Adobe’s Lightroom 3 and Video

Several days ago, I downloaded Adobe’s trial version of Lightroom 3, which allows you to import your video files from your camera.

To get the video on the computer, it was as simple as taking out the CF card, plugging it in, and clicking on import once Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 popped up. Easy. The video remains archived in Lightroom’s library, so I can view the video clips.

Unfortunately, there are a few issues. First, it does not allow you to do any editing of that video (at least my H.264 files from the Canon – not sure if it allows other video clips to be edited or not). It also does not allow you to right click and choose to open with another Adobe Program. It also doesn’t allow you to play the video in the small thumbnail window, which I think is also quite unfortunate.

But at least it’s a good start. Adobe’s Bridge seems to work partially better in this area already, but it’s not the same thing and I’d rather have it all in the Lightroom Library. I would love to be able to do some tweaking/developing to the still image, then copy and paste that work to the video beside it. Yes, I know; H.264 is not RAW nor a JPEG. But I’d still like to be able to work and compare images and video side-by-side and under one roof. I hope someone writes a plugin or something to help out a little in this area…

Anyway, if you’re already using Lightroom, it’s just a Lightroom upgrade away to have the video capabilities (the release date is July 1st) . If you’ve never tried it, you can always download the trial from Adobe.com and give it a whirl for 30 days.

Have thoughts about it? Share them in the comments below!

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