therwol Loc: USA

Maybe they reached their budget limit. How many times do you read about people buying a $3000+ camera and asking what 50+ year old manual focus lenses will work well on it? Maybe people just like to play around with different options. It doesn't bother me.

splatbass Loc: Honolulu

I think that $9.99 is the best money I spend on photography.

shadow1284 Loc: Mid-West Michigan

Good day to all. I haven't posted in a long time. I have been in love with photography since my first 3MP Olympus camera. That was 1997. I have learned much. I have taken the NYIP course 15 years ago and have taken about 200,000 photos. That's a guess as I continue to delete photos that I have come to realize are far from good photography and are not that close to my heart. I currently use a 12 y/o Canon 7d. Software; that said about my photography knowledge, I still know that taking a well composed, properly lit and well thought out photograph is the best start to creating a superb photograph. If you think you can do this every time, I bow to your expertise. As for myself, I started using PSP 04, from then, Jasic 15 years ago. I have paid for updated versions to include my latest versin, Corel PSP X8 Ultimate. Most good software will perform digital creation far beyond my needs. As of this date, I still try to create the best photo I can, in camera. But perfect, I am far from. So, I still need the corrections that bring out the results I was trying for.
I believe I have received all the results I need from what PSP provides. As for you. This is a photographers choice. The judge is you. If you get the results YOU are looking for, then my opinion doesn't matter. I only suggest you strive for happiness in your photographic endeavors.

The best you get in life reflects what the best in life you give.

UserNameHere

As an amateur, I won't pay monthly costs for software I use a few times a year. Affinity has a great suite of software I've bought, directly from them, and it does more than I'll even know how to use. I used to have PS but I think it was a light version. It was great, I loved it, but it, too, did more than I'll ever even know how to use.
A pro has a whole 'nother suite of issues to deal with that I really don't know anything about. I can assume, however, being a pro in my own business, that you have to have the good stuff, and it has to be the latest to keep an edge on the competition.
Each according to his needs, in this conversation.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

I am an amateur too; but when post-processing with Lightroom, Photoshop, DxO, and ON1, I feel like a Pro.

UserNameHere

Ha! Good point :)

Photocraig

Dave,
Gotcha!
But, the value, of even tangible goods, like Pharmaceuticals is in a very large part attributable to the development costs (and of course regulation). Now, as a major consumer of the latter, I can rage for days on the topic, but the point is that software doesn't just drop out of the cloud. It is developed concept by concept, flow chart by flow chart,and line by line of code. Tested, alpha tested, compatibility tested, Beta tested. That is all done by EXPENSIVE people.

If you expect it to drop out of cloud for free, then imagine your next lens, body, speedlite, tripod etc. to emerge from the same source. Like Facebook, and all other free stuff--it is VALUE PRICED!

And then, just TRY to get a question answered or a problem fixed.
Just sayin'
C

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Every time I open LR or PS, I am struck to think of what Ansel Adams and other greats of the past would have accomplished with such a darkroom at their disposal. And that's not even considering the improved cameras and imaging media...

Andy

insman1132 Loc: Southwest Florida

Actually, rplain, you raise a fair question. I cannot get camera equipment for free! I must pay to own it. The better the equipment the more it costs me. But when it comes to editing, there are so many good Editing Software programs out there that are free, I have to ask what would be the major advantages to my paying a monthly cost, for instance, as compared to using a free one??

For instance, you experienced LR owners might be able to tell me: What does LRClassic, at about $120 per year, do for me, that GIMP will not do for me equally as good -- but for free?? If I use LRClassic for the next 10 years I will have spent $1200.00 to do so, but I will have spent $0.00 to have used GIMP.

Not to get in a shouting match with anybody over this, as I truly believe in "to each his own," but can someone explain specifically what I will have gained by spending that additional $1200.00? How will my edited pictures be $1200.00 better as a result?

Bill_de Loc: US

It's always interesting to read these threads. I did not subscribe, in fact I did not upgrade PS since CS 5. Up until CS5 I was upgrading PS usually with every other version. I read books, went to seminars, etc. I probably learned the most in about two hours at a presentation by Jeff Schewe. He even surprised a couple of Adobe engineers who were there, showing things he discovered in PS. I tried most of the new features as they were introduced.

I came to the realization one day that after trying a lot of the new features, when I sat down to edit my photos I reverted to a handful of features that I was comfortable with and got the job done, 'for me'.

I still buy a new program once in a while just to play. I now edit most of my images for the internet in Photoshop Elements, and my prints get finished in CS5. It recognizes the profiles for the Epson P800 and the Epson paper I use.

And although I do spend a lot of money on new cameras and lenses, the old software still works for me. I am getting too old and lazy to learn new tricks, and admit it.

The one thing that cracks me up is when some subscription members talk about the free updates. Ain't nothing free about it, all those updates are prepaid.

Bottom line {IMHO} is that for those who use even 10 -15 percent of the features in the LR/PS package it is a terrific bargain. For those who don't go beyond very basic editing, not so much.

--

BebuLamar

Yeah I paid several months of $9.99 each and I don't even start the software during those months. So for the month I do use it the cost isn't $9.99 is it?