Appletell

It seems Adobe took Apple’s latest Aperture 2.1 release as a challenge with the release of Lightroom 2 beta. We’re not quite sure when the full version will be released, but the beta version expires on August 31 this year. But, Adobe definitely took a swing at Apple, read for yourself:

“One thing we can say, however, is that we plan to continue with a more aggressive release schedule than we’ve seen from Apple, which took over two years between release of Aperture 1.0 and 2.0.”

The new beta also offers local corrections via the Develop module, which is in direct competition with Aperture 2.1’s new plug-in editing tool. It shows how much Adobe is gunning for Apple. Many worried Adobe would limit Lightroom functionality so Photoshop would still be the number one program, but I believe Lightroom and Photoshop both serve different functions. Lightroom is geared towards organizing photos for professionals, or a standalone app for beginners. The pros will always be using Photoshop, but Lightroom serves a much better process than Bridge.

If you are a licensed user of Lightroom, you can check out the Lightroom 2 Beta and use it until August 31. Adobe seems to be aiming for Apple, so it brings up the question; Will Apple ever create a Photoshop competitor?

Lightroom 2 Beta [Adobe] Read [Ars Technica]

After releasing an update to Lightroom last week, they are now pulling it from their website and asking users to downgrade.

There are three major bugs. The first is an error with EXIF time stamps. “There is an error in the EXIF time stamp update technology that causes Lightroom to believe that the files are out of sync with the correct time stamp as displayed in Lightroom.” says Adobe. Essentially, it seems that this bug would shift all of your time stamps, which could be wuite a huge pain to return to their previous state.

A Windows only error involves DNG conversion. In Lightroom, Adobe has included technology that ensures the data in a DNG file is unchanged from the time of conversion to DNG. “Unfortunately,” says Adobe, “when converting to DNG using Lightroom 1.4 on Windows, the application will write an incorrect verification tag to describe the image data.” When Lightroom then tries to work with those files, it throws up an error because of it’s own mistake. Adobe recommends using the 1.3.1 converter to reconvert the DNGs if you have already done so with 1.4.

There is also a problem converting Olympus JPEG files in Lightroom 1.4

Users can download version 1.3.1 to downgrade to temporarily by following the link at the end of the article and using the download links there.

Read [Lightroom Journal]

For all of those who truly believe that Aperture is sub-par (such as myself), the amazing alternative, Adobe Lightroom, has been updated to version 1.4. You may be asking yourself, “what magical powers does this delicious upgrade bring?”. And my answer to you is “printer driver bug fixes”. Exciting, huh? If you’re printer has been buggy with Lightroom and, specifically, Leopard, this update might just help you.

Also released today alongside the Lightroom update is an update to the Photoshop Camera RAW plug-in. The update brings support to many RAW formats, including the brand new Canon 450D, Nikon D60, and many more RAW formats. The Photoshop Camera RAW plug-in works with nearly all Adobe Photoshop apps, including Lightroom, so new RAW formats should work seamlessly with Lightroom as well. You can grab the Camera RAW 4.4 update here, and the Lightroom 1.4 update here.

Product Page [Lightroom 1.4] [Camera RAW plugin] Via [MacMinute]