frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

I just singed up for the Adobe Cloud monthly service......Wow.....I was still using LR5 and CS2.....a big diff....I really love the "open as smart object" and the ability to go back and forth from Adobe PS and Adobe Raw with a click of the mouse.....A whole lot easier and faster than what I was doing.....Slap my hand...I say again WOW...For those that have not made the move, DO IT.....

Steve Perry Loc: Sylvania, Ohio

I jumped on since about day one, no regrets at all. Love it.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

I felt the same excitement when Fuji Hunt Chrome 6X became available. Best thing that happened to my photography since Kodak E-6 was discontinued.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

May the Force be With You Frank.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I go from LR to PS and back with side trips to NIK, Topaz Simplify and sometimes one of the Franzis Project Pro apps. I don't use Camera RAW, maybe I should try it. It is installed in my copy of CC and up to date.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

How much $$$?

FiddleMaker Loc: Merrimac, MA

I an currently using LR5 and I need to upgrade to something more current because LR5 does not read RAW files from my newly purchased Fujifilm X-T2. I am thinking about the subscription version of Lightroom Classic.

howdysmom Loc: the Northwoods of Wisconsin

I am in the same boat as you are, FiddleMaker. Let us know what you decide.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

I am using Affinity Photo as my primary editor. I can also say WOW.

jccash Loc: Longwood, Florida

Ya and you actually know how to use it. LOL
Do you have a LR Video? I could look but feeling lazy.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Try ON1 18.1 as a plug-in to your LR5. I’m beginning to use it with my LR5.7 and am impressed so far with what it will do. You can get a free download for 30 days to try it out, and I got mine for $69, an intro price. It’s going up, but I don’t know when or what the regular price will be. ON1 is trying to get business from Adobe customers who don’t want to be locked in to the monthly subscription.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

I hear you, I waited about a year to jump on board, and it's saved me some pretty big $$ over upgrading every year or 2 max.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

$10 a month. I was reluctant until I went back over my expenditures for earlier versions of Lightroom and annual updates as well as PS Elements. It averaged out to around $16 a month. Now, with the subscription, I have full PS instead of Elements and am saving money.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Glad to hear you are happy with your decision. A lot of people have been using the photography package over the last few years and are happy with their decision.

A lot of posters express reluctance to sign up to a subscription model program because "you pay for it forever". Aside from the fact that forever is a long time and most of us don't last that long, it isn't as bad as it sounds to those people. For me, $9.99 (plus sales tax) per month is significantly less than my monthly impulse purchases. And I get value for my subscription, whereas my impulse purchases rarely give me lasting satisfaction.

IMHO, the following reasons are sufficient NOT to subscribe:
1 You only shoot snapshots.
2 You are always satisfied with what comes out of your camera.
3 You use the same camera you bought years ago and will use it until it dies.
4 You are not really serious about photography as a hobby (if that's the case, what are you doing in this forum?)
5 You are not interested in learning anything new.

If any one of the above reasons applies to you, you need not consider postprocessing.

Otherwise, you should consider postprocessing as a way to get the most out of your images. The Adobe photography package is one way to do that. Of course there are other software packages that you can use for postprocessing. I believe that the combination of Lightroom and Photoshop is the best solution.

The OP has been postprocessing his images for a while now (he used software that dates back a few years) so he is well aware of the advantages. Like me, he was probably hesitant to commit to a subscription. I dithered about it for probably 8-10 months. Eventually I decided that (1) the cost was within reason and I could well afford it and (2) perpetual updates are part of the equation. I went for it several years ago and have never regretted my decision. The cost pales in comparison to my other photography expenses (even aside from updating camera bodies and lenses).

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

What I'm blown away by is the fact that we haven't seen tons of posts about "evil Adobe" yet....yet.

If I ever make the switch from making money to "hobby" status, I will still probably continue with my subscription unless they do "someday" (as all the Anti Adobe Mafia claim) jack up the prices. Small increases should be expected, but I can still remember posts from when it first came out claiming that "They'll just jack it up to $50/month after the first year" Never happened. My guess is, it never will. It will probably go up, but not drastically.