jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Re. my previous post: I believe that both Luminar and ON1.18.1 offer a free 30-day trial period to see if you like them. I liked them well enough that I purchased them both.

Basically, I am only continuing to use LR because I already have a cataloging system set up there. If I were starting fresh, I wouldn’t bother with LR. There’s something about the monthly payment thing that irks me. that said, I'll probably be crucified for making that statement.

twillsol Loc: St. Louis, MO

I do not believe it is. Recently, at work, we tried to purchase Adobe Acrobat Standard and could not find it anywhere. Had to lease it from Adobe for $155.00 per year, which used to be the cost of the actual software. Adobe is out to make a lot of money on some of their software.

Bushpilot Loc: Minnesota

I think the LR and Photoshop subscription for 10 bucks a month is the way to go, especially considering in the film days I used to spend more than that
every week for processing and film.

gmsatty Loc: Chicago IL

The monthly price is less than the cost of buying, processing and printing one roll of film per month.

Cheese

That's a poor comparison, since these are all consumables. The subscription plan makes sense if you are, or think you might be, a heavy-duty user. If you just take photos occasionally, you may be better off with the one-off purchase, even if you don't have all the latest features. After all, if you only read the newspaper on Sundays, you would pick it up at the grocery store, not purchase a subscription.

gmsatty Loc: Chicago IL

OK, but my comparison would mean about 400 photos per year based on a 36 neg roll of film.
Obviously, anyone can subscribe to UHH, but I think most of the subscribers take more than 400 photos per year.

Bob Boner

I think the monthly form is actually cheaper than the original system, especially If you have to buy every version as it comes out so that the software is compatible with your newest camera.

Cheese

Why buy every new version that comes out? Why not just buy a new version every time you buy a new camera?

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Because the new versions have better tools.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

On1 Raw 2018 does a lot of what Photoshop can do, but if you have a need to do high or low frequency editing (often used in portrait editing to smooth blotchy skin and remedy some, but not all tiny flaws), color channel-based masking, using custom shaped brushes for specific effects, working in Lab color space for sharpening and noise reduction and color enhancement - the list can get pretty long. Many are just not aware of many of these tools and procedures, and tend to dismiss their value just because they've never heard of them. But as you learn more about the software, it becomes pretty evident that there is NOTHING you can't do in Photoshop, including editing video and creating fantasy graphics that have nothing to do with photography.

On1 has optional cataloging, and a pretty fast browser, and you can make more precise selections and create layers in the raw editor, and it does seem to have a lot going for it, but it falls short on it's lens profile library, perspective corrections, lacks liquify, warp and transform, content aware fill, scale and move, smart objects and stackmodes, layer styles, the clarity and dehaze equivalents are a little coarse, and it doesn't have panorama or HDR merging or focus stacking. I find that I can work with just LR and PS, but I can't work with just On1.

You might say "what the hell do I need all that for?" and you may have a point. I couldn't do much of what I do without all of these tools and features. Some are thrilled at just being able to adjust tone, add a little saturation and crop an image. Everyone's mileage will vary.

tomdru Loc: Wisconsin

Been using Lightroom 4.4 for a while. Looking at the cloud monthly version and see a rather large learning curve. True?

Cheese

The consensus of opinion here at UHH seems to be that cameras don't matter, it's the skill of the photographer that counts.

Yet, when it comes to post processing software, the reverse seems to apply and every little update seems to be critical.

Curious, that!

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

I don't like telling people what they should spend their hard earned money on, so I won't here.
All I have to say about "the monthly thing" is for me, it's an "an annual thing" and I pay once a year to keep the newest versions of the 2 lightrooms (mobile and classic) as well as photoshop.

I used to upgrade lightroom, and photoshop every other year, and this subscription thing saves me a ton of money.

If that's right for you, only you can tell. I just know that complaints about the subscription model are pretty unfounded, mostly from misunderstanding. People still think all your photos are stored on the cloud, etc.

steve_stoneblossom Loc: Rhode Island, USA

There are several editing software programs available at no cost.
If it's the monthly payment you don't like, pay annually.
Depending on how frequently you intend to use it, $10 a month is a bargain.
Put it in perspective... how much do you spend on coffee each month?

steve_stoneblossom Loc: Rhode Island, USA

Nothing a few online tutorials can't get you through. So much video available on YouTube, not to mention Adobe sponsored tutorials.