INTRODUCTION
A few weeks ago, Adobe launched the 5th version of the Lightroom program. Since the start early 2006, Lightroom was designed for photographers who wanted to organize and edit their images (mostly RAW images) quickly and easily. The 1st version of Lightroom was however little more than only an image database with basic editing. Seven years of development and 5 versions later, Lightroom is a full product with a very good workflow and impressive features. As I wrote a full review about version 3 (which you can read HERE) and version 4 (which you can read HERE), I'm not going to discuss all features of Lightroom in this review, but I will only revert to the new or significantly changed topics.
© Adobe
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
As the whole package is fairly powerful, the manufacturer requests high specifications of your computer. Hereafter a split-up for the Mac & Windows users:
Mac:
- Operating System: Mac OS 10.7 Lion or 10.7 Mountain Lion
- Processor: Intel processor with 64bit support
- Memory: 2GB minimum, but 4GB is recommended
- Hard Disk: minimum 2GB free
- Screen resolution: 1024x768
- DVD-ROM drive
- Internet connection for Internet-related services
As a Mac-user, you will therefor need the Lion operating system to run this package. Older OS are unable to run this package.
Windows:
- Operating System: Windows 7 SP1 or 8
- Processor: Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon 64 bit processor
- Memory: 2GB minimum, but 4GB is recommended
- Hard Disk: minimum 2GB free
- Screen resolution: 1024x768
- DVD-ROM drive
- Internet connection for Internet-related services
As a Windows-user, you may not be able to run this package if you still have Windows XP/Vista or a 10" netbook (screen resolution is too low).
As from version 4, it is possible to choose the language from a fairly comprehensive list. In the previous version of Lightroom the language was associated with the language of your operating system. As I prefer to have everything in English, Lightroom and my operating system are in English. Therefore all expressions used hereafter will also be in English.
ADVANCED HEALING BRUSH
The first improvement that I discuss in this review is the new advanced healing brush. Previously, you could simply eliminate spots, but if for example a cable came through your photo, you had to have this remedied with dozens of clicks. This is now history! You still have to choose the width of your brush, but now you can just “paint” over the area that you want to remove. Lightroom will fill this area with a white color and when you release the mouse button, he selects a suitable area to replace. If you press the "H" key, you can show the destination path where he copies. Press again this key and it's gone. Another nice new feature is the "visualize spots" button. If you check this box, your image will be changed into a black picture with your subject in white. Especially interesting is that the spots also are colored white and therefore easily visible to remove ... The human eye sees much, but the software is fairly more precise in this detailed work. Especially important when the photo is then printed in large format.
SMART PREVIEWS
A second topper in the new version of Lightroom 5 is “Smart Preview”. Yet here’s some explanation required: Imagine that your photos must always be stored on your laptop, then you would need an external hard drive with a few terabytes because the internal hard drives are becoming smaller (SSD-story). How organized you are, one day, you will appear on an appointment with your client with your laptop but without that external hard drive and then the software will tell you that the file can not be found (which makes perfect sense, because you don’t have the drive with you ...). From Lightroom 5 you don’t need to have those original RAW files with you all the time: Make a smart preview from your original RAW file (can also be done when importing your RAW photos) and you have (almost) all the functionalities like the RAW file would be. The only thing you can not do is to zoom in very deep, but if this is the only downside, I’m fairly happy with that. Such a smart preview will only be a fraction of the original file: A photo of a Nikon D800 is about 75MB large and a smart preview will be less than 1MB.
BOOK
The book module has been integrated since version 4 and cooperates with the company BLURB. It's a nice integration where you simply choose a format of book, the paper quality (personally I would recommend to choose the Proline photo paper for your high-quality photobooks) and the number of pages (up to 240).
Afterwards, choose a template for each page and you can start dragging photos to the pages. In this new version: the templates are much more extensive, but more important: you can customize them to your needs and save them under your favorites and re-use easier later. Numbering your pages is also possible, but personally I think this is not really necessary in a book. If you make a book where the photos only serve as an illustration with the text, this seems to be a handy feature.
UPRIGHT
If you are always in your ability to shoot pictures with tripod and level, you won’t use this new feature. However, most of the photographers will like this a lot... An horizon which is not straight, but also the more difficult issues such as straightening a building might give you some problems. With the new version, you have the software to assist you. Absolutely no horizon is needed to let the automated system do the job, but if needed you can also customize and work completely manual. Amazingly, I use the auto button all the time and I discovered that only in rare cases, the software has to adjust. Furthermore you have to possibility to add “Guidelines” (vertically and horizontally) to your photo so you can check if everything is 100% right.
64-BIT SUPPORT
Computers are faster and more powerful every day. What today is the fastest, is gone tomorrow… that is the reality. Therefore software like Lightroom always needs to be adapted to make use of these powerful processors and memory. Lightroom 5 is from now full 64-bit compatible and will perform editing tasks faster.
PRICE
Finally last and important issue, the price. Adobe launches Lightroom 5 in two versions: the full version and the update for all versions. The full version costs 130 Euro’s and the upgrade only 70 Euro’s.
For 70 Euro’s you can upgrade from the first to the latest version ... seems like a nice deal!
Lightroom is also available in Creative Cloud. Members who have an account there, can upgrade for free. For more information on Creative Cloud, view my review here (LINK).
CONCLUSION
Adobe launches a fifth version of Lightroom a complete package for the digital photographer. The images are stored on an on-sighted in the image database and can be edited in a simple way. The "smart preview" is an important addition for the photographer who travels frequently, but for me personally the advanced healing brush still remains the greatest improvement. The price is definitely a winner: for just over 70 Euro you already have the latest version at home, even if you have version 1.
Finally, I want to thank Adobe for providing this package. If you are interested in their packages, just take a look on their website: http://www.adobe.com
Best regards,
Sven Michiels