Adobe’s much awaited software for photographers is called Lightroom. Currently available as a Mac beta, the Windows version should be here in summer (their summer, not ours :)). I was looking at some videos of the software’s functions, and found it interesting. Another reason for me to eagerly look forward to this program is the take-over of Pixmantec by Adobe. Pixmantec’s Rawshooter program is what I currently use to develop my camera RAW files, and I totally love it for it’s easy UI and great conversion tools. Before Rawshooter became popular, CaptureOne was the leading RAW convertor in the market. I never enjoyed using this program. It had a dull interface, and not so intuitive controls. Incidently, Rawshooter was written by CaptureOne’s original founders, and Pixmantec’s accquisition by Adobe is a classic big-company-buys-small-company story.

One thing that I have noticed about Adobe’s roadmap for photographers is the inclusion of Digital Asset Management (DAM) into it’s products. It started with Bridge, and now Lightroom has a roboust database with all functions one can expect from a database driven system. This is good, and many photographers would appreciate it (options being having to invest in DAM software like Iview Media Pro, PhotoMechanic and the like).

Coming back to Lightroom, one area that Adobe has really concentrated on (maybe they saved themselves a lot of RAW conversion coding by accquiring Pixmantec ;)) is the software’s UI. Currently most RAW convertors suffer poor UI, and this probably stems from the fact that the RAW convertors are nothing but different functions like Curves, Noise Reduction, White balance etc all thrown into one program. Lightroom is going to change all that with sliding and dimming palletes, short-cut keys, one touch full-screen mode (like Photoshop) etc. Also, since this is the big A’s product, photographers are probably going to enjoy a streamlined workflow. Any photographer worth his salt would surely be using Photoshop, so having a RAW convertor, DAM and Image editing software all from the same company is going to mean flexibilty and ease of use like never before. Or at least that’s what my optimism tells me. As of now, my personal roadmap includes going out and clicking lots of photos

Quick Links:

• On DAM
• Comparison of RAW convertors
• Digital Darkroom guides