Adobe has issued a big update for Creative Cloud today with new features for both Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC. Lightroom CC gets a new Dehaze feature; however, for the first time, Lightroom CC and Lightroom 6 are on diverging upgrade paths.
By the way, Dehaze is the feature for which we saw a sneak peek just a week or so ago.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhM2br4InHw&w=700]Back to the bigger issue at hand though…
We saw this happen when Photoshop 6 was cut off from further upgrades (other than bug fixes and new camera support) while Photoshop CC continued to have new features added to it. Now, unfortunately, we are at the same crossroads with Lightroom.
Lightroom CC has had some sync and mobile connectivity features over the past year or two that the standalone versions of Lightroom did not have. We saw a major update of Lightroom CC and the standalone Lightroom (to version 6) earlier this spring; however, the key editing features remained the same in both versions of Lightroom.
I asked Adobe about this decision last week and whether or not the standalone version of Lightroom was on a path to its end of life and was told that currently, there is currently no plan to end Lightroom as a perpetual license product. Additionally, the Adobe representative said that Adobe would determine the future of perpetual licensed products based on market demand.
However, Lightroom 6 will get no new features. Zero.
New camera support and bug fixes are the only updates that Lightroom 6 owners can expect to receive going forward. Lightroom CC owners, on the other hand, get new features today and probably several more times before Lightroom 7 is released.
Maybe these observations are overreactions; however, it seems like the writing may be on the wall for perpetual licenses of Lightroom. Of course, $10/month isn’t necessarily a bad gig for Photoshop CC and Lightroom CC, but I know there are loads of users who will be up in arms over this move and what it potentially foreshadows for Lightroom’s future.
Moving on to other updates for Lightroom CC users though, in addition to the Dehaze feature, you now have the ability to adjust black and white levels with local adjustments in Lightroom CC. White and black sliders are now available in the graduated filter, radial filter and adjustment brush.
Additionally, Adobe has made transferring photos from Photoshop Elements to Lightroom an easier process with Elements catalogs, including ratings and people tags that are preserved in Lightroom.
On the mobile side of this, Lightroom CC now supports sharing videos in your collections to your synced collections on the iPad and iPhone. Lightroom mobile also gets adjustable vignettes, precision color control and tone curve control.
Adobe Lightroom CC is available as a subscription license with Adobe Photoshop CC for $10 per month. More details are available here on Adobe’s website.
Brent Busch says
What a bunch of BS by Adobe. They said before LR6 was released that CC and standalone would get simultaneous updates. F U Adobe for lying to your customers.
David says
I agree, this was not made clear from the beginning. I paid good money for the standalone version (Lightroom 6), and I expected to get feature updates for at least a year. It’s been 2 months and already the software is crippled. This sucks, Adobe.
Darren says
I agree. They assured us that Lightroom would continue as a stand alone, and be updated in parallel to the CC version. But, Adobe also said we would see new tools and updates quicker, and not the annual update. Well, the name of this story announces Adobes annual upgrade of PS and LR.
Yep, time to find a new pool to play in
Doug says
I expect to see LR go the way of Photoshop, a cloud based operation. Oh yes, Adobe has said we have no plans for dropping LR as a perpetual product, but I don’t believe Adobe’s words anymore. I too spent money to upgrade my LR to the new version and three weeks later find new features added to the CC version. This sounds just like a money grab to me.
Adobe needs to remember that they built their company on the backs of us as customers with our money.
I must comment on the SAS (software as a service) model Adobe is creating. If the update server has issues what happens to the customer? In Adobe’s case, left on the roadside without a spare. Here is my experience.
When I upgraded my LR to 6 I was unable to download the product from their site. The chat tech suggested I try to download a copy via CC. Guess what? Couldn’t download from there either as I experienced some issues with the Adobe server. and was told to try again later. That was the chat tech’s response too. A Support Portal ticket was created. That was May 30 and as of this date there has been no response from Adobe, not even a peep. Eric of Photography Bay fame offered some suggestions (thanks again). Ultimately with the diligent help of a fellow on a chat forum we were able to do a work around so that I have the update I paid for and Adobe snatched so quickly.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Lightroom, it works the way I think. I’ve owned LR since version 1 and Photoshop back to CS. But this is probably the last update I will do for their products. I just have to get my head around changing products. I’m just not there yet. Corel, Phase One, ACDsee???
I think Adobe will continue to alienate the amateur photographer users like myself and this will open the door for other companies to fine tune their products. I’m waiting and searching. Corel, Phase One, ACDsee are you listening?
Jared says
That’s OK, here’s a workaround for those of us avoiding the perpetual payment plan:
http://prolost.com/blog/dehaze
Mr Biswas says
Can anyone tell me how one goes about getting new camera updates for the standalone version of LR 6? I’ve searched the Adobe Web site for them and come up empty. I want to be able to read and develop the raw files of any new camera I buy in the future. Is that possible with the standalone version of LR? Or am I obliged to first convert my raw files to DNG format in order to work with raw images in the standalone version of LR 6? I prefer to work directly with the raw formats and generate the small LR sidecar files for my edits. For the time, I can do without the new software features Adobe is making available with the CC version of LR 6.
Jared says
Camera updates shouldn’t matter if it’s LR6 or LR CC, because the Camera Raw updates are free to all Adobe users (CC or not). If it’s a really new camera, you just might need to wait a bit for the update.
I convert everything to DNG anyway, and haven’t joined the Perpetual Payment Program yet, I’m still using old-school Lightroom and Photoshop.
Mr Biswas says
Thanks. I downloaded the latest Mac dmg installer for ACR 9.1.1 and installed it. It appears to have installed itself in the root Library, /Library, under Application Support. I won’t have a way to test it until my new camera arrives in two weeks.
I prefer to retain and develop the camera raw files, which (unlike the DNG files) allow me to store my LR edits in the xmp sidecar files. The xmp files are tiny and make backups with Apple’s Time Machine very space efficient. If instead I used DNG files, every editing change would be written into the DNG file itself, and since DNG files are enormous in size, the backups of those files by Time Machine would make very inefficient use of disk space.