Using Lightroom3 and Lightroom5 On The Same Computer.

[Pete JF]

HI all,

I recently bumped up to Lightroom 5 and want to keep and use my Lightroom v3 for some stuff.

Wondering how to manage this?

Can I use the same catalog??? What happens if I do?

Does Lightroom take that catalog and make it's own deal out of it??

Obviously, Im not expecting the settings to transfer over..Or, do they in an abbreviated state? i.e. no "fill light et al"

Hoping for a take from you guys on how this shakes out..Im sure I'll lose the Lightroom 3 at some point but for now I want to keep it..

Thanks

[Schewe]

Why?

Trying to mix catalog versions is going be a world of hurt...a Lightroom 3 catalog must be updated to be used with LR 5. So, that same catalog won't work with LR3. It won't go back & forth.

[eliedinur]

Theoretically you could maintain two separate but parallel catalogs, with the same file references or different ones, one for LR3 and one for LR5. But why have the inconvenience and confusion when in LR5 you can easily switch between Process Version 2010 (LR3) and P.V. 2012 (LR4/5). You can have the master in one P.V. and a Virtual Copy in the other, side by side.

[Wayne Fox]

what advantage is there to keeping version 3?  Everything you have done in version 3 will be identical once you open your catalog in version 5 ... LR 5 doesn't change anything by default. Using an updated process doesn't even happen without you specifically doing it. Just need to toss version 3, there is nothing missing from version 5 that version 3 had.

[Rhossydd]

I recently bumped up to Lightroom 5 and want to keep and use my Lightroom v3 for some stuff.

As everyone else has said, that's a silly thing to try.

Can I use the same catalog???

No, LR needs an updated catalogue that is not backwards compatible.

Obviously, Im not expecting the settings to transfer over..Or, do they in an abbreviated state?

If you load a LR3 catalogue into 5 it will convert it into it's own new format, but it keeps all your old settings and process version. In effect you'll see no change to anything in the develop module (excepting the newer features in other areas, eg book & map module etc).
If you want to use the newer develop features that arrived in Process 2012, you just click the small lightning icon in the bottom right of the histogram panel or select process 2012 in the camera calibration panel. LR5 then changes the options available in the panel and applies a 'best guess' conversion of settings you can refine to take advantage of the newer process version.

It really is a no brainer with nothing to loose assuming you can run LR5 fast enough. LR5 is slower than 3, but if you've tried it you'll know what to expect.

Back everything up and move forward.

[Pete JF]

Thanks all,

Im a Lightroom newb. I got LR 3, never really used it until about a year ago or so. I didn't know that LR5 had this capability. I thought it would pretty much not recognize the LR3 settings..good to know this and that pretty much puts things to rest on trying to juggle stuff.

Lightroom 5 is slower than Lightroom 3?

How does the LR6 version / Creative cloud deal stack up in terms of speed? Is it faster?

Im using a 2012 Macbook i7 2.9ghz with 8g of RAM, wondering if that'll be enough firepower to keep me happy?

[Rhossydd]

Lightroom 5 is slower than Lightroom 3?

Significantly.

How does the LR6 version / Creative cloud deal stack up in terms of speed? Is it faster?

Rumours suggest that Adobe have made some efforts to improve the speed in LR6, but as LR6 isn't available, so no one can say yet.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

From the very first release of Lightroom I have always kept the previous version installed for a while, in the pessimist's notion that I might find unacceptable bugs in the newer version.

I also compulsively saved a copy of the old catalog before updating to the new version, you know, "just in case..."

In all this time I never once had to revert to a previous version of LR. So keeping one older version may be just cheap insurance that you are never likely to need, IMHO.

[Pete JF]

Ugh..Well, LR3 is running ok on my new computer..just wondering how big a step back it'll be and "significantly" doesn't sound good.

[Rhossydd]

Just try it!
Download a trial copy and see how it works for you.

[Wayne Fox]

Just try it!
Download a trial copy and see how it works for you.

What he said

Remember Lr 5 will not touch your LR 3 catalog. The upgrade makes a new catalog.

I'm not sure the speed issue will be significant, your computer should handle it well. The improvements are worth a slight hit in speed.