lr3 vs cs5/bridge

[conscuba]

hi all,
ready to upgrade my lr2 . Cs5 comes with bridge ,which i am also considering getting,
so, any advantages to having lightroom as well? bridge and lr seem to do similar things and anything lacking in one of them then ps can do. I think....
many thanks

[Damo77]

If you get CS5, you'll also get Bridge. You don't need to "consider" it, per se.

Bridge is extraordinarily powerful - much more than many people give it credit for. Until Adobe fix the histogram problem in Lightroom, I continue to recommend Bridge over LR.

[triptych]

I like lightroom for quick cataloging and its super easy and quick to pick and reject photo's, and its easy to open to CS5 from lightroom...but I use both so it just depends what you prefer in your work flow

[conscuba]

yep,thats what i thought, but lr3 seems to be the flavor at the moment,but just dont know why people fork out extra dollars when bridge comes with p/shop. understand if u want only 1 software, but most have lr and photoshop.

[Kym]

Lightroom is much much much more than Bridge.
With LR you only use Photoshop for special cases.
They work well together.
LR is good for edits on lots of images.

[Damo77]

http://www.completedigitalphotography.com/?p=550

One version old now, but well worth the read.

[conscuba]

http://www.completedigitalphotography.com/?p=550

One version old now, but well worth the read.


tried to go to that site but it was listed as suspicious

[flame70]

Lightroom is much much much more than Bridge.
With LR you only use Photoshop for special cases.
They work well together.
LR is good for edits on lots of images.

Kym is right on the money :)

[MarkChap]

as far as editing goes, there is nothing you can do in Lightroom that can't be done in Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw, the Raw processor in Lightroom is after all ACR anyway.

Lightroom has much better cataloguing capability that Bridge, I personally get around this by key wording my images on import

[conscuba]

Lightroom is much much much more than Bridge.
With LR you only use Photoshop for special cases.
They work well together.
LR is good for edits on lots of images.

why much much much more ? i dont batch process as i prefer to work on individual images.still use film so not snap happy.

[MarkChap]

What Kym says is correct, in a manner, Lightroom IS much much more than Bridge, but when combined with ACR for editing there is not a lot between them

[conscuba]

ok, so lightroom as a stand alone program is better than bridge as a stand alone program..... but with photoshop, which comes with bridge and ACR, then lightroom is not needed. right? correct me if i am wrong. i can get the student version of ps for not much more than the lr2 upgrade to 3.

[MarkChap]

You can't get Bridge as a "stand alone" program, you get Bridge as part of Photoshop,
If you chose Lightroom as your basic editor, you will still require PS for the more detailed editing that you may need to do from time to time.

So having PS you will have Bridge, the desciscion is then whether you chose to use, Bridge/ACR for your basic editing or Lightroom.

Lightroom in a nut shell and very bascially, is Bridge and ACR combined into one interface, with some extra functionality built in.

If you choose Bridge/ACR you buy One product, Photoshop CS5, if you choose Lightroom you buy 2 Products, Photoshop CS5 AND Lightroom

[davros]

I've watched a few videos comparing LR to CS5 - will look for them shortly. LR is an edit and cataloging program while Bridge is a browser (not catalog). Basically that means that sorting through your vast portfolio and popping in and out of edits is WAY quicker than the Bridge/CS5 combo. That said, I have gone the photoshop route because I want the extra editting power.

I'll have a look for the video and repost if I find it.

[peterb666]

I have CS5 and I use Bridge and Camera RAW for over 90% of what I do. It suits me fine.

I downloaded the beta of Lightroom 3 before the final version came into being. I didn't like it that much but if I had already developed skills in Photoshop and got use to the terminology, maybe it would have been better.

Certainly if you are into processing images in batches, there great benefits in Lightroom. On the other hand, you can do similarly but using a quite different technique in Bridge and Camera RAW.

[screamer]

I used to use Elements, but moved to Lightroom about 2 years ago. For my workflow Lightroom is just superb! Photoshop has a different reason for being.

There's a good video looking at the major differences if you're a photographer.

http://www.adorama.com/alc/article/Lightroom-Versus-Photoshop-AdoramaTV

[conscuba]

thanks screamer for the vid. appreciate everyones comments. have finally decided to go lightroom and photoshop. lr for mainly its catalogs ,can see its benefit when u start accumulating a few thousand images.

[deef]

There is a lively discussion here of the relative merits of each.
http://kelbytv.com/thegrid/2011/05/17/the-grid-episode-11

I think it depends on your workflow and preferences as to which way to go.
Personaly, I love Lightroom and use Photoshop very little for photographic work, which is probably why I never bothered to upgrade from CS3.