Newer Mac Computer running OS Catalina, should I move from Lightroom Classic to plain Lightroom?

[Ken Nielsen]

The plain Lightroom seems like it is 'talking down' to me or made for beginners as I don't see control that was available in Lightroom Classic, for instance, Instead of importing folders with image files like Lightroom Classic would allow me do do easily, the plain Lightroom offers to 'preview' images only, and I don't want to preview over 50 thousand images I have, I simply want to use my newer computer and not wrestle with software. I see no way to simply point Lightroom to the files in folders that I have all prepared in an organized fashion by shooting date. Lightroom Classic would slurp that up without a hitch and there you were in a few minutes, all organized and ready to go. What is plain Lightroom? is it a simpler version of Lightroom for those who don't want to get too involved with editing and managment? Does it have strengths I should know about, How do I point it to the drives where I have all of my images and simply have it incorporate and not give me an only choice to 'preview all of my images' which I do not want to do.

Thanks for help with insight into why there are two versions of Lightroom and which one is most useable on a professional level?

TIA,

Ken

[99jon]

Hi Ken

LrC = Lightroom Classic

Lr = the cloud eco system including mobile, web and computer.

Do you really want 50,000 photos in the cloud? If so there is a migration tool to transfer a LrC catalog to Lr.

Most likely you will want to copy your catalog to the Pictures folder on the new Mac, install LrC and then transfer your files in the same structure or connect an external drive containing the files.

[JohanElzenga · Accepted solution]

The 'plain Lightroom' is a different product for a different audience. Stick to Lightroom Classic, unless working on multiple devices is essential for you.

[Ken Nielsen]

Amazing that this is not immediately apparent. I don't use the cloud but have many terrabytes of drives available plus many backup systems and off-site backups. Bottom line, Lightroom Classic is the way to go and thank you for pointing that out.