Lightroom CC - Is it time to say good by?

[dirk]

This has been discussed endlessly on DPReview.

Sorry, but I did not follow that closely everything at dpreview over the years and since it is more likely that dpreview will be gone soon, it might make sense to preserve that knowledge here at DPRF

 

[Brian]

Well you made me look.

How To Save Your Edits In Lightroom (Classic & CC)

Here you'll learn the different ways you can save your edits in Lightroom to ensure you never lose any of your editing information.

www.bwillcreative.com

According to the author, you can change your Edits that get saved in the Catalog as XML. This can be used by other programs. I have LR4.4 on this machine, the option allows you to Edit the settings for the catalog to save Edits as XMP. I have LR6 on another machine.

 

[archer]

Sorry, but I did not follow that closely everything at dpreview over the years and since it is more likely that dpreview will be gone soon, it might make sense to preserve that knowledge here at DPRF

Here is a link for those who are interested

https://helpx.adobe.com/manage-account/using/cancel-subscription.html

 

[wklee]

I'm late to this thread. Since 2017, when this discussion started, LR6 is gone, PhaseOne Media Pro is also gone. There are DAMs which I had not looked at, like IDimager's Photo Supreme. I didn't read most of the replies.

I used Lightroom and Photoshop up to LR6 and CS6, when the Perpetual License stopped. I have barely touched any editing software. I have the Topaz AI bundle, Affinity Photo 1.0 but I don't use them often.

 

[zoomo]

I will never, and I mean NEVER, buy subscription software. It is an absolutely unfair money-grabbing system of companies which I will never support. I am actually surprised (well, not really ) that lawmakers have not jumped on this to make it unlawful. To me it's as false as a pyramid game.

 

[dirk]

For me personally this is also a question of time. I shoot always Jpeg+RAW to be safe.

But I rarely edit RAW images nowadays, because the jpegs ooc are already so good and for the use case family, friends and photoalbum on a smartphone not necessary at all.

I try to make the picture before I press the shutter. This eliminates 98% of editing requirements for me. This is the best time saving feature: Think before you shoot

I do not use any subscription model. I still use LR6, but have also licences for Capture One and DXO. But to be honest, I did not use CO1 and DXO yet really, because there was no need and I am used to LR6, so I am too lazy atm.

LR6 is used along with Photomechanic for screening, rating, deleting and downsizing.

Screening, Rating etc. is done 90% of the time with Photomechanic. This is the best software I know of for this. Faster than anything else I know of. This is probably why most professionals who are working under time pressure use PhotoMechanic.

I really love Photomechanic. It is worth every penny

The downsizing algorythms are maybe better with LR6 and I am sure even better with the newest CO1 and DXO. I mean LR6 is really old now.

What I love with LR6 is the way to filter/sort by metadata for specific lenses, cameras, shutterspeed, ISO I was using in the past. I have to check whether something similar exist for CO1 or DXO. Would make a complete switch easier. But I think Photomechanic adds also more features in that direction. Have not checked yet.

But I do not use any kind of subscription model and will try to avoid this as long as possible.

Since all alternatives are so good now in 2023, I can not justify to have a subscription. There is nothing I need which another non subscription software is not able to do .

The better the sensors become, the less editing I need. So I am happy in my non-subscription environment

 

[RBIV]

I agree with resistance to subscription model editing software.

I shoot RAW with Pentax and Nikon systems, and use Pentax DCU version5 and Nikon's NX Studio for RAW conversions, both free to use. I believe they are both products of Silkypix, and they do a fine job of converting to TIFF or JPG, plus both allow viewing in camera "picture control" choices after the shoot, if you're after JPGs However, for editing I find them a bit slow and clunky.

For pixel level edits I mostly use ACDSee Pro 2023 and occasionally need to turn to RawTherapee which while I've used for years, I'm still quite the novice at it. The good news is as Dirk mentions, ooc conversions from DNG and NEF files mostly don't need much editing.

Having said all this, I'm not really a "fine art" photographer and seldom print anything. I love the "snapshot" style of photo taking, and come at it from the photo journalist end, so my editing needs are perhaps less than what can be done with the major editors. The expensive editors are no doubt better at noise reduction and object removal, but ACDSee has improved quite a bit over the years even there. And RawTherapee , in the hands of somebody who knows what they're doing, is impressive.

 

[Len Shepherd]

I am happily paying 140€ a year for Lightroom and Photoshop. Some are not satisfied, but these tools are more than okay for my needs. The last time I tried to switch to an alternative, it was either sub-par or too expensive. Subscriptions are just my way of encouraging the development of a product. You need to compare the lifetime of other software with the subscription. Most programs are outdated after at most three years and require an expensive update. And Adobe never disappointed me. I am keeping my files in RAW format, and important edits as TIFFs, just in case I ever lose Lightroom.

Whilel no one PP product is right for everyone, the market has changed significantly since the thread started in 2017.

With a good level of Layers introduced into Lightroom, and AI image creation introduced at no extra cost this year, plus PS/Camera Raw/Bridge if you want it plus a good level of free cloud storage and website hosting included in the current package at less than the cost of a coffee a week in the UK (£10 a month subscription) I consider the "Cloud" package very good value for money for a very wide spectrum of PP needs.

 

[mga010]

I will never, and I mean NEVER, buy subscription software. It is an absolutely unfair money-grabbing system of companies which I will never support. I am actually surprised (well, not really ) that lawmakers have not jumped on this to make it unlawful. To me it's as false as a pyramid game.

That just means you are stuck with old versions. If you never change your camera and are satisfied without the new features, you can just stick with old software until your OS or computer needs an update which your old version does not support.

IMHO, your best route would be open software. This makes the most sense for those who do not want to spend money, but instead spend their time.