Lightroom 5 -- Upgrade now?

[guzzibob]

I'm using Lightroom 4 now and just wondering if the bugs have been have been worked out in the latest version. I had read that it was running slow for some users and that there were some other issues. Is it running more smoothly now?

 

[clee01l]

All of the bugs have not been worked out of LR 4.41. Why is is important that LR 5 be bug free? The question to answer is are there bugs that impact your workflow in LR5? Only you can answer that for yourself. You can D/L LR5.2 as a 30 day trial and LR5.3RC and see how it works out for you. A dot 1 release is always a safer choice over a dot 0, but you should never expect software to be flawless. It is not humanly possible.

 

[Selwin]

Hi guzzibob, I am evaluating LR5.2 on a Mac Pro running Mountain Lion 10.8.5. I completed an entire workflow routine for a pregnancy shoot and there were no issues.

But I am with Cletus on this point: this only says so much about using version 5.2 in my situation, with my workflow. Yours may be different.

I did find some nice added features that make version 5.x a worthwhile upgrade. So I am determined to buy when my trial period is over. However, you may not find any of the new features beneficial to your own workflow. If that were the case for me, I would not upgrade.

I suggest you have a look at the added features and what other photographers say about them in blogs and forums such as this. If you like them, just get the trial and see for yourself!

 

[davidedric]

All of the bugs have not been worked out of LR 4.41

Just a general comment on software releases. Once you recognise that marketing, and not the engineers, have the final say on release dates and bug fix programmes, it makes more sense. True of all commercial software products, not just Adobe's.

On a more philosophical point, unless every behaviour in response to every combination of inputs is fully documented (which is impossible, even theoretically), it's impossible to say something is a bug (unless, of course, it does contravene a documented behaviour!). That's why, in some circles, bugs are described as "previously undocumented features"

Dave

 

[guzzibob]

I was not aware that a program could not be bug free. I just wanted to know if the latest version was fairly free of problems and glitches after reading that initially there were some.

 

[keithz829]

Well, I'll add my $.02 to this. I'm currently running 5.2 on a new Win7 64bit desktop after running 4.4 on a Vista 32bit desktop and have seen no issues related to my workflow. I haven't had to make any changes, but I am really enjoying the new tools and features 5.2 has over 4.4.

I'm also sure any performance related issues I was seeing with my old system were due to it only having 4g of RAM on it. The reason I'm relatively certain RAM is the reason for any performance issues is that I also am running 5.2 on a netbook with 1G of RAM and I have to be very patient when I'm working out on the road working on it.

 

[Selwin]

Hi bob,
If you mean what I think you mean, you are better off waiting for the official 5.3. LR 5.2 actually is "fairly free of problems" as long as you use it to process new images. There are some problems with older photos that were processed in earlier versions. It all depends on whether or not you were going to upgrade anyway at some point (in that case it's a matter of the right timing) and if you want to process new images or existing images that have been processed already in LR4 or 3.

I simply installed 5.2 next to 4.4 so I can try it out. I haven't moved my precious catalogs to 5.2 yet. I'll just keep an eye on this forum and I will probably switch at 5.3.

 

[davidedric]

Should have said that I have upgraded from 4.4 to 5.2 without significant problems.

 

[guzzibob]

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I'll wait just a bit before I upgrade, not in any hurry.