Lightroom worth it for a non-RAW shooter?

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Steven Wandy - 21 Feb 2007 04:45 GMT

I have been reading about Lightroom. (Currently using PSCS2.)
I rarely shoot RAW format - generally highest quality JPEG that my two
cameras will shoot.
Is there any advantages to using Lightroom if I remain basically a
JPEG shooter?
Thanks,
Steve

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Joel - 21 Feb 2007 07:35 GMT

> I have been reading about Lightroom. (Currently using PSCS2.)

I have CS3 beta downloaded from Adobe site, but it's sad that I can't get
it installed on my system (it seems to require IE or something to connect to
internet when I have my system blocked MS from messing up my system). But I
read that CS3 is a great version with some newer features and some older
features improved, including a better ARC etc. I am waiting for CS3 to be
released to public which will be any day now.

> I rarely shoot RAW format - generally highest quality JPEG that my two
> cameras will shoot.

RAW is nice and especially when shooting in poor lighting condition, or
RAW just give some additional insurance to deal with low-light and
overexposed problem etc.. And if you don't shoot low-light and very detail
work, and you are good with Photoshop then JPG is fine too. And RAW can't
replace Photoshop (like some people think)

> Is there any advantages to using Lightroom if I remain basically a
> JPEG shooter?

    You should be fine with CS2 and you may enjoy CS3 (as I heard) which also
come with newer and improved version of ARC, and ARC is enough for most
people. Me, I am portrait and wedding photographer so I have to photograph
indoor and low-light situation so RAW gives me a peace of mind.

    I started playing with RAW few years ago, but I didn't use RAW for serious
work until over a year ago when I feel confortable with RAW then I started
using more often. But only some quick basic color and brightness adjustment
before tine-tuning with Photoshop, so if you are good with Photoshop then
you should be able to do without and more with Photoshop.

    Lightroom, I am too new to Lightroom to say much about it, except that I
feel the adjustments (sliders) are more sensitive than Photoshop and ARC,
and kinda different than Photoshop (could need some improve or something).
And Adobe has 30-days trail available to public to download, but I don't
think 30-days will get very far.

    So, if you are new to CS2 then I would think to stay with CS2 to learn
more about it then upgrade to CS4 (skip one upgrade version). Or if you
know Photoshop well, then you may upgrade to CS3 to enjoy the newer and
improved features, and newer ARC too. Me, I'll upgrade to CS3 for sure.

> Thanks,
> Steve

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gowanoh - 21 Feb 2007 17:02 GMT

Lightroom is not an all purpose image processing program.
It is meant for grouping images taken under similar circumstances for
organization/demonstration and limited global tweaking/batch processing.
If you shoot jpeg and only intend minimal global tweaking to your images you
will be happier with a product like Elements.
Who knows, you may even become enlightened enough to shoot raw.
Regardless of what program you use learning how to use it is the most
important thing of all.

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Joel - 21 Feb 2007 19:00 GMT

> Lightroom is not an all purpose image processing program.
> It is meant for grouping images taken under similar circumstances for
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> Regardless of what program you use learning how to use it is the most
> important thing of all.

    That's my goal! we just need to spend more time to master whatever we all
ready have and what you think we may continue to use in the future. And the
original poster said s/he (I didn't pay attention to the name to remember if
him/her and you didn't quote to help me out) have been using CS2, and
Photoshop is life-time learning.

    Me, because sometime I have to post process thousands of photos in week(s)
and sometime with very poor lighting condition (low-light with no flash
allowed, and raining day that the stained glass windows don't offer much to
no light) so I sometime have to take time to learn newer related program.
But right now, Photoshop has always been the main program.

    Actually, RAW converter is lot more than batch-converting or
global-tweaking as I have been using ARC for over a year but never once
batch-converting any photo. Or I don't see many (if any) are exactly the
same to use the same setting, I have to look and post process each
individual then re-exam and finish each individual with Photoshop. Of
course for some less important, no small detail work then I may skip the
fine-tuning.

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TJWilson - 24 Feb 2007 00:08 GMT

I started using Lightroom during the beta tests and it is a phenominal
piece of software. Primarily I was looking for a way of organizing my
photos and doing some development work on my images prior to pulling
the files into Photoshop. I'm excited about the final release but do
not have it yet, the final beta issued was great and if Adobe have
stabilized some of the functionality in there it should be a winner.

JPEG or RAW would not make any difference to what you can do with this
product, grab it while it's still $199.00 it's a bargain.

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Oliver Costich - 28 Feb 2007 03:04 GMT

>I started using Lightroom during the beta tests and it is a phenominal
>piece of software. Primarily I was looking for a way of organizing my
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>JPEG or RAW would not make any difference to what you can do with this
>product, grab it while it's still $199.00 it's a bargain.\

Or $99 academic price. It's a photo database as well as development
tool. You still need PS for tweaking. The Lightroom database looks
functionally the same as the organizer in PS Elements, which I have
been using for years to catalog my photos, then edit then in PS.

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Joel - 28 Feb 2007 12:57 GMT

http://www.luyenphim.us/external_link.asp?url=http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FQJ2J
JOQOliver
Costich <ocostich@NOSPAMcomcast.net> wrote:

> >I started using Lightroom during the beta tests and it is a phenominal
> >piece of software. Primarily I was looking for a way of organizing my
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> functionally the same as the organizer in PS Elements, which I have
> been using for years to catalog my photos, then edit then in PS.

I have been practicing LightRoom for few days now and start getting used
to with the interface. It's still lot to learn yet to have much to say
about it, but it seems pretty good, and the thing I like to have is a quick
command to load the current photo to Photoshop without having to save or
setup then undo later.

Right now, most of the photos I am working on are not close up (our local
church events) and free to church members, so most of them only need a quick
adjusting, very few I want to do some extra work with Photoshop. I am
waiting for CS3 and probably gonna use the ARC comes with CS3 (I read
LightRoom is better than ARC v4, but I want a better team work between RAW
converter and Photoshop)

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