I tried Lightroom Beta and the 1.0 Trial expires tomorrow. I like its interface and the ability to process large batch of images. Typically I don't shoot that many pics, but my latest shoot of 650+ pics I really found it useful. I had to change the WB of a bunch of images and that was a breeze once I figured out what Color Temp and Tint to use, and put them in a preset.

For those who use Lightroom a lot, how does it compare to other programs like iView Media Pro (for image management) and Capture One or Nikon Capture NX (for raw conversion)?

In the Library module, when I display images in thumbnails and go back and forth a few screens, the thumbnails are displayed in low res for a moment before turning high res. Does anyone know if there's a way to keep Lightroom from displaying the low res first? I set the preview to 2048 pixels and quality to high in the preferences.

Thanks!

Hi Larry,
I can't speak for Nikon Capture but I feel that the workflow in Lightroom is much more intuitive than Capture One, there are still times that I like the look of RAW Files processed out of Capture One and will continue to use it on a selective basis but for managing everything from file storage to RAW processing and then final output you just can't beat LightRoom. Again I have iView and still use it on a selective basis like if I want to take a quick look at a media card before it's ingested into Lightroom but that is really about it now.

Once you commit to using lightroom and set up your folder structure and really begin using it as a total workflow solution you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. I tried Apples Aperture but it just wasn't as intuitive as Lightroom for me, it was also slower than molasses even on my Intel Macbook Pro with 2 gigs of RAM.

As far as your second question about the low res previews check your preferences and make sure your Preview is set to Medium or High and not Low, that may make a difference. I'm not seeing what your seeing in my system.

Cris...

I used Capture ONE on my PC before I switched to a Mac (using LR). I like LR because it is quite intuitive and the RAW conversions are quite fast too (based on the RAW Shooter engine if I'm not mistaken).

I miss the Camera Profiles that C1 had, which produces the better looking RAW images.

I saw a demo of Aperture...well, they didn't have anything over LR (although that magnifying tool is quite niffty).

So, I'll be keeping my image work in the Adobe family for now

ACR and Lightroom colours not 100% right for skintones (too red). Aperture, C1 Pro and DPP are better

I bought Lightroom about 2 weeks ago and I really like it so far. I ordered an instructional DVD this week titled "Lightroom Simplified." It is several hours of tutorials so I hope to have a decent working knowledge of LR before too long. I'll let you know how the DVD is in case you are interested.

Daniel Maust

I was running Lightroom on Windows XP with 1G of memory. When I do a couple of page up or page down in the thumbnail mode (Library module, grid mode) it still takes a little while for the thumbnails to go to full resolution. I had it set to 2048 and high quality. Just a little annoying.

Supposedly you can define presets to control how Lightroom renders/converts your Raw files by adjusting the sliders including Tone, HSL, WB, Camera Calib etc etc. You can either apply the preset at import or apply it after you've imported the images. It was intimidating to see so many sliders at first, but if you've used Adobe Camera Raw to convert Raw files in Photoshop, you should be used to them. There are color differences between how my Raw files look in Nikon Capture NX and in Lightroom (default settings). Then I came across links like the following

http://seanmcfoto.com/lightroom/2007/02/lightroom-and-nikon-modes.html

by Nikonian Image Doctor Rick Walker for rendering Nikon Raw files to look like the Color Mode III in Nikon cameras. (FYI color Mode III has more saturated colors, esp greens, for outdoor shots. Color I on the other hand is meant for better skin tone renditions). And if you google "lightroom preset" you should be able to find lots of free presets that people have created. Btw, presets are nothing more than specific values for the sliders, like Red hue -25, Temp 3200K, Tint +20, Green Saturation +10, etc etc.

Looks like one should be able to adjust Lightroom to his likings, if one is more used to the look of another Raw converter.

I haven't decided if I want to buy Lightroom yet; my trial expired today. It was a good excercise to process my last shoot with it, and there are definitely things i like about it. Didn't find the Print/Slideshow/Web modules that useful though, but that's just me. I'll play with Capture ONE LE a little more.