a few months ago I tested this program and only because of the rigidity of the UI I thought it was a not to my liking. At the same time I tested Apple's Aperture that has a much more flexible UI and worked better for me, so I bought that one and was happy with it. Recently I even bought the upgrade to Aperture 2.
For some reason that I can't remember I decided to try out Lightroom again just to remember me why I didn't like it. I was in a bit of disbelief on this product and not really thinking of changing from Aperture. I just wanted to satisfy my curiosity. I downloaded the trial version, installed on my machine, exported some masters from Aperture and imported in it. That's when I was blown away.
Among the files that I exported there were some RAW pictures of my black car shot at ISO800 with a Canon EOS 40D. In Aperture the black car has quite a lot of noise and I was upset with it, but I thought it was a deficiency of the camera and would never suspect of Aperture's RAW processing capabilities. When I imported the same pictures in Lightroom the quality of the output image was FAR (REALLY FAR) superior. I so much couldn't believe myself that I exported one of the images in full-res JPEG in both Aperture and Lightroom and compared them in Photoshop just to make sure that I wasn't being tricked and there it was, the resulting picture exported from Lightroom had better colour saturation, less noise and still had the same great sharpness of the picture exported by Aperture.
I can't explain that, but it alone was more than enough to prompt me to buy a Lightroom book and try it out for real. Then I found other niceties like the adjustment of exposure levels by full and 1/3 stops, the better histogram that Adobe knows how to do so well, the performance that is blazing fast after Aperture (even version 2), the advanced tools and much more.
I still don't like to be switching between Library and Develop modes to make my image adjustments and still prefer the flexibility of Aperture on that area, but if having more flexibility means I get lower image quality and less sophisticated tools I can live with the more rigid workflow in Lightroom.
Whoever reads my review on Aperture written not long after I first bought it will see that I gave it 5 stars, so if I could I would give Lightroom 6 or more. It is just that much better. I just feel sorry that I can't get a refund for my Aperture 1 and 2 licenses... :)
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