pithydoug Loc: Catskill Mountains, NY

Speed is based on your computer assets - how much memory, core speed, etc. That said for LR/PS one best have at least 8 gig of memory. Th emore you have the faster you will run.

Because of it's power, much more than DPP, the learning curve is not trivial. So, if you looking for an easy route, LR is not the way to go and PS will be off the charts. What tool you use should be based on how serious you are, and how much editing you will do which in turns goes back to what your shoot.

lesdmd Loc: Middleton Wi via N.Y.C. & Cleveland

Sammie, I was going to provide you with a list of the features present in Lightroom. I soon realized there are too many. You would be best served by taking advantage of the 7 day free Adobe Trial http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom/free-trial-download.html. It is still not clear to me that you know what can be done in post processing. At least when you have the software open in front of you can ask yourself how many of the sliders you are apt to use or want to learn. "Exposure" modification" may be obvious, but how about things like "White Balance", "Tint","Clarity", "Vibrance", "Luminance", "Lens Corrections", "Vignetting", and a slew of others. Do you work with RAW files which (in my world) always require post processing? Do you like the idea of presets to make 1 click adjustments to your images? Do you have a need to associate your photos with "key words" so that they can easily be located? How much do you like sitting in front of your computer?
Since Adobe went to a subscription system I have seen many software developers attempting to find a replacement of Lightroom that also offers some of the enormous capacity of Photoshop. It seems to me that some have done well, but none can do what the two Adobe Programs do when used in tandem . . . Besides, I have spent years learning the software (something I enjoy) and have no desire to master an even slightly different system
As I said earlier, I can't imagine living without Lightroom. The basics are easy to master, the potential is nearly limitless (for that I have Photoshop).

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

LRCC coupled with PSCC is considered the best photo editing software in the world. There are literally thousands of tutorials available on YouTube for free. You can edit as much or as little as you wish. I do about 95% of my editing in LR or ACR. I have many editing programs but I always come back to LR and PS when I am editing money shots.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

I alway start out in LR and do 95% of my processing with it then use PS because of smart object and other plug-ins for the other 5%

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I'm familiar with LR, up to a point, so I use it for processing everything.

advocate1982

Personally I hate Adobe products and the whole idea of subscription. They screwed me big time on the initial package. So when I say that Lightroom is still my go to program for photographs, it says something about what it can actually do. The biggest advantages - import presets that you can build that will do probably 90% of your editing without even looking at the images. Key wording so that you can find an image that you took 10 years ago with a quick search. Smart collections that allow you to automatically group photos from across your catalogs by just about any criteria you want to create. For example I have time based smart collections that allow me to look at all photos taken today, yesterday, this week, last week, this month, last month, this year, last year. By catagories - sports for all sports, or by type of sport. It takes a bit to realize the power of this feature, but my catalog has over 500,000 images in it and I can find any specific image in seconds.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

I use it mainly as an image archive and retrieval system as well as a RAW editor a function which it performs well. The one time I switch to Capture One is when I need to set white balance on Infrared Images. However, I still bing them to LR afterwards. I frequently also use PS-CC.

sammie15 Loc: Michigan

Thanks. LR seems to be the go to for photo editing. Definitely going to look into it.

wapiti Loc: round rock, texas

I start with LRcc on all of my PP, but I often go from there to PScc or On1.

Pixelpixie88 Loc: Northern Minnesota

I've used LR for years and I don't know what I'd do without it and I love to process my photos. The catalog is wonderful. Key word your photos from the start after importing. Down the road, you'll be glad you did. Start learning how to use it and you'll never look back. Definitely the premier photo editing software. (In my humble opinion.)
Marsha

wapiti Loc: round rock, texas

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

Since Lightroom and Photoshop are a package I like to think of them that way. For me the important thing is that with LR/PS I know beyond a shadow of doubt that I'll have the tools I need to deal with any post-processing that comes up for stills or videos.
I started with PS and still use that in conjunction with Bridge (also part of the package) instead of Lightroom. I don't use the file storage tools in LR but all the tools are in PS so nothing is lost for me.
The "MODIFY" in LR is done in ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) and that is available in the Filters menu of PS.
Lightroom uses a single "Layer" that contains all changes to the photo. That Layer is stored separately so the original is not changed. In PS the user controls if there are layers and how many. I prefer that over LR's one layer.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

My suggestion is to purchase Lightroom CC for $ 10 per month because you get everything and always the latest versions. I also suggest, and I can't stress this aspect of my suggestions enough, that you buy BOTH of Laura Shoe's DVD on Lr, one for the input side, the other covering output. That will be the best $ 100 you can spend! In addition, I do have Kelby's book, which is sometimes faster as a reference that the DVDs. 90% plus of my work is done in Lr, the remainder in Ps. With this workflow, I'm faster and much more efficient, producing higher quality output than ever before. Best of luck.

David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA

I graduated from Paint Shop Pro to Lightroom several years ago--PSP was removing the GPS data from my photos and there was no way to turn off that "feature" (it is possible to disable it in LR). I don't use all the functions in LR, but I do find it very useful.

chasgroh Loc: Buena Park, CA

I'll speak for myself (although I'd wager there are *many* peeps here with me on this), I've used LR since its infancy along with PS so the subscription option was a no-brainer. Now I have both with timely updates for a pittance. AFA usage, like any software there's a learning curve; LR is fairly user-friendly, where PS is, well, endless (haha at least for me) but can do SO much. The two together is the most powerful stuff on the planet. I've tried other systems, but never really got into a substitute, so can't really comment on the speed part of your question, other than to say I've maxed-out my computers to be the fastest I can afford. This means that pretty much all softwares perform pretty efficiently...I have to process thousands of shots quickly so you can be sure I *am* concerned with speed. One stand-alone system I'm impressed with, though, is DXO Optics Pro 11; it's hard to use with my LR app (the going back and forth part) so I don't go there often, but it has some wonderful auto functions...