Adobe

After a months-long public beta, which featured two releases, Adobe has released the final version of their Lightroom 3 software application. Thanks to the long beta, developers were able to make refinements to the application based on user feedback, resulting in an extremely functional, polished, and stable software application. Lightroom 3 boasts numerous compelling reasons for users to upgrade; here are three.

Every April, those involved in professional audio/video recording from broadcasters to event videographers converge onto Las Vegas to check out what hot new product will best improve their productions. A candy store for film and video professionals, NAB is the first place for the industry to decide what to purchase and what new technology is on the cutting edge. This year NAB seemed to focus on 3D television and improved support for DSLR camera's with HD video capabilities.

We always hear about loyal customers who travel great distances and visit New York City's many incredible sites and always find the time to stop by B&H's Superstore on 34th Street and 9th Avenue. These customers are usually flabbergasted at the sheer size, overwhelmed by the amount of products on display, marvel at the conveyor belt system and equally impressed with the knowledge of our Sales Associates. But most of our out-of-town customers only know B&H as the home for photography and nothing else. Well, B&H is a lot more.

My background in filmmaking and animating keeps my focus on any editing and animation tools that become available. I've used Photoshop over the years to design textures for 3D objects or basic photo touchups required for the final video project. And although I have a collection of decent SLR cameras, still photography is more of a hobby for me, so I've limited my use with Photoshop to the video/animating worlds. Thus when Photoshop CS4 Extended came out a couple of years ago, I was already familiar with the basic animating tools included that may have eluded the amateur or pro photographer.

It feels like Adobe is fairly new to the audio editing game. While they're the kings of photo editing, they're not the first company you may think of when it comes to professional audio editing. However, they've been at it longer than you might think. With Audition 3, the latest version of their pro-level recording and editing software, Adobe puts themselves right at the front of the line for comprehensive features and ease of use.