Adobe has announced that its RAW workflow software, Lightroom 1.0, is now available and shipping.

As expected, the software retails for £146.88 from Adobe's website, and is available as a boxed version and as a download.

Lightroom is not expected to be part of the next Creative Suite with Photoshop and Bridge; Adobe's site mentions that for some photographers it will replace Bridge or Camera Raw, but some will prefer to use them as well.

The Lightroom beta 4.1 will expire on 28 February, 2007.

The software had been in public beta for over a year, and the company says that over 500,000 people participated in it and gave feedback.

In the full release, Library and Develop modules have been changed and complement improvements to Slideshow, Print, and Web components.

New keywording tools will help photographers filter through large collections, while an import dialogue has been improved to allow for more flexible file handling.

In addition, a Key Metadata Browser provides quick access to information tags, while the ranking and rating system has been improved.

Image editing tools have been added, including Hue, Saturation, and Luminance, while Clone and Healing features make changes non-destructively.

The system requirements for the software are quite stringent; Mac users need OSX 10.4.3, 1GHz G4 processor, while PC users need Windows XP SP2, Pentium 4 Processor, 768MB RAM, and a 1024 x 768 screen resolution.

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