Overview of Lightroom 2.0 Beta

Adobe has released a public beta version of Lightroom 2.0, which sports several new features including:

• Localized corrections such as Dodging & Burning (sweet!!)
• Ability to open in Photoshop CS3 as a Smart Object (double sweet!!)
• Post-crop vignetting (uber!)
• Improved print sharpening (based on Photokit Sharpener - finally!)

Very cool stuff indeed, but note that it's a beta and comes with some very important caveats.

For a nice walkthrough of some of the new features, check out the Computer-Darkroom site run by Ian Lyons. I'm not jumping on this one just yet as I've got some work to get done first, but sooner or later I'll take it for a spin and let you know what I think.

The localized D&B sounds totally awesome though - I *hate* having to blow out a full TIFF just to do a little dodge & burn or a vignette (on a cropped photo)... this will save me a ton of time & a lot of hard drive space.