Lightroom 5. One off or subscribe?? Are Adobe taking the Michael?

Raptor Mike

Raptor Mike

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So like many I suspect I am weighing up the cost of Adobes subscription. I have PSE9 at the moment but would really like LR. LR5 on it's own is around £100 but the subscription which includes PSCC is around that every year. Spending that every year for eternity seems like a lot of money but I will always be up to date. However I could just buy LR5 and use it with PSE9. This could last me many years.

I guess what I'm trying to say is why pay £100/year (until it goes up) when you could buy the software then just update it in three or four years time?

My next thought is LR6. I cant seem to find out when this is due but I did read it may only be on a subscription. Is this the way adobe are going? Photography could've just got a lot more expensive to us amateurs.
 
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I prefer the cd version as not keen on paying a monthly fee. You can put up a wanted thread and may be able to pick up LR5 for around £40 as some cameras came bundled with it.
 
I subscribe, to the photography deal and think, the £8.78 is worth it. If it was just for LR, yes I'd agree that it would be excessive, but given LR, PS and other things like LR mobile, I'm happy enough with the cost.

If you already have PS, I can understand, why you would not want this option but it seems to be the way most things are going these days.
 
Adobe have stated several times that Lightroom will be a perpetual licence product. Which means that once you've bought it it yours. They have no plans to put Lightroom solely into the CC option. So LR6 when it comes out will be available as an upgrade ( for a fee) . If you need both Photoshop and Lightroom then the CC route does make financial sense, if you look at initial purchases and upgrade costs. However If I had not already had Photoshop, I think I could get by with Lightroom and Elements
 
OEM copies come up sometimes. Mine was £57 through Morgan Computer.
 
Chappers said:
Adobe have stated several times that Lightroom will be a perpetual licence product. Which means that once you've bought it it yours. They have no plans to put Lightroom solely into the CC option. So LR6 when it comes out will be available as an upgrade ( for a fee) . If you need both Photoshop and Lightroom then the CC route does make financial sense, if you look at initial purchases and upgrade costs. However If I had not already had Photoshop, I think I could get by with Lightroom and Elements
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What Adobe have actually said is that Lightroom will be available to purchase "indefinitely."
The definition of "indefinitely" is "an unknown or unstated length of time" which could be interpreted as "for as long as Adobe want" and they could make it CC only anytime they decide to.
I for one hope that LR is always available to purchase, but should it become CC only I will eventually find an alternative, since unlike Photoshop, there are many alternatives to Lightroom available.
 
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Thanks for the replies folks. I'm undecided what to do. £100 a year is a lot e van if you do get PS. But I'd be annoyed if I bought LR then wished I'd got PS. I could just stick with LR and PSE but there's the issue of compatibility because of 16bit. Difficult to know what to do for the best really.
 
Buy a standalone copy of LR. Don't buy one second hand unless you get one which hasn't been registered with Adobe and therefore you don't have to do the license transfer stuff for...

Let's say it costs you £70.

If, in 6 months, you decide you want the full version of PS go to alongside LR, you can sell your LR copy for say £40 (this works because you'll be able to do the license transfer with Adobe to the new "owner") and then switch to the subscription for £8/month. In the intervening 6 months it's cost you £30 in ownership, so £5 per month.

I say all of this because this is exactly what I did (although my LR5 cost me about £75 brand new, I think).
 
Raptor Mike said:
Thanks for the replies folks. I'm undecided what to do. £100 a year is a lot e van if you do get PS. But I'd be annoyed if I bought LR then wished I'd got PS. I could just stick with LR and PSE but there's the issue of compatibility because of 16bit. Difficult to know what to do for the best really.
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IF you only get one, I would recommend you get Lightroom, especially if you shoot raw - it's one of the best raw developers out there, and once you get used to the Library system, it's a pretty good image management program too.

Many people seem to compare Lightroom and Photoshop as if they are similar programs but they are NOT.
Adobe themselves say Lightroom is intended to be a companion to Photoshop, not a replacement.
I have seen many people say that once they got LR they had very little need for Photoshop.

I find that LR plus a few plug-ins does most of what I need, and I only rarely do I resort to Photoshop.
Elements for me (because I prefer to work in 16-bit) is a non-starter, because of the very limited 16-bit support.
 
I saw an article yesterday that LR6 will be aimed at 64bit operating systems. Apparently Adobe are advertising this now to give people chance to update their systems! Users will still be able to use LR 5 but it'll no longer be updated!
 
I had LR4 standalone, then when they announced the photography bundle I signed up for it. £8.50 a month or whatever it is seems fine to me for LR and PS.

I pay £6 for Netflix, £40 for my phone, £10 for Spotify, for reference.
 
Thanks guys. I know its not much a year but when you add it to everything else it all soon adds up. I'm downloading the PS trial now to see how I get on. Is it basically like a way better Elements?
 
If you have children in education or work in it yourself you can buy the student and teacher LR5 for £59.
 
Yep it has content aware and proximity match, both very useful. I've downloaded PS and it looks like elements on steroids :D
 
I tried CC with LR and LR but I don't really need the PS software at the Monet so bought LR5 outright for £100. If in the future I need to use PS I'll use the monthly payment option. I'm not keen on the way software is going with regard to subscriptions but having said that I subscribe to office 365 as it works well on all my devics for only £5.99 a month.
 
rick448 said:
I tried CC with LR and LR but I don't really need the PS software at the Monet so bought LR5 outright for £100. If in the future I need to use PS I'll use the monthly payment option. I'm not keen on the way software is going with regard to subscriptions but having said that I subscribe to office 365 as it works well on all my devics for only £5.99 a month.
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I use "Open Office."
It's free and does everything that MS Office does and more besides - in fact the files are interchangeable.
 
The goblin said:
I've never used elements, does it have content aware? I use that a lot and the shake reduction/ sharpening in Photoshop CC is rather useful!
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I tried Elements a while ago and thought it was rubbish.
I hated the User Interface, after being used to PaintShop Pro.
Mind you, the UI on full Photoshop is not much nicer, but I've had to adapt to it.
One thing that really annoys me is having to use the keyboard and the mouse to select something.

However, for me, the worst feature of Elements (and the deal breaker) is it's poor 16-bit support.
 
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