Lightroom v. Bridge: Pros and Cons?

[wda]

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I have searched the forum to see if this topic has been raised. No success. So,

 

Has any Forum member reached any conclusions about whether Lightroom under Windows has a clearly superior performance keywording pictures than CS2 Bridge?

 

I have had to rely on Bridge for so much but find it frustratingly slow and unstable. For example, batch keywording takes forever. Also if I try to drag a keyword from OTHER to a named Keyword Set the whole programme suddenly dies after one or two operations.

 

Magazine reviews, so far, have merely described its features. Only busy Leica users will have subjected it to intensive keywording and batch processing.

 

Any useful conclusions from those who have tried the programme?

 

Thank you.

 

David

I am reluctant to buy Lightroom unless

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[jrc]

If you go here:

 

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/?sdid=RNHV

 

You can download a free 30 day trial of Lightroom.

 

I used both Lightroom and PSCS2, and used to use Bridge -- but Lightroom is a kind of all-in-one solution, with better photo-review capabilities, I think, than Bridge, although with a bit more work and more clicks, you can do most of what you can do in Lightroom in Bridge. And, of course, there arfe lots of things that you can do in teh full Photoshop that you can't do in Lightroom. But I like Lightroom a lot, and haven't used Photoshop so much since I got it.

 

JC

[albertknappmd]

I had the same problems with CS2 and Adobe Camera RAW... I have started using Lightroom and it is much much better re keywords etc... Go with lightroom and you will find that most of what you do will be done in LR... I still use CS2 for masks etc...

[wda]

If you go here:

 

Adobe - Photoshop Lightroom

 

You can download a free 30 day trial of Lightroom.

 

I used both Lightroom and PSCS2, and used to use Bridge -- but Lightroom is a kind of all-in-one solution, with better photo-review capabilities, I think, than Bridge, although with a bit more work and more clicks, you can do most of what you can do in Lightroom in Bridge. And, of course, there arfe lots of things that you can do in teh full Photoshop that you can't do in Lightroom. But I like Lightroom a lot, and haven't used Photoshop so much since I got it.

 

JC

 

John,

 

Thank you for your comments. I thought I was too late to download a trial version, but I will try.

 

David

[wda]

I had the same problems with CS2 and Adobe Camera RAW... I have started using Lightroom and it is much much better re keywords etc... Go with lightroom and you will find that most of what you do will be done in LR... I still use CS2 for masks etc...

Albert,

 

Thank you for the benefit of your experience. Has Lightroom given you any shocks due to sudden death of the programme like Bridge does?

 

I use iView MediaPro for cataloguing because Bridge's search facility was woefully slow. How does Lightroom perform in this department?

 

David

[woodda]

Just personnel experience but Niether Lightroom or bridge is fast. I haev been trialing Lightroom and my conclusion is as follows

 

Pros

1. Like the all in one photo management, edit, print and nice web gallery

2 Great review features

 

Cons.

1. Metadata in external XMP not in photo. What do you do if they get seperated:)

2. Cannot simply import new IPCt etc if this is updated in external application like Iview. You can to be fair but it is slow and unriable

3. deleting and changing IPCT . say 1000 photos have 3 keyword you want to get rid off. It is painfully slow

4. Previews on not already there but take time to be created on the fly.

5. Poor support from Apple. Better support from forum

6. Poor sharpening tools

 

Generally if it was as fast and as easy to use as Iview and you could garantee never to loose the metatdata it would be a killer application

[Shootist]

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I suggest you wait 5-10 days until PS CS3 comes out with the new Bridge and ACR4 before you make the decision to go with Lightroom. You can then buy PS CS3 and download the trial for lightroom and switch back and forth.

[wda]

I suggest you wait 5-10 days until PS CS3 comes out with the new Bridge and ACR4 before you make the decision to go with Lightroom. You can then buy PS CS3 and download the trial for lightroom and switch back and forth.

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks.

 

David

[Guest stnami]

If you have any real problems with speed or crashing with either applications, then it's time to look at your computer setup. I setup graphics workspaces for education systems, sure there are issues with computers but rarely is there an issue with an application such as Bridge, , Illustrator, Macromedia etc..

 

Work within the capacities of the application, it can only do what it is programmed to do wish lists/hope etc create situations of time wasting

[wda]

Just personnel experience but Niether Lightroom or bridge is fast. I haev been trialing Lightroom and my conclusion is as follows

 

Pros

1. Like the all in one photo management, edit, print and nice web gallery

2 Great review features

 

Cons.

1. Metadata in external XMP not in photo. What do you do if they get seperated:)

2. Cannot simply import new IPCt etc if this is updated in external application like Iview. You can to be fair but it is slow and unriable

3. deleting and changing IPCT . say 1000 photos have 3 keyword you want to get rid off. It is painfully slow

4. Previews on not already there but take time to be created on the fly.

5. Poor support from Apple. Better support from forum

6. Poor sharpening tools

 

Generally if it was as fast and as easy to use as Iview and you could garantee never to loose the metatdata it would be a killer application

Darrell,

 

Thank you for your analysis. Just what I wanted. I wish Adobe would read your last wish!

 

David

[woodda]

Thansk for the computer hint. it certainly needs a good PC. mine is reasonable

 

 

Dual core duo 6400 overclocked

Auss P55 Wifi

2gb 1000mhz RAM overclocked

6 seperated hard drives (1 program, one scartch, photos, data, etc)

 

Regards

[woodda]

stnami,

 

I agree you can always want more and it certianly does some things well as I suggested. It is unfortuante that its DAM facilities are not proporely thought through and this prevents it for me being really usable at the moment. I wish it was both a DAM and the rest but it needs working on before I can ditch Iview and Photoshop as I wast tones of time waiting for it to do processes that it offers but takes more time than using my old 2 applications.

 

Regards

[heninger]

Just personnel experience but Niether Lightroom or bridge is fast. I haev been trialing Lightroom and my conclusion is as follows

 

Pros

1. Like the all in one photo management, edit, print and nice web gallery

2 Great review features

 

Cons.

1. Metadata in external XMP not in photo. What do you do if they get seperated:)

2. Cannot simply import new IPCt etc if this is updated in external application like Iview. You can to be fair but it is slow and unriable

3. deleting and changing IPCT . say 1000 photos have 3 keyword you want to get rid off. It is painfully slow

4. Previews on not already there but take time to be created on the fly.

5. Poor support from Apple. Better support from forum

6. Poor sharpening tools

 

Generally if it was as fast and as easy to use as Iview and you could garantee never to loose the metatdata it would be a killer application

 

Metadata can be written to your DNG's easily. Just turn it on in the preferences. Problem solved.

 

You can create previews on import by checking the "Render Standard Previews" in the Import dialog.

 

Apple support? Since when is that a ding against LR that Apple does not support it?

 

BTW, it runs fine on my Macs *and* my PCs. It runs circles around Aperture and is more efficient than Bridge/ACR/PS. Maybe you mean Adobe support?

 

The metadata problems might be more Iviews problem than Lightroom.

 

Sharpening is very basic, agreed.

[designdog]

The more apt comparison is with Photoshop CS3, which includes the same version of Adobe RAW that Lightroom is based on. Really, there is nothing you can do in Lightroom that you can't do in PS CS3, albiet without the easy-to-use target selector.

 

The key is that Lightroom edits are "non-destructive", whereas Photoshop edits, unless made in layers or smart filters, are. Not a problem if you are scrupulous in backing up your files before processing them.

 

Photoshop has plugins, layers and filters. Lightroom has compare, and will have plugins soon. Photoshop has soft proofing. Lightroom has better web galleries. Finally, iView Media Pro is the better asset manager.

 

I use all three, every day. Couldn't make do without Photoshop, though.

 

-ddog

[BillBrittain]

I can speak to Lightroom vs. Bridge only on the Mac platform.

 

After using Bridge to manage my images for about 2 years, I was happy to move to Lightroom and did it immmediately upon release 1.0. I experimented with the Beta versions from the beginning and was convinced that it was the way to go.

 

My Lightroom library now has 2243 images. I have not imported any of the 350GB of images from the folders I used to manage with Bridge.

 

There's a learning curve, to be sure. Many of the complaints others have raised are due simply to their own ignorance of the program. One good way to get up to speed is to purchase the tutorials from luminouslandscape.com

 

I find the speed to be much greater than Bridge. The keywording and database functions are exceptional and really help me in my wedding photography business. RAW processing is fantastic, although you will get that if you move to CS3 as well. The "slideshow" and "web" modules help me to maintain a professional presence and work quite seamlessly.

 

The ability to synchronize data (including spot healing) between files is exceptional.

 

Whereas Bridge would occasionally slow down and the various modules linking to Photoshop (Print package, Web Gallery, etc...) would fail or crash, I have had no problems like that with Lightroom.

[bill vann]

i love lightroom but:

 

won't load many files

 

printer function locks up and give me memory errors (2 gig, not likely)

 

outputs to CS3 which i'm trying and it ogten locks up CS3

 

dislike (and have trouble with the cloning)

 

that said it is my go to and my usage of CS2 or 3 has dropped by 75% since i got it. love the develop section.

 

bill

[wda]

i love lightroom but:

 

won't load many files

 

printer function locks up and give me memory errors (2 gig, not likely)

 

outputs to CS3 which i'm trying and it ogten locks up CS3

 

dislike (and have trouble with the cloning)

 

that said it is my go to and my usage of CS2 or 3 has dropped by 75% since i got it. love the develop section.

 

bill

 

Bill, your experience is slightly worrying. Of course, you are trying to get two beta programmes to work together which may partly explain the crashing.

 

I tried to download a trial version of Lightroom but it seems that is no longer possible although the download button is still shown. At present I am hoping that the improved Bridge in CS3 will solve the pedetrian pace of the earlier version in CS2. Has that been your experience with CS3? (When it works!)

 

David

[bill vann]

i really like CS3 and will get it upon release even though LR (i have the full version, paid for it) is really great.

 

I am disappointed with the hiccups, but the actual workings are terrific and i do not regret paying for it at all

 

bill

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[xrogers]

Bill, your experience is slightly worrying. Of course, you are trying to get two beta programmes to work together which may partly explain the crashing.

 

I tried to download a trial version of Lightroom but it seems that is no longer possible although the download button is still shown. At present I am hoping that the improved Bridge in CS3 will solve the pedetrian pace of the earlier version in CS2. Has that been your experience with CS3? (When it works!)

 

David

 

I just downloaded CS3 beta (I have CS2) Friday at http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/ , and got Lightroom 1.0 30-day eval at http://www.adobe.com/downloads/ . You need an Adobe ID to get either (the ID is free, if I recall correctly). If you want to compare Bridge, you also need to download the beta 2 of Bridge at the Adobe Labs link (the CS3 link). You get two days of CS3 unless you provide a photoshop serial nubmer, in which case you get 30 days there as well.

 

Lightroom and CS3 have been stable on my G5, but I did have to change the Bridge "Advanced" preferences to check "Use Software Rendering" (otherwise the windows would not update, making Bridge useless). None of them have crashed on me yet (I haven't worked CS3 hard, though).

 

I don't have quantative test results to share, but some random impressions:

1. Lightroom import is noticably faster on an Intel MacBook (1.83 Ghz Core Duo) than a G5 (dual 2.0 Ghz G5 tower).

2. In general use, Lightroom seems very quick on either system.

3. Bridge seems slow importing on either system, but okay otherwise.

4. Lightrooom black and white conversions are not as good as JFI profiles in Raw Developer, but can be tweeked to get comparable. It might even be worth the effort to do the tweeking.

5. Because I've directly copied from cards, most of my photos are in "DCIM/Leica101" or similar folders inside dated folders. Bridge requires clicking through these. Boring, useless work. Is there a way to get Bridge to show all photos from a tree of folders?

6. Lightrooom web output is cool. I hope some method of generating templates is provided.

7. The Lightroom/ACR recovery slider is great.

8. Lightroom and Bridge both support useful M8 browsing without conversion, unlike iView. Happiness.

9. I like Lightroom browser stacks. I think these are avilable in Bridge too, but haven't been using it as much.

10. I prefer Lightroom zooming to Bridge's loupe.

11. Color for most shots seems quite good. But I miss Jamie's IR profiles. Color is improved with camera calibration (using ColorChecker and chromaholics script).

 

So far, I'm not excited about Bridge, but could perhaps get more interested if I did some automation of initial import. I prefer iView catalogs to forced folder views, but maybe I'll find a way to view mutiple folders at once, and get the same effect (anyone out there know if this is possible?).

 

I like Lightroom (with some of the same reservations, but it seems to have virtues as well). 28 days left to evaluate...

 

Until later,

 

--clyde

[brucek]

I tried to download a trial version of Lightroom but it seems that is no longer possible although the download button is still shown.

 

Try going to http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/ and click on the Download Free Trial link in the upper right.