Lightroom 3 Beta Available for Download for Free

Adobe Labs has just released the Lightroom 3 Beta for public download and testing.

From the Adobe Labs site:

Some of the new features included for you to play with in the Lightroom 3 Beta are:

• Brand new performance architecture, building for the future of growing image libraries
• State-of-the-art noise reduction to help you perfect your high ISO shots
• Watermarking tool that helps you customize and protect your images with ease
• Portable sharable slideshows with audio—designed to give you more flexibility and impact on how you choose to share your images, you can now save and export your slideshows as videos and include audio
• Flexible customizable print package creation so your print package layouts are all your own
• Film grain simulation tool for enhancing your images to look as gritty as you want
• New import handling designed to make importing streamlined and easy
• More flexible online publishing options so you can post your images online to certain online photo sharing sites directly from inside Lightroom 3 beta (may require third-party plug-ins)*

Click this link to see short videos about The Lightroom 3 Beta.

Click this link to read the pdf Release Notes for The Lightroom 3 Beta.

Just Posted: Resources for Lightroom 3 beta

Click this link to go to the Adobe Labs Lightroom 3 site page for the download and further info.

The Lightroom 3 Beta will expire on April 30, 2010. (You decide if that means anything about the release of Photoshop CS5 ;>)

Beta software should always be considered a work in progress, not yet quite finished. As such, there may/will be bugs or other issues. If you are unsure about installing beta software, even from a reputable company such as Adobe, then don’t do it.

Take my grandmother the hacker’s advice: Don’t Beta, Be Happy! ;>}