Lightroom Desktop or Lightroom Classic?

[JoeP47118379]

I've decided to upgrade Photoshop to the Creative Cloud version with Lightroom. I see two Lightroom options, "CC" and "Classic CC". I have never used Lightroom before. Which version should I download?

Thanks!

Joe

[JP Hess · Accepted solution]

Lightroom Classic CC is the Lightroom that has been around for about 10 years. It is the Lightroom that we are accustomed to. It is a folder based system that utilizes a database or catalog to enable you to manage your images on your computer. If you have never used Lightroom previously there are lots of tutorials available on YouTube and from Adobe to help you learn how to use the program.

Lightroom CC (a familiar name to many) is NOW associated with a new program that is cloud based. When you download images using this program they are automatically stored in the cloud, and are automatically available on your computer as well as any mobile devices on which you have installed the Lightroom mobile application. This is a new program that was recently made available just a couple of weeks ago. It is version 1 software. It does not have all of the features that Lightroom Classic CC has. And the two programs are not at this time really designed to work together.

If your main goal is to quickly download images and share them on social media and not spent a lot of time postprocessing them, you might prefer Lightroom CC. If you prefer managing your images on your computer, assigning keywords and having more control over the post processing than you might prefer Lightroom Classic CC. I have the two programs installed on my computer, I do most of my work using Lightroom Classic CC, but I do experiment a little bit with the new Lightroom CC. I'm trying to get a feel for how it works and how it can benefit my workflow.

This is been a very simplistic explanation because Lightroom Classic CC has the capability of creating shared collections, and those shared collections can be viewed using Lightroom CC if it is installed on another computer. But since you don't have any experience with Lightroom at this point it would be futile to try to go into that.

[JoeP47118379]

That was extremely clear and helpful. Thanks very much!

I seldom use social media and am accustomed to managing post processing through Photoshop, so the Classic version will be best for me.

Take Care,

Joe

[Clive Stillerman]

Couldn't agree more strongly with Jim.