In several years of using the Adobe LR PS Bridge bundle, I have not encountered any errors that affected my work. But I've used nearly all of the new features added to LR and some of the new features added to PS, and the interface just keeps getting slicker.

Adobe has been good about pushing feature updates and ACR camera profiles about quarterly, and their last two major revisions were very clean. They are also quick to issue patches as needed. One thing to consider about subscriptions is that the phone support team only has ONE VERSION TO SUPPORT — the current one! If there's a problem, they know it quickly, fix it quickly, and push the update quickly. That reduces training needs and improves consistency of knowledge among the folks answering the phone when you call.

Virtually all software companies support their software. The developer of Affinity (Serif) has developed a very good reputation for fixing problems and supporting customers on Macs and Windows. Good support is golden good will. Ever call the old Gates or Ballmer Micro$lop and get that wonderful, "technically correct but functionally useless" answer? When I ran a database development project in IT, we got those answers all the time. Fortunately, Satya Nadella is turning things around at MS.

Adobe supports only the current version of ACR. That can be a problem if you're using an older version of Photoshop or the stand-alone version of LR, and you buy a new camera.

I've gone from being a complete skeptic about subscription software to being a huge fan. It's made my life with MS Office, Photoshop, Lightroom, and Bridge quite a bit easier. And I love the cash flow predictability — I don't have to budget a huge chunk of change for upgrades.

Okay - I can see from many of your responses that I failed to phrase my query properly.

So... can I try again?

1) I'm newly widowed, moved to an entirely new part of the country, am still moving in, have no family support here, am financially limited, and am fighting colon cancer at the same time;

2) While photography is not the top priority in my life at the moment, it is very important to maintaining a certain quality of life;

3) I have made a substantial investment in time and money to acquire and learn to operate fairly sophisticated equipment (most notably my Nikon D750, and my best lens, the 105mm prime, as well as the MavBook Pro from 2014, which has a particularly sophisticated color processor or whatever you call it, and I print my better work on an Epson R2880.);

4). Aside from the obvious competing priorities in my life, I now have to deal with the obsolete photo editor that I spent much time mastering in the past - that is, Aperture 3 - thank you, Apple geniuses, for abandoning the application that you pushed so successfully for all of us to rely upon;

5). I tend to swing between the 2 extremes of using my iPhone 6 Plus to take photos of nearly everything that catches my attention, and surrendering to the perfectionism that requires me to set up my tripod with my D750, my 105 lens, my backdrop of black velvet, sometimes accessory lighting, and taking zillions of photos while changing various settings on Manual (which I always shoot in - that's just how my late husband taught me), including always shooting both in jpeg and in RAW - or nef, or tiff or whatever;

6) until now, I have not attempted to edit in RAW, because I couldn't or wouldn't take on the massive new learning curve that would require;

7) I also have never edited in anything but pixels, for the same reason as above; BUT,

8) Since the Aperture phaseout is forcing me to find new editing software, I'd like to find one that isn't significantly different from Aperture, but will allow me to build on what I do know, as well as to provide the opportunity to learn editing RAW images, and working with a non-pixel editor; and so,

9). While I'm acutely aware that I'm asking for the impossible, I'm trying to find a compromise that will work for me at the skill and interest level that I have now, leaves room for a steeper learning curve, and comes at a price somewhere below exorbitant. Can I stipulate an outside cost of $75 or so without incurring vehement protests that it doesn't exist?

Hi photo-editing experts!

I have always had Apple products - iPod, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad, MacBook Pro 15" (2011), and MacBook Pro 13" retina (2014);
THUS, I have made it a point to learn Aperture 3 to edit my photos.
BUT, Apple, in its infinite wisdom, has discontinued Aperture, and substituted Photos in its place.


Photos is a travesty - it would take me pages and hours to describe its shortcomings, so I've played around with Adobe - trial periods of Creative Cloud, Photoshop (Fix, Express, Mix, etc.), but now I've run out of free trials and I have to make a decision on what to use as a relatively permanent editing program.

While I'd love to get the best, most expensive, and newest editor, I am, alas, on a fixed income, which doesn't (yet) have a special budget for photography.


And SO, here is my question for y'all: Given the above facts, what is your experience with the most cost effective but still sufficiently sophisticated Editor for me?

I'm hardly an expert, but I shoot with a Nikon D750, and have, as my go-to lenses, a Nikkor AF-S ED VR 28-300mm 1:3.5-5.6G zoom lens and a Nikkor 105mm prime - photo below (bad iPhone photo - I realize)

I have thousands of photos on my laptop, some edited in iPhoto, most in Aperture, about a quarter taken with my first DSLR, a D80 (these are mostly the iPhoto app edits), half taken with my prior DSLR, a D300 (mostly Aperture edits), and the most recent quarter, some with my iPhone, but most with my D750. As I said, I've done a little editing with the PS trials, but I've mostly had to use Aperture.

I grow orchids, and they, along with birds, beach photos, sunsets, and, of course, my children, comprise the greater part of the 12,000 or so photos I have yet to organize properly. I'll attach a couple of examples to give you an idea of my past results. I have reached the point now where I'm able to use my camera settings and composition experience to take photos that generally need little editing, but I still want to have a good photo-editor app to work with from now on.

Okay - I can see from many of your responses that I failed to phrase my query properly.

So... can I try again?

1) I'm newly widowed, moved to an entirely new part of the country, am still moving in, have no family support here, am financially limited, and am fighting colon cancer at the same time;

2) While photography is not the top priority in my life at the moment, it is very important to maintaining a certain quality of life;

3) I have made a substantial investment in time and money to acquire and learn to operate fairly sophisticated equipment (most notably my Nikon D750, and my best lens, the 105mm prime, as well as the MavBook Pro from 2014, which has a particularly sophisticated color processor or whatever you call it, and I print my better work on an Epson R2880.);

4). Aside from the obvious competing priorities in my life, I now have to deal with the obsolete photo editor that I spent much time mastering in the past - that is, Aperture 3 - thank you, Apple geniuses, for abandoning the application that you pushed so successfully for all of us to rely upon;

5). I tend to swing between the 2 extremes of using my iPhone 6 Plus to take photos of nearly everything that catches my attention, and surrendering to the perfectionism that requires me to set up my tripod with my D750, my 105 lens, my backdrop of black velvet, sometimes accessory lighting, and taking zillions of photos while changing various settings on Manual (which I always shoot in - that's just how my late husband taught me), including always shooting both in jpeg and in RAW - or nef, or tiff or whatever;

6) until now, I have not attempted to edit in RAW, because I couldn't or wouldn't take on the massive new learning curve that would require;

7) I also have never edited in anything but pixels, for the same reason as above; BUT,

8) Since the Aperture phaseout is forcing me to find new editing software, I'd like to find one that isn't significantly different from Aperture, but will allow me to build on what I do know, as well as to provide the opportunity to learn editing RAW images, and working with a non-pixel editor; and so,

9). While I'm acutely aware that I'm asking for the impossible, I'm trying to find a compromise that will work for me at the skill and interest level that I have now, leaves room for a steeper learning curve, and comes at a price somewhere below exorbitant. Can I stipulate an outside cost of $75 or so without incurring vehement protests that it doesn't exist?