[Dave]

Lightroom 2.0 beta builds on the success of the first Lightroom beta program and provides photographers with early access to our next release so that you can kick the tires and ensure that this release meets your needs. . Lightroom 2.0 beta expires at the end of August 2008.

Enhancements that can be found in the Lightroom 2.0 beta include the following:

* Localized corrections — Enhance specific areas of an image for unsurpassed nondestructive flexibility and control reminiscent of the traditional darkroom dodge and burn experience.
* Improved organizational tools — Find the images you need quickly and easily.
* Multiple monitor support — Add an additional monitor to efficiently manage photographic workflow and presentation.
* Flexible print package functionality — Create custom layouts containing multiple sizes of a photograph on a single page.
* 64-bit support — Lightroom 2.0 now takes advantage of the latest hardware architectures with improved memory handling and performance.

Read the release notes for details on all of the new functionality in Lightroom 2.0 beta.

Adobe Labs - Adobe Lightroom 2.0 Beta

[Dave]

From quick read of release notes, this does not override existing Lightroom installs, meaning you can run it side by side

So who's going to be trying this Beta version ?

[tomu]

I have installed it and I can confirm you can run both version 1.3.1 and beta 2.0 side by side (but not at the same time).

It looks good so far: 64bit Vista support should hopefully speed it up a bit (haven't been able to test it much yet) and the Dual Screen support is excellent!

[stepheno]

Subtle changes, runs very smoothly (32bit) - I like the detail view

[Charlotte]

Just downloaded it, thanks for the link, will give it a whirl

Originally Posted by Dave

From quick read of release notes, this does not override existing Lightroom installs, meaning you can run it side by side

I should hope that a beta version would not override a paid-for version!

[j sotelo]

Nice, need to play with it a little tonight,
lets see how easy it is to transfer all the presets to the new one .

[j sotelo]

OK had a little play with it, and the interface is "almost" exactly like the old one.
But on the Develop area the Crop Overlay, Spot Removal and Red Eye Removal are under the Histogram instead of under the image your working on, and I really love the NEWLY added RETOUCH Brush which is right besides those,
with that new tool many people will not need Photoshop at all.
With the Retouch Tool you can process (Paint)
* Exposure
* Brightness
* Saturation
* Clarity
* Tint

You can adjust the brush Size, Feather, and Flow. You can Erase or Add the Effect.
Don't know why YET but it has a button for Brush A and Brush B.

One more thing that kicks Butt is the small window In the Detail Section, you can actually zoom in that little window when you are removing Noise with out having to zoom in and out in the image you are working on, Cool.

Loved the Secondary window for the 2nd monitor, that Rocks!!

I also liked the newly added Output Sharpen on the Export Dialog.

Oh, and the presets I had were automatically added to the Beta version that was cool.

Didn't play with the Slideshow,Print and Web areas yet (I almost never use those anyway) but I'll come back and post when I do.


so far thats what I noticed...

[VinnyP]

I downloaded this first thing this morning, also looks good, the most useful thing for me so far is the mask feature, very much like control points in capture NX but more precise. The 64bit versin certainly was much quicker to import and render previews on my machine.

[Dabhand16]

Sofar, so good, then

On the strength of these reports I might give it a go too.

[simpbow]

Happy with what I've got[capture one four] but there's no harm in trying it.

[j sotelo]

Wonder what the upgrade is going to cost... since many people wont need Photoshop anymore

[stepheno]

....and will it still be free to those who got complimentary LR1?