Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta: Short Review

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I am convinced that the fastest advances being made today in digital photography technology is not in the sensors that record light in digital cameras, but rather, in the software that renders the resulting images. With each new generation of image processing software, I see improvements in the images created even by older DSLR camera RAW files. The beta version of Adobe Lightroom 3 is an example of such progress. It uses a new processing engine (simply known as Process Version 2 in the Settings menu) that offers refinements in rendering image detail and color when compared to Lightroom 2.

This refinement is not easily seen when viewing images on the web (web browser resolution is too low), but is discernible when viewing RAW images and the processed tiff or jpeg photos at 100% size on screen. This is a refinement best used and seen when making large prints where every bit of detail is needed.

Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta Review

I have always enjoyed Lightroom for the depth of tools it provided for editing RAW images. This beta release makes it equal to Capture One 4 in the pixel level quality of the final image. I tested Lightroom 3 Beta with files from my Nikon D60, and older RAW images from a variety of older cameras I’ve owned in the past. I could see improvements in pixel level detail quite easily.

Rather than upgrade your camera, it may be an even better bargain to shoot RAW and upgrade your image editing software! The movie embedded below provides a nice introduction to the enhancements in Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta.