I'm currently upgrading a super old PC that still runs Windows 7, LR Classic and PS CS6. It has served me well but finally time to bite the bullet, and update.
What's the best (and cost efficient way) for me to get LR and PS? I don't care much for cloud storage and don't have a need for access to LR/PS outside of my home PC. I see there are Adobe subscription packages available. Ideally, I can just purchase/download/install these programs on my PC and use with my local files....unless people think that using the Adobe online editing is better.
Just trying to get a lay of the land as far as how to get LR/PS.
Edit: if someone wants to chime in on whether it makes sense to pay up for a retail USB version of Windows 11, that would help too! I figure I can use the retail version whenever I need to reformat my PC and reinstall everything. But not sure if that's how it's done nowadays.
If you use Lightroom Classic together with Photoshop, you can set it up to not use any kind of cloud storage or offsite processing. That is what I do and my computer stores all of the files and does all of the work, with the exception of some AI tools (such as generative fill) that require internet to access Adobe's computers. I believe that Adobe has ended any possibility of buying a permanent license and you will need to get on a subscription plan. It is cheaper if you pay annually rather than monthly. Sometimes, an Adobe subscription is offered at a reduced rate as a promotion with some other purchase, but I am not up-to-date on what those other purchases are.
It is worthwhile to pay for Windows 11. Microsoft has already phased out support for Windows 10.
Ming-Tzu wrote:
I'm currently upgrading a super old PC that still runs Windows 7, LR Classic and PS CS6. It has served me well but finally time to bite the bullet, and update.
What's the best (and cost efficient way) for me to get LR and PS? I don't care much for cloud storage and don't have a need for access to LR/PS outside of my home PC. I see there are Adobe subscription packages available. Ideally, I can just purchase/download/install these programs on my PC and use with my local files....unless people think that using the Adobe online editing is better.
Just trying to get a lay of the land as far as how to get LR/PS.
Edit: if someone wants to chime in on whether it makes sense to pay up for a retail USB version of Windows 11, that would help too! I figure I can use the retail version whenever I need to reformat my PC and reinstall everything. But not sure if that's how it's done nowadays....Show more →
You want to get the subscription with the minimal cloud storage. (I’m not sure that you can get it with none at all.) Then set things up to store files locally rather than using the cloud storage, after which you can simply ignore that cloud option.
Pay for your subscription annually rather than monthly. In my case, I’m still paying the $10/mont cost by paying the full $120 per year in that way.
Lightroom and Photoshop come as a package these days — you’ll get them both automatically, along with Bridge/ACR and access to a few other things such as app versions of the programs that will work on an iPad, etc.
Of course, if your underlying question is whether the current versions of the Adobe apps run newer older versions of Windows… you’ll have to ask someone else, since I’m not a Windows user.
You just missed the Black Friday deals on the one year subscription. The lowest was price $85 at Newegg, other places like B+H and Amazon had it for $119. The regular price for Adobe - Creative Cloud Photography Plan 1TB (1-Year Subscription) is $239. from Adobe directly. Adobe has discontinued the lower tier 20GB version and only offers the 1TB storage version now. There is an advantage to the 1TB version - you get a lot more 'credits' for use with the AI features like 'generative fill" and "generative expand" etc.
OscarF wrote:
You just missed the Black Friday deals on the one year subscription. The lowest was price $85 at Newegg, other places like B+H and Amazon had it for $119. The regular price for Adobe - Creative Cloud Photography Plan 1TB (1-Year Subscription) is $239. from Adobe directly. Adobe has discontinued the lower tier 20GB version and only offers the 1TB storage version now. There is an advantage to the 1TB version - you get a lot more 'credits' for use with the AI features like 'generative fill" and "generative expand" etc.
I am displeased with Adobe if they are now forcing new buyers to pay for a TB of storage that they may not need. It would be one thing if (like Apple with iCloud) they offered the additional storage to those who need/want it for a small additional fee, but requiring its purchase as part of the bundle is lead-footed and fails to recognize that many photographers already have cloud storage from other sources and don’t want to pay extra for the limited Adobe cloud storage.
If we look at the old price of $120/year and the new price of $240/year, they are charging $10 per month for 1TB of storage. That’s double the cost of Apple’s iCloud, where you can pay $10/month for 2TB of cloud storage… and use it for any of your files, not just for Adobe files.
OscarF wrote:
There is an advantage to the 1TB version - you get a lot more 'credits' for use with the AI features like 'generative fill" and "generative expand" etc.
Curious what that last part means. There's a data cap on the AI features? If yes, it's a serious bummer. If I am learning how to use the AI features, I wouldn't want to "waste" my data cap on practice. But then how do I learn without practice? I hope the answer to my question is no.
Ming-Tzu wrote:
Curious what that last part means. There's a data cap on the AI features? If yes, it's a serious bummer. If I am learning how to use the AI features, I wouldn't want to "waste" my data cap on practice. But then how do I learn without practice? I hope the answer to my question is no.
My understanding is that you get a certain number of uses of some (all?) AI features but if you go above that you have to pay extra for them.
This also suggests that Adobe is trying to nickel and dime us in multiple ways. Look, I like their products and I’ve paid for them all along, but this recent change is not sitting well with me. What’s next? If you remove more than 100 spots they’ll charge extra per spot? If you want to raise luminosity by more than 1.00, there will be a surcharge? You get R and G with the package, but B costs extra? You can resize 1000 images, but you’ll pay extra for resizing after that?
gdanmitchell wrote:
My understanding is that you get a certain number of uses of some (all?) AI features but if you go above that you have to pay extra for them.
This also suggests that Adobe is trying to nickel and dime us in multiple ways. Look, I like their products and I’ve paid for them all along, but this recent change is not sitting well with me. What’s next? If you remove more than 100 spots they’ll charge extra per spot? If you want to raise luminosity by more than 1.00, there will be a surcharge? You get R and G with the package, but B costs extra? You can resize 1000 images, but you’ll pay extra for resizing after that? ...Show more →
gdanmitchell wrote:
.... If you remove more than 100 spots they’ll charge extra per spot? .... If you want to raise luminosity by more than 1.00, there will be a surcharge? You get R and G with the package, but B costs extra? You can resize 1000 images, but you’ll pay extra for resizing after that?
The Remove tool (for spot removal) does not use AI credits (even when in Use Generative AI mode). The rest of your rant is obviously tongue in cheek ...
gdanmitchell wrote:
My understanding is that you get a certain number of uses of some (all?) AI features but if you go above that you have to pay extra for them.
This also suggests that Adobe is trying to nickel and dime us in multiple ways. Look, I like their products and I’ve paid for them all along, but this recent change is not sitting well with me. What’s next? If you remove more than 100 spots they’ll charge extra per spot? If you want to raise luminosity by more than 1.00, there will be a surcharge? You get R and G with the package, but B costs extra? You can resize 1000 images, but you’ll pay extra for resizing after that? ...Show more →
The AI features use Adobe servers to run on so they are much different than features like luminosity which runs within your computer.
mcbroomf wrote:
The Remove tool (for spot removal) does not use AI credits (even when in Use Generative AI mode).
Good to know. I use it regularly, but I also sometimes prefer to use the heal tool instead for things like removing dust spots.
That image reminds me of some horror show example of "spot" removal that I've dealt with, including needing to remove a few hundred mosquitos from above some shots of water.
The rest of your rant is obviously tongue in cheek ...
If that's a "rant," you need to raise your rant threshold. And it wasn't tongue-in-cheek.
Charging extra for use of built-in software features is a new trend that isn't sitting well with a lot of consumers, and not just users of photography software. There was some story recently in the news (sorry, lost the source) about a German car manufacturer that is or was charging a license fee to activate the seat heaters! My wifi mesh system software wants me to pay a monthly fee for "extended features" that used to be included.
It wasn't a rant at all. Not my thing ....
I agree about charging for added features but none you mentioned seemed remotely sensible, hence my tongue in cheek comment.
I had no idea that you are limited to some number of AI credits with the subscription program. What are the specifics on that? I really don't use AI tools like Firefly very much at all, but AI is integrated in many ways into the software, including masking tools.
Abuttolph wrote:
I had no idea that you are limited to some number of AI credits with the subscription program. What are the specifics on that? I really don't use AI tools like Firefly very much at all, but AI is integrated in many ways into the software, including masking tools.
Yes, I get the same thing when I click the link and it's because sometimes (don't know why) there's an FM link that gets put in front of the intended link (see the bold text below). If you check the URL in your browser and see that, then you can delete it and the link will work.
no credits used ...