Adobe Lightroom 3

Is it worth buying this program if you are using Canon DPP? Also use Photoshop Elements 9.

I use LR3 and PSE9. LR3 handles 99% of my editing. I only use PSE9 when desiging posters or when I need to remove something from a shot. Before LR1, I had tried DPP, and compared it to RawShooter. Rawshooter was much more user friendly, Adobe bought it out to get the technology for what became LR1. Get the 30 day trial of LR and compare it to DPP. You'll either love it or hate hit.

Mike R wrote in post #11366782
I use LR3 and PSE9. LR3 handles 99% of my editing. I only use PSE9 when desiging posters or when I need to remove something from a shot. Before LR1, I had tried DPP, and compared it to RawShooter. Rawshooter was much more user friendly, Adobe bought it out to get the technology for what became LR1. Get the 30 day trial of LR and compare it to DPP. You'll either love it or hate hit.

Have the 30 day trial, I'll install it and see if I like it. Thanks.

Lightroom 3.2, has much better noise reduction and dodging/burning capability than DPP.

You'll find that once you have a workflow down, Lightroom will be your go to program - moreso than Photoshop, or any other program really. Great interface, intuitive, powerful. Its a beaaaauty.

I think so. I used DPP for raw processing and CS4 for everything else until I got LR3. Now I use LR for 90% of my post processing and never use DPP. There is a small learning curve evolved, but not too bad. I did the trial thing and got hooked.

^^^ to all the posters above:

What can you do in LR3 (or prefer to do in LR3) that you can't do in DPP? I tried the LR3 30 day trial version, but didn't use it too much due to work. There were some cool stuff in LR3, but none that really stuck out to me with my limited use. Is LR3 loved mostly due to its ease of use and workflow?

The thing I was "sketchy" about was the fact that I have to "Import" the CR2 files so that LR3 can recognize them. Does this make another of the same picture file (thus killing hard drive space)?

I recently bought it off Amazon for Black Friday and it should arrive soon. Either way, I'm excited to start using it more often.

I've been a photoshop person since the late 90s and figured it would be hard to break away from it, but once I got Lightroom and a few books to help me use it, usually 90% of my PP work is done there. A small price to pay for such a powerful tool IMO.

XxDJCyberLoverxX wrote in post #11367681
The thing I was "sketchy" about was the fact that I have to "Import" the CR2 files so that LR3 can recognize them. Does this make another of the same picture file (thus killing hard drive space)?

There are various methods of importing. Some just import the existing location to the LR database, meaning no extra copies are made. One setting will import them from your memory card and copy them to a hard drive location of your choice. One will convert to DNG format, etc. It just depends on how you want to use it. Lightroom can be your immediate go-to import program and copy things, or it can simply work to categorize images you already have on your hard drives without making duplicates of what you already have. You just need to tell it how you want it to work.

Yes, I think so. I love the new upload tool. You can upload to smugmug, flickr, zenfolio etc. and sync any changes you made in LR. I has really good noise reduction vs. older versions. New tether tool that i like better than DPP. That's on top of a really good organizational, workflow tool, etc. I've loved every version of it.

marubozo wrote in post #11367818
and a few books to help me use it

Which ones would you recommend? Kelby? I've looked at the Classroom in a Book for LR3 and am thinking of ordering it and the Kelby books. Thanks.

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby is a very informative book that clearly explains all of the functions in Lightroom 3. Step by step instructions, keyboard shortcuts, workflow tips & helpful hints are combined to assist users in mastering this powerful tool.

In this 14 Chapter, 455 Page book, Scott takes you from the basics, like importing & exporting, cataloging, and converting files, to the more advanced processes involving developing, editing, cropping, retouching, and much more.

I give Scott kelby's book the highest recommendation. Along with it, www.kelbytraining.com videos are the perfect adjunct to Lightroom 3!