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Print
The last of the major changes are in the Print module. Firstly the Picture Package section has been improved to allow automatic layout of single images on a page and to include multiple page layouts. The package lays out the images to the paper to provide the best paper usage, either using preset grids or automatically with user inputted image dimensions.

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It also ow has the option to print to JPEG. This lets you define your print parameters and include ICC profiles, then save the image as a JPEG for sending to your choice of printing lab.

For me, one of the features lacking in version 1, was output sharpening. I always use PixelGenius PhotoKitSharpener, a Photoshop plug-in to provide the correct level of sharpening to the type of print I'm making. This covers image size, paper type and resolution, and it's great to see that it's now incorporated into Lightroom 2. I was hoping that Pixel Genius would provide a plug-in for Lightroom, but it looks like they've done a deal with Adobe to include it as standard, Nice.

Verdict

This is by no means a full and finished product, but it's coming along nicely thank you very much. Adobe has listened to users and by letting them continue to try the beta is sure to provide a very useful and elegant imaging solution on final release.

It's still not perfect - there's a few file handling issues, I'd like to see more web gallery options and I personally would like the camera LCD display from Bridge to quickly see camera settings in the Library. As it stands now though, I can't wait to get my hands on the final version. If you're a DSLR user Lightroom is proving to be an essential.