Adobe has certainly become something of a controversial subject for photographers. On the one hand, they make the products that are still the standard of the industry which everything else is measured against. On the other hand, ever since they switched to their subscription based model of software, there has been a bit of animosity towards the company. While I have mixed feelings about that and there is one other major misgiving I have about the company (which I’ll discuss later), the truth is that I really would be a little lost without Adobe Lightroom Classic. Along with a couple of other long-lived photographic accessories like my tripod, it’s been one of the most constant parts of my “gear” ever since I tried out version 2.0 back in 2008.
I don’t think Lightroom is the best at anything it does. For RAW conversion, I’d probably give the nod to Capture One, although one thing I’ve always noted about RAW conversion is that different software can be “best” based on the model of camera used. In my own use, I find that Nikon’s own Capture NX-D produces the most consistently good results. I almost always like the images that come out of NX-D more than Lightroom. But Capture NX-D is slow and doesn’t feature the most intuitive interface. I’ll occasionally use it to do a RAW conversion on something that I want to look its absolute best but those times are few and far between. It’s easier for me to just stay in the Lightroom workspace for 99.9% of my images.
When it comes to image processing beyond RAW conversion (things like cloning, working in layers, perspective fixes, etc.) again Lightroom falls short. Indeed, its own sibling product, Photoshop, is the de facto standard for this kind of work. I’ll bring a photo up in Photoshop about 10% of the time or so. Most of the time, I don’t need those kinds of controls for my photos. Honestly, Photoshop can be a bit overwhelming for me. I know how to do a few things in there but I’ve only scratched the surface of what it can do. I also know that I’m slow when I work in the PS environment. I’m sure if I used it more, this would improve. Most of the time, I just don’t need that kind of processing power, though.
Lightroom also probably isn’t the most powerful database program. I know Thom Hogan has mentioned Photo Mechanic as his preferred software for ingesting files, choosing selects, tagging and such. I’m not a pro, though and the speed and database tools in Lightroom are sufficient to my needs.
Lightroom also isn’t the best printing utility. One of the printer forums that I frequent is absolutely chock full of Q Image users. Kevin Raber is a big fan of ImagePrint. I’ve thought about both, especially the latter but price has always kept me away. Lightroom works well enough for print purposes for me.
So what exactly is the appeal of Lightroom for me? While it may not be the *best* at any of the above functions, it’s perfectly capable at all of them. To be able to do everything that it does in one place is worth both the lack of some functionality and the monthly rental premium for me.
It’s not a perfect fit. While it has gotten faster with time, it can still be a slow program to run. While I accept the subscription model, I wish photographers were seeing more regular and powerful updates because of it. Honestly, the rollout of new features and better performance really doesn’t seem much better than it was pre-subscription. The only monumental change that the subscription model has brought about is record profit reports for stockholders quarter after quarter. That’s slightly irking but not enough to make me want to change.
There is, however, one scenario that could force me to change from Lightroom (which would involve untold amounts of work moving to multiple other platforms). Adobe seems to be inching ever closer to being completely cloud-based. Ever since they released the new, cloud-based Lightroom and renamed the older Lightroom product as “Lightroom Classic,” it’s seemed like eventually the writing was on the wall for the older program. I don’t know what the future holds but I know that if Adobe drops Lightroom Classic and forces me to use the cloud-based replacement, it will be the end of my Adobe subscription. I don’t want my entire photo library in a cloud somewhere.
For the time being, though, everything still seems status quo. Adobe is still updating the old Lightroom Classic. There aren’t any signs that it’s departure from the Adobe product line is imminent. So I’ll keep on keeping on and will worry about finding alternative solutions if and when that becomes a necessity.