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  • Writer's picturePeter

Lightroom 6.14 Vs Lightroom Classic CC


(c) Adobe

I've been thinking about moving from Lightroom 6.14 and Photoshop Elements 13 to Classic CC. Frankly it has taken me some time to actually understand what the subscription service offers! I've been put off due to the limited storage offered in the £9.98 per month offering if you take it with Photoshop. I was thinking that my current photos take up more than the miserly 20Gb of cloud storage. It is only after quite some time that I have come to realise (Ithink I am right now but there is still a little doubt in my mind) that the 20Gb doesn't get used by the Lightroom Classic element, only the CC element. And so it didn't look quite so bad. I think Adobe have done themselves no favours in the total confusion brought about by the naming of Lightroom Classic, Lightroom CC and the fact that if you buy one you get the other too!


At this point I know that there are many who say that they refuse to move from a perpetual licence to a subscription licence but I think this needs to be looked at in the context that we have v6.14 and it continues to work with the cameras around when development was shelved. For cameras launched after the development freeze you need to use the Adobe RAW file converter - which would be a faff. But v6.14 is still available (even though Adobe bury it in their website - it's easier and cheaper to find it on Amazon though).


And so I suppose you're thinking I've signed up for a subscription...well no I haven't. When I think about it I don't need or want a mobile version of Lightroom. I am an amateur photographer who processes images at my desk in my home. Sure, Lightroom Classic is still being developed and from what I have read the most raved about feature is the haze filter - is that worth £120 a year? Especially when you can get Prolost Dehaze as a free download (https://proloststore.com/products/dehaze) I'm sure it's not as slick as Lightroom Classic's implementation but it works.


I wonder why Adobe doesn't make a version of Lightroom Classic available and offer it on subscription - if they must - for say £3.99 a month and give those who don't want or need a mobile solution a more affordable option. I do understand that they see a subscription licence as a way of ensuring an ongoing income stream but they are failing to see the needs of amateur photographers and they will loose out to ON1, Capture One and Affinity Photo and any of the other options (see here for a recent comparison of the competition: https://havecamerawilltravel.com/photographer/lightroom-alternatives/).


Finally, if you do decide that the current Lightroom subscription solution is for you you may want to think about buying an annual licence through Amazon for £99.99 (and I believe even cheaper during Black Friday promotions). If you take this route you ought to check whether you can upgrade to greater storage capacity if you need to as I have seen comment that Adobe doesn't allow upgrades when the licence is bought from a third party - you see Adobe isn't after your money at any cost!


So there you have it. I'm sticking with Lightoom v6.14.

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