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Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 Review

Author Jamie Harrison
Published 14th Aug 2008
Manufacturer Adobe
Price £182.60 (Exc VAT)
as reviewed £209.99 (Inc VAT)
Latest Price Click here
Design Score 10 for Design
Features & Layout Score 9 for Features & Layout
Performance Score 9 for Performance
Value Score 10 for Value
Overall Score 10 for Overall
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0
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Some of the tools haven't been improved and this is a disappointment. I sometimes use the heal and clone tools, but I prefer Photoshop's version of these. A word of warning here, too. If you try to synchronise corrections to images with the healing tool, it doesn't work too well unless all the marks are in the same place and against a plain background. So, if you have dust marks in areas of detail, it is better to deal with them individually.


The last of the major changes are in the Print module. First, the Picture Package section has been improved to provide the best paper usage, either using preset grids or automatically with user specified image dimensions. Secondly, there's also the option to print to JPEG by defining your print parameters and including ICC profiles, then save the image as a JPEG for sending to your choice of printing lab.

Finally that sharpening tool that I mentioned in the Export box is expanded somewhat in the Print dialogue, letting you define the sharpening depending on the media and output resolution being used. This is based on the Pixel Genius Sharpening plug-in for Photoshop and is an absolute godsend.

Verdict
It takes about a day to get used to the fundamental changes in Lightroom, notably the PSD outputs to Photoshop and the search tools. After that, a few days playing with the new localised tools and you should be up to speed. So, in terms of features, it's not a major upgrade by any means but the new tools are fantastic and worth the upgrade price.

Lightroom was never meant to be a replacement for Photoshop, but it does enhance it and for photographers who don't do major image edits, it covers most, if not all of their needs. Version 1.0 was brilliant, and was seriously enhanced by v1.4, but v2.0 is the best yet so it well deserves our highest accolade.

 

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comment Dark of Day said on 14th August 2008

I'm dying to try this, sounds like it includes all the improvements I was looking for :)

comment TheEvilGenius said on 15th August 2008

I had a copy of the previous version of Lightroom, and to be honest I found it was a bit of a "third wheel" on my machine. I just tended to copy my pictures into a folder... more

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