This is the second part of my thoughts and impressions regarding Adobe Lightroom. If you haven’t read the first part yet, please do so - I don’t want you to think that I have nothing good to say about it.

The Things I Hate

1. Library / Develop

One thing that annoys me is that some rather basic functionality is accessible only from the Library module. For example, if I’m in Develop and I discover that a picture is not good enough to keep (e.g. the focus is not correct) I have to go to Library, delete it then come back to Develop. Why? If there’s one thing the guys who made RSP understood, it is a clean workflow. In RSP, from the same screen I can rate pictures, batch rename them, delete, undelete, organize and process them, all in an uncluttered way.

Distortion corrections are very important in architectural shots, like this interior of a gothic church.

2. No lens correction

Lightroom has chromatic aberrations and vignetting correction but no geometry correction. Bibble and Silky Pix have such corrections – although the lens correction in the latest DxO 4 beta is unmatched. Speaking of DxO, I’m also testing their latest beta, and all I can say is – I’m impressed! DxO Optics Pro 4 has lens profiles for different cameras that have to be seen to be believed. Especially important for aspherical lenses, the corrections take into account the body + lens combination, the focusing distance, DOF, viewing angle, and corrects geometry, color, vignetting and lens softness.

While I don’t expect Lightroom to have this level of detail, a lens correction feature like the one in Photoshop would be welcome. And while we at it, why not let me correct perspective by drawing lines? In DxO one can draw two lines across the edges of a building and select "Force verticals" to correct perspective.

3. No Shadow/Highlight

Bibble has it, Silky Pix has it, RSP had it, DxO has it too. There’s no excuse for Lightroom to be without one. The Tone Curve can only do so much. We don’t always shoot in perfect conditions. Even with a correctly exposed photo you can bring extra detail in clouds or in shaded ares.

4. The Shoots/Collections Metaphor

The way Lightroom organizes the files must be either love or hate. For me it’s hate. I don’t want a program to decide what’s best for me. I don’t want to change my workflow. My philosophy is that a program should adapt to its user’s needs, not the other way around. Lightroom forces me to import my files into its database and organize them into shoots. What’s wrong with plain old boring folders? If I delete some files from the file system, or move them around, Lightroom still displays them. Currently Lightroom assumes it’s the only program I would use to organize RAW files, and that I have a dedicated machine just for keeping the RAW files in one place. I don’t do that. I backup my RAWs, I move them, I delete them.

I think Lightroom should give its users the ability to select the way they want to work - Shoots or folders. Some will want to use Lightroom as a digital asset manager. Others, like me, will use it just as a RAW converter That’s one thing Aperture got right: it lets the user organize the files in Albums, Projects or Folders.

High contrast situation (the sun is behind the windmill); a polarizing filter was used

5. Convert functionality

I don’t get it. Lightroom has a Print Module, a nifty Slideshow feature but only a crude way to convert from RAW to TIFF that doesn’t even have a button on the interface and the menu option is called Export? It’s like they don’t want me to convert from RAW to something else. The export feature looks like an afterthought – “oh, maybe some people might want to export their RAWs to something else like TIFF or JPEG”. Well I’m willing to bet that most people convert their files, so I really think there should be a Convert module, just like the Print module. And please call it Process or Convert as it is an integral part of the RAW workflow. JPEG2000 support would be nice too.

Bonus: Speed

Half the comments on Lightroom’s forums are complaints about speed so I won’t get in more detail. Suffice to say that it’s extremely annoying to see the “Working…” message when you’re moving the CA sliders trying to find that elusive setting where the chromatic aberrations disappear.

Conclusion

So far Lightroom has the potential to become the de-facto standard in RAW processing, but it has a long way to go and competition from other products. I realize it’s only beta and I’m not trashing it; I want it to succeed and become my tool of choice in RAW processing. There’s enough room for improvement and i’m sure the developers will address many of the issues in beta4.

If you liked this, please Digg it!