The Future of Lightroom?

[The LAR Builder]

After using both Lightroom and Lightroom Classic for the past couple of weeks after coming back from Capture One quite recently, my question is this: Will allllllllllll the features that are within Lightroom Classic be moved over to the New Lightroom???

If so, I'm thinking some of the major things that would need to be moved first would be 1) Batch Renaming, and 2) the ability to export images to whatever location you would like to save towards (as I still don't know where images are exported when doing so in the Desktop version of the New Lightroom). As for printing, saving to web, slideshows, etc., those could be further down the totem pole, as I honestly have not had the need to use them. Typically, when using Lightroom, I'm either in the Library or Develop modules 95% of the time.

Hopefully, Adobe will move everything over to the New Lightroom, while also retaining the features of what the New Lightroom has to offer.

[Timothy.Spear]

No one that can answer the questionon the forum. If you know the answer, it will be covered by NDA.

There are a number of features which make no sense from a vision perspective which exist in LrC and do not make sense in Lr. Starting with the batch rename feature. In the Lr Cloud ecosystem, you are not supposed to be concerned with or care what the filename is. As such, a feature to rename files makes zero sense.

However, for some use cases, such a feature makes perfect sense, and are NOT accomidated or even really acknowledged by Adobe. An example is a professional photographer who exports files to multiple customers, and maintains such a library for long periods of time.

Over the past couple years, at least to me, it seems like Lr is adding features faster than Classic has been. However, with a newer, smaller code base this is easier to achieve. From a develop perspective, both share the same "engine" which will help make at least that part of the applications approach feature parity sooner than later if that has not already happened.

At this point, even with the horrible name selection which basically says Adobe will kill off the Classic product soon, Adobe has stated there is enough market to maintain both products and that both products will continue forward. As such, you are stuck in a wait and see mode to see what happens.

Tim

[The LAR Builder]

As for the future of Lightroom not being answered in here, perfectly understandable. I can't speak for other photographers, but for me personally, given that I have been doing Wedding & Event Photography for nearly 20 years, I can say that the Batch Rename feature is very, very important because from the client's eyes, they are at least seeing the images without having a question in their mind that none are missing, and it is a part of the professional etiquette of even being a professional photographer (in my opinion). This feature alone allows me to start the naming nomenclature at 1 instead of seeing picture numbers start at, say, 833, and progressing forward from there. And, it helps greatly when it comes to culling images, as there are always bound to be some images that simply aren't up to snuff during a shoot, such as a shot of a portrait where the camera focuses on the hair instead of the eyes of a person by even a little bit (i.e. image shooting portraits at f/1.2 of a bride for a few minutes, getting that dreamy look, and if you are off by even an inch with focus, the entire image is done for....). Typically, I keep about 85%-90% of images I take when shooting manually during the course of a wedding or event, which actually is pretty good when factoring in certain shots that aren't worth it (such as a bride who blinks a lot when shots are taken!!)....

That's why I'm such a fan of having the Batch Rename feature built in to the new Lightroom, especially if Adobe plans to get rid of the Classic version after a while. That will be an important workflow not just for myself, but for the many other photographers who need that feature in order to export files to clients, and for those who maintain large collections of images over long periods of time (such as myself)....

Thanks for the response! I'm curious to know what you all think when it comes to your workflows with the Batch Rename dynamics....

[Timothy.Spear]

Depending on how you share images with your customers, you can actually export images with a sequence.

However, I would think if someone says they want image #15, you will have a heck of a time matching it back up.

I am a hobby photographer, and have photographed a few friends weddings and many other events. I could only dream of keeping 85% of my pictures! At many of those events I am closer to 15% 🙂

It has been at least a decade since I have had such a question. As digital cameras have become more common, I actually have had fewer questions about bad images, skipped numbers or other factors from friends and coworkers (assumption is family has learned by now).... As such, it might, emphasis on might, be worthwhile rethinking that aspect of your workflow.

If batch rename is that important to you, I suggest you create it as an idea instead of a discussion.

Tim