Looking for advice regarding LR5 upgrade: cloud or not

[quatchi]

Hey,

I am currently owning LR4 and am quite happy with it. There are some features of LR5, however, why I am considering the upgrade to LR5 (e.g., E-M5 color profiles).

Now, that's where my real troubles begin. Should I get an upgrade to my current LR (stand alone buy version) or should I go for the $9.99 Photography (LR + Photoshop) cloud thing Adobe is offering? I know that the Adobe Cloud has been discussed a lot around the web, but I am interested to hear from fellow m43 shooters, what you think about that matter. Were you facing a similar decision? What are your thoughts on the Adobe cloud? Are you realizing any benefits over the stand alone version?

My background:
I am a complete amateur, shooting for fun without any kind of revenue. Therefore, no benefit in tax deduction with the monthly plan.
I have access to Photoshop CS6 (not on my machine). I am, however, not using it very often lately - only sparsely for some panorama stitches.
I have an iPad Air with 128GB and was looking forward to the mobile LR version. After the initial press release and reports I am currently not so impressed with it (haven't tried it, though). I hoped for an app which lets you import pictures on the road (backup stays on the SD cards on longer trips, e.g., holidays) and some preliminary editing before syncing anything to the desktop version when back home.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Itchybiscuit]

I can't say anything intelligent about Adobe Cloud as I've never tried it but today Adobe released a version update for Lightroom 5 from v5.3 to v5.4.

I have downloaded but not applied it as yet.

Good luck with your ultimate choice!

 

[D7k1]

In your case I'd probably stick with Lightroom and get a dedicated pano program. I use Photoshop a lot still otherwise I'd have Lightroom (stand alone) and OnOne suite.

 

[mcasan]

I highly recommend LR5 as your digital asset manager (DAM) for importing photos, making basic adjustments, creating collections, printing and hosting plugins. Recommended plugins: Nik Collection, Perfect Photo Suite, Helicon Focus, and Pixelmator (Mac only).

 

[Ellsass]

I haven't used Creative Cloud (CC) myself, but here's why I bought LR5 standalone.

If you buy the standalone you can always switch to CC in the future (for example, if/when LR Mobile improves). You also have the option of continuing to use LR4 or LR5 as long as you'd like without paying any more. Maybe there are no impressive updates for two years -- you've saved yourself $240 in CC fees in the mean time.

If you buy into CC now you're pretty much stuck paying that fee forever and ever and ever. Sure, you can cancel it and go back to standalone as long as Adobe still offers it, but it will almost certainly cost you more. And if LR6 comes out and it stinks, too bad, you have to upgrade to it.

 

[yakky]

CC makes sense if you need Photoshop, and like to upgrade frequently, otherwise the standalone products are much cheaper and will continue to function when Adobe goes out of business.

 

[quatchi]

Thanks for all your opinions so far!

From what I read, almost all of you suggest to get the stand-alone version of Lightroom. Financially that's probably the cheaper option: 109€ vs. 12.40€/monthly here in Europe (incl. taxes). After nine month with the stand-alone Lightroom (and CS6) I am saving money compared to the cloud model. Why I was hesitating and considering the cloud in the first place (not so much any more) was, because I was wondering about the additional services of the cloud and whether anyone of you (you, as in amateurs like me) is realizing any benefit from it.

In case there is a cloud user out there: Do you use, for example, the 20GB cloud storage or other services which come with the cloud subscription?

 

[OzRay]

Personally, I would get LR5 at the moment. I skipped version 4 and then bought version 5. Adobe has said that they will keep offering LR as a standalone version and I would stay with that for as long as possible. If you are not a heavy/frequent user of LR, then CC is going to cost more in the long run, especially if skipping versions.

If Photoshop CC proves to be as bountiful as Adobe hopes, then LR will go that way sooner or later. The prices may appear reasonable (to some) at the moment, but once everyone is locked in, watch the prices rise; it will be as inevitable as the seasons.

 

[GFFPhoto]

I have an iPad Air with 128GB and was looking forward to the mobile LR version. After the initial press release and reports I am currently not so impressed with it (haven't tried it, though).

You can only get that with a cloud subscription, so if you still want to try it, you only have one choice.

 

[jnewell]

What happens if you're using the Adobe Cloud product and you have no internet access?

 

[robbie36]

What happens if you're using the Adobe Cloud product and you have no internet access?

I think you will find that you cant subscribe to the Adobe Cloud product unless you have access to the internet, so it shouldnt be a problem.

 

[Linh]

I think you will find that you cant subscribe to the Adobe Cloud product unless you have access to the internet, so it shouldnt be a problem.

I think they meant if they lose or have no connection after buying/subscribing. On that front, the check in frequency was monthly or something like that, no? I don't recall hearing any problems from anyone (plenty of folks using it in the field)

 

[robbie36]

I think they meant if they lose or have no connection after buying/subscribing. On that front, the check in frequency was monthly or something like that, no? I don't recall hearing any problems from anyone (plenty of folks using it in the field)

Ok I see. As far as I know the Cloud checks into Adobe for the status of your subscription every 30 days (it is less if you buy a one off annual). If you dont have an internet connection at the time it checks in ( which has happened to me several times) - when you next open your Cloud product it gives you a message along the lines of 'you have 14 days to sign into the product over the internet or else your subscription will expire'.

 

[jnewell]

I think you will find that you cant subscribe to the Adobe Cloud product unless you have access to the internet, so it shouldnt be a problem.

I think they meant if they lose or have no connection after buying/subscribing. On that front, the check in frequency was monthly or something like that, no? I don't recall hearing any problems from anyone (plenty of folks using it in the field)

The latter. I have been in travel situations, even in very 1st world countries, where I could not get a usable wifi connection.

 

[YantaYo]

I have access to Photoshop CS6 (not on my machine). I am, however, not using it very often lately - only sparsely for some panorama stitches.

The only reason I went with CC was to have Photoshop. Otherwise I would of purchased Lightroom stand alone.

 

[quatchi]

The only reason I went with CC was to have Photoshop. Otherwise I would of purchased Lightroom stand alone.

Are you using any other features of the cloud subscription?


Another train of thought: Shouldn't LR6 be around the corner (something like this summer)? Is there a minimum subscription time for the CC service? Otherwise I could go for the cloud solution for a couple of month and then cancel the subscription and buy LR6 once it is out.

 

[jziegler]

What happens if you're using the Adobe Cloud product and you have no internet access?

Not a problem at all. It's not a cloud product in the Google or Amazon.com sense of cloud, the programs are still installed on your hard drive and run from there. All of your photos are still stored on our computer unless you specifically send them to the cloud. If ou aren't connected to the internet, everything will work fine for a time. A licensing check is performed periodically (don't know how often), and that is the only time you need an internet connection.

I switched to CC in the fall when the $9.99 deal was first available. The way I see it, it's a similar price to upgrading Lightroom and PS Elements every 2 years, and it gets me the full PS instead of elements. If the price jumps up, I'll ditch Adobe and learn one of the alternatives (I've only been using LR an PS(elements) for a few years now, I like LR better than the alternatives that I used before, but I can switch back if I need to. And that's why I doubt Adobe will raise the price drastically)

 

[oldracer]

IMO there is a very important aspect of this "cloud" push that people are missing and that vendors are very careful to not explain:

People are thinking about this "subscription" notion like it is a magazine subscription. Go for a while, drop it if you no longer want it. But what you are really subscribing to is access to your data. Stop subscribing and there is a significant potential that you will no longer be able to access your LR catalog and your LR adjustments. All it takes is for Adobe to push a subscription "upgrade" that makes your current *.lrcat file incompatible with anything that they offer as a stand-alone purchase. Sure, they might continue to sell LR 89.x, but if the cloud version is LR 90.x, you are screwed. Either you walk away from tens or hundreds of hours of effort to catalog and edit your photos, or you pay whatever they choose to charge you for access to your own work.

Do you think that Adobe will never do this? Do you think that $9.95 per month is guaranteed forever? Then subscribe.

 

[mcasan]

Aperture looks better all the time.

 

[ex machina]

You only need internet access to install and receive updates. You can run the apps if your connection is temporarily down or you are on the road, but if you take the machine entirely off and keep it off the network, I'm not sure how long it'll be before the software starts to complain (if it ever does).

EDIT: According to the faq: http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud/faq.html

Annual subscriptions will work offline for 99 days, monthly subscribers for 30 days.