Macworld Magazine today published my full review of Lightroom 4, which is now available for $149. Here are my pros and cons from that article.
Pros
- Develop module has improved organization and functionality
- Additional brushing tools
- New soft proofing capability
- New video management tools
- New Map module includes reverse geotagging
- New Book module with Blurb integration and PDF output
- New DNG conversion options
- Email capability for sending photos from within the application
- Lower price compared to previous versions
Cons
- Can't stitch video snippets together
- No Mac Address Book integration for email
As you can see, the pros definitely outweigh the cons with this latest release. It's a good value for the dollar.
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To me the most important thing here is what new things it brings to the raw conversion and file handling game as compared to previous versions AND other software like Aperture. At this price, most Lightroom users will upgrade anyway, it's the Aperture users among us who are most curious about the value of Lightroom 4 as compared to previous versions.
I think we have to wait for Aperture 4 so we can compare apples to apples. I use Aperture to run my photo business. And as much as I like Lightroom 4, I don't see anything here that would compel me to switch at this time. We will definitely revisit this subject once we have the Aperture 4 release in hand.
Thanks for the thoughtful review, Derrick!
I'm an enthusiast rather than a professional, and I had been pondering a switch to Lightroom because of what I perceive to be some lingering performance issues with Aperture 3.
However, based on your review and assessment, I think I'll stick with Aperture for now and hopefully Aperture 4 will keep pace with Adobe's offering.
Looking at your review its all Pro's for me. As I don't do video & don't have a MAC, so don't need to worry about mac email integration.
The other cons, the inability to deal with timezone... (unless this changed with the Beta, I haven't tried yet the final release)