Adobe's 3rd Lightroom offers slightly different feature sets between Mac and Windows, and ups the ante against Apple's Aperture.Adobe released on July 18 the first Windows beta of Lightroom, Lightroom Beta 3, its digital photography manipulation software aimed at the prosumer and professional markets.
The release marks another turning point in the company's recent competition in the digital photo market with Apple, which released for the Mac a similar photography product, called Aperture, in October 2005.
Adobe, which has dominated that market with applications like Photoshop and RAW plug-ins, released its own Mac OS beta of Lightroom in January.
Apple responded in April by cutting Aperture's price from $499 to $299 and issuing a point release with support for more cameras and formats.
Apple's Aperture does not currently work with Windows, while Adobe has a strong Windows install base for most of its products.
When Adobe first launched the Lightroom beta it was downloaded about 150,000 times, according to Adobe.
While Adobe's Photoshop has long been used for digital image manipulation, Lightroom (and Apple's Aperture) is designed specifically for manipulation of camera Raw images.
Raw format images are taken directly from the camera's light sensor. Raw images are used by professional photographers in lieu of other standards, such as JPEG, which are smaller in file size but contain less information.
In June, Adobe acquired in Pixmantec, which owns software called RawShooter. Adobe said RawShooter technology will be included in Lightroom in a future release.
The current Lightroom release contains most, but not all, of the features contained in the Mac version. The Windows beta does not have an HTML slide show creation capability or the ability to play music during slide shows.
The final release will offer the same feature sets for both platforms, according to Adobe.
The current release includes support for new camera models including Cannon EODS 30D, Epson R-D1s, Leaf Aptus 65 and Aptus 75, Olympus EVOLT E-330 and SP-320, Pentax *ist DL2 and Samsung GX-1S.
The beta is a free download. Adobe will announce the final shipping date for both Windows and Macintoh versions of the software in late 2006. The current beta expires January 31, 2007.
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