ross_lipman Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 <p>I have CS2 and have no desire to upgrade to CS5. I have been offered LR3 at a good price. My interest is in better photo processing from my D80. I do light editing- sizing, levels, colors, noise reduction, sharpening etc. Does LR3 have editing/processing features that are better or more advanced than what I already have in CS2? Organizational features of LR are not needed.<br> Thanks,<br> Ross</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patricklavoie Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 <p>yes. better sharpen, better noise removal. better raw development. better print module.... and a lot more just to name those things : )</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad_ Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 And automatic lens corrections in LR... www.citysnaps.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffs1 Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 <p>Unless you need layers and masks, LR is a very good editor.<br> One thing it does not have (that I wish it did) is the "Shadow/Highlight" tool. The "Fill Light" is essentially the "Shadow" part, but I really miss the being able to quickly put a little depth into the highlights.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patricklavoie Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 <p><strong><em>the "Shadow/Highlight" tool. The "Fill Light" is essentially the "Shadow" part, but I really miss the being able to quickly put a little depth into the highlights.</em></strong></p> <p>and this is what RECOVERY do, or the Tonal Curve, when you play with the highlight...</p> <p><strong><em>Unless you need layers and masks, LR is a very good editor.</em></strong></p> <p>thats the whole point of using Lr.. you do not need to learn layer and mask.. Lightroom do that for you in is own way.</p> <p>You need Photoshop (elelement or CS5) if you need to remove / add things from your image, HDR, stitching and some other very particular need about photo retouching.. other than that..</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photo5 Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 <p>LR3 will have better RAW conversion than CS2 for your D80 files, so yes, in that area it would be a sizable improvement!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross_lipman Posted October 17, 2011 Author Share Posted October 17, 2011 <p>Thanks ! Exactly the info I was looking for and I have committed to the purchase of LR3.</p> <p>Ross</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjoseph7 Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 <p>LR does all the things that Patrick mentioned, but I finally upgraded from CS2 to CS5(after discount from adobe) and I absolutely love it ! The thing about LR there is a steep learning curve. I purchased LR vs 3 last summer but hardly if ever use it. I feel much more comfortable with PSE vs 9 than I do with LR. CS5 is much faster and cleaner than CS2, it handles RAW much better, plus all that stuff I learned using CS2 throughout the years, does not have to be thrown out the window. Maybe next rainy day if I have some time, I will sit down with LR and learn what makes it so good, but for now CS5 can't be beat(for what I'm doing). </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photo5 Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 <blockquote> <p>The thing about LR there is a steep learning curve.</p> </blockquote> <p>I think you mean that about Photoshop, not Lightroom. I think Lightroom is a very intuitive interface, much easier to use than Photoshop, much cheaper too!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffs1 Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 <p>Harry: I'm just making the transition to LR3 after years of using only PS. IMO LR does require a very different approach to image processing, but it's not that hard to adjust (it took me a couple of weeks going "cold turkey" and only working in LR) and the speed improvement is really quite dramatic.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patricklavoie Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 <p>if you already use Bridge & ACR.. you will feel at home with Lightroom.. as the 2 main panel Library and Development have kind of the same tool.. just better presented.... you can maybe get lost in the web and slideshow panel.. but they are WYSIWYG, so you cant really be lost in there.</p> <p>The point is, you still need a Photoshop.. Element or CS.. but it doestn have to be the center of your digital darkroom anymore.. And for all the new user that have to decide (when they start from scratch ) what should they use.. i will always suggest Lightroom + Element wayyyyy before CS5.. because now whe are talking about LEARNING curve.</p> <p>And since it cost the same to upgrade to CS5 or Lightroom, but Lightroom offer a better and more effecient / faster workflow.. for me it is a better upgrade to CS3.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin_mattson1 Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 <p>Lots of good feedback on Lightroom in here already, but I'll pop in and make an important point: If you don't buy the Photoshop CS5 upgrade, you lose your Photoshop upgrade eligibility and will have to buy your next copy at full price.</p> <p>CS2 won't keep working forever. If Elements suits your needs for pixel pushing that may not be a concern, but you can buy a lot of once-every-three-versions upgrades before you come out ahead skipping CS5 and buying some future version for $700. </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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