I've been using ACR in CS4 for a year now and have a ton of photos. I was interested in the DAM features of LR2 over ACR.
Questions:
1. Does LR2 recognize the adjustments made in ACR to raw files, and will it incorporate those, or will it ignore them and all the raw edits be lost and you have to start over with LR2?
2. Does CS4 Bridge recognize the adjustments made in LR2, if you choose to view files in Bridge later?
3. Does LR2 only catalog/recognize image files for the DAM library features, or can you use LR2 like a database and create libraries of all types of files/formats on a drive? (I'm not talking about opening and editing files in LR2, just being able to see and search for them as in a database. (I'm an artist as well, and I read that LR2 doesn't handle Illustrator EPS, or CMYK?)
4. If you have 3 yrs. invested in ACR and many thousands of photos would you switch to LR2?
5. Anyone having any color issues between LR2 and CS4 on a calibrated monitor?
3) just images files in JPEG, PSD, TIFF, proprietary raw formats, and DNG raw. Maybe png as well but I'm not sure about that. In other words iit is an image format specific database program.
4) I did and I did.
5) No.
6) The only one I have encountered is that unlike in ACR you can't preview the effect of choosing various color spaces (sRGB, Color Match, Adobe RGB(1998) and Pro Photo RGB) will have on your color relationships and clipping points when you export (convert) from an image's raw state to a processed TIFF, PSD, JPEG or Smart Object. Lightroom's sole color space for the onscreen preview is a variant on Pro Photo RGB. Essentially it is Pro Photo but with a 2.2 gamma and an sRGB derived rendering curve. These make for a more pleasing color rendition than straight sRGB or Pro Photo RGB.
I would not buy Lightroom 2 right now. Instead you should download the free beta of Lightroom 3, http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom3/ which doesn't expire until mid-April 2010. Lr 3 has many improvements over Lr2.6 not the least of which are the much improved Sharpening, noise reduction algorithms, vignetting, the new "grain" tool, import process, and printing module.
Question: will Lightroom 3 be compatible with Mac OS 10.5.8 ? I do not want to upgrade my computer system.
I assume this means you're content with your G5 and aren't ready to make the move to a Mac with an Intel processor. It took me awhile to make the shift, so I understand both how nice a G5 PowerMac can be and how the change costs some coin. I took the plunge earlier this year and am very pleased I did. The Mac Pro is virtually silent sitting on the floor next to my desk. I certainly love having FOUR internal drive bays.
I mention this simply because I visited the Apple site this morning to preview the new Aperture 3 material. Although I've used Lightroom since its first release and have been happy with my results, I'm extremely impressed with Aperture which has both a multitude of features not in Lightroom and an interface which is superior. Yes, the software requires an Intel Mac and so might be totally off the table for you. But you might want to check it out, in part because it manages not only photos but also videos. I don't know about other media, but since you have such far ranging interests/talents, you owe it to yourself to at least check it out. Here is a link -
Thanks, CGrindahl. I do have an Intel Mac Pro and with 8GB of memory! I'm just not running the latest OS on it because I have software that's not compatible with the upgrade. I know my currest OS is "slower" on the Mac Pro, but it's much faster than the G5, so I'm very happy right now and I don't want to rock the boat yet.
