Last week, Lightroom CC/6 got off to a slightly bumpy start, with some installation failures and hidden purchase buttons, but the dust is settling.
Adobe have just released a minor dot update (6.0.1) to address the two biggest problems – the Help menu command and shortcut went to a page that didn’t exist (now fixed) and some people were crashing on launch. Oooops! Choose Help menu > Updates within Lightroom, or click Update from the Creative Cloud desktop application. (If you’re an early downloader, you may need to restart the CC Desktop application for update to show.)
There have also been some frequent questions that it’s time to address, so let’s stick with my standard FAQ format…
Why is it slower when it was supposed to be faster?
To quote Eric Chan, “LR runs a self-diagnostic test of the GPU during startup, to make sure that the hardware has enough resources, and also that it can render an image correctly using the Lightroom imaging pipeline. Even if the hardware and software driver reports that OpenGL 3.3 is supported, this self-diagnostic test is used to double-check that the GPU can actually be used for processing images in Lr. If this step fails, then Lr will automatically disable the GPU support.” You can read an official tech note on the GPU functionality.
Even if your graphics card passes that test, it doesn’t mean it’ll perform well. Your graphics card may be too underpowered to see any benefits, or there may be driver incompatibilities (they’re working on some AMD issues). There are two things you can do if you’re seeing performance problems or crashes:
- Check the graphic card manufacturer’s own website for a more recent driver.
- Go to Preferences > Performance tab and uncheck Use Graphics Processor to see if you’re happier with the performance.
Is there a Lightroom 6 trial?
Yes (click here for the trial), however it’s labelled as a Lightroom CC trial. It’s almost the same – the CC trial just has a couple of additional features that will disappear when licensed with a perpetual license (Dehaze, plus Whites and Blacks in local adjustments). If you buy a perpetual (non-subscription) license, you can just enter your serial number and the branding magically changes from Lightroom CC to Lightroom 6.
Can I still buy a discounted upgrade?
Yes, but it’s well hidden!!
Click here. If you’re not in the US, change your country in the bottom left corner. Click the Buy link next to Lightroom, then it’ll show the pop-ups, so you can change Full to Upgrade. Then you can select your current LR version and checkout. Double-check the pricing again as you check out.
Some people are reporting they must first sign out of their Adobe account, and others are reporting seeing an Edit button before you change from Full to Upgrade. It seems to vary by country.
Will I still get free updates if I don’t subscribe to the Creative Cloud?
There’s been a lot of misinformation about the differences between the perpetual (traditional) license and the Creative Cloud subscription, so in short:
At this point in time, Lightroom CC and Lightroom 6 are identical, except CC subscribers have access to mobile/web sync and Photoshop too.In the future, they could diverge. Lightroom 6 will continue to get bug fixes and new cameras until the next big release, just as it always has.There is a possibility that additional features may be added to the CC (subscription) version that can’t be added to the normal LR6 license until a future major release (e.g., LR7). If they add new features, it’s likely to be around mobile/sync, as has been the case since LR 5.4, but no one knows for sure yet.- As of 6.1, we have an answer. The CC subscribers are getting new features in dot releases, which aren’t available for perpetual customers. The new features added in CC 2015.1 are Dehaze plus Whites and Blacks in local adjustments. We have no further information on what else might be added in future.
When I install Lightroom CC or Lightroom 6, does my previous Lightroom version get uninstalled?
No, you can uninstall it when you’re ready to do so.
Do I have to be online all the time?
No. You briefly need internet access to activate Lightroom. If you’re a CC subscriber, it ‘phones home’ now and again to check your subscription status, but you can be offline for up to 99 days before it reverts to a limited mode (no Develop, Map or Sync). If you have a perpetual license, Lightroom remains activated until you deactivate it.
If I go for the subscription now and later cancel, do I lose all my work or access to my photos?
No! In July 2014, Adobe announced a big change. If your trial or subscription expires, most of Lightroom continues working. Only the Develop module, Map module and Sync stop working, so you can still access and output all of the work you’ve already done.
I have a perpetual license – so why is there a CC app?
Even if you install Lightroom 6 perpetual version, the Creative Cloud desktop application is automatically installed. That’s simply because it’s used to manage Adobe products. If you don’t like it, you can uninstall it (but I’d keep it just in case you need it for other Adobe apps). It’s not spyware or anything suspect!
I have a CC subscription AND a perpetual license – why can’t I enter my serial number?
When you sign in with your Adobe ID, Lightroom looks for an active subscription on your account, and if it exists, that license takes priority. If it doesn’t exist, Lightroom asks you to enter your serial number to use that instead. There’s no disadvantage to using the CC license until/if/when you decide to stop your subscription, so there’s no reason for concern. Just keep your serial number safe.
What do I do if I find a bug?
Of course there are still some other smaller bugs to be worked out… if you think you’ve found one, report it at the Official Feature Request/Bug Report Forum at http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family
Thank you! I think this has solved a problem for me. When I edited an image in either the OnOne suite or Nik collection then returned to LRCC, the image kept blanking out and then reloading if I tried to edit it further in the Develop Module. After reading this I investigated the GPU setting and turned it off, and it appears the problem has gone away.
Great news William. There have been other reports of that, so I would hope that they’ll fix it properly in 6.1 (likely to be a couple of months) and then you’ll be able to turn the GPU back on. The GPU’s pretty new technology for Lightroom, so they’ll be finding bugs in it for a while, I’m sure!
I have reported the same issue, sans GPU involvement – suggested there:
disable “Automatically write changes to XMP” in Edit| Catalog Settings
might help someone past this annoyance, as it seems to work.
However, that’s not how I personally want my data stored long-term.
Good tip Lyle. Hopefully they’ll fix it in the first main dot release.
Thanks Victoria!
And there you go! If you had doubts all should be gone! Lightroom Queen ROCKS!!!!
Happy to help!
Victoria, thanks. I have the subscription version, LR5. 7.1, on my Mac . If I upgrade to LR CC, and don’t like it, how do I go back to this version, that works brilliantly.
Ruth
Hi Ruth. The update will install alongside LR 5.7.1. When you open it, it’ll ask to upgrade your catalog – say no for now. Then you can create a temporary catalog and import a few photos to ‘play with’ and once you’re happy, you can go to File menu > Open Catalog and let it upgrade your main catalog.
Also if you are using Time Machine you will have a backup of the LR 5.7.1 catalogue that you can go back to.
Actually my install process did create a copy of my Lr5 catalog and I now have both.
I did notice that they dropped the LrX off the end. I had catalognameLr3.lrcat, catalognameLr4.lrcat and catalognameLr5.lrcat on my HD but now I just have catalogname.lrcat so presumably next time I better make a back up first.
Ruth, at any rate you can make a copy of your catalog before the upgrade, either by back up software like Stu suggests or just manually.
Thanks Victoria, that’s helpful. Having a back-up of the Catalogue (which I have,) is not the same as having the older version of the App. I think I will proceed very cautiously, as in ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…’ Maybe wait for another patch or two to appear before upgrading. Thanks.
The old copy of Lightroom 5 will be left on your computer once you update to Lightroom 6. It is then up to you when you remove Lightroom 5 from your hard drive. Lightroom 5 will not be overwritten.
Spot on guys. The upgrade process does create a copy of the catalog and upgrades that (although it nicks the LR5 previews), so the backup is just a precaution. But saying no to the upgrade at this stage means you can test LR6, while continuing to do ‘proper’ work in LR5.
Before you upgrade to LR6 there are bugs that needs to be fixed. The major problem among others are the “Server Busy” error. What the pop-up says is not completely true. Starting any other program clears the error. This error has not been addressed by Adobe LR that I’m aware off. I’ve looked for fixes but so far none has corrected the problem. I had no problem with LR5.7 and I think it runs without errors.
I’ve seen a few reports of that Server Busy error again since the launch but sadly it’s not new to LR6 (although there has been a sudden resurgence so there may be a new element to it). It’s been going on for a few years because no one’s been able to figure out the trigger. Hopefully a flurry of people with the same problem will be enough to find a pattern.
I had a bit of a rough upgrade process with the stand alone version. I had to manually install the CC desktop app so that the installer would not hang during sign in. I also had to create a second adobe ID to get Lr6 to properly register because I had manually installed the CC app. That leaves me with a trial CC subscription that I do not want and a second adobe ID which I am not thrilled about either.
Will the 6.01 patch fix that too? Or a better way of saying it would the 6.01 version have prevented what happened to me ? I recognize that a patch will not likely fix the adobe ID issue.
Sorry to hear that Ian. I’m not sure why the installer was hanging… haven’t heard lots of reports on that one. And you shouldn’t have needed a second Adobe ID. All very odd! Try talking to customer series to see if they can transfer your LR6 to your normal account, and if not, let me know and I’ll try some of my contacts.
Hi Victoria,
I’m having a potentially serious issue with LR CC that is really confusing me and I am at a loss at where to start sorting it out.
On LR5.7 I was able import all my RAW files and convert to DNG without any issues. I always had it set to automatically trash the original raw files so all I was left with was the new DNGs. It always worked fine and was a relatively quick process.
Since updating to LR CC converting to my RAW files to DNG takes an age(I estimate its taking approximately twenty times as long!!) and the original RAW files are not being trashed. My drives are filling up rapidly and I am left to manually trash the original RAW files. Often converting the RAW files to DNG fails because I rapidly run out of disk space. I have all the LR preferences set exactly the same as I had when using LR5 so I don’t understand why I am having this problem.
I don’t know if its a system issue or a Lightroom issue as even trashing regular files seems to take ages now when prior to the upgrade my computer ran smoothly without any issues.
I am using a 13in Macbook Pro running OS X Yosemite V 10.10.3
Any help would be gratefully appreciated.
Thank you.
Paul
What percentage of free hard drive space do you have left on your computer? As it is a bootable disc it needs to have at least 15% of free space. Also do you have a lot of files on your desktop? If so stick them all into a folder as that will be slowing your computer down as the computer has to keep rendering icons for them. It would also be worth downloading a program called “Cocktail” and running that. It will speed up the computer. The program is free to use for the first 8 or so uses. Try all of that first and see what the result is.
Hi Stu, thanks for trying to answer my query.
I was wondering about that but it makes no difference. I have been constantly clearing out my disk so that I have plenty of free space. The job I am currently working on has 46Gb of RAW files and is on a 240Gb SSD external drive with 74Gb of free space but it still not working properly. My computer has a 250Gb SSD with 55Gb of free space and I only have have a dozen small jpegs on my desktop which have been there since before I upgraded to LRCC so I can’t see where the issue is.
My settings are all the same as they were in LR5.7 so don’t understand why thy don’t work in LRCC.
If you have any other ideas I would love to hear them as I am completely stumped..
Have you tried running something like Cocktail to see if there is something that needs cleaning out? It would be interesting to see what the times were like and seeing if it behaved itself on say just 10 files in a folder and if it trashed the Raws like it was meant to at the end.
What amount of memory is being used when it is doing the job? Do you run a free app called ‘Memory Clean’. It’s really useful for seeing what is going on and for reclaiming memory. Also have you tried turning off the GPU setting and seeing if that improves the timings?
Otherwise it makes me wonder if the program has been properly optimised after it came out of Beta.
Hi Stu,
I will give it a go. Victoria thinks it might be an issue with the SSD itself so I am going to give it a go on a standard hard drive first, just so I can get the job out, then I will try cleaning the SSD and working on the problem.
Thanks again 🙂
Yes will be interesting to see if that works.
Hi Stu, Hi Victoria,
I just wanted to give you an update. I managed to perform a series of tests on three separate external drives. I tried two different HDDs and another SSD. The HDDs performed fine with zero errors. The spare SSD also worked extremely well without any problems, streaming through all the files at a phenomenal pace.
I remembered reading somewhere that SSDs perform best when there is at least 25% free space available, so I went back to the original drive and gradually started removing data and repeating my test. It made very little difference until I had removed almost 60% of the data. Suddenly, when the drive was at only 42% full capacity it sprang back to life and started working at full speed again.
The tests weren’t particularly scientific but I came to the conclusion that I might as well use a couple of 64Gb thumbdrives as for portable storage as I haven’t had any speed problems with them and I can get more than enough storage for a fraction of the price of an external SSD. I know prices will come down, but if I can only use 300Gb of a 500Gb drive then there doesn’t seem much point buying one.
That sounds familiar. Let me check with Paul how he solved it in the end. I think he just ended up with a different brand of SSD, but it might have been a bigger one. I’ll let you know!
I’m back! Ok, Paul said he was originally using a 240GB SanDisk, but like you, he was getting performance problems. It was only 33% full but deleted files weren’t getting cleared properly because TRIM wasn’t supported on Mavericks with USB enclosures. He bought a bigger drive, but that just delayed the problem. Then he got into a routine for clearing and formatting the drive once a month, which worked ok but was extra hassle. Then he tried CleanMyMac and CleanMyDrive which seemed to work well (so might be worth a trial). And finally, he moved the SSD to a thunderbolt enclosure which seems to have solved it. I don’t claim to understand the technicalities, but you might find a tip or two that helps!
Wow that is not much data use is it. What brand and model of SSD is it? I have read that OWC ones are meant to be good.
Hi Stu,
Yep its an OWC on-the-go usb 3 external drive. I have put in a query to their tech support, just waiting some help.
I have absolutely no problem with their products (I have a couple of different drives from them). I just suspect I might have a dud.
Hi Paul
Yes meant to have a really good reputation. Will be interesting to hear what they say.
Hi Paul. My ears pricked up when you said the images are on an external SSD… do you have a normal spinning hard drive that you could try them on? The reason I ask is my business partner was having problems recently (on LR5, not CC) with his external SSD never clearing properly, with resulting slow downs. He was emptying the trash and there was plenty of space, but every time he formatted the drive and put the files back, or worked with them on another drive, the problem would go away for a while and gradually come back. Possibly some kind of TRIM problem for the SSD itself, but moving the files to another normal drive would be an easy way to test that.
When I upgraded to Lightroom 6 stand alone, the program was extremely slow and frequently would freeze several minutes at a time. Following online advice, I checked settings and found that my LR cache had been reduced to 1 GB, and had been set to be on my C: drive. I’m pretty sure that was not how I set the previous version. I pointed the cache to a different internal drive, increased it to 50 GB, and had Lightroom pre-build 1:1 previews for my most recent two years of images. Suddenly performance was excellent again. I do use xmp sidecar files all the time. Enabling or disabling GPU acceleration doesn’t seem to make a difference. Maybe someone else might find it useful to try such settings.
Good to hear Robert. 50GB’s probably overkill now, as the cache files are so much smaller, but that depends on how many photos you shoot. I agree the 1GB default’s too small for most people!
I have a standalone LR6 but the Adobe Creative Cloud will not allow an uninstall. I have disabled every thing but still not cooperating. Also if I stop it loading in start up LR6 isn’t logged on any more, I am unclear what that means in practice?
What do you mean it won’t allow an uninstall? Error message? Something else? Remind me of your operating system?
I have W8.1, running uninstall in programs & features gets a message that programs depend on this program and then the message closes. There is no option to ignore it just the message and then its gone.
Hmmm. Lightroom’s closed at the time, I guess. Leaving the CC app there would be the easy option. If you really want it gone, you could uninstall LR6 as well, and then reinstall LR6 standalone from the download link that should have appeared on your Adobe account page (or I think I can find you the downloader without the CC app now)
Thanks, its not worth the work, they have got a unwanted program for most of us with standalone programs installed. I have just disabled every thing and will just leave it sitting there as a reminder of why so many are getting less keen on Adobe!
Yes, indeed that’s true – here is the standalone Lightroom 6 downloader/installer without the CC desktop app, for anybody who wants it:
Adobe Lightroom 6/CC Direct Download Links for Mac/Win
Hope that helps!
Nice summary Victoria! Clearest FAQ I have seen so far, and I have looked at a lot of them.
Why have I looked at so many? Like Ian, I am a long-time (licensed!) stand-alone LR user. This version 6 upgrade has been pretty much the *worst* experience I have ever had with *any* professionally written software in more than 25 years of using computers. Really bad work Adobe!
Specifically, the weird way of finding the link to buy it. Didn’t really work consistently with some browsers. Signing in and out for the install. Installing CC, sort of, and then switching it on and off. And now the persistent sign-ins needed in CC. Myself, I have not been able to remove CC and still use the desktop edition, nor make it so the CC background program doesn’t keep auto starting.
Still working to solve the issue… when I would rather be enjoying the summer photo opportunities! Or the wonderful annual Contact Photography Festival taking place in Toronto right now!
Arrrrrg!
Wow. I could go on and on. Their software experience team sure screwed up on the “buy and install” user design.
Thanks again for you FAQ though. Answered some of my questions. The battle continues. 😉
Thanks Doug. Yeah, the purchase and installation has been a nightmare this time round. If you have any further trouble, post it at the Official Feature Request/Bug Report Forum at http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click?p(265883)a(2791170)g(22913796)url(http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family) as there are staff hanging out there.
Thanks for the information, it is really useful. I am just downloading LR6 trial.
I work in a school so am entitled to the Student/Teacher discount. Under LR3, the last version I bought, I had to supply evidence that I worked in the school. Can I get the same Student/Teacher discount still with the Perpetual license stand-alone version? I cannot find it. I can only see reference to the discount being applied to CC, and the price seems to be the same as the photographers LR/Photoshop pack.
Thanks
As far as I know there isn’t a student/teacher discount for LR6, sorry.
Even if you have an older Student/Teacher version, I understand that you can purchase the upgrade from Adobe. See https://forums.adobe.com/message/7460065.
Previously, I think that you were not able to do this, but you can with Lightroom 6 (perpetual license).
Great, thanks for sharing that information Calum!
Hi Victoria, Have managed to install LR 6 from LR 5 on my PCbut am wanting a catalog on my laptop for fieldwork. Am in Aus and often do not have online service.When I ask for update via Help in LR5 on my laptop it tells me there is no further update available even though wi-fi available. It also wont allow me to copy a catalog of LR6 from my PC to the laptop. Am I doing something wrong? Will I be able to merge a LR5 catalog into the LR 6 Master catalog?
thanks Mark
Yes, you’d be able to merge an LR5 catalog into an LR6 one, but not the other way round. Just install the LRCC trial on your laptop and then use these instructions to enter your LR6 serial number into it to convert it to a perpetual license: http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click?p(265883)a(2791170)g(22913796)url(https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/kb/serialize-lightroom-cc-trial-to-activate-as-lightroom-6.html)
Thanks Victoria- it’s easy when you know what you’re doing
Victoria,
I’ve been having a particularly bumpy trip with LR CC integration with Photoshop CC (2014). Trying to “edit in Photoshop” has been the death of time. It seems that it takes forever for Photoshop to become active, especially if the spot-healing brush were enabled when I last exited photoshop. I spent a few hours with Adobe service on the issue, and they pegged the problem to be associated with LR CC, and suggested that I revert to LR 5.7.1. But, really that didn’t help much. I finally realized there seems to be something going on between LR CC and Photoshop CC and memory management. I allow both programs to have as much space as they need, basically. I’m running on a Quad-core PC with 32 GB RAM, a 128K SSD scratch disk. The graphics card, Nvidia GeForce GTX 670 should be fine. I was basically happy before that last upgrades. But, even downgrading to LR 5.7.1 seems to be troublesome now.
Now, all the sudden I’m getting “server busy” messages to add to the problem. I get through that, but.
Adobe support tried to be helpful, but they never solved my problem.
Oh dear, sorry to hear that Steve. Have you posted it at the Official Feature Request/Bug Report Forum at http://clkuk.tradedoubler.com/click?p(265883)a(2791170)g(22913796)url(http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family) ? That’s the best place, as the engineering team keep a closer eye on there.
Good suggestion. I just isolated the problem. So, I should do that. Thanks for the reminder, Victoria.
Victoria,
The panorama function does not work always right for me. Some times the left picture ends up at the end on the right of the panorama. I have had panoramas where one of the wrong pictures shows in the middle.
This happens a lot of times and I wonder if anybody else has that problem also.
The strange thing is that if I use the photo shop method like I did in Lightroom 5, the panoramas stich perfect.
Any thoughts on what I can do to have the panorama function work correct in lichtroom 6.
Thanks,
Bert Schmitz
Report it here Bert: http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family It’s working on a visual match so it doesn’t always get them perfectly aligned.
Victoria, the last time I ask for your help, you hit the nail on the head…Now, hopefully, you may have some input on this ‘Server Busy’ thingy that I get every time I open Lightroom 6.1. I have scoured the internet and found nothing definitive…There are many, many asking the same question and you would think Adobe would address the matter. But so far I haven’t found any data from them…Hopefully, you have an answer…Thank you very much…William
I wish I had the answer, but even Adobe haven’t been able to figure out the cause, which is why it hasn’t been fixed. It’s definitely on their radar.
Victoria, now that LR CC has been update and LR 6 not given the new functions I think you really need to update the statement about the trial version (of CC) being the same as 6, and the “Will I still get free updates” being designed to offend all LR 6 owners.
Thanks for the reminder Steve!
Victoria, I have a different annoying little problem from what most others are having. I’ve upgraded from LR 5 to 6 on my home Mac, (not CC). I was hoping against hope that the new ver. would pick up all my Preferences and Settings and Interface. Not such luck. I have to start over from scratch. I had dozens and dozens of settings in LR 5; develop settings; metadata; print templates; develop brushes, etc., etc.
When I look within the LR folder where the lrcat. backups are stored, chaos reigns supreme. I find one “Settings” folder within one of the most resent LR 6 dated backup folders that apparently has my new settings. Then another “Settings” folder outside of the dated folders but within the overall LR folder that has my OLD settings. I’ve experimented with pulling out a couple of the sub-folders from the old group, (metadata and develop brushes), and putting them into the NEW settings, and that actually works. But I’m afraid to do a wholesale swap of the old to the new. Should I?
And when I say “chaos reigns” I mean that I find within the LR folder near complete inconsistency regarding the old and new ways of dealing with backups and preview files. The “old” system seemed to have the previews file and the settings folder separate from and outside of the individual dated backup folders, so when you deleted old unneeded backups you could simply trash the older folders and the other important things would remain intact. But NOW the new method of b/u is putting previews files and settings INSIDE one of the b/u folders. So I guess if you need to delete older b/u folders you need to presumably move the previews file and the settings folder into the most current b/u folder before you do that. That’s crazy.
Additionally I noticed my old LR5 previews files were consistently around 400megs in size. But now there’s a new previews file that LR 6 created that’s over 7 gigs! What is THAT about?
To make things more confusing, I have a copy of LR 5 on my work Mac too, which my company will soon be updating to LR CC. So in anticipations of similar difficulties there, I opened the current LR folder and discovered there is NO “settings” folder anywhere to me found, and my work copy has even more user settings within it than my home Mac. I did a search to see where in the world LR has stored the Settings folder. I can’t find it. Neither with an auto search, nor with a manual inspection.
My impression is that every copy of LR is an independent contractor, and can manage its’ system with no regard to any Adobe policies. Can you discover any way to bring some sense of order to this mess?
Hi Chris.
The Lightroom Settings folder is a result of having the ‘Store Presets with This Catalog’ checkbox checked in Preferences – and yes it tends to create confusion so I more frequently recommend leaving it unchecked.
The dated folders sounds like you’ve opened a backup catalog at some stage – and therefore it’s created a presets folder next to that catalog too. It would have create a previews file at the same time, as the previews always have to be next to the catalog.
Nothing’s changed in the way Lightroom handles catalogs or previews. It’s all a result of you opening a different catalog at some stage, so the question right now is which catalog are you actually working in? The one in the main LR folder, or one in the backups dated folder? Once we know that, we can start tidying up.
I did the Lightroom CC trial and I found that I didn’t really use any more of the features than the Lightroom 5 version I have so the trial just ended. I can still get to my library — when open CC I can get “limited” functionality it says.
Can I get the changes that I made in Lightroom CC back into Lightroom 5 and just continue using Lightroom 5? If yes, how would you do that? I synchronized my Lightroom 5 and thought that the changes would show up but it didn’t.
Is it a different catalog in Lightroom CC? Not sure what to do.
Thanks
Stacy
LRCC/6 catalogs can’t be opened in LR5 and there isn’t a complete way to go back. That said, you should still have your LR5 catalog with all your old settings. If you open the CC version, you can select the photos you’ve edited in CC and go to Metadata menu > Write Metadata to Files. This doesn’t copy everything – it’s missing flags, virtual copies, collection membership, Develop history states (it keeps the settings you’ve applied) and a few other bits and pieces. When you then Sync in LR5, it should find that updated metadata in the files and pull it into your LR5 catalog.
Hi Victoria, need some help. Mid 2012 MBP Retina running Mountain Lion 10.8.5 . Ever since I upgraded from Lightroom 5 to LRCC (6) my machine runs hot and the battery drains very rapidly. Also LR is sluggish. GPU feature is automatically disable due to the fact operating system is not up to date. I have not update the OS because I hear Yosemite does not run well with my particular Mac. Have you heard of anyone else having these issues ? Any help appreciated.
Hi Chris. How long ago did you upgrade? I wonder if there’s some face indexing using a lot of CPU.
Thank you Victoria, I upgraded about 5 months ago. I’ve paused face detection and address lookup. Since my initial post I have updated my MBP OS from Mountain Lion to Yosemite. There seems to be an improvement all around. Machine does not get as hot now. But there still is a pretty rapid battery drain compared to when I used LR5. Should that be expectd since this version of LR has more features ? I noticed it hits high with CPU use when viewing the activity monitor.
CC/6 uses the separate GPU if installed, which takes more power than the onboard graphics, so that could explain the faster battery drain.
I just recently switched over from LR5 to LR6 and didn’t realize until now that I have to uninstall LR5 myself. Before I do that, however, I need to figure out why a few 1000 images I moved to my external archive HD in LR5 are showing up with those dreaded ?? The ones I moved don’t show up in LR6 at all and the program doesn’t know where to find them. When I go back to LR5, there they are in the HD as I placed them. And, yes, I did the moving of these 1000s of files before I realized that LR6 had to be accessed separately. I thought I WAS working in LR6 since I had technically upgraded already. I am scared to uninstall LR5 before I figure out how to move my files safely to the HD AND ensure I have access in the new version. Please help. Thank you!
That may be a bit of a tangle to sort out, if you’ve worked in both the new LR6 and the old LR5 catalog. Best post it on the forum http://www.lightroomforums.net and we’ll help you figure it out. It’s easier to troubleshoot there than in blog comments.
Hi Victoria,
I am running lightroom 6.1 on a 2011 MacPro while traveling. In LR5 I could view all my previews but ever since upgrading to 6.0 on, about half of the previews are not showing at all. I understand that my graphics card is too old so it is disabled and I realize this is an old MAC so it might not have the power for the new LR, but all seemed to work fine in LR5. Is there anything else that would be causing this problem in LR6?
When you say they’re not showing at all, is this in Library or Develop? Are they just grey boxes? Can you see the thumbnails in Grid? I’m inclined to say it’s probably more like a corrupted preview cache, but your answers to those questions will help.
Hi, just wondering if I get a license for LR CC 2015, would I be able to open the catalog in LR6 if I decided to discontinue the subscription? I would love the dehaze tool.
That said, I’m pretty disappointed in the LR6 method of importing as DNG files. It is much slower in a straight comparison with LR5, and has frequently come up with errors like “file could not be found” indicating a NEF file that had been copied to the hard drive could not be located to convert to DNG. The first version of LR6 also would not import Nikon D7100 files even though LR5 would – I ended up creating a catalog in LR5 to import those files to DNG then upgraded the catalog… but I should not have had to do that.
Thanks for the great reference page!
Yes, LRCC and LR6 are exactly the same behind the scenes, so they can share the same catalog and switch back and forth to your heart’s content. (Note that could change in the future, but it would be after the next ‘major’ release and you’d have to agree to upgrading the catalog, so you’d be aware of any changes.)
I’ve seen a few reports of issues with the DNG import being slower and similar issues. Are the D7100 files ok for you now?
Hello Victoria. I have been using LR 5.7 but just signed up for LR-CC. I am hesitating because I read this: Note: any catalog that you’ve created with the CC Version (2015.x) will not open in LR 5.7. (Source: https://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/2014/07/what-happens-to-lightroom-after-my-membership-ends.html) Two questions:
1. Is that correct? If yes, what will I have to do, if after a year or two, I want to revert to LR 5.7? That is, how would I open the catalog created in CC?
2. When traveling, I use my wife’s teeny laptop, which has LR 5.7, and my external HD (where the catalog & photos live). Will that still be possible if I am using CC on my computer?
Thank you.
Reverting to 5.7 would be a bit of a nightmare as the catalogs aren’t backwards compatible. You could write the metadata out to the files, and then import into 5.7, but you’d be missing data like collection membership and virtual copies. In that scenario, you’d be better to buy a copy of LR6 perpetual and switch to using that, if you decided not to continue using your subscription, since the CC/6 formats are the same.
When you’re traveling, you could import your travel photos into a clean 5.7 catalog on your wife’s laptop. On your return, you can use Import from Catalog to pull that data into CC on your computer, as CC will be able to understand the older 5.7 catalog. Alternatively, you could install CC on your wife’s teeny laptop, as you can be activated on two devices.
Dear Victoria, thank you for your quick response and clarifying info. It’s extremely helpful.
I have to tell you a short aside . My wife and I share an office. When the email popped up to inform me that you responded to my questions I happily exclaimed “Alright! The Nightmare Queen responded!” not realizing that I misspoke. My wife leaned out from behind her monitor with a quizzical look and asked, “The Nightmare Queen?” LOL
I realized, however, that you are in fact the Nightmare Queen. You resolve our Photoshop and LR nightmares. Thanks so much for that! I don’t know what we would do without you. Now I’m off to buy LR6-P and install LR CC . . .
LOL I’ve been called some things in my time, but that one really made me laugh.