Is Lightroom Still Being Developed?

[Birchbus]

I like many features of Lightroom; however, I'm beginning to seriously regret shifting away from Lightroom Classic (or really Lightroom 6).

I've used every Album application from Adobe since Adobe Photoshop Album 1.0, and now that I'm invested in the currently unavoidable subscription model, it seems like the innovation or responsiveness to customer demands have slowed dramatically.  The sales pitch for the subscription model was supposed to improve the rate of innovation with a consistent subscription funding source.

What is the solution for people who want all the power/flexibility of Classic with the complete integration of originals in the cloud to unlock a reasonable workflow?  Isn't this what Lightroom CC was supposed to be? For those eager to help me see how to use both apps or to show me that two apps are better somehow, please don't point me to the myriad of highly technical DIY solutions to dance around the sloppy continuation of stovepipe application development between classic and cc... I have gone down those roads to misstep and lose work.  

Will there ever be a Classic version that is tightly integrated into the cloud storage?

Quite a few obvious and common requests have seemingly gone un-answered/un-developed for several years:

• Fix the video dating/sorting issues still associated with at least some common cameras/video formats
• Use of Dual/Multiple monitors on the desktop version
• Export options that come even close to Classic
• Real filters for tags that allow boolean logic and 
• Workflow needs like sorting by liked/commented photos in shared albums
• General parity between CC and Classic... getting rid of the mad dance to get the non-intersecting benefits from both applications is unavoidably risky to your photo library and investments in tagging your library
• A real REST API that allows you to do something (anything?) more than upload an asset
• Extensions...?
• Integrations with services other than Adobe's own...
• And if CC is always doomed to live in the shadow of Classic: at least provide supported co-existance of CC and Classic using same local storage so using both programs together doesn't take Internet bandwidth and extra storage

[JohanElzenga]

First of all, this is a user-to-user forum, so this is perhaps not the best place for this discussion. Yes, Lightroom and Lightroom Classic are both still being developed, but they are different apps. Lightroom Classic is the professional grade solution based on local storage. Lightroom (desktop) is a more consumer-oriented solution for people who want to store their images in the cloud and share them between different devices seamlessly. Will they ever merge into one app that has the power of Lightroom Classic and the cloud based solution of Lightroom? Perhaps, but nobody knows. And even if there is somebody here who does know the roadmap, then they won't be allowed to tell you.

[Birchbus]

Johan,

I understand this is a user-to-user forum, but where is the right place for this discussion?  Is my only way to communicate dissatisfaction to ambiguously cancel my subscription?  I've been struggling with this since there are things I like very much about Lightroom... 

I would like to ask you and others if your characterization is correct about consumer vs professional solutions.  I would think Photoshop Elements would be the consumer product, Lightroom would be for the category of pro-sumer up to where a pro doesn't have the means to hire an IT person to manage their storage and customer interaction workflow, and Lightroom Classic would be for the professional that has staff to handle IT tasks...but not other photographers that they wish to have shared access to their photo libraries.  Classic and Lightroom (again, even the naming is ambiguous...) overlap purposes, since Lightroom offers a kind of multi-photographer sharing and workflows that Classic does not (without careful non-supported trickery).

Is there a place where Adobe has stated these characterizations and product goals/purposes?  

Thanks!

Sam

[JohanElzenga]

I don't think this has anything to do with IT professionals, but with photographers. Most professional photographers prefer Lightroom Classic, for a number of reasons. Many do not wish to store huge numbers of raw files in the cloud, for example. If I had to store all my raw files in the cloud, I would have to purchase some 8 TB of extra cloud space, making Lightroom a very costly solution indeed. Other photographers may have other reasons to prefer Lightroom Classic, like its superior DAM capabilities. And of course some have reasons to prefer Lightroom (cloud). I do not expect that many prefer Lightroom for a multi-photographer workflow however, because Lightroom does not really allow for that either. You can have it on only two computers.

Adobe lists the features of both versions on their website, but I don't think they have listed product goals/purposes. They leave it up to you to decide what you want.

[Birchbus]

I see your point, but I will offer that the Share options in Lightroom allow for both View Only or Contributing.  This is at least something for allowing multiple photographers to collectively utilize a library that is accessible from anywhere and from almost any platform.  With a few badly needed search/sort/filter enhancements, the cloud version could enable a workable workflow for multiple photographers working a single project.

[Jao vdL]

Adobe has actually signalled the answers to a lot of this:

>What is the solution for people who want all the power/flexibility of Classic with the complete integration of originals in the cloud to unlock a reasonable workflow?  Isn't this what Lightroom CC was supposed to be?

Currently none. Classic is always a local workflow. Lightroom Cloudy is a cloud oriented one. Adobe has told us that they won't do any additions to the syncing ability of Classic so if you need Classic's features (which keeps expanding and pulling ahead of Lightroom Cloudy), Classic is the only game, but you don't get the full cloud integration. Adobe is slowly adding features to Lightroom Cloudy but after many years it still cannot even print so I don't expect full feature parity any time soon. It will take many years.

>Will there ever be a Classic version that is tightly integrated into the cloud storage?

See above. Not likely to happen. The intent apparently is to let Lightroom Cloudy slowly approach Classic in features instead but it is taking a very long time. Many features have been added but as you note above most is still missing. I don't see this changing any time soon but of course that is just kremninology and not based on any inside info.

[JP Hess]

As I have watched the development of Lightroom cloudy, it seems to me that some users who have migrated to it have looked at it as a solution to having their images safely stored in the cloud, clearing them of any responsibility of having a backup. This isn't so. Even if the images are in the cloud it is vital that the user have some other source of backup to ensure personal security of valuable images. That backup could be local storage or another cloud service, but it must be done.

In my opinion, Lightroom Classic is still the flagship version with the full arsenal of tools for the serious Lightroom user. I suspect this will be true for quite some time to come. Whenever I try to work with Lightroom cloudy I feel there is a barrier between me and my images, and I don't feel the freedom to work like I do in Classic. The freedom just isn't there. Those who like cloud version really like it. It's great for social media fans. But I don't like putting my full trust and confidence in it.

[Birchbus]

I have to admit that I do like the added security of offsite storage of my originals...as long as I have them on-site as well.  "Cloudy" seems to handle that well enough as I have it keep a local copy of all originals; however, I admit that I haven't tested the ability to recover should the Cloud storage have issues (or I find an alternative I like better).

Though I shun "social media" platforms, I do also like the convenience of sharing...between Portfolio and the built-in simple direct sharing with the ability to get feedback about which photos someone wants is nice.  Well...sorta nice.  It's so close to being really nice, but key usability features put a damper on the fun. 

I see many others complaining (like I did), but I'm begining to feel like I've lost all direct feedback with a subscription model.  I can't simply stay with the old version if Adobe only adds features I don't care about.

I've tried to follow guides to use both...but between destructive behavior in video metadata and the triple-whammy on storage, I'm now trying to figure if I should give up on Cloudy to go back to all the features I knew and loved (for the most part)...and find a way to backup and share my photos on my own without the conveniences that the Cloudy version provides.