Lightroom Beta 3 Now Available

Adobe’s Lightroom, the company’s answer to Apple’s Aperture, is in its third beta release. Download it here.

On Wednesday, June 14 Adobe Systems announced the third beta release of its Lightroom pro photography application. The first beta was announced back in January and the second beta only a month after that, but the third beta seems to be that much closer to a final build. Here’s the list of new features that was in the e-mail I received:

• Before and After preview and History features in Develop to better preview and track changes
• Live preview of HTML/Flash web output in the new Web module
• Auto Import or Hot Folder for tethered shooting
• Handling of PSD and TIFF image files
• Additional resolution control when exporting photos
• Straighten tool to correct camera angle issues
• Saved module settings with Collections and Shoots
• Keyword import and export
• RGB Value readouts
• Photo reordering within a Collection
• More refined print options
• Native raw support for new camera models including the Canon EOS 30D, Epson R-D1s, Leaf Aptus 65 and Aptus 75, Olympus EVOLT E-330 and SP-320, Pentax *ist DL2, and Samsung GX-1S

One of my goals this summer is to write a lot more about Lightroom and illuminate some of its more obscure features (pardon the pun). Look for a recurring series on it soon!