It’s now been a while since Adobe dropped the “subscription” bomb on all of us. Lightroom 6.14 became the last perpetual licensed version, and only a subscription based license would be available going forward.

I - like thousands of others - joined in a public outcry over the consequenses for the average photographer and Lightroom user. Not only was the price going to at least double, but you are schakled to your subscription fee if you want to continue editing your images and access the map module. While that all sounds very bad, my real worry was the renaming and signals around Lightrooms future with the phrase "Classic" added to it's name. That indicated that Lightroom Classic was to be put on pasture and the new Lightroom CC would be the star going forward. You can read about my thoughts on the matter in my article: R.I.P. Lightroom

 

”That indicated that Lightroom Classic was to be put on pasture and the new Lightroom CC would be the star going forward”

 

All this made me vowe to make Lightroom 6.x my last version and instead change my workflow to another perpetual licensed software solution, without the name adobe on it. At the time I had no idea what solution that might be, but with Lightroom 6 still working, I had time to investigate and test different solutions.

Fast forward 9 months, a BUNCH of trialversions and several severe headaches later: Where did all that anger and all those trials get me? To the Adobe Photography Plan subscription which I just signed up for😞

See, I don't make to many descisions without analyzing the consequenses and considering all the pro's and con's. I just wish I could say the same thing happened before I talk or post my intial thought in my blog - but alas, we are not all perfect 😂

 

”Where did all that anger and all those trials get me? To the Adobe Photography Plan subscription which I just signed up for😞”

 

So to decide what software solution to replace my lightroom with, I started analyzing the reasons Adobe had for going subscription only, combined with what features my workflow required. I wrote a piece on some of my initial thoughts in the article called Post Lightroom Workflow Thought, and as time progressed the conclusion became ever more clear:

1. The "professional" photography editing and organising business is only going to shrink as computational photography gets better and better. Phones will replace dedicated camera's in an ever increasing manner, and on phone "AI" will do most or all of the editing automatically - hence the marked for Lightroom Classic and it's kins will continue to shrink.
2. Since the marked is shrinking and the software already is quite feature mature, developers can no longer rely on upgrades to generate revenue. They are forced to adopt a subscription based model somewhere along the line, in order to maintain a steady source of income.
3. If you are using a lot of lightrooms features, the only real competition is Capture One Pro - a software solution that costs more than twice as much as Lightroom (including Photoshop) and they are already experimenting with subscription licensing. How long will they offer a perpetual license? And even if they do, the perpetual price is still almost 3 years worth of LR subscription. Will you not need an upgrade after 3 years (For OS and new camera support)? This will keep Capture One Pro at least as costly as LR - for most photographers even more expensive - and thats not considering you will probably be forced to subscription only with them soon as well. Since Capture One Pro to me is somewhat subpar to Lightroom, I ruled out this solution.
4. If you are willing to compromise more heavily on features and in some cases on image quality, then DxO Photolab, On1 RAW, Affinity Photo, Alien Exposure X3 and others are options for your daily driver. But for me, that would mean I’ll be looking into several years of less than adequate features and a lot of compromises to do my photo work. And not only that, but they all charge for updates and add-ons at a rate that will cost me as much as LR for the next 3 - 4 years before they are proper mature. Ofcourse I also believe the marked is too small for them all to make it to a full featured release in just 3 - 4 years - heck, some of them might not even make it all. So choosing this route also means I have to gamble on who makes it, otherwise i’ll have to start over in a couple of years. Also, once they reach feature maturity, they too will start considering subscription only, which takes us to square one.
5. If you are willing to discard the integrated solution/feel of one app to rule them all, and break your workflow into individual Apps for DAM, Editing and Printing, new solutions present themselves. Not only that, but you also get a solution where you can change the software in each module going forward. But my life is just to short for that kind of workflow. Jumping back and forth in programmes with several physical copies of files pr. Image and a DAM that does not reflect all edits depending on the editor... Well that solution is just not for me. This is where the term “money well spent” comes to mind considering my workflow.
6. Down the line, integration with IOS/Android editing and on-shoot import might become very handy, and right now only Adobe has a clear and integrated roadmap for adding mobilty to the workflow solution with the new Lightroom CC.

“If you are using a lot of lightrooms features, the only real competition is Capture One Pro”

 

So the REALLY annoying part of this analysis is the conclusion that only Adobe’s Photography Plan can address my issues in the coming couple of years - all with a minimal risk as Adobe is the biggest player in this market and thus unlikely to go away.

The REALLY REALLY annoying part is the fact that Adobe’s marketing and leadership came to this conclusion more than 3 years ago, and acted upon it because they knew their solution is so good, that abandoning ship is just to big a compromise... And they did it without me realising it - I should have bought a ton of Adobe stock at that time 😞

Obviously there are several drawbacks to my Photography Plan subscription:

1. Adobe is probably still going to put Classic CC on pasture some time in the future. But right now they are investing in the platform - It really has gotten a lot of attention and become a lot faster than 6.14 with quite a few new usable features. The new Lightroom CC has potential and is very easy to use if you already know Classic. So hopefully Classic will be around until CC is capable of replacing it. The new CC will be the only software able to import a Classic Catalog with untouched RAW files without burning edits to new JPGs.

2. I'm at Adobe's mercy when it comes to pricing. Right now the price is tolerable. I'm sure they'll dissapoint me on this matter in the future, but as no other solution is ready I have little choice but to hope for the best (trust them).

3. With time they will probably also require Cloud storage for your images which will be a new cost tier to add to your subscription price. Right now I automatically import images from CC into Classic CC, so I can delete them from the Adobe Cloud Storage and stay beneath my allotted 20Gb.😄

4. If I stop my subscription I'll loose access to the Develop and Map module. But my Adobe account will always be valid, So I can continue to download and use Lightroom Classic CC excluding the two mentioned modules.

“So the REALLY annoying part of this analysis is the conclusion that only Adobe’s Photography Plan can address my issues in the coming couple of years”

 

So why did I decide to subscribe now? I previously stated I could keep using my perpetual 6.x license for a couple of years and see how things progressed with the competition. Well, Lightroom 6 really does require you to take a heavy dose of blood pressure medicin in order to tolerate the miserable speed it runs at. I then made the mistake of trying LR 7.3.1 on my machine, and it is substantially faster. It certainly needs even more speed, but it has definately risen to “usable” level without the need of drugs 😂

My Conclusion:

Am I happy? Well yes, surprisingly, at least to some extend. Adobe actually caught me off guard with the new application speed and the continued development investment in Classic CC. It's far from "fast", but it's certainly usable now and not heartbreakingly slow as 6.x

I also have to admit, that the new Lightroom CC has added some really usefull quick steps as an add-on to Lightroom Classic, in onsite import/backup and editing of my D810 images (on phone and tablet).

So there you have it - I fessed up, and admitted I caved to the big corporate interests. Not an easy day in front of the mirror, but boy it is SO much easier every day in front of the computer, tablet or phone 😄

 

”So there you have it - I fessed up, and admitted I caved to the big corporate interests”

 

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You can read more of Tue's mind, a take a look at his amazing gallery at his website