Lightroom mobile

[Rose]

Adobe has just announced a mobile version of Lightroom for iPad... With an iPhone version to follow
http://blogs.adobe.com/photoshopdotcom/2014/04/lightroom-goes-mobile-with-new-ipad-solution.html

Available free from the App store

[Rose]

OK, I now see that although it's currently free to download, you can't use it for editing unless you sign up to Adobe's CC subscription programme. Regardless of whether you already own the latest version of LR ! Lots of complaints being posted about this operating model.

Can anyone persuade me why it would be worth my while subscribing ? I have owned every version of LR since it was launched and do 90% of my processing with it. I use PS Elements 11 for the final 10%.

[Mike Farley]

The only person who can answer that question is you. How much do you value the additional benefits of Adobe's Photography Package? LR + PS Elements is certainly a cost effective combination, with the added advantage that you do not need to buy every update of PSE unless Adobe comes out with a really compelling feature. Whilst PSE does not have all the bells and whistles of its big brother, it is more than sufficient for most tasks once the Raw conversion has been done in LR. As you have discovered, LR is a very capable image editor and often it is not necessary to do anything further to a picture in another application.

There is a further question as to how often Adobe will update LR and how useful any additional functions will be. Prior announcing the subscription model, Adobe committed itself to biennial releases for Photoshop CS, but that never actually happened and it was superseded by the move to renting its software. On that basis, LR5 should have been launched this year, not in 2013. The original Lightroom was revolutionary and every update until LR4 provided significant enhancements which meant that upgrading was a no brainer. By comparison, LR5 added a few decent features, but did not move the product forward in the same way as its predecessors.

If you believe that Adobe has moved to an annual update of LR and that any new features will be essential, then you will be paying around £60 a year for the upgrade. For an additional £45 you will get the full version of Photoshop, a mobile version of LR, 20 GB of online storage, Prosite to make your own website and Behance. The latter is really a professional tool, but you might find it useful. If you want a website, hosting it will probably cost at least £40 per annum, which alone makes the additional cost of the package worthwhile once the price of LR is factored in as well.

As I have taken every LR update and most of the CS ones, I am actually paying less than previously and getting more for my money. (Adobe has supposedly committed to maintaining the price for owners of perpetual CS licences who subscribed before the end of last year, but it has failed to be consistent with its other announcements made in earlier years.) As I am now dealing directly with Adobe, the company's revenue stream from me is probably unaffected and Amazon is the biggest loser.

For someone who only wants the latest version of LR, the position is less clear cut. With the current price of the subscription coming in at £105 annually, subscribing is hardly a significant investment. It is unclear how long Adobe will continue to offer its Photography Package and what will happen to the cost once the initial 12 month period finishes. Adobe has already extended the offer on a number of occasions and, other than saying it is for a limited period, is not currently stating an end date. One option would be to stick with what you have and see what happens to LR. If the offer is eventually withdrawn, it is likely that there will be a notice period during which to make a decision.