Adobe Highlights Lightroom Beta and Photoshop CS2 at PMA 2006 Convention and Trade Show

Lightroom Public Beta 2.0 Photography Community and Photoshop CS2 Ecosystem Partners Rally to Support Digital Imaging Innovation.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Feb. 27, 2006 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq: ADBE) today announced wide-spread support from the photography community and ecosystem partners for Adobe® Lightroom™ Public Beta 2.0 and Photoshop CS2 software. With two open and extensible architectures, both applications allow for new, customizable workflows and innovative plug-ins and devices.

"The inspiration for the development of Lightroom Beta and the exploration of new directions for Photoshop has come from our customers and ecosystem partners" said Deborah Whitman, vice president of product management for Digital Imaging at Adobe. "There has been a flurry of activity in the Lightroom Beta forums and it’s exciting for us to watch the beta evolve as photographers help us build an application tailored to their needs"

Lightroom Public Beta 2.0 Momentum

Lightroom Public Beta 2.0, the all-new digital imaging solution for professional photographers, has become a popular download for photographers who want to be a part of the Adobe online forums and public development of the product. With more than 100,000 copies of Lightroom Beta 1.0 downloaded and more than 2,800 photographers actively participating in the online beta discussions, Adobe has already begun to respond to the top feature requests in the forums. Lightroom Beta 2.0 is now available as a Universal Binary for compatibility with PowerPC and Intel-based Apple hardware and includes new features to streamline digital photography workflows. Adobe plans to provide a Windows® beta later this year and has already received requests for it in the forums. Over 30,000 people have downloaded Lightroom Beta 2.0, just one week since its posting. (See Addendum - Photography Community Hails Adobe Lightroom Beta)

Photoshop CS2 Ecosystem Partner Support

Photoshop CS2 ecosystem partners have also been hard at work developing solutions to help further streamline photographers’ workflow and complement the industry-standard digital imaging software application.

Hewlett-Packard Company (HP), a leading technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally has developed a new professional photo printer which includes an HP Photosmart plug-in for Adobe Photoshop CS2, which automatically synchronizes Photoshop CS2 and the printer driver for a single user interface and color management.

"We’re thrilled to be working with Adobe - a company that shares our passion for photography - to deliver solutions to photographers that enable them to produce stunning prints every time" said Jim Ruder, vice president and general manager of HP Photo Printing and Accessories, Digital Photography and Entertainment, HP. "The recent introduction of our HP Photosmart Pro B9180 Professional Photo Printer with print plug-in for Photoshop is a perfect example of how HP and Adobe are providing integrated solutions that streamline the print workflow for photographers to ensure they consistently get the professional quality they expect"

Lexar, a leading manufacturer and marketer of award-winning removable flash memory cards, USB flash drives, card readers and ATA controller technology solutions, has developed a smart image acquisition plug-in module for Adobe Bridge to be released in Spring 2006.

"Adobe offers some of the most popular applications among creative professionals and digital photographers. The robust scripting interface that Adobe has designed enabled us to develop Lexar Smart Download that brings the workflow benefits of Lexar ActiveMemory technology to Adobe Creative Suite 2 users around the world" said Dave Klenske, director of product marketing, Memory Card Business Unit, Lexar. "With the plug-in, customers using Adobe Bridge will be able to directly download images from multiple cards at the same time, append them with key IPTC metadata and easily locate them"

Logitech, a leading manufacturer of computer and video game accessories and peripherals, recently announced its collaboration with Adobe to provide Creative Suite 2 and Photoshop CS2 users with new levels of control. The new Logitech product line comprises the NuLOOQ navigator™, an innovative device used in conjunction with a mouse and a keyboard to manipulate images and documents, and the NuLOOQ tooldial™, customizable on-demand interface software that provides quick access to design tools.

"Logitech’s specialty is designing intuitive interfaces between people and computers" said Guerrino De Luca, president and chief executive officer of Logitech. "By collaborating with Adobe, who deliver industry-standards like Photoshop CS2, we’re able to extend our expertise and create truly innovative products to enhance the customer experience"

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Addendum

Photography Community Hails Adobe Lightroom Public Beta

Technology industry leaders, photographers, authors and associations provide positive feedback for Adobe Lightroom Public Beta, an all-new digital imaging solution for professional photographers.

Photographers & Authors on Lightroom Beta

"We have advanced so rapidly into the digital age of photography. Digital photography enthusiasts and professionals should be impressed with Adobe’s commitment to a collaborative development process with Lightroom Beta. Producing an application that incorporates features that we request, has helped to produce an already streamlined, elegant and functional tool to organize, process, present and print images. With the added ability to seamlessly synchronize raw image adjustments across multi-images and provide non-destructive image editing to the workflow process, Lightroom Beta allows photographers the ability to focus on creative expression"

- Jerry Courvoisier, director of Digital Programs, Santa Fe Workshops

"I recently used Lightroom Beta to output proof sheets from a recent shoot. It did a beautiful job of formatting, inserting relevant information, along with copyright protection and printing to my favorite paper with the appropriate profile. It was a breeze to work with. I found it very intuitive and it worked well on my first attempt"

- Bruce Dale, photographer - Bruce Dale Photography

"From ease of navigation to the clear interface to the elegant Lights Out mode, which dims and then hides the interface with one keystroke, Adobe Lightroom Beta frames the image with powerful features that allow me to create, interpret and explore my images. I especially appreciate that every change is absolutely non-destructive and that one day or one year from now, I can reprocess the image without compromising image quality"

- Katrin Eismann, artist, author, educator

"Although it’s still in its early days, Lightroom Beta has already provided me with a clean, focused and elegant solution for importing, managing and processing my raw images. By opening the beta process to photographers everywhere, Adobe has demonstrated its commitment to the photographic industry, and will doubtless use the feedback to make a good thing even better"

- Bruce Fraser, author "Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS2", co-founder Pixelgenius LLC

"Before Lightroom Beta, I had been using several programs to accomplish my workflow needs. Lightroom Beta gives me the ability to quickly edit, process and print my imagery in the most expeditious manner. I particularly enjoy working with the new controls in the develop module. Being able to stay in one application has made my workflow much more efficient"

- Greg Gorman, photographer - Greg Gorman Photography

"Lightroom Beta is a powerful and elegant new tool that streamlines workflow (the bane of many digital photographers) and makes it intuitive and easy-to-use while actually increasing the amount of control we are able to exert over our images. I’m excited by the possibilities, not the least of which is now -with Lightroom Beta- I’m able to spend more time making images and less time massaging them"

- Bob Krist, contributing photographer/editor, National Geographic Traveler Magazine & travel columnist, Outdoor Photographer Magazine

"Adobe promises to be a giant leap forward in RAW file adjustment and RAW file workflow. Adobe’s choice to release the product in a public beta shows a commitment to listening to their customers, which is pretty remarkable for a company this size. If you are the kind of person who likes to be on the cutting edge, take Lightroom Beta out for a spin and see what YOU think"

- Peter Krogh, photographer and author "The Digital Asset Management Book"

"Lightroom Beta performs very well even on nominal hardware, allowing me to conduct work in the field using a laptop. This is a very lean, mean and efficient product for handling RAW processing tasks. Adobe deserves an enormous amount of credit for releasing a beta to the photo community and not only asking for feedback, but providing features based upon the needs of photographers. Unlike some recent products that have found their way to market and appear to have been designed in a corporate vacuum, Lightroom Beta aims to please"

- Andrew Rodney, author "Color Management for Photographers"

Leading Photography Industry Associations on Lightroom Beta

"Lightroom Beta offers a wide array of tools that streamline image processing workflows within a single, well designed and innovative program. As a trade association representing over 5,500 publication photographers who work with digital images, ASMP is delighted to see an application that has so much potential to help our members. Kudos to Adobe for seeking feedback from the working photographic community"

- Eugene Mopsik, executive director, American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP)

"Lightroom Beta offers the greatest range of image adjustment right at the stage where they are most efficiently applied - to a batch of images during raw file conversion. When delivering tens of gigs of final files to a client you need a product that makes the work flow, not slow"

- Brian Smith, president of Editorial Photographers Association (EPA)

"Lightroom Beta is the program pro-photographers have been waiting for. We need a streamlined workflow, with easy-to-use, intuitive controls. We need software that will run on everything from a desktop workstation to a PowerBook out on a shoot. Lightroom Beta is the first and only application that fits that bill. Digital photographers are just trying to make a living and we need software that makes our job faster, easier and more fun. Lightroom Beta is exactly that"

- Scott Kelby, president, National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP)

"PMA is pleased Adobe has chosen to use the PMA 2006 Convention and Trade Show to announce the continued momentum of its Lightroom Beta program. Digital workflow tools are vital to today’s photographer and Adobe’s support for industry innovations like RAW, DNG, Flash, PDF and HTML should assist in bringing these tools to a wide audience"

- Gary Pageau, publisher, Photo Marketing Association (PMA)

"Along with `getting it’ on a broad scale, as far as professional workflow is concerned, Lightroom Beta also `gets it’ on the smaller issues that make a big difference. The print features that quickly and elegantly produce contact sheets literally save me hours on big jobs compared to my previous workflow. Bravo"

- Jack Reznicki, vice president, Professional Photographers of America (PPA)

Technology Industry Leaders on Lightroom Beta

"When I first opened Lightroom Beta I was amazed. It was immediately fun to use and exploring all the features appears to prove the promise that it is made with exactly the right level of functionality. Not less and not more. Lightroom Beta with its efficiency, its ease of use and certainly its coolness and `wow’ factor, will become one of the most favorable applications for not only the professional photographers, but also for any ambitious photo enthusiast"

- Thomas Kunz, market manager PrePress, Creative & Photo, GretagMacbeth

"For both full-and part-time professional photographers, the increasingly competitive and changing market has created exciting new opportunities. Tools such as Lightroom Beta, in conjunction with the latest color printing technologies from HP, will significantly help professional photographers increase their efficiency and leverage their creativity"

- Ana Izquierdo, director of marketing, Graphics and Imaging Business, HP

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