Thomas Hawk Digital Connection

Recently Adobe contacted me about the way that I use their products. I’ve been a long time user of Photoshop and Bridge and last year made the jump to Lightroom 2.0 as well. I’ve been super happy using Adobe products and feel that they are some of the best tools around for processing my photographs. I was pleased when they asked me if I’d like to be included as an Adobe Success Story on their website at adobe.com.

I worked with Laura Thurman from Big Sky Communications to put together the story/bio. Adobe didn’t pay me any money or compensation for participating in this project. I just felt like doing it because I thought it would be good exposure for me and I am a real true to life satisfied Adobe customer and user and am happy to share that experience with the rest of the world.

I’ve also been pleased with Adobe’s outreach to me as a blogger. When they launched Lightroom 2.0, their PR team arranged for Tom Hogarty at Adobe to give me a personal tour of the new product before the launch that allowed me to put together a pretty good review of the product on launch day. I was pleased to see that they considered my blog as press along with the more traditional mainstream media outlets which were also briefed on the launch.

Anyways, I’m pleased with the Success Story that they put together, you can find it at adobe.com here. Thanks Laura and Adobe for putting this together.

Yesterday Adobe released the latest version of Lightroom, Lightroom 2.3, as well as Camera Raw 5.3.

From Adobe:

“The ‘release candidate’ label indicates that this update is well tested but would benefit from additional community testing before it is distributed automatically to all customers. The Lightroom and Camera Raw teams would like the community to help verify the quality of this update through normal usage as this will ensure that the application is tested on a wide variety of hardware and software configurations not available internally at Adobe.

Adobe is also pleased to announce the availability of Lightroom in eight new languages, including Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Korean, Chinese (simplified) and Chinese (traditional). The Lightroom 2.3 Release Candidate available on Adobe Labs includes these additional languages, and Adobe greatly appreciates any feedback the community can provide the Lightroom team.”

You can download both Lightroom 2.3 and Camera Raw 5.3 from Adobe Labs here.

You can submit feedback on the new version of Lightroom here.

Got the following email today on Adobe’s new Lightroom 2.2 Upgrade. I’m continuously impressed with how much better my work flow is now that I’ve switched to Lightroom 2.

“Adobe has released an update to its Photoshop Lightroom software, available immediately as a free upgrade for existing Lightroom 2 users. Lightroom 2.2 adds raw support for seven new camera models including the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Canon PowerShot G10. The update also includes several refinements such as enhanced performance of the local adjustment tools.

In addition, Adobe’s Camera Profiles are now available natively within Lightroom 2.2 and are provided automatically as part of this release. As the visual starting point for the raw processing work flow, camera profiles provide flexibility that allows photographers to quickly achieve their desired rendering.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 is essential for today’s digital photography workflow with quick options for importing, processing, managing, and showcasing images. With its second Lightroom update this fall, Adobe continues to show its commitment to the photographic community, allowing photographers to take advantage of the latest cameras and technology.

Lightroom 2.2 supports the following additional camera models: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon PowerShot G10, Panasonic DMC-G1, Panasonic DMC-FX150, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Panasonic DMC-LX3 and Leica D-LUX 4.

Pricing and Availability

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.2 is available now as a free download for
existing Lightroom 2 customers at http://www.adobe.com/downloads/updates/. Lightroom 2 can be purchased through the Adobe Store at http://www.adobe.com/store. The estimated street price is USD$299 for new users with an upgrade price of USD$99 for qualifying Lightroom customers.

For more information on Photoshop Lightroom 2 or to purchase the
software, visit http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/.”

Adobe – Latest Product Updates

“This new version of the Camera Raw plug-in replaces the original one that was installed with Adobe® Photoshop® CS4; Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0; and Adobe Premiere® Elements 7.0 software. Visit the Camera Raw page for a complete list of supported cameras.”

This new Raw plug-in provides official support for the new Canon 5D Mark II camera. I’ve got a new 5D Mark II on pre-order with Wolf Camera. Yesterday they told me that estimated ship date was December 5th. Looking forward to what the new 5D can do. I haven’t heard of any new Mark II 5Ds shipping yet, but previously Canon had said that they’d be shipping by the end of November.