Lightroom 6 - RIP

[brightncheerful]

Adobe has announced that Lightroom henceforth is to be CC only, monthly subscription etc.

http://news.adobe.com/press-release/creative-cloud/adobe-introduces-new-lightroom-cc-cloud-photography-service

On dpreview, many of the comments are perhaps as one might expect?

https://www.dpreview.com/opinion/6098625048/hello-lightroom-cc-embracing-the-future

https://www.dpreview.com/opinion/5431017013/rip-lightroom-6-death-by-subscription-model

I've been using LR since version 1. Nowadays, I mostly take in RAW so despite the steep learning curve, I'll be switching to Capture One. It's not that a monthly sub is not to my liking as a matter of principle but I'd begrudge paying out monthly for something that I might not use every month, let alone every day.

Presupposing you use the desktop version of LR, what will you do?

[staffordian]

As John Hemmings and I mentioned in another thread, GIMP is worth a try.

I'm not a Lightroom user, having looked at it, I could not justify the expense for the minimal use I would have made of it even though at the time it looked to be a superb product. Being a natural skinflint, I got good use out of an old version of Photoshop Elements, which was current when I bought it but now doesn't play well with Windows 10, so I looked at options. I went for Zoner 18 which is ok, but that is now being phased out in favour of a subscription version, so GIMP, which is free covers my image manipulation needs.

I still use Zoner 18 as a cataloguing program though.

[Stonge]

I apologise as I have made nearly this comment on another thread, but I have never managed to print from Gimp. And printing IMHO is essential.

[kyu66]

Adobe has announced that Lightroom henceforth is to be CC only, monthly subscription etc.

<snip>

Presupposing you use the desktop version of LR, what will you do?

As a non-pro user I find that LR 6 has pretty much everything I need so will not be taking up Adobe's offer of tying me in to their subscription model and cloud services. Even if I could justify the cost, I prefer to have complete control of my images and the software I use and not rely on anyone else's services.

I am also ignoring the upgrade from Lightroom Mobile to Lightroom CC since the latter now relies on Adobe cloud services, whereas the former can be used standalone.

For background, I am a RAW shooter and have only recently upgraded from LR 3 to LR 6 (perpetual licence). The newer (from LR 3) local adjustment, HDR and pano features of LR 6 are nice to have but I have managed without them for years. For the very few images that need layers I use either Photoshop Elements 3 or GIMP. The cost of the perpetual licences spread over the years has been way below the annual subscription (but paid monthly) cost now on offer, especially if you need a reasonable amount of storage.

Should I buy a new camera that has a RAW format that won't be supported by LR 6 I will switch to either shooting DNG (the camera should support it) or just batch converting from RAW to DNG before importing to LR.

kyu66

[colin]

or just batch converting from RAW to DNG before importing to LR.

Is there not an argument for always converting to DNG anyway as being open source the file format will always be supported by someone ?

[madhatter]

Stonge

...but I have never managed to print from Gimp. And printing IMHO is essential.

GIMP natively saves as a .xcf file, which I have never tried to print. However, whenever I have needed to print something worked on using GIMP I have exported the visible image as either a png or jpeg and those print just fine.

I find it to be quirky and not particularly intuitive, but very powerful and it repays the time spent learning it. (Especially if one is a mean old skinflint like wot I am!)

[CaledoniaMan]

I came across someone using this PS alternative which has similar functionality but for a fraction of the price.

https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/

I haven't used it personally but at £48.99 it might be worth a look.