It was online, then it was offline, now its back up. Will Adobe Photoshop Lightroom ever see the light of day? Ok, it will, with a ton of cool new features.

Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom 1.1 was made available online, then quickly removed on Monday, not to be seen again until today. The new version of Adobe's professional photography toolbox, provides a way to easy manage, adjust and present large volumes of digital photographs. It was designed for professional photographers and offers and uncluttered space to get things done a lot quicker than with any other application on the market, including regular Photoshop.

The new version of the application that was released has a way to create and open catalogs, remembering and tracking the location of files. Synchronizing folders has now been made possible with the application checking catalogs and removing files that have been deleted, while scanning metadata for updates. DNG support has been enhanced, and now supports a full set of conversion options, with JPEG preview sizes set to a preset size. The metadata panel includes new options for large captions and location information, as well as spaces for emails and URL's. Hierarchical folders are now in place, so additional folders can be created with parent-child relationships. Labels, flags, ratings, develop settings, metadata and rotation settings can now all be applied to photos as well.

This new Lightroom seems like a photographers dream. Less time on the computer, and more time out in the field! There is a 30 day trial on Lightroom 1.1 application, with a regular cost of $299 for the full version for Mac or PC.

Check out some screenshots of Adobe Lightroom in action:

After approximately a year of beta testing, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 is ready for prime time. Photoshop Lightroom is a software application that helps improve the digital photo workflow by providing a central point to organize and adjust digital images. It is a compliment to Photoshop, not a replacement.
If you didn't get a chance to check out the beta, you can download a 30-day trial of the released version. The retail price is set for $299, but if you order before April 30, 2007, you can snag a copy at the customer appreciation price of $199. Both Windows and Mac (Universal) systems are supported. A heads-up if you are currently running the 4.1 beta, it is set to expire February 28th.

This morning, Adobe announce the latest beta of their Adobe Lightroom RAW workflow software. Top on the list of improvements is feature parity between OS X and Windows versions. Windows users are no doubt saying "it's about time." Other enhancements include improved curves algorithms and controls, a "more streamlined and elegant" GUI, customizable UI, precision white balance, ability to easily convert files to DNG after import, closer mapping between the Lightroom library and the FS, performance enhancements for the Web module, and other user requested enhancements, particularly from the Pixmantec crowd. I can only imagine what they had to say. Granted, most people are nicer than I am, but if I were a RAWShooter user, I would have had trouble not taking a little aggression out on the Lightroom team, whether they deserved it or not.

I haven't had a chance to play around with all the new features yet, but the updated GUI is certainly an improvement, as is the option to hide the toolbar by clicking 't'.


New main Develop screen

Adobe has released the Windows version of Lightroom Beta 3, its new program aimed at professional photographers, the same market targeted by Apple's Aperture. The beta for Mac OS X has been available for awhile, and both versions can be downloaded for free from Adobe's web site (though its servers seem a bit overwhelmed just now). The Lightroom web site has some videos that show just what can be accomplished with the program.

[Thanks, Mr. Kaiser!]