Camera Labs

Hey guys im thinking about eventually getting Photoshop CS3 or adobe lightroom and i would like to know which one is better. I have no experience in editing software so i really dont know except for that CS3 can take RAW/NEF files which will be important because nikon's dont come with RAW/NEF software (kinda mean on there part) so i would just to know.

_________________
Nikon D80/MB-D80/ ML-L3
AF-S 18-55 f/3.5-5.6, AF 50mm f/1.8D
SB-600
Vivtar 2800
My flickr
~Dan Nelson~

Hey emp93,

if you can lay your hands on Photoshop CS2 cheaper than the CS3, I would warmly recommend it. The differences between the two version are minimal - mostly a GUI upgrade that is aesthetic in nature and some better handling of vanishing points.

CS2 is faster and if it's also cheaper, your photographic endeavors would benefit more from some of the excellent plug-ins that exist for Photoshop.
CS2 also handles both the RAM and NEF format.

I do not know Lightroom. Photoshop is not cheap though, since this is the ultimate image editor in existence.

Cheers

...... Adobe CS2 will not open D300 or D3 RAW files..... you need CS3

Lightroom, without going into too much detail is a RAW converter and will open D300 and D3 RAW files, very good but only so far......

now if you have a Nikon, try Capture NX it is also very good and will open D300 and D3 Raw Files

if you use a PC there are a number of RAW converters that will work to open your RAW files....... then use either Adobe CS2 or CS3

or just get CS3 Photoshop Extended....... it will do the lot

One cannot really say which one is better because these are two different products that are supposed to do two different tasks. If you can afford get them both, if not I'd go for Lightroom as it does basic editing stuff well and it gives you a good way to organise your workflow.
Someone said that Lighroom is a "RAW converter", I would disagree because converting is just one of the multitude of things it can do. It is a lot of things in one package but if you can use DPP than you may stick to DPP instead and use CS3 for more sophisticated work. It's just my opinion and as we know everybody has at least one

_________________
Canon 7D f1.8 28mm/Canon f2.8 100mm USM macro/Canon f1.8 50mm/Sigma 10-20mm and lots of other stuff...
http://ksnausphoto.com

Yes lightroom is much more that a raw converter, but to the inexperience user, it is a RAW converter.......

being a user of Lightroon, NX, and CS3, I use each for different types of PP of my RAW images........ the rest I do in CS3

Adobe fanboy... all i can say

Depends on what you wanna do. If you don't need to edit your images heavily, Lightroom will suffice. It does all the basics and some more. If you only need to organise your photos and do little tweaking then go for Lightroom. Any editing that's more serious will need to be done is PS or Capture NX.

I agree with LahLahSr's advice on getting CS2 too.

_________________
Graham
Flickr

Best single image editing --> CaptureNX
Best mass-organization, -tagging, -sorting, upload to flickr plus simple editing --> Lightroom.

_________________
Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses