Adobe's new licensing agreement, and alternatives.

[Snapshot]

I don't know how many of you have already seen Adobe's new licensing agreement, which is causing a lot of backlash among creative professionals, but here's a story about it:

Adobe Photoshop just updated its terms of use, and users are FURIOUS — customers balk at new cloud content access requirement they can't opt out of

I've never really used anything else besides GIMP, which I found lacking. I really like Lightroom, and I occasionally use Photoshop, and I'm wondering what are the alternatives that people here are using?

 

[DaveC Oz]

Personally I lost trust in Adobe when they dropped support for stand alone versions of Lightroom only months after saying they would support the stand alone product "in perpetuity".
I first tried Luminar but it didn't really fit me well. I've then moved to On1 PhotoRaw which I'm still using. I had only started to look at Photoshop, and learning it when Adobe changed things, so my situation is probably not comparable to yours, but there are several here who are using other alternatives.

 

[Richard A]

Adobe have clarified their reasons for this update to their Terms Of Use. I don't know if this makes any difference to those who were upset by it. There was certainly a lack of communication about it. Anyway, are they any worse than any other software companies that are using AI? Who really knows?

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

The solution is to not use their cloud storage, which I never have anyway.

 

[Richard A]

The solution is to not use their cloud storage, which I never have anyway.

Yeah, same here.

 

[iamdlewis]

The solution is to not use their cloud storage, which I never have anyway.

Mine has always said the cloud storage is full but there is nothing in it. I have had an active defect filed with them that has seen no advancement in over a year. This is my last year with the license as my source for a discount on Adobe will no longer have the discount come renewal time.

I use mostly CaptureOne as the majority of the tools are just as easy or easier to use than they are with the Adobe products. There are a couple features that CaptureOne doesn't have yet but I rarely use them so it won't be a lose.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Mine has always said the cloud storage is full but there is nothing in it. I have had an active defect filed with them that has seen no advancement in over a year. This is my last year with the license as my source for a discount on Adobe will no longer have the discount come renewal time.

I use mostly CaptureOne as the majority of the tools are just as easy or easier to use than they are with the Adobe products. There are a couple features that CaptureOne doesn't have yet but I rarely use them so it won't be a lose.

That's very odd. I have only had to contact them once and they were excellent (by phone). I still haven't found another program that I like or can get on with. Adobe also makes sense for me as 2 of us use it on 2 devices. I will say I have stopped updating it though, the last one I did made it unusable so I rolled it back.

 

[Richard A]

That's very odd.
I will say I have stopped updating it though, the last one I did made it unusable so I rolled it back.

That's very odd too I reckon. Which actual app did you have the problem with?

 

[iamdlewis]

My time with Adobe software has come to an end. It has been more of an annoying experience than a positive one. I will not miss the notification every time I opened your software that my cloud storage was full even though you showed it contained no files and your support could find no fix for it, guess with their of using people's images stored there this was a blessing. Thankfully due to a family connection it was a cheaper experience than it normally would have been. Thanks to updates from CaptureOne over the last couple years the need for Adobe has basically vanished.

Personally I am not sure why anyone new to editing would want to use Lightroom, I've always found it clunky and unintuitive when compared to other software.

 

[AlphaWorld]

It's funny - I have never been interested in LightRoom because I have never wanted to process every shot. I stayed with Photoshop and Adobe Bridge (the image browser that I use to select images for processing in PhotoShop). I guess by most people's standards my processing is very old-fashioned.

Not liking LightRoom may be the reason I'm not a big fan of DxO - it seems to want to process everything like LightRoom does.

I've only ever used CaptureOne Express (Sony edition), so I don't know if it works the same way.

I'm happy with PhotoShop, and I've been appreciating the enhancements that keep appearing in it. Getting the A9 III support before the camera was released made me very happy. If they do that again with the A1 II, they will be further cementing their position on my computer

I'm not worried about the Adobe subscription. When it came out, it was less expensive (and more manageable) than buying each version upgrade as they came out (talking about the price in my country - I don't know if that varies elsewhere). Moreover, it means getting changes in smaller chunks, so I wasn't dealing with a slew of changes in one lump every couple of years.

However, like I said - I'm not a LightRoom user (likely never will be), so my experiences won't parallel most peoples.

 

[Richard A]

Same here. I don’t like Lightroom because of the whole catalog thing. I prefer Bridge & ACR. Camera Raw seems to be getting new features before Lightroom too, lately. I was using Bridge & Camera Raw before Lightroom was released. I don’t know what DxO software you are using but the PhotoLab Browser works more or less like Bridge for me.

 

[iamdlewis]

I don’t like Lightroom because of the whole catalog thing.

That is a horrible "feature" and so many other tools do that so much better.

 

[Richard A]

Seems more photographers like the catalogs than not but at least Adobe give you the choice.

 

[AlphaWorld]

Same here. I don’t like Lightroom because of the whole catalog thing. I prefer Bridge & ACR. Camera Raw seems to be getting new features before Lightroom too, lately. I was using Bridge & Camera Raw before Lightroom was released. I don’t know what DxO software you are using but the PhotoLab Browser works more or less like Bridge for me.

Oh, I thought I was a voice crying in the wilderness! Thank you!

Yes, ACR has been getting beefed up in the past year - the "AI" de-noise was a big step up.

The catalog thing is one of the big reasons I don't plan to adopt LightRoom. Am I allowed to say that I don't like the whole DAM thing?

The last DxO I installed was PhotoLab 5, I think. I click on it accidentally occasionally, and I think the last time it told me it wanted to install version 8? Something like that.

 

[Richard A]

I just updated to PhotoLab 8 in the Black Friday sale. DxO have arguably the best noise reduction software & definitely the best lense correction. And all the other stuff keeps getting better & better.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

I had moved to Linux quite a few years before I started doing any serious photo post-processing, so none of the above, not because I am not interested in them but because they are simply not available to me. With the proviso that I therefore have no experience of the Win/Mac suites --- I am very happy with darktable (and occasionally GIMP). And the cost is.... nothing.

I'm missing some of the whizzbang stuff. AI denoise and all that. I won't say that it doesn't interest me, it does. But, for the photography that I do, at the ISO levels I reach, darktable denoise is good enough.

Adobe is a company I find unattractive. I wouldn't buy their Linux edition even if it did exist. But, in the highly unlikely event of one or two of the other companies giving me that opportunity, I would be happy to try it. I love free software, and it gets addictive, but I'm prepared to pay too!

 

[Richard A]

I have been experimenting a bit with the 'other' version of Lightroom recently, which doesn't use catalogs. But I'm probably too set in my ways to change now.

 

[Raindog]

Late to this conversation. But all my LRC catalogs have somehow become corrupted. Adobe customer service were helpful and quick to respond, but even with their help I can only open backups (one of my catalogs is only 2 weeks old) which do not retain any of the edits I made. Therefore I came here looking for alternatives. Seems like Capture One and PhotoLab get the most votes. Is ACR Adobe Camera Raw?

 

[iamdlewis]

Late to this conversation. But all my LRC catalogs have somehow become corrupted. Adobe customer service were helpful and quick to respond, but even with their help I can only open backups (one of my catalogs is only 2 weeks old) which do not retain any of the edits I made. Therefore I came here looking for alternatives. Seems like Capture One and PhotoLab get the most votes. Is ACR Adobe Camera Raw?

Yes ACR is adobe camera raw.

I like CatureOne. CaptureOne is missing some tools that Adobe has like image stacking and a good subject removal but if those are not something you really use you won't miss them. Two things I find a lot better with CaptureOne over Adobe is the file management and crop tool. I know it sounds odd but CaptureOne's crop tool is just so much better as it makes FAR more sense to move the crop box around than it does to move the image under the crop box.

If you do a lot of landscape stuff than you might want to look into Luminar Neo. It does have image stacking, a decent removal tool and a good denoise and sharpening tool. Luminar does have an interface that can be unintuitive and frustrating at times plus the file management is I guess ok if you are use to Adobe. There are some really good YouTube tutorials out there.

 

[Jeff A]

I'm an Adobe faithful. I have been using the Photography plan ever since I bought my first Sony about 4 years ago. I like their programs and have used their telephone support on several occasions. Recently, the "C" drive on my Windows PC hard failed and they were very helpful in getting me back running again. I have not used the Cloud service that comes with my plan.

 

[Richard A]

But all my LRC catalogs have somehow become corrupted.

That’s the main reason I don’t like Lightroom - the catalogs. Having said that, if you are not making regular and numerous backups, you will lose data sooner or later. I use Photoshop and Camera Raw but I also use DxO PhotoLab. I have Luminar Neo but I rarely use it.

 

[AlphaWorld]

That’s the main reason I don’t like Lightroom - the catalogs. Having said that, if you are not making regular and numerous backups, you will lose data sooner or later. I use Photoshop and Camera Raw but I also use DxO PhotoLab. I have Luminar Neo but I rarely use it.

I, too, avoid LightRoom because of the DAM functionality that I do not want.