Adobe's digital darkroom-cum-workflow software has become the standard for image makers, and for good reason. No other application offers the combination of best-in-class workflow and Adobe's image-adjusting tools, such as lens-profile-based geometry correction.

Lightroom 4 ($9.99/Month at Adobe) got a price drop from $299 to $149 and added a new Maps mode, noise-reduction and white-balance brushes, basic video editing, among other capabilities. Lightroom 5 has been available as a free beta download since April, but now the party's over for free Lightroom use. Pricing remains at $149 for new users, with upgrades available for $79. Subscribers to Adobe's Creative Cloud (CC) get Lightroom along with the CC applications. Like other new Creative Cloud apps, Lightroom will let users share their work in the Behance image creators' social network.

More of the top new Lightroom 5 features includes the following:

Advanced healing brush —the same remarkable tool offered in Photoshop, which lets you remove distracting objects from an image.

—the same remarkable tool offered in Photoshop, which lets you remove distracting objects from an image. Upright —an intelligent correction for perspective and geometry that can align verticals, horizontals, or a combination, while avoiding distortion in the rest of the image, similar to the ViewPoint product from DxO Labs.

—an intelligent correction for perspective and geometry that can align verticals, horizontals, or a combination, while avoiding distortion in the rest of the image, similar to the ViewPoint product from DxO Labs. Radial gradient— a very useful tool for bringing out non-circular objects, such as faces.

a very useful tool for bringing out non-circular objects, such as faces. Smart previews— smaller stand-in files of your photos that let you edit without the overhead of gigabytes of files.

smaller stand-in files of your photos that let you edit without the overhead of gigabytes of files. Improved Photo Book creation— now you get improved visualization of select book elements and transparent buttons for improved text creation in books mode.

now you get improved visualization of select book elements and transparent buttons for improved text creation in books mode. Slideshows can now include videos as well as still images.

Unfortunately, Lightroom 5 doesn't get the very cool new Photoshop CC feature—Camera Shake Reduction—which would be right on the money for photographers who want to get their slightly soft images tack sharp. But it does include 50 new features and 400 bug fixes, according to Adobe. One of my favorites is a true full screen view, which can be easily toggled with the F key.

For more info or to purchase and download Lightroom head to adobe.com/lightroom. And be sure to look for an update to PCMag's review of Adobe Lightroom in the coming days.

Further Reading