Adobe has released the final, official version of their Lightroom 3 RAW conversion and digital photography workflow software. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 was first released as a public beta in October of 2009 and Adobe collected user feedback in order to refine the software.
To accommodate higher resolution cameras and larger digital image libraries, Lightroom 3′s backend architecture was redesigned to be faster and more efficient. It also has a new, “unrivaled raw processing engine with noise reduction and sharpening tools to achieve the highest image quality.” Other key updates to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 are:
- 64-bit processing
- Faster image loading
- DSLR video support
- Support for tethered shooting (for selected cameras)
- Significantly improved noise reduction
- Automatic Lens Correction
- Ability to export slideshows as video
- Syncs with Flickr and other photo sharing sites
- Improved watermarking abilities
Professional photographer and community member DRG has been using the Lightroom 3 beta since it was announced. For a closer, hands-on look at some of Lightroom 3′s new features, check out DRG’s article, Lightroom 3 Beta 2 – What’s New.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 is available for download now on the Adobe Web site and will be in stores soon. The price is US $299 for the full version and $99 to upgrade from Lightroom 2.
Official Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Press Release >>
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Lightroom 3 is showing a great increase in speed over previous versions. Same hardware, just faster!
That was one of the first improvements with the release that I noticed. From thumbnails to output (Exports, Web, Print to JPEG all tested) LR 3 is displaying a great improvement in ability to get the work out. I’m believing this is most likely due to the native 64-bit processing as much as anything and the resultant speed of I/O operations.
More on this in a fuller review upcoming!
Thanks for the notes, Carleton. I look forward to more from you on Lightroom 3. But even more, I am looking forward to finally finding time to set up my new computer so I can install it. I need more speed! Lightroom 2 and my current computer are insufferably slow with EOS 7D RAW files!
Hi There: Lightroom 3.2 RC is now available. They skipped 3.1 because of the number of improvements.
BTW, there are links to over 140 sites with Lightroom tips, tutorials and videos here: http://bit.ly/LRTips
Mike.