[shuttertalk]

Just wondering if anyone's tried the new lightroom 3 beta? It's currently a free while in beta and you can download it on Adobe's site, although it doesn't let you import your previous library. Dpreview reports that they've just released a new beta version, which improves RAW conversion and also - get this:

'We've added support for video - allowing you to categorize, add keywords and tags. It's asset management of video files, not editing - we're conscious of the risks of adding too many features too quickly.'

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1003/100324...update.asp

I'm so happy they've done this - I saw video management as one huge hole that almost every other player (aperture, iphoto, picasa) had already got covered. I think it's become more apparent since most new DSLRs (like the 7D) are able to take video and it's no longer a "nifty little feature" relegated to the realm of compacts and amateurs.

[EnglishBob]

Been using acdsee for years, does all of what Lightroom does on the image management size, it isn't as good for editing though.

[Pavel]

new photoshop is on its way too with some nifty features. You may get a kick out of this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH0aEp1oDOI

[Toad]

I use Lightroom 2 to import my RAW images, organize them by date and to do the first pass white balance, exposure and color adjustments - then off to PhotoShop for any serious work that has to be done.

[Pavel]

I am surprised Kevin about your high ISO images. My undwerstanding is that Adobe bought the algorithms from NIK. I use NIK Define to control noise when needed and I get excellent results with it. Of course at some point, the noise gets so bad that you have a choice between a high noise photo or a smeared photo (or both). The most serious are situations where you try to open up shadows (increase shadow exposure) in a high ISO photo. For users of NIK, Lightroom would be useful primarily as a cataloging software and not much more and it is too expensive for that.