Because you do not have to upgrade if do not wish to. Over the last 20 years I would have paid Adobe $2400 on subscription. I have paid about $900 upgrading when I felt I wanted to. Unless you really need to keep up with Joneses one may not feel the need to constantly upgrade. As a retiree that on a fixed income that $10 makes a difference to me so please refrain from telling people how to spend their money and I will do the same for you. ON1 is pretty easy to use and well laid out. I have expressed some concerns in other posts, but one can get away without upgrading for several years and still get a quality product. As a hobbyist this can save one from constantly paying for something that may only help them marginally. This up grade is as a big as Lightrooms latest and may help those who do not wanted to be beholden to a subscription.

Oh yes they do charge. When I purchased 2021 it worked and still does as a plug in and a stand alone. Not so for 2022. If I wanted it for stand alone fine, but to use it as plug in, for say Affinity, there was an extra charge. I am also not sure how well it interfaces with Windows 11 as it gives me rather sluggish mouse control. ON1 has made some great gains in the past few years and it can be a pretty good alternative to Lightroom. I do like what I see in the new version but for me they are not quite there yet. I also wonder if after all is said and done they will also revert to subscription only which seems to be the current business model of many companies now

You got that right! I am also not a big fan of their "tech" support. Once too them 5 days to get back to me with a solution that was vague and did not work. I do like using 2021 as a plug in.

Jerry you should not have had to pay for the midyear update. Also if you are happy with ON1 2022 there is no reason you have to update. Yes there is a lot happening there but perhaps even more will happen for 2024 or even 2025. So again if you are happy with your work flow why change? That is the advantage of non subscription upgrade when you wish or can afford instead of paying monthly forever and ever. I do not like, however, that ON1 now charges extra for the plug in options. So yeah their business practices can sometimes leave a lot to be desired. As a fellow retiree I feel your pain.

And one can make a wonderful dinner at home for a lot less than $120. It all depends on one's priorities and needs. Since the current business model seems to be the subscription, for many platforms, all those $10 a month fees add up. One person's bargain is another persons cost to much. As person on a fixed income I dropped Netflix to pay for Adobe. I use LR 95% of the time and rarely use Photoshop. I wish they has a subscription to LR only for say $5 a month I have used On1 and find it good but for some reason my tracking ball does not quite respond in that program only(it's very herky jerky). I will continue to check out non subscription software to see if the improvements made so I can enjoy retirement without one more monthly fee

The thing is, this is really the infancy( or perhaps adolescence) of mirrorless cameras. Compare an early DSLR with those that are sold today and things have changed in leaps an bounds. I am 71 and have 3 Nikon DSLRs, D500,D7500, and D7200. I can accomplish what I need to do with them. If in 5 years one of them dies (and I am still alive) I will see where the Mirrorless cameras have evolved and replace accordingly. The technology does intrigue me but it does not intrigue my bank account.

Thank you riv AKA Loren

Groups 1 and 2 have no problems with the subscription. Group 3 wants to minimize costs by using old but serviceable software. The real problem arises when the old software meets the new OS and becomes unserviceable. At that point there are two choices: (A) update the software with the subscription; (B) find new software.[/quote]
Sorry to burst your bubble but this serious armature and retiree has problems paying in perpetuity. This is why I have been checking out other software that will accomplish what Lightroom does. Other companies are making great inroads and who knows what the next few years will bring. Never assume anything

Perhaps a professional who must constantly up grade may pay less but for this hobbyist would not. I started using Adobe Elements in 2002. If I had been paying a subscription since that time my cost would be about $2400. It has been about $900 because I did not upgrade all the time and some of the hardware I purchased offered Elements for free. As a retiree l must watch my monthly expenses and I have no need of the full blown photoshop as Affinity, which I paid a one time cost of $25, works for me. Most of my work is done in Lightroom 6 anyway. I truly wish Adobe would have Lightroom stand alone rather than paying in perpetuity for a program (Photoshop) that I will rarely use. The subscription model seems to be everywhere because it is a constant cash flow for the company. As l said as a retiree l have to watch my cash flow and if it comes to the choice between a subscription and prescription, guess which will win? As far as that old chestnut of we never truly own the software, if one is able to use it forever 10 years for intents and purposes they own it. The bottom line is that how one spends ones money is up to them and while we may disagree there is no need to insult anyone for the choice they made nor tell them how to spend their money. Keep smiling all😎

Last July I rented the 200-500 for a week. While it took very good photos it was much too heavy for me for hand holding. If you have some place to try it before you buy it I would recommend that.

It is a raster editor more akin to photoshop than Lightroom.

Wonderful captures! Ain't it grand when the fates send you such wonderful photo ops! You certainly made the most of that opportunity. What was the equipment used?

I find that Elements (I'm using the '22 version) works really well for things like this.
Nice work

Well that won't work for me since I use LR everyday. I am retired and on a fixed income so adding monthly expenses does not appeal to me. As you said it is up to the individual to decide.

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I tried the trial version of LR Classic and I will say that the subject select and the sky select do speed up the process, The local masking has been made very powerful with luminosity masks. I think the select feature is on Photoshop but I did not try that out as I mostly work in Lightroom. I decided not subscribe now, who knows what the future will bring. I also LR6 and Affinity. You did a great job with the tools at hand and only you can decide whether the subscription is worth paying adobe forever and ever