CS3 vs LR?

Hi,

I am not good at editing, but still I need some tool to edit my pictures. As of now I just rely on DPP for RAW processing and then use GIMP for some touch ups.

Can you guys suggest which among CS3 and LR will be good for my usage? Say if I can afford only one of these, which one should it be?

Thanks for the help.

quick answer: Lightroom.
you would have to describe your "usage" bit more for a more detailed response.

Depends on what you want to do. PS and LR are not meant to be competing programs, they are meant to work hand in hand with each other. You can still use gimp with LR, or you could get Photoshop elements along with LR.

PS Elements with LR looks good for me I guess.

My preference is
1. I should be able to batch process the pics.
2. Some action/presets compatibility
3. RAW compatibility
4. Minor PP, which I think I should be able to do with elements or GIMP

By the sound of it, PSE and LR would suit you perfectly.

CS3 Bridge isn't very good, it's buggy and slow. CS4 Bridge is great. Lightroom works well, does the same thing as bridge plus more, but I prefer the Bridge interface.

If you like the interface Lightroom + elements is probably a decent combination.

Both.

All my images go through Lightroom, some (but not all) make into Photoshop...

Same here.

depends..
If I were to given any assignment, I shall use Photoshop.
For 'showcasing' (FB,Blog etc), lightroom would do greattt.
However, as for me, I found out the watermark-ing through lightroom could be quite a fuss.

I use to do everything with Photoshop. Then LR1 came out and the share of images sent to Photoshop went down to ~30% (for local adjustments).
Then LR2 came out and that share dropped to probably 5%.
However, I'm glad to have Photoshop (CS3) in those 5% of cases

I would agree with that.

95% of pictures in lightroom -> 200$

5% of pictures in photoshop -> 699$

I'd get lightroom (it's great) and use some free software like Gimp for those pictures you just can't get right in lightroom. Tip: get a good book on lightroom, it can do much more than you'd think. Also have a look at: http://www.lightroomki​llertips.com/

Thanks a lot guys. No wonder I look back at this forum whenever I need some serious advice. Thanks for the info guys.

bhardwaj.deepak wrote in post #8139032
Thanks a lot guys. No wonder I look back at this forum whenever I need some serious advice. Thanks for the info guys.

We give light hearted advice too, like the classic "don't eat yellow snow". Try to avoid drinking beer and wine within two hours of each other. Never eat licorice or cabbage before a date. Don't do drugs in Asian countries, but if you do and get caught pay whatever bribe the police officer asks because the jails suck. Don't wear corduroy pants inside out.

I could go on