I do n’t mean Fabio Riccardi sleeps much : yesterday his company , Light Crafts , postedLightZone 3.0 , which debuts bare month after the dismission of Version 2.0 , and only a year and a half after Version 1.0 became available . The guy definitely burns the midnight rock oil .
LightZone is an redaction , management and depth psychology tool for your digital images , one that the ship’s company arrogate bring an “ levelheaded , ” alternative attack to photo editing . This approach is center less on using “ bucket of numbers ” to correct images ( i.e. what Photoshop makes you do , according to Fabio ) , and more on traditional photographic visualization dick like Ansel Adams’Zone arrangement . As the speedy tread of rendering number indicates — and I can say that every primary update has hadmajorimprovements — Light Crafts is committed to producing a top - degree program for photographer , whether they be plastic film - based and scanning their image , or are using the latest digital tv camera .
Version 3.0 includes a more streamlined user interface , a new Styles feature that implement predetermined enhancements to an image or grouping of images , hard Raw - image editing functionality and more . It also has deeper image - direction features than the last version ; Light Crafts mean LightZone to be used by itself as an mental image editor and asset director . ( A lower - priced adaptation , LightZone Basic , is available without the asset - management feature , and is plan to be an international editor program to a program like Apple ’s Aperture . )
I have n’t yet had a chance to do much more than download the update and work on one or two images , so I ca n’t point out on a lot : the interface improvements emphatically make it easier to find your way into the program , the on - screen supporter also continues to improve in impressive ways , and the new Styles pallet is quite nice ( see the ikon below , on the left side ) , offering a solid reach of toning and picture option . As an asset manager , it ’s much more gratuitous - form than Lightroom or Aperture , but it seems to fit out in well with the aesthetic that Light Crafts is after .
LightZone has its disciple — Uwe Steinmuller of Digital Outback Photo , for example , who just posted a quickfirst lookof the Modern version — and it is distinctly designed for the photographer who require to focalize less on filters and rubber legal tender , and more on “ make grow ” their digital negatives . I have always like work with LightZone ’s ZoneMapper tool , and it has a very intuitive pick tool that make it much easy for you to align portions of an simulacrum — something both Lightroom and Aperture currently miss , by the way .
LightZone 3.0 is priced at $ 250 , and a 30 - sidereal day , full functional demo is usable if you want to test it . Upgrades from late versions start at $ 49 . LightZone Basic is n’t available yet , but should be in the issue forth weeks for $ 150 . It ’s worth noting that a Linux - based version is available , too ; Light Crafts being that rarity in the software program Earth , offer an software for the three major operating system platforms ( Mac OS X , Linux , and that Microsoft affair ) .
