Some welcome news for photographers today is that not only has Adobe launched the latest version of its image editing and cataloguing software, Lightroom 4, but that the new version also comes with a significant (50%) price cut.

 

The software’s price stateside is currently a rather reasonable $149 (R1132) for the full version and $79 (R600) for the upgrade, something CNET noted is a big step down from previous Lightroom prices of $299 (R2250) and $99 (R750) for the full version and upgrade respectively.

 

The software has been available as a beta version since January, when the company called on users to provide it with feedback on the software and explained that it “values customer insights into photography workflows.”

 

 

As was promised in the beta launch, the latest version of the software boasts a number of interesting features. For example, Lightroom 4 enables users to create photobooks from their images, either by employing automatic layouts, or by selecting from amongst numerous page layouts.

 

Additionally, Adobe explained that new adjustment controls “maximise dynamic range from cameras, recovering exceptional shadow details and highlights.” In Lightroom 4, auto adjustments have also been improved, while new local adjustment controls including noise reduction, moire and white balance, have been added.

 

Along with the ability to group images by the location where they were captured, the newly implemented map module provides location tagging and reverse geo-tagging controls, as well as displaying a photographer’s common locations.

 

Another noteworthy feature is the ability to play, trim and extract frames from video clips shot on DSLRs, point-and-shoot cameras and smartphones. Adobe elaborated that video-specific presets and many standard Lightroom image adjustment controls can be applied to video clips, and adjusted videos can then be exported as a H.264 file or published directly to Facebook or Flickr.

 

“Lightroom 4 is a stunning new release that will enhance photography workflows and help photographs stand out from the crowd,” enthused Winston Hendrickson, vice president products, Creative Media Solutions at Adobe.

 

 

Beyond the addition of new features, which is exactly what we expect from Adobe, it is Lightroom’s price cut that made us take note.

 

The 50% cut is a hefty difference in anyone’s book, but even more interestingly, it follows the recent release of Adobe’s Photoshop Touch app for iPad and Android counterpart.

 

Despite being a very capable application in its own right, that software similarly became available at a very reasonable price of $10 (R75).

 

We sincerely hope that we are witnessing a trend on Adobe’s part of making its digital imaging software that much more accessible, because if that is the case, then photographers, digital artists and designers alike who have steered clear of the company’s products based on price alone have much to smile about.