Lightroom 4

[milliways]

I have been using Lr 4 recently and I not sure whether its me or I am getting old,but it seems to be very counter intuitive.
Has any one used the system yet ?

I would like any thoughts on this, is it an easy or quicker program to use compared with NX 3?

The way it takes control of the computer and arranges the files in categories which cannot it seems be deleted once they have been set is very strange.

Syd.

[russellsnr]

Hi, You maybe find answers to all your questions at http://www.lightroomforums.net/forum.php

Russ

[herbert]

Hi Syd,

Lightroom does not arrange your file system when you add your photos. They are shown using the same folder layout that you would see in a file explorer. The difference is that Lightroom will not show any folders that do not contain images you have imported. So you see a stripped down version of the file system.

What can be an issue is if you move the images when Lightroom is turned off using another program. This is because Lightroom has a memory of where all the images are. If it cannot find them it will tell you and you can then relocate the missing files within Lightroom.

Lightroom allows you to arrange the images into collections. One image can be in many collections. For example you could have a collection for Animals, Landscape, and Africa which all have the same image.

The program has a lot of functionality. So it is hard to make all the features easy to use without any training. If you start off thinking it is a place to organise all your images, allow you to edit them and save them to different places (your desktop, Flickr, Facebook, etc) then you should be able to work with it.

If you do not like it after get familiar with all the tools then you just stop using it.

Visit the Lightroom Forums for help or ask questions here. There are a lot of people who use Lightroom and can help.

Alex

[dan marchant]

I tested the beta and while I like the tools I found the interface very cluttered. I think it was also rather slow because my machine is underpowered and it was a beta. I will be going back to it when I get my new machine (soon) because I think the learning curve is probably worth it.

[PBelarge]

LR is an awesome tool. Like any other tool, especially complex tools, it takes time and EFFORT to learn them. If one does not want to spend the time or make the effort, there are other tools available. Yet, any tool as complex as LR will still take time and effort to learn.
*There are many, many sites available today that provide FREE information supporting LR. As a matter of fact, I was searching HDR this morning and I spent hours enjoying myself with the myriad of choices to learn. I would venture to say there are 1000's of sites for all kinds of learning.
Whichever software you decide on, good luck and study hard.

[Mark Lawrence]

Lightroom 4 is the best version by far nothing comes close to making you photo's actually look better,really .
Check out http://lightroomkillertips.com/ Matt has all the answers for you including videos for free.
Take the time to learn this tool it really is amazing.
Cheers!

[dan marchant]

Thanks for that link Mark. Will check it out as soon as my new comp arrives and I get the trial LR4 downloaded. The way I view it is that anything moderately feature filled will have a learning curve. I have put a lot of effort into learning my 7D and have seen dramatic improvements in my images as a result. Seems dumb not to invest effort into the post work as well. Once I know how LR4 works then I might possibly decide I like something better, but I certainly can't make that call until I actually know and use the software.

[Momo]

I have used LR since version 2. It can be a bit confusing at first if you're not understanding the concept of catalogs. I would highly recommend training for LR 4 from Lynda.com, as it has just been released this month. Lastly, no performance issues here, but I am running somewhat of a beast PC. I think you will come to enjoy LR4.