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After close to a year of beta testing, Adobe has announced that its new flagship RAW processing software, Lightroom 1.0 will be [available beginning mid February][1]. Lightroom will be available for both Windows and Mac (universal) and will sell for $300, mirroring the pricing of Apple competitor, [Aperture][2].
We should note that, [according to Ars Technica][3], while Lightroom will run fine on Windows Vista, users will need to wait for a free update for full disc-burning support.
New features in the final version of Lightroom include:
* Improvements to Develop, Slideshow, Printing and Web output
* Improved import dialogue with more flexible file handling that allows Lightroom internal data to better match disk structure.
* A new Key Metadata Browser improves the ranking and rating system and now incorporates color labels and a pick/reject system that sorts and locates photographs.
* Additional tools including a Hue, Saturation and Luminance adjustments.
* Full compatibility with Photoshop Camera RAW 3.7
* Virtual Copies and Snapshot tools allow multiple RAW settings on a single physical file.
Camera RAW 3.7 will be released at the same time as Lightroom and features a number of upgrades as well including support for Lightroom's new non-destructive RAW editing tools.
Adobe claims that more than 500,000 users participated in the public beta program over the last 12 months. John Loiacono, senior vice president, Creative Solutions Business Unit at Adobe said in a press release, "this was truly a collaborative effort and we extend our thanks to everyone who provided invaluable feedback."
Adobe says that, despite the "Photoshop" in Lightroom's official name, the program will not be part of the Photoshop suite, but will remain a standalone program. Nor will Lightroom, as some have claimed, replace Bridge, Adobe's basic RAW editing tool that ships as part of Photoshop.
Most of the features in Lightroom mirror that of Apple's Aperture tool and with nearly identical price points, the competition between the two should start heating up. As soon as we get our hands on a copy of Lightroom 1.0 we'll let you know how the two stack up against each other.
[Lightroom beta 4.1][4] will continue to work until expiration on Febrary 28.
[1]: http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/ "Adobe Lightroom 1.0"
[2]: http://www.apple.com/aperture/ "Apple Aperture"
[3]: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070128-8720.html "Ars Technica on Lightroom"
[4]: http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?e=labs%5Flightroom "Download Lightroom beta 4.1"
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