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Thinking of downgrading from Lightroom CC subscription to a Lightroom 6

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iancass

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Jan 28, 2016
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Lightroom Classic CC
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  1. Windows 8
I have Adobe Lightroom CC subscription which ends in a few months time & I am thinking of getting Lightroom 6 as a one off purchase and was wondering if its still a decent acquisition & will I miss much from my subscription based plan? I don't do any heavy post processing and I don't sync my files in the cloud so I am trying to justify paying for monthly subscription. I very rarely use Photoshop and to be honest with you I am not interested in it. My only worry is support of modern cameras but I could always convert them to DNG.
 
Remember 6 is yesterday's news so no more updates or support, not even if an os update breaks the software.
 
I still use LR6 and I'm happy. You should realize that your LR CC catalog is a newer version than what LR6 uses so you can't import / use your existing catalogs. Now if you use LR for editing only you might not need that of course.
The other thing is that the MAP function is broken in LR6 now (there is a solution which requires editing some LR files).
Last but not least, Colin is right of course: LR6 is not supported so when it breaks there's no (official) help...
 
.......& will I miss much from my subscription based plan? ..... I don't sync my files in the cloud ......
Only you can answer the first question. I use Lightroom Classic CC and I know I would miss a lot.
And with Lightroom Classic, you don't have to sync with the cloud at all.
I'd consider switching plans to LR Classic for a while before stepping backwards 2 versions.
 
Be aware that Lightroom 6 cannot read a Lightroom Classic catalog. In order not to lose all your work , select all the images in Lightroom Classic and choose 'Metadata - Save Metadata to Files'. Then open Lightroom 6 with a new catalog, and import these images. The edits and metadata should come over, except those edits that are new for Lightroom Classic (like Range Mask). You can find the correct installers and updaters here:
Download Photoshop Lightroom
 
Not trying to rush you into anything but as Colin said LR6 is on its way out. Last update was in December of 2017. I suspect it will no longer be available for sale sometime this year. I converted to DNG for a while and I didn't like it. It was a pain but that is just me. If you do purchase it and later it is pulled off the shelf you can always download it if you need to with the Johan provided.
 
Be aware that Lightroom 6 cannot read a Lightroom Classic catalog. In order not to lose all your work , select all the images in Lightroom Classic and choose 'Metadata - Save Metadata to Files'. Then open Lightroom 6 with a new catalog, and import these images. The edits and metadata should come over, except those edits that are new for Lightroom Classic (like Range Mask). You can find the correct installers and updaters here:
Download Photoshop Lightroom

Are you saying that my existing cat LR cat on my external hard drive wont just be able to plug and play into LR 6? and do a straight import.
 
Are you saying that my existing cat LR cat on my external hard drive wont just be able to plug and play into LR 6? and do a straight import.
Yes. Johan is correct. Classic catalogs are NOT backward compatible with LR v6. A Lr-Classic catalog will not 'open' in LR6.

Saving metadata to the files (.XMP) is the only way to keep some of your editing work with the photos.
If you do a new catalog with v6 and Import files- you are starting all over again, the saved metadata will restore some of your editing work.
 
I can see now why many people have fallen out of love with Adobe and why have been flirting with C1. I am really not interested in cloud base subscription if that’s the direction they are going in.
 
I can see now why many people have fallen out of love with Adobe and why have been flirting with C1. I am really not interested in cloud base subscription if that’s the direction they are going in.
That’s the direction Adobe took quite some time ago. And those people going to C1 to avoid it may get a very unpleasant surprise. Phase One has a subscription option already too. Right now they offer perpetual licenses as well, but I would not be surprised if they went subscription too in the future. BTW don’t confuse subscription with cloud based. Those are two separate things.
 
In addition, C1 licence upgrade costs have increased. Upgrading is optional, of course - until you get a new camera.
 
How much software has backwards compatibility anyway? Lr6 is defunct, it is now legacy software and is not supported, unsurprisingly. Lr Classic is new and improved and has moved on leaving the old stuff behind. That is evolution. As Johan says do not confuse subscription with a cloud based operation. Classic runs on the desktop but can use the cloud if that is what you want. It is not the equivalent of say Apple Photos. That is the job of LrCC, an entirely different piece of software.
 
If you want the latest C1 has become an annual update cycle. Since version 9 the update has been on Nov 30 or Dec 1. $150 for update now not including the $300 up front to buy it. If you get a new camera and have a previous version it won’t support it.

I gave C1 two trial runs. IMO LR gives me better fine details, especially for heavy crops. This is important to me for my wildlife shots.
 
This is a tough choice.... Stay on the subscription treadmill or lose work and go backwards. Personally, I would not go back to Lr 6. Many tech companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google have been making fundamental changes and dropping support for legacy APIs. This can be seen by the map module, lack of of support for 32 bit in the next release of Apple... Therefore, I would make sure to pick a solution which is going to continue to get updates.
 
I saved my LR6 catalogue but after a year into Classic I doubt I'd go back. If I ever drop the plan I'll have some tough choices. I own DXO PL which I like but no DAM. It doesn't even have a stack to show your edits.
 
Yes I have DxO too. Tried very hard to like it and it has some good points. But it is a bit geeky in its approach and I find it difficult to get results as good as Lr. I will stay with the plan without doubt.
 
I'm not using it as much as I thought I would. I got it for tougher NR jobs but you have to pixel peep to see the difference and I don't shoot really high ISO very often. It's optics correction is pretty good. It takes forever to export back to LR.
 
I tried C1 recently and liked quite a few things about it, but in the end looking at a RAW straight out of the camera and printing, compared with LRCC, I could not see any difference IMHO. Also I still use NIK , Helicon Focus and Colour Checker plugins for LRCC and PS, which is a deal breaker for me!
 
I still use LR6 and I'm happy. You should realize that your LR CC catalog is a newer version than what LR6 uses so you can't import / use your existing catalogs. Now if you use LR for editing only you might not need that of course.
The other thing is that the MAP function is broken in LR6 now (there is a solution which requires editing some LR files).
Last but not least, Colin is right of course: LR6 is not supported so when it breaks there's no (official) help...

I'm another for whom LR6 provides everything I want but the loss of the Map module is a pain. So, Missing Link - can you please post more detail on the editing of some Lightroom files? Many thanks!
 
I have Adobe Lightroom CC subscription which ends in a few months time & I am thinking of getting Lightroom 6 as a one off purchase and was wondering if its still a decent acquisition & will I miss much from my subscription based plan? I don't do any heavy post processing and I don't sync my files in the cloud so I am trying to justify paying for monthly subscription. I very rarely use Photoshop and to be honest with you I am not interested in it. My only worry is support of modern cameras but I could always convert them to DNG.

In the same boat. LR6 is not supported, although I need to use it constantly. I'm happy with. my switch to Affinity Photo and Luminar 3. Luminar's has started to bring in a LR-like DAM tools.
 
one advantage in buying into the subscription model is that Adobe Portfolio is included - a basic website builder. You would lose that in downgrading to LR6.

Personally i'm still on 6.
 
Yes I have DxO too. Tried very hard to like it and it has some good points. But it is a bit geeky in its approach and I find it difficult to get results as good as Lr. I will stay with the plan without doubt.
Like all high performance software, the DxO learning curve is long but worthwhile following through. I never came to terms with the complexities of Lightroom so never changed to the newer subscription versions. But DxO is MUCH less expensive, extremely powerful and I can get what I consider to be first rate prints straight out of the treated images. With PS Elements I have no need for Lightroom in any version.
 
I'm another for whom LR6 provides everything I want but the loss of the Map module is a pain. So, Missing Link - can you please post more detail on the editing of some Lightroom files? Many thanks!
I use Jeffrey Friedl's gps plugin. Great site, lots of goodies, extremely reasonable registration fee (as little as $.01) but I donated $5 for this plugin.
Jeffrey's "Geoencoding Support" Plugin for Lightroom
 
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