Bye, Bye Lightroom perpetual licenses .... No Lightroom 7

[ButchM]

"Lightroom 6

Lightroom 6 is the last standalone version of Lightroom that can be purchased outside of a Creative Cloud membership.  There will not be a Lightroom 7 perpetual offering.   Lightroom 6 will remain for sale for an undetermined amount of time, but will no longer be updated with camera support or bug fixes after the end of 2017.  Lightroom 6.13 with support for the Nikon D850 will be released on October 26, 2017."



as per Tom Hogarty's blog post here: https://blogs.adobe.com/photoshop/2017/10/introducing-lightroom-cc-lightroom-classic-cc-and-more.html

[pegelli]

"Lightroom 6

Lightroom 6 is the last standalone version of Lightroom that can be purchased outside of a Creative Cloud membership.  There will not be a Lightroom 7 perpetual offering.   Lightroom 6 will remain for sale for an undetermined amount of time, but will no longer be updated with camera support or bug fixes after the end of 2017.  Lightroom 6.13 with support for the Nikon D850 will be released on October 26, 2017."



as per Tom Hogarty's blog post here: https://blogs.adobe.com/photoshop/2017/10/introducing-lightroom-cc-lightroom-classic-cc-and-more.html

That sucks    , but it might save me some money as well 

I guess you can always get LR6 to open newer cameras raw files by converting to dng.

So my upgrading to a CC version will probably wait until a new major release (7, 8 or 9.....) will have enough new features to make it worthwhile.
Currently the new LR features useful to me are coming at such a snail's pace that I guess I can do everything I need with LR6 for a long time.

[davidgp]

That sucks    , but it might save me some money as well 

I guess you can always get LR6 to open newer cameras raw files by converting to dng.

So my upgrading to a CC version will probably wait until a new major release (7, 8 or 9.....) will have enough new features to make it worthwhile.
Currently the new LR features useful to me are coming at such a snail's pace that I guess I can do everything I need with LR6 for a long time.

New release is out: http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=121083.0 , not sure if it has enough features for you to upgrade or look to another place for an standalone app.

LR6 camera support will be only until end of this year, after that no more updates, I read it in one of the links I post in the previous thread...

[pegelli]

LR6 camera support will be only until end of this year, after that no more updates, I read it in one of the links I post in the previous thread...

I managed a long time with LR3 (because of a Windows XP machine) but was able to open newer camera raw files by first converting to dng (using the Adobe dng converter) and then LR3 would open these dng's even though it would not open the camera raws. Do you think that workflow with a few extra steps will no longer be feasible in the future?

[john beardsworth]

So my upgrading to a CC version will probably wait until a new major release (7, 8 or 9.....) will have enough new features to make it worthwhile.
Currently the new LR features useful to me are coming at such a snail's pace that I guess I can do everything I need with LR6 for a long time.

The new 7 has significant performance improvements, and you get all the extra features that subscribers got over the last 2-3 years.

[john beardsworth]

I managed a long time with LR3 (because of a Windows XP machine) but was able to open newer camera raw files by first converting to dng (using the Adobe dng converter) and then LR3 would open these dng's even though it would not open the camera raws. Do you think that workflow with a few extra steps will no longer be feasible in the future?

It will be, if you want.

[davidgp]

I managed a long time with LR3 (because of a Windows XP machine) but was able to open newer camera raw files by first converting to dng (using the Adobe dng converter) and then LR3 would open these dng's even though it would not open the camera raws. Do you think that workflow with a few extra steps will no longer be feasible in the future?

I think that will be still work. Lightroom 7 incroporates a new process version, if you convert your images with Adobe DNG Converter to PV2012 (PV3 in the new adobe nomenclature) it will be fine. I suppose.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Lightroom 6 is the last standalone version of Lightroom that can be purchased outside of a Creative Cloud membership.  There will not be a Lightroom 7 perpetual offering.

Sad, but not surprising.

Hopefully the folks at Serif (Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer) will start developing their planned DAM application sooner rather than later. They now have another incentive. They are probably close to updating their current applications which should bring those feature-rich applications to a pretty mature state in a relatively short time, for both Mac and Windows platforms. So that might give them a bit more time to also focus on their version of a DAM system.

Cheers,
Bart

[john beardsworth]

I think that will be still work. Lightroom 7 incroporates a new process version, if you convert your images with Adobe DNG Converter to PV2012 (PV3 in the new adobe nomenclature) it will be fine. I suppose.

The new process version is mainly because of the range masking feature - which is good BTW. It's mainly a data compatibility thing rather than a new version.

[davidgp]

The new process version is mainly because of the range masking feature - which is good BTW. It's mainly a data compatibility thing rather than a new version.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think Lightroom 6 will be able to read DNG with PV4 (the new process version), it was like that when adobe upgraded from PV2010 to PV2012. At least, DNG Converter always asks you about Camera RAW version compatibility.

[Rhossydd]

So the CC crowd get improvements in;
"Application launch time
Preview generation including in Standard, 1:1 and Minimal previews
Import selection workflow with “Embedded & Sidecar” preview option (tips here)
Switching between Library and Develop Module
Moving from photo to photo in the Develop Module
Responsive brushing"

None of which have been a problem for me, so still no reason to sell my soul to subscription.

Glad I've got a licence for Capture One.

[john beardsworth]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think Lightroom 6 will be able to read DNG with PV4 (the new process version), it was like that when adobe upgraded from PV2010 to PV2012. At least, DNG Converter always asks you about Camera RAW version compatibility.

Roughly right, but I wanted to make the point that there isn't a completely new process like PV2010 to PV2012, more a data thing.

[john beardsworth]

So the CC crowd get improvements in;
"Application launch time
Preview generation including in Standard, 1:1 and Minimal previews
Import selection workflow with “Embedded & Sidecar” preview option (tips here)
Switching between Library and Develop Module
Moving from photo to photo in the Develop Module
Responsive brushing"

None of which have been a problem for me, so still no reason to sell my soul to subscription.

Glad I've got a licence for Capture One.

Some of those speed improvements are dramatic. I see a 4x faster generation of standard previews, for example, and the embedded/sidecar workflow is great (a bit clunky). You would also have got all the things added since 6.0. But it is sad to see Adobe go subscription-only.

[Mark D Segal]

So the CC crowd get improvements in;
"Application launch time
Preview generation including in Standard, 1:1 and Minimal previews
Import selection workflow with “Embedded & Sidecar” preview option (tips here)
Switching between Library and Develop Module
Moving from photo to photo in the Develop Module
Responsive brushing"

None of which have been a problem for me, so still no reason to sell my soul to subscription.

Glad I've got a licence for Capture One.

You missed the new masking feature that allows one to make selections by colour and tone range. To my mind, and Adobe always does it - this is the one new "killer feature" that makes the upgrade worthwhile.

On the commercial side of it, I've been on CC since near the beginning and the whole system has been performing well, so I can't complain about it. Of course this argument is age-old by now so there is nothing new to say about it, however, for the record, I came to the conclusion long ago that all is well as long as we can maintain our subscriptions, but if for whatever reason we cannot, I would have liked to see Adobe create an option to convert our last subscription version into a fully functional perpetual version. I'm aware of the gaming risk, but smart developers as they are can design safeguards against that.

[john beardsworth]

You missed the new masking feature that allows one to make selections by colour and tone range. To my mind, and Adobe always does it - this is the one new "killer feature" that makes the upgrade worthwhile.

I like it. Not too complex, but does a useful job well. Make sure you try the Alt/Opt button when you drag a slider. I prefer the Luminosity option, but Color Range allows you to Shift click colour points.

[Mark D Segal]

Thanks for the insight and advice John. I won't be getting into this for several weeks, but I'll likely report back any other useful observations I come up with. I like to give new application versions a settling-in period before I adopt.

[pegelli]

So the CC crowd get improvements in;
"Application launch time
Preview generation including in Standard, 1:1 and Minimal previews
Import selection workflow with “Embedded & Sidecar” preview option (tips here)
Switching between Library and Develop Module
Moving from photo to photo in the Develop Module
Responsive brushing"

None of which have been a problem for me, so still no reason to sell my soul to subscription.

Glad I've got a licence for Capture One.

+1 on all counts.

I got the dehaze presets and hardly use them, I don't like the way the rendering of the dehaze function works (darks become too black and compensating with the blackpoint/shadow sliders don't yield attractive results) so for me it's not worth paying for a continuous slider.

Only thing that I might actually use more is local white point/black point adjustments, but not worth paying such a premium for.

Speed is fine on my system

Currently my perpetual licence upgrade cost (from 5 to 6) stands about 1/4 of the CC subscription, since I don't need updated Photoshop features, CS2 or CS3 is more than enough for me.

Adobe just missed my € 75 (or more) for the next perpetual LR upgrade, but I guess they won't lose sleep over that.
However I won't either especially since less upgrades also makes for less bugs

[Rhossydd]

You missed the new masking feature that allows one to make selections by colour and tone range. To my mind, and Adobe always does it - this is the one new "killer feature" that makes the upgrade worthwhile.

Nice feature, but simple to do in Capture One now.

Where are all the other features people have been asking for for years ? More efficient keywording, a book module as good Blurb's free package, not having to wait ages for CT adjustments.

That isn't enough to see me commit to paying monthly for the rest of my life at whatever rate Adobe choose to screw out of people.

[davidgp]

Roughly right, but I wanted to make the point that there isn't a completely new process like PV2010 to PV2012, more a data thing.

Ok, so we shouldn't expect things like better demosaicing algorithm like when upgrading from PV2010 to PV2012, right? Just the performance and support for the new masks filters.

[john beardsworth]

Thanks for the insight and advice John. I won't be getting into this for several weeks, but I'll likely report back any other useful observations I come up with. I like to give new application versions a settling-in period before I adopt.

Never a bad idea, Mark, and in this case the main changes aren't a matter of adding in new features that may be discrete from the rest of the code.

Instead there is lots of performance tuning which interferes with existing code, hopefully for the better. eg I see standard previews generated 4 times faster than in 6.

The new Embedded/Sidecar stuff also depends on physical elements of a system, such as card readers or drives. It tries to balance importing quickly (multiple threads) with the human need to see photos arriving in shooting order rather than simply the order in which they make it to Lightroom, plus possible sidecars (files of various sizes). I feel it is a bit clunky, especially if you are importing directly from the card and your raw files have low res embedded previews and full res JPEG sidecars. It works, but I have a few uncertainties at times.

John