Hey, you can do a quick google search and you’ll find several pages of people reviewing CS5 and Lightroom 3 beta. Some are experts, some are lame. I’m not going to waste my time or yours giving you another review. Instead, here are my notes / observations while I run Photoshop CS5 alongside Lightroom 3 beta for the first time, along with some screen shots:
- First glance of Lightroom 3 beta is very impressive. I knew in 2 minutes that I’d buy the upgrade in July. Very fluid import of a ton of large DNG files sold it for me.
- PS CS5 Lens correction filter worked somewhat well on a 16-bit photo. Took about a minute to load it, using what looks like the beginning of a flash movie loading up. Kinda cool. Kinda annoying like a flash site on a dial-up connection, depending on your processing power.
- Irritating that most of the filters still do not work with a 16-bit photo, even after converting it to a smart object. I’ll keep toying with this.
- Do we really still need the render>cloud filter?
- Freaking lovvvve the Kuler extension built in. Mini Bridge has potential to be great, too (ONLY if you have 2 monitors like I do).
- new photoshop color sampler tool is cool, though I’m not sure its functional.
- Grain feature in Lightroom 3 is nice. I think this will really make printed pieces look great. Or like a really decent scan of a film print, if there is such a thing.
- Brush heaven! If you are a digital painter, you’ll absolutely love the new brush functionality. Very cool with a Wacom Tablet. Identifies Left and Right handedness. Several new brushes.
- To date, I have not had a chance to sink my teeth into HDR photo conversion software. This product will be the tool that introduces the rest of the world to HDR photography. It’s easy to use, very intuitive, and allows amazing control for infinite creative possibilities. I know there are other HDR products on the market that are very reputable, but this one wowed me.
- Be patient when you play with the HDR images. The files can get really big in a hurry.
I’m just scratching the surface with these two applications. I’m curious to dive into the 3D tools and other improvements. The content-aware tools have got most of the attention to date, and I know my Vegas Photoshop User Group Co-Manager, Krystal Hosmer has plans to demo this at the Adobe User’s Group mega-meeting on May 25. You’re RSVP’d right? You should be there, since we’re giving away multiple copies of the CS5 Master Collection, as well as a whole gang of other cool schwag.


