Lightroom 3 gets new core, features

From CNET News.com: Adobe Systems plans to release Photoshop Lightroom 3 late Monday, swapping in a new engine and bolting some significant new photography extras onto a user interface that largely remains the same.

Available for Windows and Mac, highlights of the new version include a speedier interface, tethered shooting with the camera directly communicating with the software, better noise reduction to get rid of pesky speckles, some basic video handling, publishing services that can ease uploads to Web sites or iPhone photo synchronization, and new lens correction tools.

Lightroom competes directly with Apple's Aperture, version 3 of which was released in February with its own set of big changes. Lightroom costs more--$299 to Aperture's $199--though both cost $99 to upgrade.

Such software is geared for photo enthusiasts and professionals, in particular those who prefer the greater flexibility and quality available with higher-end cameras' raw image file formats.

There are snapshooters, and then there are more serious photographers for which Lightroom is designed. "When they start taking the camera out of the bag because they see an image, something compelling they want to capture, it's more photography than just recording family events," said Tom Hogarty, Adobe's senior product manager for Lightroom.

It's a sizable and vocal market, with 600,000 downloads of the two free betas of Lightroom 3 and "close to 2,000" sharing comments about the software on Adobe's forums, Hogarty said.

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