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michaljedrak
Participant
August 19, 2020
Question

Lightroom alternatives without subscription

  • August 19, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 1407 views

Hi

I do not want to start a flamed discussion about how good or bad Adobe is as a company but I just need to change to a different program after being with Lightroom from version 1.0 which was somewhere around 15 years ago. I got tired of all this after I realized that my iPad cannot be used efficiently as a temporary editing and backup device because it can't sync with LR Classic directly. My last trip produced around 180GB of photos and uploading them over a slow internet connection only to download them again from LR Classic will take DAYS!!!

My main needs are ordered by importance:
1. One time payment. Price up to $150-200 is OK.
2. Ability to handle 300,000 photos efficiently

3. Ability to accept video files (no editing needed)

4. A corresponding mobile app would be great if it syncs libraries directly, not over internet.

 

Thanks for your feedback 🙂

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

Just Shoot Me
Just Shoot Me
Legend
August 22, 2020

I am surprised since you have been using Lr since V1 that you have noit discovered Exporting as Catalog and Importing from Another Catalog features. No need to upload anything to the cloud (and there was NO Cloud uploading/downloading in older versions) or download from the cloud.

 

In any event I wish you luck in finding a software package you can work with.

    TheDigitalDog
    TheDigitalDog
    Inspiring
    August 19, 2020

    My last trip produced around 180GB of photos and uploading them over a slow internet connection only to download them again from LR Classic will take DAYS!!!

     

    So moving to another product will fix this how? 

    How about using an actual laptop with the software you have, direct import? 

    There isn't really a one time payment. Not if you ever upgrade your camera or desire new and improved features. 

    Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
      M
      michaljedrakAuthor
      Participant
      August 22, 2020

      I hope that there are some intelligent software designers who realize that most people need to sync their local machines FIRST and the maybe upload to the cloud later. These are big savings in terms of electricity, overall bandwidth and server traffic. You go to a remote location and shoot nature, like I do. You carry your ipad pro for the sake of weight and simplicity. You download your memory cards in the evening and make an initial selection and edits to your photos while the coffee is boiling on the fire pit. Nice, cozy moments.

      You return back home, press some sync button and the ipad files get transferred to some sort of inbox folder on your main workstation so you can work on the photos within minutes and not days. Then, maybe in the background, the photos are uploaded to the cloud if someone desires so. Damn simple and efficient but lacks one thing: you do not become jailed by a cloud subscription. A regular photographer has around 1-4TB of data while the photography plan offers only 20GB which is a joke. 

      I am not a fan of one-time payments. I have money to pay for that, but I am a fan of owning the things I buy. When I bought LR for around $200 I could use it for 3-4 years with some free incremental updates. When I switched to a new camera, I bought a serious version upgrade for under $100 and was fine for another two or three versions (4 years). Now it it looks like $120 per year for updates you don't need anyway. So the calculation is quite simple for me. I used to pay a total of $300 for LR for almost a decade, while I pay around $300 for 2.5 years. Thats a huge difference for a software with useless updates like 'hey, we've added a new camera you don't own anyway'. But that's another story.

       

      I do not rent my monitor, I do not rent my ipad, camera, lenses or car. I own them. I also want to own the software I buy, not rent it.

      TheDigitalDog
      TheDigitalDog
      Inspiring
      August 22, 2020

      You don't own and have never owned any of your software. You purchased a licence to use it. Read the EULA to see this fact. 

      This is a user to user Adobe forum. The volunteers here support other Adobe users. If you need advise on finding a non Adobe alternative, you should look elsewhere. 

      Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
      JP Hess
      JP Hess
      Inspiring
      August 19, 2020

      Adobe offers a bundle with Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements that fit within your budget. But there isn't any mobile app integrated in that system. It's the only thing Adobe offers with a one time payment. But then it will have to be periodically upgraded with additional "one time payment" upgrades.

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