New Lightroom Changes coming this month

What I do find very interesting from the point of view of an Elements user is to compare the prices and advantages of the three subscription options.
Skip the following discussion if you can't imagine going to a subscription... but if you simply agree to compare annual costs with what each option offers, you'll see that even if Adobe never mention Elements in the comparison, they offer a new interesting solution to many 'enthusiast' users. I'll use the prices in France in euros.

Before:
- Some users are happy with Elements only and don't update every year. See my last poll. Say €80 (update or promotional price) every four years. Say about €2 monthly...
- Many use a 'perpetual' LR version (often an old one) plus Elements as the pixel editor. Many combination, say €6 monthly.
- Many Elements users have subscribed to the CC photographers plan. €12 monthly for the combo latest LR, LR mobile, full Photoshop. Much, much more affordable than a few years before where Lr was €240 and Photoshop €1045!!!

Now, with Elements price unchanged, what is new is that you have a totally new LR CC Cloud option. Not yet the power of LR 'Classic', but obviously interesting for everyone needing to share its library and work between several computers and devices. The combo with Elements as pixel editor is very attractive, because most users use only LR for most of their edits and Photoshop is overly complicated. And keep in mind that LR CC can come with 1TB of Cloud space!

A - Formula subscription for LR CC + 1TB = €12
B - Formula subscription for LRCC + LR 'classic'+Photoshop + only 20MB = €12
C - Same as above with 1TB = €24

As I see it, the difference between 20MB and 1TB means that you can not only share and work with maximum flexibility, but you can use your formula for a total cloud backup.

If you consider the difference between C and B, the cost of 1TB is €12. You might say that formula A makes you pay for the 1TB... and gives you LR CC for free

So, I can imagine formula A with Elements updated every 3 or 4 years can meet the needs of many enthusiasts.

Thanks Simone. One of these days I am sure I will make the leap to a subscription as the functionality seems to be getting better and better. At the moment I am using LR6 perpetual for which I noticed there will be no updates after December. I am hoping to hang in there for another year with it if I can and then I will reassess the situation.

Andy, glad to hear that the new "Auto" feature is working so well; I will have to update this weekend to try it out.



Sydney, I hear you. Until about 2 years ago I was using the LR5 stand alone version, but am very glad to have made the jump to subscription, the new features really do make a difference (I am thinking about the Haze slider for instance).