using clunky junk that I don't have to?

I'm addicted to Zoombrowser Ex, Photoshop, and PhotoImpact. However, I own Lightroom 2.3, which I never use. Am I being a bozo by not using LR, which is supposed to be so wonderful? Every time I turn it on, it feels unfamiliar like a space alien contraption. I'm so used to Zoombrowser I can just dive in and do it.

Anyone have a fav Lightroom tutorial site that will get me up and running and thinking in LR terms? And it it's worth it, it wouldn't be terribly difficult to upgrade to 3.0.

Lightroom might be a little daunting in the beginning because there is so much to it, but once you get more familiar with it you will see it's many advantages over Zoombrowser. I suspect that eventually Canon will phase Zoombrowser out in favor of DPP anyways. They've already reduced it's overall abilities forcing you into DPP or an external editor..

These will help you will LR 2
http://tv.adobe.com/sh​ow/learn-lightroom-20/

Also Refer to this thread
https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1042639

How old are you, that you have this inability to learn new ways? Unless you have PSCS5, LR3 is worth the effort. And if you do have PSCS5, apparently you can handle change.

I'm able to get my work done quickly with Zoombrowser and CS 5 because I know them both. Learning LR will take some time and hence slow things down for me. So it's a judgment call. It's not that I'm unable. I could learn to speak Japanese if I really put my mind to it, but I don't have a compelling need to at this time. The question is whether LR is a compelling need, and, if so, whether the upgrade to version 3 is worth it. I've heard its noise reduction is greatly improved. That alone might be enough to make an upgrade worth it.

ThomasOwenM wrote in post #12449270
I'm able to get my work done quickly with Zoombrowser and CS 5 because I know them both.

You know all there is to know about CS5?

If you've got CS5 what do you need something like ZoomBrowser for?

ThomasOwenM wrote in post #12449270
Learning LR will take some time and hence slow things down for me.

Lightroom takes less time to learn than it does to learn CS5.
But since you have CS5 then you probably don't really need LR, But since you do have it, if you give it a chance you might just find that Lightroom can still streamline your workflow even if you do need to go into CS5 with any of your pictures.
The way the modules are all set up in LR, it will increase the speed and efficiency of your work flow, not slow you down.

I don't do any editing with Zoombrowser. For me, Zoombrowser's only purpose is to look through a photo collection and decide which are keepers and which are outtakes, and to look at my exif info. Everything else I do in Photoshop (well, a few things in PhotoImpact). However, Lightroom's ability to edit multiple images simultaneously sounds intriguing.

ThomasOwenM wrote in post #12449608
I don't do any editing with Zoombrowser. For me, Zoombrowser's only purpose is to look through a photo collection and decide which are keepers and which are outtakes, and to look at my exif info. Everything else I do in Photoshop (well, a few things in PhotoImpact). However, Lightroom's ability to edit multiple images simultaneously sounds intriguing.

You do realize that's what Adobe Bridge that came with CS5 is for. And Lightroom does the same thing.

How long have you been working with CS5?


CS5 Work Flow
Camera to Computer,
Open Adobe Bridge, review and sort your images, Tag and rate if you like. You can publish or print from Adobe Bridge.
If any edits/corrections are required double click and it opens the image into Adobe Camera Raw. You can also open multiple images into Camera Raw and perform batch adjustments. Most essential photo and camera corrections can be accomplished in there and your done, back to Adobe Bridge to save/export or print.
If you need more than Camera Raw is capable of doing and need to use layers etc, so you can manipulate your images then you can go directly into CS5 from there.
http://tv.adobe.com/sh​ow/learn-adobe-bridge-cs5/

Lightroom essentially replaces Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera RAW. You can catalog sort, tag rate keyword, develop publish and print all from Lightroom. If you need to do more than it is capable, you can open directly into CS5 from there. Lightroom is designed for the Photographer and does have a few features that can't be found in Adobe Bridge.

IMHO, I would get away from Zoombrowser. With everything else you have, it is essentially worthless. Using Zoombrowser is only complication, Slowing down your workflow.

Yeah, I know about Bridge. It's an option. I've used it a little, mainly for just importing images from the camera cards and looking over the whole collection. I probably need to just take the time to go over the "getting started" file for both Bridge and Lightroom and then choose one and keep learning it.

Do you know if in Bridge and/or Lightroom if you can open an image in a program other than Photoshop? You can in Zoombrowser. I do some editing in PhotoImpact. I originally bought that dirt cheap before I could afford Photoshop, and it's a terrific tool. I used to do all my editing with it. As time went on, I started doing more and more things in Photoshop until now I do about 85% of the editing in Photoshop and still 15% in PhotoImpact. PI has a terrific vignetting tool and some nice lighting features. It would be cool if from LR or Bridge I would just jump into either image editor that I want and then jump back.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to look through some help or tutorial files about Bridge and Lightroom and get some ideas.

Oh, and Photoshop -- started with CS 3 in '07, but at the time still did almost everything with PhotoImpact, and the percentage of Photoshop use went slowly up over time. I skipped over CS 4 and went to 5 about a month ago.

ThomasOwenM wrote in post #12449835
PI has a terrific vignetting tool and some nice lighting features. It would be cool if from LR or Bridge I would just jump into either image editor that I want and then jump back.

Yes you can choose another external editor.

Lightroom, Adobe Camera Raw, and Photoshop all have nice vignette tools and lighting features as well. You won't have to leave them just to do things like that.

ThomasOwenM wrote in post #12449835
Do you know if in Bridge and/or Lightroom if you can open an image in a program other than Photoshop?.

You can set a secondary editor in LR.
In Bridge, rightclick a file to "Open in..."

You should understand just what this means. If you are editing a RAW file you can transfer it to ACR if it is the parallel version (e.g., LR 3.4 to ACR 6.4) and then return to LR and LR will read the ACR edits from the xmp file, but there is little point to this because there is little you can do in ACR that you can't in LR. If you want to do secondary edits in the main body of PSCS or in another pixel editor you have to send them a rendered RGB version. Thus the "Edit in" function is only a small convenience, saving the 30 seconds it would take to export a tif and open it in the second editor. What you can't do is to "just jump into either image editor that I want and then jump back" and continue editing the RAW file with the secondary edits somehow incorporated into the RAW workflow.

ThomasOwenM wrote in post #12446986
I'm addicted to Zoombrowser Ex, Photoshop, and PhotoImpact. However, I own Lightroom 2.3, which I never use. Am I being a bozo by not using LR, which is supposed to be so wonderful? Every time I turn it on, it feels unfamiliar like a space alien contraption. I'm so used to Zoombrowser I can just dive in and do it.

Anyone have a fav Lightroom tutorial site that will get me up and running and thinking in LR terms? And it it's worth it, it wouldn't be terribly difficult to upgrade to 3.0.

One thing that we need some clarity about -- are you shooting Raw or jpeg?

That makes a difference in your workflow options.

tonylong wrote in post #12452768
One thing that we need some clarity about -- are you shooting Raw or jpeg?

That makes a difference in your workflow options.

I shoot RAW+Jpeg. The RAW file goes to my CF card while its corresponding jpeg goes to the SD card. I do most post production from jpeg, but will convert from RAW if for any reason I'm not getting what I need from the jpeg. I've talked about this in other threads and not everyone has liked this approach. It's not for everyone. For me its the right solution. For one thing, doing it this way automatically backs up every shot I take. If either card were to go bad, I would still have all my shots on the other one. In most cases I get the quality I need from the jpeg and hence post production goes faster. In the cases where I need greater color or exposure correction, it's nice to be able to get the RAW file and convert it. You could call it a "process jpeg unless you need RAW" policy.

Some have called doing it this way a waste of resources, but I don't think so. If I shot RAW only, I would set the camera to save each photo to both the CF and the SD card. That would actually use more resources than saving RAW to CF and jpeg to SD. I just decided I was never going to lose a shot. I read wedding photographer threads about photographers having to explain to a bride why there were no ceremony shots due to a card failure and I cringed. I decided that would never happen to me, even though I don't shoot weddings. If I'm shooting an event, no shot is ever going to be lost due to a card failure. Period. It's one of the reasons I bought the DSLR model that I did.

It's not perfect. If I burst, I do have to wait longer for the files to be saved to both cards, but I can live with that.

OK, but this started as a question about ZoomBrowser and, IMO, ZoomBrowser is pretty useless with Raw files. For jpegs has some image adjustments, although you will still get more mileage from another editor.

As for Lightroom, there are great resources. There are the "for pay" tutorial sites like Lynda.com and KelbyTraining.com, and then there are an abundance of things out there that are not subscription based.

Have you, for example, checked out the tutorials by POTN member Jason?:

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=929170

Another place with some cool stuff is LightroomKillerTips.co​m, hosted by Scott Kelby.