After over a year of trials and feedback from over 500,000 Beta Testers, Adobe has today announced the retail launch of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.0.

The post-production software is available for pre-order from today and will start shipping in mid-February. The hotly anticipated program is aimed at professional photographers and serious enthusiasts and enables them to import, manage and present large volumes of digital images. Viewed by many as a rival to Apple?s Aperture software, Lightroom will be available for an introductory price of £147 from the Adobe Store until 30 April, and will later sell for £205.

Read on for the for full press release from Adobe:

Adobe Debuts Photoshop Lightroom 1.0
Over 500,000 Beta Testers Help Shape New Digital Photography Software

London ? Jan. 29, 2007 ? Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced that Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 software is now available for pre-order and is expected to ship in mid-February 2007. Photoshop Lightroom enables professional photographers to import, manage and present large volumes of digital photographs, helping photographers spend more time behind the lens and less time at the computer. With more than 500,000 photographers participating in the public beta program over the last 12 months, Photoshop Lightroom now includes a wealth of innovative features that streamline digital photography workflows. Recognising the photography community for their efforts, Adobe is offering Photoshop Lightroom at a special introductory price of £125 (ex VAT) until April 30, 2007 at the Adobe Store. Photoshop Lightroom will later sell for an estimated street price of £175 (ex VAT).

?It?s an unlikely scenario that professional photographers would moonlight as software developers,? said John Loiacono, senior vice president, Creative Solutions Business Unit at Adobe. ?Fortunately for us, they were willing to give it a shot. Everything, from image viewing and evaluation tools to timesaving editing features, was developed with the help of photographers. This was truly a collaborative effort and we extend our thanks to everyone who provided invaluable feedback to help us deliver a powerhouse professional photography tool.?

Lightroom Feature Advancements
Photoshop Lightroom includes new functionality added since beta 4.1, with significant changes to the Library and Develop modules complementing improvements to the Slideshow, Print and Web components. While in the Library module, new advanced keywording tools help photographers filter through large collections, and an improved import dialogue with more flexible file handling allows more choice when determining file location. The new Key Metadata Browser provides quick access to key information tags with an improved ranking and rating system that now incorporates colour labels and a pick/reject system that sorts and locates photographs faster than ever. New to the Develop module, Virtual Copies and Snapshot tools help present multiple versions of the same image, providing the most choice to clients without the confusion of saving separate physical versions.

Additional tools added include a Hue, Saturation and Luminance targeted adjustment tool for precise and intuitive image edits. Clone and Healing features provide non-destructive edits to eliminate sensor dust across one or many images.

High-Quality Raw Processing
Photoshop Lightroom leverages Adobe Camera Raw technology and supports over 150 native raw file formats, in addition to JPEG and TIFF, bringing raw conversion into a single workflow experience. The latest camera models supported include the Nikon D40 and D80 and the Pentax K10D. This support means that photographers can use Lightroom with even the newest cameras on the market, knowing that the image files will be recognised today and in the future. Upon import, files can be converted to the Digital Negative specification (DNG) or renamed and segmented by folder or date. DNG is an industry-wide initiative to create a universal file format for solving workflow and archiving issues. It aims to eliminate barriers to new camera adoption while giving professional photographers the confidence that their digital body of work is securely archived and will remain accessible as digital imaging technology evolves.

?Photoshop Lightroom gives me the capabilities to get everything out of a raw file. Now I can easily duplicate enhancements and apply them across a range of similar images almost instantly,? said Denis Reggie, a renowned celebrity and society wedding photographer. ?Lightroom is brilliantly conceived and masterfully executed. I can see my digital workflow moving fully to Lightroom now that it is final.?

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom will ship in mid-February 2007 and is available for pre-order in the United States and Canada through the Adobe Store at www.adobe.com/store for a special introductory price of £125 (ex VAT). The £50 discount is offered to all customers until April 30, 2007 in appreciation of loyal Photoshop users, early supporters of Photoshop Lightroom and beta participants who devoted time, energy and feedback throughout the process. Photoshop Lightroom will later sell for an estimated street price of £175 (ex VAT). Recommended system requirements are Macintosh OSX 10.4.3, 1 GHz PowerPC G4 processor or Microsoft® Windows® XP SP2, Intel® Pentium 4® Processor, and 768 MB RAM and a 1024×768 resolution screen. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a Universal Binary application that will run natively on PowerPC and new Intel-based Macintosh systems.

The announcement of Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 signifies the official conclusion of the groundbreaking Lightroom beta program. Users of Lightroom beta will have access to the program until its expiration on February 28, 2007.

To read more news and reviews about Adobe products, click here

Got an opinion on this story? Why not post a comment on our news message boards