February 14, 2006 - Adobe has released Lightroom Beta 2, the second beta testing program in the evolution of their digital workflow software. Lightroom Beta 2 is Mac Universal, meaning that it can run natively on both Power PC and Intel-based Mac computers.
New features in the Adobe Lightroom Beta 2 release include:
• Crop and Straighten tools
• Slideshow audio
• White balance support for the Nikon D2X, D2Hs and D50
• Hierarchical keyword sets
• XMP import and export
• Improved Edit in Photoshop
• Improved metadata
Adobe notes that old database files are preserved and upgraded when downloading Beta 2, but that the entire download and upgrade process may take up to an hour.
Adobe Lightroom Beta 2, like the first version, can be downloaded for free in an effort to involve photographers in the development process. For further information on downloading Adobe Lightroom Beta 2, go to: http://labs.macromedia.com/technologies/lightroom and read the release notes PDF under “Product Details”:
A Windows version has been announced, but will not be released until “late this 2006 year.”
