Lightrooom Standalone

[Bill Jaynes]

Hi,
I'm on a really tight budget and still using Photoshop 7. So many things cost an extra $300 - 2300 these days!
Is Lightroom at all standalone. I don't mind saving as tif and opening with my 7 if need be. It seems, from what
I hear, that most raw adjustment can be done with it and better as well.
Thanks group,
Bill

[Richowens]

Hi Bill,

 Yes, it is standalone. Many times it is all I use to go from camera to print.

HTH

 Rich

[joedecker]

Hi,
I'm on a really tight budget and still using Photoshop 7. So many things cost an extra $300 - 2300 these days!
Is Lightroom at all standalone. I don't mind saving as tif and opening with my 7 if need be. It seems, from what
I hear, that most raw adjustment can be done with it and better as well.
Thanks group,
Bill

Yep.  In terms of RAW conversion LR is every bit as powerful as PS's Camera RAW.

There are a bunch of things Lightroom doesn't offer that Photoshop does depending on the work you do--LR doesn't give you the kinds of tools you want for CYMK separations if you do those, it doesn't offer correction for lens distortion (e.g., barrel/pincushion distortion) or perspective the way Filter>Distort>Lens Correct... does (was that even in PS7?).  The healing tools in LR aren't quite as useful for a few types of defects as the tools in PS/CS2 or later.

But...

LR's file organization tools are far better than PS/Bridge (to my mind), the global correction tools include everything that Adobe Camera RAW does and with a nicer interface, LR does offer printing and print layout tools (but not soft-proofing), simple automated web gallery and slideshow creation tools.  

In my business, I can't quite get away with not having both, but most of my students are quite happy to live entirely in the world of Lightroom.

--Joe

[vandevanterSH]

Is Lightroom at all standalone. ....
*******
Down load it for a "trial"...It is easy product for the user to get "up and running" quickly so you will get a good "feel" for what it can offer without spending hours trying to get "off the ground".

Steve

[Bill Jaynes]

Thanks very much to Rich, Joe and Steve!

[Tklimek]

Joe....

Don't forget that all adjustments in Lightroom never really change your original image; that is a pretty cool feature.  Also, unlimited history.  My guess, doesn't hurt too too much to speculate, that in version 3 of Lightroom you will see at least softproofing, and if we are lucky lens distortion correction tools.

Cheers...

Todd in Chicago

Yep.  In terms of RAW conversion LR is every bit as powerful as PS's Camera RAW.

There are a bunch of things Lightroom doesn't offer that Photoshop does depending on the work you do--LR doesn't give you the kinds of tools you want for CYMK separations if you do those, it doesn't offer correction for lens distortion (e.g., barrel/pincushion distortion) or perspective the way Filter>Distort>Lens Correct... does (was that even in PS7?).  The healing tools in LR aren't quite as useful for a few types of defects as the tools in PS/CS2 or later.

But...

LR's file organization tools are far better than PS/Bridge (to my mind), the global correction tools include everything that Adobe Camera RAW does and with a nicer interface, LR does offer printing and print layout tools (but not soft-proofing), simple automated web gallery and slideshow creation tools.  

In my business, I can't quite get away with not having both, but most of my students are quite happy to live entirely in the world of Lightroom.

--Joe

[stevebri]

one more thing bill, you can select which program lightroom sends a file to for editing, so you can set it up to open the file in ps7.

you won't regret buying it.

good luck.

Steve

[jasonrandolph]

one more thing bill, you can select which program lightroom sends a file to for editing, so you can set it up to open the file in ps7.

you won't regret buying it.

good luck.

Steve

I'll have to echo everyone else.  Since discovering the functionality it offers, I converted completely to LR.  The only things I do outside of LR are pano stitching and soft proofing.  These are done in CS2 for me.  I feel no need to ever upgrade PS ever again.  

I would also recommend Michael and Jeff's tutorial for LR2 on this site.  Buy that and download the LR trial.  It may change your workflow completely.

[Bill Jaynes]

Meantime, when I open my Canon files with the latest DPP, there is very good vignette and flare correction for my 2.8 24. Could I then pass the corrected RAW image to LR? Or isn't it possible to share RAW corrections between applications?
Bill

one more thing bill, you can select which program lightroom sends a file to for editing, so you can set it up to open the file in ps7.

you won't regret buying it.

good luck.

Steve

[joedecker]

Joe....

Don't forget that all adjustments in Lightroom never really change your original image; that is a pretty cool feature.  Also, unlimited history.  My guess, doesn't hurt too too much to speculate, that in version 3 of Lightroom you will see at least softproofing, and if we are lucky lens distortion correction tools.

Cheers...

Todd in Chicago

Oh my goodness yes, the number of things that really rock about LR, I barely touched on it.

--Joe

[madmanchan]

Meantime, when I open my Canon files with the latest DPP, there is very good vignette and flare correction for my 2.8 24. Could I then pass the corrected RAW image to LR? Or isn't it possible to share RAW corrections between applications?
Bill

Bill, you cannot pass your DPP edits/modifications into LR as raw image data. What you can do, if you like, is to use DPP to create  JPEG or TIFF file which can then be imported into LR, organized, and optionally further edited within LR. Just be aware that the resulting image is no longer in a raw format. Note that you can also perform vignette and flare correction within LR, if you wish to perform your edits on the raw image. The vignette correction, however, is currently manual (not automatic).

[Bill Jaynes]

Thanks Eric.

Bill, you cannot pass your DPP edits/modifications into LR as raw image data. What you can do, if you like, is to use DPP to create  JPEG or TIFF file which can then be imported into LR, organized, and optionally further edited within LR. Just be aware that the resulting image is no longer in a raw format. Note that you can also perform vignette and flare correction within LR, if you wish to perform your edits on the raw image. The vignette correction, however, is currently manual (not automatic).