Lightroom 4 purchase - advice please

I currently use PaintShopPro X4 and Picasa for my (very minimal) processing. PSP has a lot to offer but to be honest I'm not getting on with it that well so tend to not use it very often and fall back to the very simple Picasa package.

Many of you trumpet the pros of LightRoom, so having spotted V4 for a fairly good price (£44) I thought I might take the plunge, but before I do are there any pitfalls or big NoNo's I should be aware of ? Bear in mind that I'm quite simple

My DSLR's are K5 and K5iiS - they both look to be supported (Ra DNG)

Hmm does Lightroom 4 support k-5 mkiis? I would check that first my memory is a little hazy.

Hi Gary - it appears that Lightroom 4.3 added the K5iiS support. I assume that I would install LightRoom 4.0 and then I would check for updates and 4.3 would be available for download - is that how it works with Adobe stuff?

Yes, that's what happens

Thanks Barrie - are you using LightRoom V4 ?

I've just spotted you're using LightRoom V5.3? - did you upgrade from V4? Is there a lot of difference, is V4 still worth a punt?

Cheers

Lightroom is really intuitive to use. Only thing to be aware is if you want to use the ipad app then you will need to subscribe to the package for £8ish rendering your £44 spent.

why not try the month free trial first?

Yes I did upgrade, but I don't think there is much between them. I wanted the latest version in case Adobe decided to go to a subscription payment model.

I used to have PhotoShopPro, and I too read on here about how great Lightroom was, and bought into it 3 or so years ago. I now am a devoted fan of Lightroom.
However, being what used to be referred to in cricketing circles as an old fart, Lightroom only became relatively "intuitive" for me after buying a book about it- the book by Scott Kelby that can be found easily on Amazon and elsewhere was the one I chose.
Having initially tried to rely on on-line hints and tutorials without however getting properly on top of LR, I found that having the book to hand while working through the stages and processes worked much better for me.
With time and practice I have become familiar and reasonably comfortable with LR, and use the library and develop modules constantly now, having learned the basics in LR4, and progressed to LR5, so I really do feel able to recommend that book to people of similarly slight computer aptitude as me . I still keep it to hand for reference at all times, and am in fact strongly tempted to invest in Kelby's book on LR5, even though it is probably just a slightly revised version of the one I already have.
I do agree with N.McG's comments elsewhere on the forum that a physical book is a constant companion and a far more handy point of reference that depending on on-line tutorials, for the reasons he gives.
Come to think of it, I must get onto Amazon and see if they'll let me trade in Kelby's book on LR4 for his LR5 edition

To be honest you only need to know the develop and library modules. Everything else is superfluous unless you upload to your own website or create books.

I also use the Map Module to GPS tag my pics.

I still use LR4.1. I'm normally one for keeping up with latest LR releases, but LR5 didn't offer much in the way of improvements when in fact it could have done. disappointing upgrade. I'm hoping LR6 addresses that and I will upgrade.

I also shoot DNGs rather than PEF which avoids RAW recognition problems

Well as Lightroom 5.4 has iPad ability and is only available through subscription I'm guessing buying Lightroom will no longer be available anymore and 5.3 will be last standalone to purchase.

No, you can still have 5.4 as an outright purchase. It's only the iPad bit that is on subscription.

I bought LR5 shortly after it came out and so far have been prompted to download each 5.x incremental update. I think that the iPad feature needs a subscription but I have strong negative feelings towards iThings due to having had one too many bad experiences with them, so I have no interest in this feature.

EM

Ah ok I didn't realise it was just the iPad element that needs the subscription. Since subscribing though Photoshop seems to need updating every day.