Buy LR3 on sale, or not

With LR3 currently on sale for $100.00 off, would it be worth it to purchase this program?

I currently have CS4 (student version) but find it limited by not being able to read my RAW images from my 60D. I have no experience with LR3, but with the inability to upgrade my CS4, I am wondering if taking the LR plunge at this time is worth it.

My work flow currently goes something like this: Download my images to DPP Professional; software that came with my 60D, then evaluate between the keepers and the throw away. Convert from RAW to TIFF via the software and open CS4 for further processing. I miss the “open in camera RAW” that was a major part of my work flow with my T1i before final adjustments.
Is LR3 similar to the camera RAW processing?

Thanks in advance.

You could always convert to dng with Adobe's free dng converter and use CS4. Follow instructions provided.

PC or mac

D Thompson wrote in post #12827636
You could always convert to dng with Adobe's free dng converter and use CS4. Follow instructions provided.

PC or mac

I remember trying this update; I will check again but I seem to remember it not being able to read the files from my 60D; could have been an older version.

i'd get lr3. unless your style involves extensive pp you probably wont even have to send most of the files to cs4 after lr3. 99% of my files never see cs4

This deal makes it very hard for me to resist...

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …Lightroom_3_Sof​tware.html

For that price, I'd sure do it. Once you've done all your basic importing, edits and whatnot, you should still be able swap the file over to your CS4 install to do pixel level edits or layer masking, etc.

yea if you use lr3 to import from your card, when your done with your basic edits there is a option to send to photoshop and when you select that it will automaticly send a tiff (can choose other formats) to photoshop.

D Thompson wrote in post #12827636
You could always convert to dng with Adobe's free dng converter and use CS4. Follow instructions provided.

PC or mac

Confirmed that version 6.4 will read my Canon 60D files; However,.

Will be ordering LR3 tomorrow

i doubt you'll regret it. it saves me alot of time because i was using cs4 to do just basic stuff opiening one file at a time then closing and saving and opening the next, with lr3 its import, edit, arrow key and theres the next image.

Rocky Rhode wrote in post #12828577
Confirmed that version 6.4 will read my Canon 60D files; However,.

Will be ordering LR3 tomorrow

Glad it worked and good luck with LR3.

The Outlaw wrote in post #12828861
i doubt you'll regret it. it saves me alot of time because i was using cs4 to do just basic stuff opiening one file at a time then closing and saving and opening the next, with lr3 its import, edit, arrow key and theres the next image.

Couldn't you use Bridge & ACR for that as well?

Download the trial and see what you think of it. You've got nearly a month to make up your mind before the sale runs out.

D Thompson wrote in post #12829087
Couldn't you use Bridge & ACR for that as well?

some of it yes, all of it i doubt it, and i couldnt do any of it as fast no... also doing it with bridge and acr still opens each file individually and closes each individually (atleast for me) not nearly as smooth or easy as lr3.

your intitled to you own opinion, and me my own. mine happens to be that using lr3 to do all your importing, sorting, exporting, cataloging, basic editing, flickr publishing, zenfolio publishing, is the simplest and easiest way for me. 99% of the time the above is all thats needed for me and when i need photoshop ctrl + e (mac= command + e) and it opens the image in photoshop to do whats needed before returning to lightroom.

The Outlaw wrote in post #12829193
some of it yes, all of it i doubt it, and i couldnt do any of it as fast no... also doing it with bridge and acr still opens each file individually and closes each individually (atleast for me) not nearly as smooth or easy as lr3.

I can select only certain or a entire folder of images in Bridge, open them all in ACR, and either edit the first image and apply those settings to the rest or arrow key thru and edit each individually. You can also just bring one into ACR, make the adjustments, go back to Bridge and apply the changes to whatever number of images you want.

No argument on opinion . Everybody has their own workflow. I jumped from CS3 to CS5, so I don't know what all changed from CS4. Bridge CS5 will also allow you to publish to flickr and facebook. LR3 and ACR6.4 share the same basic engine as well. I know I found that I can do much more in CS5 Bridge/ACR than I could in CS3 and don't make the trip to PS nearly as much, especially with the addition of the local adjustment brush.

Anyway, I respect your workflow and hope you do mine. I was just trying to let the OP know he may not need to spend the $$ on LR if he can convert to DNG and do his work in ACR.

D Thompson wrote in post #12829365
I can select only certain or a entire folder of images in Bridge, open them all in ACR, and either edit the first image and apply those settings to the rest or arrow key thru and edit each individually. You can also just bring one into ACR, make the adjustments, go back to Bridge and apply the changes to whatever number of images you want.

No argument on opinion . Everybody has their own workflow. I jumped from CS3 to CS5, so I don't know what all changed from CS4. Bridge CS5 will also allow you to publish to flickr and facebook. LR3 and ACR6.4 share the same basic engine as well. I know I found that I can do much more in CS5 Bridge/ACR than I could in CS3 and don't make the trip to PS nearly as much, especially with the addition of the local adjustment brush.

Anyway, I respect your workflow and hope you do mine. I was just trying to let the OP know he may not need to spend the $$ on LR if he can convert to DNG and do his work in ACR.

i've upgraded from cs2 to cs4 and never noticed much difference. i think to notice any differance you gotta use more than the basic editing features which i dont really.

i been trying to figure out what to call the "local adjustment brush" as you call it lol i wanted to mention it earlier. before i found out lr had it i still used photoshop on about half my keepers. since reading kelby's book and a post by someone (cant remember who) in the high school seniors thread and finding out about the brush i rarely open PS.

on a side note i hate how my brain works sometimes...
upgraded from cs2 to cs4 a while back after never even reading the kelby cs2 book i had untill i already upgraded to cs4. then i got lightroom 3 around the same time i got cs4 and never read the cs4 book yet but did read the lr3 book..... guess what i still havent read the cs4 book and am thinking of upgrading to cs5 because of the upgrade they did for hdr's in cs5 that i learned about in the lr3 book (section on jumping to ps) lol

The Outlaw wrote in post #12829479
i been trying to figure out what to call the "local adjustment brush" as you call it lol i wanted to mention it earlier.

The local adjustment brush getting added was the main reason I upgraded from CS3. I find it can keep me out of PS quite a bit. Bridge is much improved as well.

While the HDR is better in CS5, I still use Photomatix on the few HDR's that I do. I tried the HDR adjustment when CS5 came out after hearing it was improved, but honestly I didn't like it as well as Photomatix, nor could I get the same results. Of course, it could be I didn't give it enough effort. I would highly suggest the CS5 trial if the HDR is the only reason you'd want to upgrade.