[UPDATE (June 8th) – Lightroom 3 is now shipping! Win a free upgrade.]
With May wrapping up it’s time to take another look at a question we first wrote about two months ago, “when is Lightroom 3 coming out?” Back then we concluded, “with luck we expect to see general availability of Adobe Lightroom 3.0 in June, 2010.” Since then, the evidence has grown that we could see the final LR3 quite soon, perhaps only a matter of weeks…
First, the current Lightroom 3 beta version will expire at the end of June, and remains free to download and use until then. But come June 30th this beta will stop working, and it seems unlikely that Adobe would ask its hungry Lightroom userbase to hold on for a third beta or a further extension before our beta workflows are switched to the final release – even moreso considering it’s been nearly two years since Lightroom 2 first came out.
Second, this week there’s been a big publicity push surrounding the launch of Scott Kelby’s new Lightroom 3 book, which is now on preorder… The consensus around the web is this means the final product must be getting close.
Lastly, and perhaps most interestingly, is the upcoming expiration date of a longstanding Adobe special offer whereby you can save 30% on Lightroom 2 by buying it together with Photoshop… This popular deal has been in place since Lightroom 2 launched on July 29, 2008, and it’s now ending on June 7th. So after almost two years, perhaps one can speculate – why would such offer terms now be wrapping up? Could it be because Lightroom 2 may soon no longer be available for purchase, possibly, and replaced with something else? Nobody outside of Adobe can say for sure of course, but we’ll soon find out how meaningful this might be – and if the LR2 offer could be followed by a similar one for a future version.
So put it all together and we could be looking at only a question of weeks now until the final release and delivery of Adobe Lightroom 3… One can hope anyway, and with a bit of luck the upgrade price will stay at $99.
[UPDATE (June 6th) – A new user report in the forums could be confirming: “Lightroom 3 is going to be annouced this monday or tuesday (7th or 8th of June). heard it from the adobe spokesman from pma australia 2010. he confirmed it when demonstrating Lightroom 3 Public Beta 2.”]
I like these deductions!
So reading between the lines, does that mean that June 8 is going to be the release? Thank you.
Well, nobody outside of Adobe could give you a definitive answer on that as their software release dates aren’t published in advance… And nobody inside of Adobe could tell you either, as the information is confidential and always subject to change.
But we can still try to read the tea leaves – and all in all, if you need a working date and if one had to guess, that could be a pretty reasonable estimate given the clues outlined above… That two-year-old Lightroom 2 offer is scheduled to end on June 7th, so it does beg the question as to why and what would follow.
“Save 30% on a full or upgrade version of Adobe Lightroom® 2 software when purchased along with a full or upgrade version of Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Extended, or any Creative Suite edition that includes Photoshop.* Offer [began July 29, 2008 and] ends June 7, 2010.”
Thanks for your comment!
So, for someone looking to buy their first copy of LR, would you recommend finding a cheaper version of LR2 (found one listed for $219 online), then just upgrading to LR3? Or just wait for LR3? What would you do?
Hi, thank you for your good question. We would actually suggest a third path, if you want to get started today, and for free as well… You could simply download and install the Lightroom 3 beta 2 release, which is generally considered to be excellent and very stable, and get going right away. It’s free and open to anyone, and Adobe will not leave you hanging on your workflow – no matter when Lightroom 3 is launched, you should be able to smoothly transition your work and files over to the final LR3 release when it comes.
If you went with an older version instead, your software would already be a couple years behind the curve very soon, and you’d have to put in more time later to upgrade… If you’re going to make the investment, it makes sense to us to go with the latest-and-greatest, especially considering it’s had such a long beta period to work out the bugs. Hope this helps!
Thank you, this is helpful. I just wish Adobe would be able to communicate dates like this more clearly in advance, it can be frustrating.
Wow, could it really maybe finally possibly be happening this week? It’s been a long wait, but I hope it’s coming soon because I can’t wait!