Adobe Photoshop going to a subscription-based system (Page 2): In the past camera raw was not updated after a new version of Photoshop came out. Keeping an older version is fine until...

WAL

Jaime wrote:

This month in Tim Gray's publication called Pixology he has an article on just that. But Bruce is right, photogs are 20% of Photoshop business. You can keep CS6 in perpetuity if you want and never use the cloud, but that may become outdated and there's a danger of it not being backward compatible. Conundrum.

In the past camera raw was not updated after a new version of Photoshop came out. Keeping an older version is fine until you get a new camera. Then the raw files can not be opened in Adobe Raw. ACR. They said they wanted to make ACR it universal. Now what.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

WAL wrote:

In the past camera raw was not updated after a new version of Photoshop came out. Keeping an older version is fine until you get a new camera. Then the raw files can not be opened in Adobe Raw. ACR. They said they wanted to make ACR it universal. Now what.

LR can open raw files, and they update when new cameras come out.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

bersharbp wrote:

I bought PSE 1,2,7,9,& 11, basically upgrading every two years. In two years, I will decide whether to switch to one of the many free packages or continue with the packages I have, without support. I definitely will not pay the subscription fees!

I am purely a hobbyist; I quit trying to make money from my hobby (took the fun out of it). The costs of the hardware plus, now, the subscription costs, make this hobby very expensive!

PSE, PrE and Lightroom are currently scheduled to deliver like always. You're not supposed to have to subscribe to the Adobe Cloud for those. Still, a lot of people buy the download versions instead of the disk versions.

Amanda O'Bryan

bersharbp wrote:

I bought PSE 1,2,7,9,& 11, basically upgrading every two years. In two years, I will decide whether to switch to one of the many free packages or continue with the packages I have, without support. I definitely will not pay the subscription fees!

I am purely a hobbyist; I quit trying to make money from my hobby (took the fun out of it). The costs of the hardware plus, now, the subscription costs, make this hobby very expensive!

I feel the same here. I will not by updating to the on line subscription. Its way to expensive and I guess I'm old school but I want to purchase a hard copy and KNOW that its mine. Paying a monthly fee is one thing but if you have paid that monthly fee for a couple of years and perhaps then have a problem and cant pay, then its all gone. Seems like a silly idea for regular folks. Might be fine for Corp. use.

Wezza1977uk Loc: London, England

I personally already use the subscription method as my budget does not justify the £600-£900 price of owning the software and I for one fail to see the problem. I pay my £17 a month and for that am guaranteed all updates and upgrades for as long as I pay the subscription. It's a win win for me as I'm not being forced to shell out another £900 when CS7 comes out

GaryS1964 Loc: Northern California

HOT Texas wrote:

to many good alternatives for the Pro.

I haven't tried PaintShop Pro or Gimp but from what I hear they are the only ones that come close but don't make it. Do you know of others that can equal Photoshop in layers, masking, content aware fill, cloning, and healing? Those are the things I do most often in addition to standard exposure, white balance, and other basic adjustments.

GaryS1964 Loc: Northern California

I read in the "rumors" section of a newsletter I get that Adobe is considering some adjustments aimed at photographers who use Photoshop and not any of the other tools. It was a post of a quote from a Adobe rep who said some news should be coming out soon. Unknown what if any adjustments will be made. We shall see.

Personally I'm going to try it for a year at $120/yr. That's cheaper than an upgrade to CS7 would be. After the first year it doubles to $240/yr. By then I will have some experience with the subscription system and decide whether or not to continue or go back to CS6.

A subscription service has some benefits. Namely enhancements become available as soon as they are ready rather than waiting for the next release. ACR has already had enhancements made to it that are only available to subscribers. Same with Photoshop CC.

olcoach Loc: Oregon

My bet is someone comes out with a new system that will replace the market PS seems to be willing to forget. I don't need PS for my shooting.

WAL

jerryc41 wrote:

Software piracy is undoubtedly a problem, but I think the factories in China churning out thousands of copies are the real problem. If an amateur photographer can't afford $1,000 for PS, and he uses a pirated copy, I don't see Adobe losing money. The guy wasn't going to buy it anyway.

I don't see this subscription service hurting Adobe's bottom line. It's the little guys who are complaining, while the big corporations sign up for continuous automatic updates.

The big Corps. will deduct it from the taxes. The big Corps. will deduct it from the taxes. Many do not have that option and the cost is substantial.

buckwheat Loc: Clarkdale, AZ and Belen NM

I've been reading this debate for some time now, and have yet to see what the pros on here think about it. (Nikon shooter, Captain C come to mind first.) Because my wife is a professor, I always get the academic version which costs $200.00 and is not upgradable. I don't upgrade every year, so its not like I'm paying for the full subscription. But because I have a problem with camera movement, I am holding my breath for the version that corrects that. To me, that feature will be worth $20.00 a month for the next 20 years. (Assuming I make it to 90.)

GaryS1964 Loc: Northern California

buckwheat wrote:

But because I have a problem with camera movement, I am holding my breath for the version that corrects that.

I believe that feature will be in the first release of Photoshop CC which I believe will be available June 17th.

Photoshop CC new features.
http://blogs.adobe.com/photoshopdotcom/2013/05/photoshop-cc-for-creative-cloud-members-coming-soon.html

http://blogs.adobe.com/ukchannelnews/2013/05/13/photoshop-cc/

ACR 8 Overview. (Only available to subscribers) http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-photoshop-cc/an-overview-of-camera-raw-8/

Interesting read. http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/05/08/Adobe-photoshop-cc

Perhaps Adobe will put the most often used features of Photoshop by photographers into Lightroom.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

GaryS1964 wrote:

I believe that feature will be in the first releas... (show quote)

This is how they're going to win people back into the fold. They will keep introducing "must have" improvements, and people will think that maybe $20/month isn't too much to pay for those features.

tripsy76 Loc: Northshore, MA

I know it's been mentioned before, and it's a bit limiting for what I do, but Adobe is giving away their CS2 suite for free. Photoshop CS2 is the pro version of Photoshop. It's missing things that I'm assuming most of you may not need like Content Aware. But it's a fully functioning legitimate liscensed copy of the software, and like Picassa and Gimp, it's free.
You do have to sign up at Adobe's site but no credit cards or anything of the sort are required. That is free also.
If you want the software, or are thinking about it I would suggest checking it out. Just make sure you grab it from Adobe and not some third party.

This is nothing more than my 2-Cents, and a little repeated information. I personally am very thankfull for the subscription, as it saves me a ton of money. And the upgrades, patches, storage, hosting, and exclusives really make it worthwhile for me. Personally, I think it's worth the once a month liscense check. I only have to go online once over the course of a month and if I want to turn into a hermit or jump the grid I could.

And just want to add that I do not in anyway work for Adobe. I run a SFX/PFX Boutique, and I am an on site trainer/ instructorfor various Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, and Avid products.

hgsp

I just went to Adobe's website and located the CS2 downloads and Adobe says it has disabled the activation server for CS2 products.http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/compose_reply.jsp?topicnum=124021#

jdubu Loc: San Jose, CA

bersharbp wrote:

I bought PSE 1,2,7,9,& 11, basically upgrading every two years. In two years, I will decide whether to switch to one of the many free packages or continue with the packages I have, without support. I definitely will not pay the subscription fees!

I am purely a hobbyist; I quit trying to make money from my hobby (took the fun out of it). The costs of the hardware plus, now, the subscription costs, make this hobby very expensive!

I attended an Adobe meetup last night and, like many here, went in thinking alternatives may be a viable option.

The subscription service is aimed at professionals and groups, not the hobbyist, per se. PSE, according to Terry White, will still be sold traditionally.

One of the benefits that will work for me, if I go subscription, is I can have CC on any number of computers at home, work or travel. A single license still authorizes only 2 active computers, but if I start up any CC program on another computer, Adobe automatically deauthorizes one of the other 2. All that happens is a window comes up and says that is what will happen if I continue. That is an advantage I like.

My initial negativity has been tempered by the number of benefits that can be had by CC in our business model.

Still, I like having a paid program in perpetuity without constantly paying to use it. Accordingly, Adobe says that PS6 will continue to be sold traditionally and supported by Adobe, but probably not updated.