It's here and it's gorgeous. Adobe have just anounced that the Beta of Lightroom for Windows is finally available. Mac users have been enjoying this new image processing software for the past couple of months and now PC users can join in the fun.
Lightroom is a hard application to pin down - it's part raw processor, part digital asset management, part a new kind of software that sits at the centre of your digital processing workflow. Many PC users will be familiar with Raw Shooter and as we revealed Adobe recently bought the developers of Raw Shooter and presumably intend to add their technology into Lightroom.
That doesn't seem to be there yet because the PC version looks very like the Mac version that existed before Adobe bought Pixmantec. What you do have is a fully featured raw processing and cataloguing application designed to be used day in day out.
As you'll see from our screenshots, Lightroom is a very "full" application. There are palettes everywhere and an option to do just about anything you can think of. The screen has been cleverly designed though so that the palettes can be slid away when not in use but spring back when required. It takes a little getting used to and to be honest on my 17" screen it's a little crowded - the Mac version runs beautifully on my dual 20" widescreens though!
Adobe Lightroom Beta 3 is available now for free download. Just don't forget that it's BETA software. Adobe are making it available for free because it is currently still under test. Make sure you back up any files you use with it!
A full review will follow soon but in the meantime - enjoy!
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