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Adobe Lightroom (Classic). Yes, you pay real money for the stupid cloud model, but — I can add gradient and circular filters, correct for the lens distortion w

Adobe Lightroom (Classic). Yes, you pay real money for the stupid cloud model, but — I can add gradient and circular filters, correct for the lens distortion with profiles for most major cameras and lenses (including your iPhone), get one-click perspective correction so a building facade is square against the image plane ... and it's all lossless editing. You want a map of your photos over time? Of course we have the map. You want facial recognition but locally hosted so it's not creepy? Got ya covered. There's a cloud-oriented Lightroom these days. I don't use it and don't look forward to when they stop supporting Classic so I'll have to ... switch away yes that's definitely what I'll do 100%

robenkleene 5y ago
For the record, I don't think Adobe is ever moving away from Lightroom Classic. I think the naming is a bit of a mirage, or more specifically a way to push consumers towards a more valuable (charge for cloud storage), less demanding (objectively less capable), product. A customer paying for Classic and CC, and only using CC is a better customer for Adobe. But the problem is Adobe Lightroom CC has effectively zero penetration with professional photographers. If I had to summarize the pro market opinion of CC, it would be contempt. Here's an example: This article (https://petapixel.com/2020/01/02///why-im-sticking-with-lightroom-classic-for-now/ https://petapixel.com/2020/01/02///why-im-sticking-with-ligh...), about choosing Classic over CC, has about 100 comments, the maximum allowed, most panning CC. Of those 100, it's easy to find the single positive comment about CC: it's at the bottom, with the most downvotes. The problem is the whole basis of CC (cloud storage) is antithetical to how professional photographers work (thousands of large photos per shoot). Adobe can't grow CC into eventually supporting this market because it can't support offline storage, because the whole reason CC exists is to have a product that's cloud only... So I think Adobe will effectively be supporting Classic forever. Here's an example: Adobe has committed to native support for Classic on Apple Silicon (https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/macos-big-sur-compatibility.html https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/macos-big-sur-c...).
- snowwrestler 5y ago
  I wonder how long Adobe is going to care about professional photographers for Lightroom. That sounds crazy, I know, but I would bet that the percentage of Lightroom users who are actual working pros is tiny and shrinking. At some point it will be more profitable for Adobe to abandon that tiny and demanding customer group to some other company and focus on prosumers with Lightroom CC. Pros who need Photoshop will still need Adobe. There is nothing remotely close to replacing Photoshop. And AFAIK, every Lightroom competitor ships with an “open this file in Photoshop” button. Apple did this with Final Cut. After years of being proud that Real Hollywood Films were edited with Final Cut, they gave up Hollywood and pivoted the product firmly toward prosumers. It has not hurt Apple at all, and probably saved them some money and heartache along the way.
  - robenkleene 5y ago
    > I wonder how long Adobe is going to care about professional photographers for Lightroom. That sounds crazy, I know, but I would bet that the percentage of Lightroom users who are actual working pros is tiny and shrinking. At some point it will be more profitable for Adobe to abandon that tiny and demanding customer group to some other company and focus on prosumers with Lightroom CC. This is theoretically possible, but I'd bet against it because of the brand halo effect of having Lightroom Classic be the main tool of professional photographers is too valuable. The second Adobe discontinues Lightroom Classic, the professional market will move to Capture One. That's a dangerous position for Adobe to be in. I wouldn't put it past Adobe to still make this mistake (e.g., see Figma), but I think if they did, it would be a mistake so large that it would shape the future of Adobe as a company. I.e., Adobe will be weaker forever if they do this. > Apple did this with Final Cut. After years of being proud that Real Hollywood Films were edited with Final Cut, they gave up Hollywood and pivoted the product firmly toward prosumers. It has not hurt Apple at all, and probably saved them some money and heartache along the way. I do not think Apple is happy about the way Final Cut Pro X turned out. The feedback to Final Cut Pro X was so bad that Steve Jobs personally called Randy Ubillos about it (source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfII0EcbCsg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfII0EcbCsg). That's the only time I've ever heard of Steve Jobs getting involved with one of Apple's pro apps. Consider this: Look at the Mac Pro and in particular, the Pro Display XDR. Which industry were those products made to placate? Do you think Apple is happy that video studios that once would have been running their software on those machines are now running Avid/Premiere? Plus look at the corresponding roll out of Logic Pro X two years later, which was far less of re-imagining than Final Cut Pro X was. I think Apple has learned their lesson. "Success hides problems", from 2010-2020 made some colossally terrible decisions, that we only talk about less because the iPhone has compensated for so much, Final Cut Pro X is one of them.

robenkleene 5y ago

For the record, I don't think Adobe is ever moving away from Lightroom Classic. I think the naming is a bit of a mirage, or more specifically a way to push consumers towards a more valuable (charge for cloud storage), less demanding (objectively less capable), product. A customer paying for Classic and CC, and only using CC is a better customer for Adobe. But the problem is Adobe Lightroom CC has effectively zero penetration with professional photographers. If I had to summarize the pro market opinion of CC, it would be contempt. Here's an example: This article (https://petapixel.com/2020/01/02///why-im-sticking-with-lightroom-classic-for-now/ https://petapixel.com/2020/01/02///why-im-sticking-with-ligh...), about choosing Classic over CC, has about 100 comments, the maximum allowed, most panning CC. Of those 100, it's easy to find the single positive comment about CC: it's at the bottom, with the most downvotes. The problem is the whole basis of CC (cloud storage) is antithetical to how professional photographers work (thousands of large photos per shoot). Adobe can't grow CC into eventually supporting this market because it can't support offline storage, because the whole reason CC exists is to have a product that's cloud only... So I think Adobe will effectively be supporting Classic forever. Here's an example: Adobe has committed to native support for Classic on Apple Silicon (https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/macos-big-sur-compatibility.html https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/macos-big-sur-c...).

snowwrestler 5y ago
I wonder how long Adobe is going to care about professional photographers for Lightroom. That sounds crazy, I know, but I would bet that the percentage of Lightroom users who are actual working pros is tiny and shrinking. At some point it will be more profitable for Adobe to abandon that tiny and demanding customer group to some other company and focus on prosumers with Lightroom CC. Pros who need Photoshop will still need Adobe. There is nothing remotely close to replacing Photoshop. And AFAIK, every Lightroom competitor ships with an “open this file in Photoshop” button. Apple did this with Final Cut. After years of being proud that Real Hollywood Films were edited with Final Cut, they gave up Hollywood and pivoted the product firmly toward prosumers. It has not hurt Apple at all, and probably saved them some money and heartache along the way.
- robenkleene 5y ago
  > I wonder how long Adobe is going to care about professional photographers for Lightroom. That sounds crazy, I know, but I would bet that the percentage of Lightroom users who are actual working pros is tiny and shrinking. At some point it will be more profitable for Adobe to abandon that tiny and demanding customer group to some other company and focus on prosumers with Lightroom CC. This is theoretically possible, but I'd bet against it because of the brand halo effect of having Lightroom Classic be the main tool of professional photographers is too valuable. The second Adobe discontinues Lightroom Classic, the professional market will move to Capture One. That's a dangerous position for Adobe to be in. I wouldn't put it past Adobe to still make this mistake (e.g., see Figma), but I think if they did, it would be a mistake so large that it would shape the future of Adobe as a company. I.e., Adobe will be weaker forever if they do this. > Apple did this with Final Cut. After years of being proud that Real Hollywood Films were edited with Final Cut, they gave up Hollywood and pivoted the product firmly toward prosumers. It has not hurt Apple at all, and probably saved them some money and heartache along the way. I do not think Apple is happy about the way Final Cut Pro X turned out. The feedback to Final Cut Pro X was so bad that Steve Jobs personally called Randy Ubillos about it (source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfII0EcbCsg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfII0EcbCsg). That's the only time I've ever heard of Steve Jobs getting involved with one of Apple's pro apps. Consider this: Look at the Mac Pro and in particular, the Pro Display XDR. Which industry were those products made to placate? Do you think Apple is happy that video studios that once would have been running their software on those machines are now running Avid/Premiere? Plus look at the corresponding roll out of Logic Pro X two years later, which was far less of re-imagining than Final Cut Pro X was. I think Apple has learned their lesson. "Success hides problems", from 2010-2020 made some colossally terrible decisions, that we only talk about less because the iPhone has compensated for so much, Final Cut Pro X is one of them.