Adobe Lightroom 3.5 and Adobe Camera Raw 6.5 are now available as final releases, and are free for all current Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 users…

These updates include bug fixes, performance and stability improvements (20 for Lightroom and 9 for Camera Raw), plus support for 27 new lens profiles and 24 new cameras, including the Nikon Coolpix P7100, Olympus E-PL3, and Sony SLT-A77 – and could be some of the last revisions before Lightroom 4 and CS6 come out.

 » Download the Final Adobe Lightroom 3.5 for Mac OS  (a free update to Lightroom 3)
 » Download the Final Adobe Lightroom 3.5 for Windows

 » Download the Final Adobe Camera Raw 6.5 for Mac  (a free update to Photoshop CS5)
 » Download the Final Adobe Camera Raw 6.5 for Windows

Read more details about the update including the 29 fixes that were made as well as the new cameras supported, or take a look at the complete list of all Lightroom-supported cameras.

Lightroom 3.5 is a recommended update and is available in 12 languages: English, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (Traditional and Simplified).   If you don’t yet own Lightroom 3, Adobe’s free trial download has also now been moved up to version 3.5.

Read more…

Continuing our history of providing the direct download links for major Adobe products such as Creative Suite 5.5, Lightroom 4, and Captivate 5, below you’ll find the direct free trial links from Adobe’s servers for the brand new releases of Photoshop Elements 10 and Premiere Elements 10, for both Windows and the Mac OS.

The links given below go to the authentic and secure files residing on Adobe’s servers, are guaranteed genuine and will not change. They are especially useful when you are unable to download Adobe’s free trials via other means – often due to difficulties with the Akamai Download Manager (the Adobe DLM). With the links provided below, you can use your own browser’s download capability, or another download manager of your choice.

For setting up Elements on Windows (both PSE 10 and PRE 10), each program consists of two downloaded files: an .exe and a 7-Zip file (.7z). The .exe file will only work (and install) once the .7z file is fully downloaded and resides in the same location. For the Mac, it’s just a single .dmg file for each program.

[ Find out more with our Elements 10 Release Overview... or see what's new in 10 vs. 9. ]

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[UPDATE (5/7/2012) – These still work to download the CS5.5 trials.
We also now have the new CS6 Direct Download Links!]

Some of the most visited resources on this site are the direct download links provided for most major Adobe products. So continuing in this tradition, here is a complete set of direct down­load links for all the new Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 software (Windows and Mac), for instant easy access and the ability to use your own download manager or download assistant if you have any difficulty with what Adobe normally employs and need to access the CS5.5 trials without it…

We have also linked the free CS5.5 Extra Content downloads (aka Additional or Functional Content) for all available products.

Below is a table for CS5.5 trial downloads in major languages. These links go to the auth­entic and original CS5.5 files residing on Adobe’s servers, are guaranteed genuine and will not change. For Windows, each program consists of up to two files, an .exe and a 7-Zip file (.7z). The .exe file will only work once the .7z file is fully downloaded and resides in the same location. For the Mac, it’s just a single .dmg file for each program.

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Adobe Lightroom 3.4 and Adobe Camera Raw 6.4 are now available as final releases, and are free for all current Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 owners… These updates include bug fixes, performance and stability improvements (27 for Lightroom and 9 for Camera Raw), plus support for 30 new lens profiles and 13 new cameras, including the Nikon D5100, Canon EOS 600D, and Olympus XZ-1:

 » Download the Final Adobe Lightroom 3.4.1 for Mac (a free update to Lightroom 3)
 » Download the Final Adobe Lightroom 3.4.1 for Windows

 » Download the Final Adobe Camera Raw 6.4.1 for Mac (a free update to Photoshop CS5)
 » Download the Final Adobe Camera Raw 6.4.1 for Windows

Read more details about the update including the 36 fixes that were made as well as the new cameras supported, or take a look at the complete list of all Lightroom-supported cameras.

Lightroom 3.4 is a recommended update and is available in 12 languages: English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (Traditional and Simplified).   If you don’t yet own Lightroom 3, Adobe’s free trial download has also now been moved up to version 3.4.

Read more…

[UPDATE – Also see our new Photoshop CS6 Giveaway!]

Adobe has just launched a major sweepstakes to give away US$55,000 in cash and popular software to dozens of future winners… To enter “Try It, Believe It, Win It – the Adobe CS5 Sweepstakes”, all you have to do is download a free trial of any CS5 product – either individual like Photoshop CS5, or a suite like CS5 Design Premium.

The Grand Prize is a $10,000 home office technology makeover (in the form of a $10,000 Visa gift card, so it’s really free to use as you wish), followed by five First Prizes of CS5 Master Collection, five Second Prizes of CS5 Design Premium, five Third Prizes of CS5 Web Premium, five Fourth Prizes of CS5 Production Premium, and five Fifth Prizes of Photoshop CS5 Extended…

Read more…

Final Versions of Adobe Lightroom 3.3 and Adobe Camera Raw 6.3

Adobe Lightroom 3.3 and Adobe Camera Raw 6.3 are now available as final releases, and are free for all current Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 owners… These updates include bug fixes, performance and stability improvements (37 for Lightroom and 9 for Camera Raw), plus support for 69 new lens profiles and 15 new cameras, including the Canon PowerShot S95, Nikon D7000, Olympus E-5:

 » Download the Final Adobe Lightroom 3.3 for Mac (a free update to Lightroom 3)
 » Download the Final Adobe Lightroom 3.3 for Windows

 » Download the Final Adobe Camera Raw 6.3 for Mac (a free update to Photoshop CS5)
 » Download the Final Adobe Camera Raw 6.3 for Windows

Read more…

Adobe Lightroom 3.2 and Adobe Camera Raw 6.2 are now available as final releases, and are free for all current Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5 owners… These updates include bug fixes, performance and stability improvements, new camera and lens profile support, and new features for Lightroom:

 » Download the Final Adobe Lightroom 3.2 for Mac (a free update to Lightroom 3.0)
 » Download the Final Adobe Lightroom 3.2 for Windows

 » Download the Final Adobe Camera Raw 6.2 for Mac (a free update to Photoshop CS5)
 » Download the Final Adobe Camera Raw 6.2 for Windows

While it may seem Adobe skipped a version with no Lightroom 3.1, this was done just to align the point release number with Camera Raw (ACR 6.2), which shares the camera-related features. Since the initial “Release Candidate” for LR 3.2 was posted earlier this month, Adobe has fixed more bugs (including an issue with the new Facebook-publish feature), supported more cameras, plus added direct publishing to SmugMug.

Read more…

Since we started offering the direct download links for all CS5 product trials last week, there have been some inquiries on Acrobat’s absence from Adobe’s suite downloads, and it also seems to be a common question out there on the Net…

Acrobat 9.3 Pro is the version that is officially part of Creative Suite 5, but it is not included in the trial versions of any of Adobe’s CS5 suites… So if you would like it, Acrobat Pro must be down­loaded separately (in English, French, German, or Japanese), with its own 30-day trial period – although note that Adobe offers an Acrobat 9 trial for Windows only.

If you decide to convert your trial and purchase any CS5 suite edition on either Windows or Mac (except for Production Premium), you will receive a full working copy of Acrobat 9 Pro. Please note – very important - you need (and should make sure to receive) a separate serial number from Adobe for Acrobat 9 Pro – the main CS5 key you get for the rest of the suite will not work for Acrobat.

So, why did Adobe separate Acrobat 9 from the rest of the CS5 suite, for trials and activation? We suspect it’s because Acrobat 9 will be celebrating its second birthday soon and the release of Acrobat 10 is due out later this year – and so by creating separate packages and license keys, it will make it much easier to swap the new version of Acrobat into Creative Suite 5 when it arrives…

At that point we’ll probably see a point release of CS5 that includes the new Acrobat 10, say for example Creative Suite 5.3 (similarly to how CS3 became CS3.3 when Acrobat 9 was announced and incorporated in June 2008) – and current CS5 users will easily be able to upgrade if desired.

[UPDATE (November 15th) – The new release of Acrobat X is out! Download a free trial, or find out more about the upcoming CS5.5 point release...]

[UPDATE (April 30th) – As forecast below, all CS5 products are now shipping today!]

Adobe’s Creative Suite 5 could be released as soon as next week. What’s more, the free trial downloads and Student and Teacher Editions will be available on the same day. That’s the latest word from Terry White, Worldwide Design Evangelist for Adobe Systems, at an online Q&A session yesterday afternoon…

Here’s the dialogue:

Question: When will CS5 hit the shelves? When I called Adobe, they said the release date would be April 30th. Terry, can you confirm this?
Terry White: I can’t confirm or deny it, but if that’s what they told you…
Terry White: The official answer is mid-May. In any event, April 30th – if it’s April 30th – would be the time it would leave the doors of Adobe, not arrive.

Question: How about the official date for CS5 trial versions?
Terry White: Previously the release of the trials has lagged. However I’m pleased to announce that whatever the official release date is, the free trial downloads will be available the same day.

Question: And the Student (Education) Editions? Will they lag again as they did in CS4 or be out at the same time? Thank you.
Terry White: Everything should be available at the same time.

So this represents a much improved release calendar over CS4, which as we’ve previously noted wasn’t available until about four weeks after its announce­ment date, with the free trials and Education versions following a month after that… For CS5, the April 30th date above is con­firmed anecdotally by other reports here and here, and would mean everything potentially being available within eighteen days of the April 12th launch.

A ship date of next Friday also means there’s only one week left to buy/download CS4 from Adobe and get a free upgrade to CS5, as well as only one week left in our free Photoshop CS5 giveaway!

The “Ask a CS Pro” session above lasted for over an hour and there was plenty of other great information shared which we’ll be covering in a new post next week.

[UPDATE (June 8th) – Lightroom 3 is out! Win a free upgrade.]

We think we know when Lightroom 3 is going to ship, but while we’re waiting Adobe yesterday released a new update to Lightroom 2, bringing the popular photo management package now up to version 2.7… Adobe has added support for new and additional cameras, plus some enhancements and corrections for issues in previous releases. There were also changes to improve compatibility with settings in Lightroom 3 beta 2, and lastly the Camera Raw cache limit was increased to 200GB. New camera models added include the Canon EOS 550D, Sony A450, and Panasonic G2 and G10 (see full list of Lightroom-supported cameras).

If you already own Lightroom 2, then the update to 2.7 is free and can be downloaded here for Windows or here for Macintosh (in English, French, and German). If you still have Lightroom 1 those same links can get you to version 1.4, though a full upgrade to version 2.7 is only $99. Or you can try it out first for free.

As is customary, Adobe has released new versions of Camera Raw and DNG Converter at the same time, versions 5.7 for both Windows and Mac.