Very old fashioned user ask for update advice

[Ruud W.]

Hello Community,

As the title describes I deem myself to be old-fashioned. I am using Lightroom 6.14 and an old version of Photoshop. I have once purchased two Creative Suite Sets for both photo and video editing as well as the stand-alone version of LR and have updated until Adobe switched to CC. PS and LR are still working on my Windows-10 PC and laptop and frequently used.

Since I noticed recently that Premiere does not support videos from my photocamera (Olympus E-M1 Mark II) I understood that my software is getting out of date and I might finally have to jump on the CC wagon and pay for the CC version. From my suites I am actually only using LR, PS and Dreamwaver.

My main concern is how I will end-up if I decide after a couple of years to stop regular payments. Would You be able to inform my on this.

I would not save any photos on any cloud storage, all is saved locally.

-I do understand that my LR 6.14 will not be able to open catalog from the latest LRC. Will I be able to export the LRC catalogue (at some time) in some way that LR 6.14 can open it, even if some functions are not included in the export?

-same for Photoshop. Will I be able to save PSD files (or whatever format PS uses nowadays) in some way to a format that my old PS can open?

As I am only using two products frequently (DreamWaver is not used a lot) I would go for the LR+PS version of CC, this includes LRC as I understood. I would keep using my old DreamWaver parallel to this.

I have no problem 'loosing' all other products from my suites as I am not using them anymore, but I feel uncomfortable if switching to the CC version means I HAVE to stay connected to be able to use the files I created.

Thanks in advance for shining a light on the situation.

Best regards,

Ruud

[dj_paige]

Lightroom Classic: if you stop paying the subscription, all your work done in Lightroom Classic is still available, the software still works so you can import or export photos, and search for the photos in the Library Module. The Develop Module and the Map Module are disabled.

Other software: if you subscription ends, you can't use it at all.

I do understand that my LR 6.14 will not be able to open catalog from the latest LRC. Will I be able to export the LRC catalogue (at some time) in some way that LR 6.14 can open it, even if some functions are not included in the export?

You can transfer work from LrC to LR 6.14 (although not via the method you state which is export the LrC catalog), but many things get lost in the process. Collections, virtual copies, pick flags, slideshows, photo books and a few other things that I can't think of right now will not transfer. Edits using features in LrC that were not present in LR 6.14 also will not transfer.

[Ruud W.]

Hello dj_paige,

Thanks for the very quick response, highly appreciated !!

The LR part of your answer sounds OK for me, I think I can live with that.

But I did not get the part of PhotoShop.

If I open a certain PSD file in the PS version included in CC, will I be able to export it in some way so older versions of PS can read them? There is a software PS Elements which I have never used ( so not experience at all). Would I be able to export from PS CC to be able to use the file with PS Elements?

[dj_paige]

If I open a certain PSD file in the PS version included in CC, will I be able to export it in some way so older versions of PS can read them?

If, after editing a photo, you saved the PSD file from Photoshop, some to mangle the words a little bit, it has already been "exported", you wouldn't need to export it again after the subscription ends (and you can't export it again after the subscription ends because Photoshop won't work at all after the subscription ends).

Will an old version of Photoshop be able to open it? I think so, but honestly I haven't tried. You can download the 7 day free trial of the LrC+PS software and see for yourself if the PSD from the current PS will open in an older PS.

[Ruud W.]

Hello dj_paige,

Thanks once more for the quick reply. I am using PS not only for editing the photos I keep in LR. I am using it once in a while to edit fragments of panorama photos (Pano2VR) or my webpage photos. These PSD include more layers and need to be opened as PSD to use them completely. But your idea of using the trial is a very good one. I will probably try it like this.

thanks again !!

Ruud