Adobe 'Doubling Down' on Lightroom in Wake of Apple's Aperture Announcement

[imajez]

The UI of Lightroom is absolutely terrible. Elements are on all sides of the photo, boxing it in. There are unnecessary flourishes in the interface. The photo organization is a joke, and the UI doesn't help that either.

So you have no idea how to use LR and are slagging it off. Nice one.
All tools can be hidden away and can be revealed with a mouse over, a click or keyboard shortcut at your preference. So a very clutter free environment and the 'flourishes' can be hidden or customised.
The photo organisation is actually very good, maybe if you learnt to use the software rather than blindly attack it, you may realise how good it is.

 

[imajez]

everybody calm the F down... we are about to experience another transition gents - Steve would have sold it better, but I'm sure he would have loved to demo it

http://www.dslrbodies.com/accessori...software-news/another-one-bites-the-dust.html

Regardless of what is said in that link, the author is ignoring the elephant in the room. Apple has announced it's dropping its pro photography app and not indicated that there will in fact be a replacement. Secrecy and surprises are good marketing for the consumer market, they however are dreadful for professionals and businesses who need to plan ahead and think long term. Photographers and other creatives simply will trust Apple even less with this announcement, particularly after the heel dragging over the desperately needed MacPro replacement. Which wasn't helped by the trashcan design which is more consumer than pro orientated.
Who cares that it's smaller when all the insides are now connected by a rat's nest of cables to a bunch of boxes that used to be neatly tucked away inside the tower case. I'm a MacPro user and may simply get the next MBP iteration instead as they are more than fast enough for high end video and photography work. If nothing much can be stored in my main machine it may as well be a laptop. So that'll halve my Apple computer purchases, as my current MBP will need replacing next year anyway.

 

[powers74]

I'm merely a creative "hobbyist" rather than "professional". My own DAM system is PhotoMechanic + whatever RAW converter seems appropriate for an image. Aperture has been great as both a RAW converter and as a base for using Nik/Topaz/OnOne plugins. Personally, I've always found LR's interface pig-ugly and I don't care for it's workflow, though I do own the product. All this to say that I don't have a lot to lose with Aperture as an application going away. But to me, here's what we know:

* Aperture, iPhoto, iPhoto streams are going away
* New Photos app replaces these and will import Aperture, iPhoto libraries
* New Photos app does have have at least some fine grained control over images if the screen shots floating around are to be believed
* Apple is NOT pointing people to Adobe (TechCrunch has since retracted that statement)
* New Core Image API makes very sophisticated non-destructive extensions possible not only in the "filters" arena, but also noise reduction, lens correction, etc
* Brings iCloud storage and access to all images on all devices, including (as I understand it) RAW format, a direct competiton to what Adobe is trying to do with their CC Cloud approach and various apps, which to me seems muddled.

Bottom line for me is that i am interested to see where this goes and will not slit my wrist just yet.

Lol! I like your level-headed approach! I agree, and it's not like Apple is going to release Photos and then never update it or add new features. It seems like the past couple years they have been on a kick of tearing down a lot of legacy products (both hardware and software) and rethinking and rebuilding them from the ground up with the future in mind. It seems like we are still in a bit of a transition period, and while it sort of sucks now, I think in five years time Apple will have an extremely compelling hardware+software+cloud system in place.

 

[jc1350]

I had Lightroom 1 and 2 way back when (on Windows). When I switched to Mac, I switched to Aperture and I like it.

I'm not going to freak out for now and will give Photos.app a chance. But in the mean time, I wanted to see how painful it would be to switch to Lightroom.

So here I am trying to get the trial version and it's already a pain in the butt. I can't just download it. Nnnooo...Adobe seems to want me to use some stupid "Creative Cloud" app that appears to be the way to download it. The problem is, it isn't doing anything except showing an annoying spinning icon in the middle of the window. If I click "download again" in the browser, it downloads this CC app, not Lightroom.

It's these silly things that turn me off to companies like Adobe. Downloading a file should be that simple and shouldn't require some stupid custom-built downloader.

The trial for ACDSee was a simple install.

 

[marstan]

Regardless of what is said in that link, the author is ignoring the elephant in the room. Apple has announced it's dropping its pro photography app and not indicated that there will in fact be a replacement. Secrecy and surprises are good marketing for the consumer market, they however are dreadful for professionals and businesses who need to plan ahead and think long term. Photographers and other creatives simply will trust Apple even less with this announcement, particularly after the heel dragging over the desperately needed MacPro replacement. Which wasn't helped by the trashcan design which is more consumer than pro orientated.
Who cares that it's smaller when all the insides are now connected by a rat's nest of cables to a bunch of boxes that used to be neatly tucked away inside the tower case. I'm a MacPro user and may simply get the next MBP iteration instead as they are more than fast enough for high end video and photography work. If nothing much can be stored in my main machine it may as well be a laptop. So that'll halve my Apple computer purchases, as my current MBP will need replacing next year anyway.

I am with you for the most part, but you will be giving up ECC Ram with the MBP only (and I don't think MBPs are robust enough to replace a desktop workstation if you are planning on working it hard). One of the few things that keeps me in the Apple ecosystem now is Mac OS, my Mac Pro tower ('09) with ECC Ram and the ability to run ZFS and get true end-to-end protection of my data. Even better than a NAS with ZFS because the data is protected closer to the point of creation. Actually I don't understand why all PCs don't have ECC Ram as its only marginally more expensive than not. Anyway, if you go the MBP only route hope you have your data protected.

Oh, and I also like Apple's laptops. But for me their software is not a compelling reason to use Apple these days; just the opposite - their capriciousness, pandering to the lowest common denominator (mass market) and lack of clear roadmaps repels me. I wish Apple would create a Pro division and, although it wouldn't be nearly as profitable as the mass market stuff, it could serve as a tech incubator and give Apple real pro buzz and cred. But Apple may feel that the pro world has nothing to offer their zen/less-is-more designed mass market products. And they may be right for them but not for me. So we may be parting ways as time goes on.

 

[cgc]

Personally speaking, I think Apple are trying to do too much. With the manpower and resources they have at this very moment, it's barely enough to drive the 'iOS' side of the business properly. For the last 6 years this is been their primary focus which is why OS X and other Apple software has been neglected or dumped.

Maybe when the new campus is up and running and they've been on a huge recruitment drive things will stop getting neglected. I think Apple will get back on track but it's going to be a number of years until they are ahead of the game in every area again.

Add to that questionable decision-making (e.g. just announced underpowered iMac and A%-based iPod touch). I feel as though they have no direction...maybe Steve Jobs' roadmap ran out last month.

 

[FrozenDarkness]

Regardless of what is said in that link, the author is ignoring the elephant in the room. Apple has announced it's dropping its pro photography app and not indicated that there will in fact be a replacement. Secrecy and surprises are good marketing for the consumer market, they however are dreadful for professionals and businesses who need to plan ahead and think long term. Photographers and other creatives simply will trust Apple even less with this announcement, particularly after the heel dragging over the desperately needed MacPro replacement. Which wasn't helped by the trashcan design which is more consumer than pro orientated.
Who cares that it's smaller when all the insides are now connected by a rat's nest of cables to a bunch of boxes that used to be neatly tucked away inside the tower case. I'm a MacPro user and may simply get the next MBP iteration instead as they are more than fast enough for high end video and photography work. If nothing much can be stored in my main machine it may as well be a laptop. So that'll halve my Apple computer purchases, as my current MBP will need replacing next year anyway.

this picture is confusing to me. First of all, even bak in the day, most prosumers had external storage racks and a memory card reader. A DVD drive is no longer really necessary even for prosumers, most people I know just give clients USB drives. Can't really make out the rest.

 

[thekeyring]

Add to that questionable decision-making (e.g. just announced underpowered iMac and A%-based iPod touch). I feel as though they have no direction...maybe Steve Jobs' roadmap ran out last month.

They just announced huge updates to OS X and iOS.

Again people, those you mentioned were silent updates. Let's wait for official announcements at the events in September/October before we bitch and moan.

Do you really think Steve Jobs was the only person who knew how to run a company?

 

[nordicappeal]

Soon we will be moving back to PC's because we can build it our selves and it the only thing we need to run Adobe programs

 

[brdeveloper]

$9,99 of monthly fee is rather expensive for amateur usage. I'll probably upgrade to Yosemite to have this functionality for free. For $4,99 I'd probably subscribe.

 

[0098386]

It's a shame there's a subscription price because I would really like to try this.

 

[notrack]

I had Lightroom 1 and 2 way back when (on Windows). When I switched to Mac, I switched to Aperture and I like it.

I'm not going to freak out for now and will give Photos.app a chance. But in the mean time, I wanted to see how painful it would be to switch to Lightroom.

So here I am trying to get the trial version and it's already a pain in the butt. I can't just download it. Nnnooo...Adobe seems to want me to use some stupid "Creative Cloud" app that appears to be the way to download it. The problem is, it isn't doing anything except showing an annoying spinning icon in the middle of the window. If I click "download again" in the browser, it downloads this CC app, not Lightroom.

It's these silly things that turn me off to companies like Adobe. Downloading a file should be that simple and shouldn't require some stupid custom-built downloader.

Same here, trying to get a trial was a really bad experience, so I stopped. Then I sat down on another machine that had LR already installed. The experience didn't improve. It's sure not my cup of tea. I expect Aperture to work throughout 2015 so there is still plenty of time to make a move.

 

[fa8362]

$9,99 of monthly fee is rather expensive for amateur usage. I'll probably upgrade to Yosemite to have this functionality for free. For $4,99 I'd probably subscribe.

You won't get the same functionality, but perhaps you don't need it.

 

[Balin64]

Interesting...

I was a LR Beta tester back in the day. It was kinda rough back then, but they eventually got it right. I did have Aperture for a while and liked it, but I eventually migrated over to an all Adobe environment after I dropped Final Cut. I still use LR 3 (I now, so outdated) but it does what I need.

I've read the previous threads and it looks like if I want to upgrade to the latest version, it's cloud-based. I have no interest in that. I wonder if Adobe allows any kind of upgrade option for early adopters? Probably not...

 

[linuxcooldude]

Who cares that it's smaller when all the insides are now connected by a rat's nest of cables to a bunch of boxes that used to be neatly tucked away inside the tower case.

I have a 2009 Mac Pro with no less then 13 cables coming out of it.

 

[fa8362]

I was a LR Beta tester back in the day. It was kinda rough back then, but they eventually got it right. I did have Aperture for a while and liked it, but I eventually migrated over to an all Adobe environment after I dropped Final Cut. I still use LR 3 (I now, so outdated) but it does what I need.

I've read the previous threads and it looks like if I want to upgrade to the latest version, it's cloud-based. I have no interest in that. I wonder if Adobe allows any kind of upgrade option for early adopters? Probably not...

That is not true and Adobe says Lightroom will continue to be available for non-subscription use.

You can buy Lightroom 5 at Amazon, other retailers and on Adobe's website, but Adobe has apparently made it difficult to find.

 

[sjinsjca]

Prediction: Apple will acquire Adobe.

 

[brdeveloper]

You won't get the same functionality, but perhaps you don't need it.

Yep, I just need adjusting some shadows/highlights, some white balance adjust and raw batch processing. Currently I use Gimp + ufraw.

 

[cube]

I was a LR Beta tester back in the day. It was kinda rough back then, but they eventually got it right. I did have Aperture for a while and liked it, but I eventually migrated over to an all Adobe environment after I dropped Final Cut. I still use LR 3 (I now, so outdated) but it does what I need.

I've read the previous threads and it looks like if I want to upgrade to the latest version, it's cloud-based. I have no interest in that. I wonder if Adobe allows any kind of upgrade option for early adopters? Probably not...

It has been already pointed out in this thread that it you can indeed purchase full or upgrade versions (even from LR1).

----------

You can buy Lightroom 5 at Amazon, other retailers and on Adobe's website, but Adobe has apparently made it difficult to find.

Yes, they made it hard to find. At least the upgrade you can reach by going to "all products".

----------

It's a shame there's a subscription price because I would really like to try this.

You can download a free trial.

 

[imajez]

I was a LR Beta tester back in the day. It was kinda rough back then, but they eventually got it right. I did have Aperture for a while and liked it, but I eventually migrated over to an all Adobe environment after I dropped Final Cut. I still use LR 3 (I now, so outdated) but it does what I need.

LR5 is waaay better. The new processing engine alone is worth the upgrade, see the pics I posted a few pages back that demonstrate the big differences between LR versions

I've read the previous threads and it looks like if I want to upgrade to the latest version, it's cloud-based. I have no interest in that. I wonder if Adobe allows any kind of upgrade option for early adopters? Probably not...

You've read a load of inaccurate BS on those threads. The amount of ignorance being flung around about subscriptions and the cloud only demonstrates how happy people are to witter on about stuff they are completely clueless about.
If you want LR, buy an upgrade from Amazon/Adobe, job done.



EDIT: Here's the post re process versions in LR.....

The increase in image quality of LR5 over LR2 is amazing. If you shoot raw, it's like upgrading your cameras to a much better model for a bargain price - no exaggeration. Not to mention the many, many other improvements.

Here's a screenshot of a flawed image [underexposed cat] I use to demo some of the big improvements in process versions, with from left to right the untouched raw file, process version 2003 [LR1 + 2], Process version 2010 [LR3] and Process Version 2012 [LR4+5]. Only the last one looks like the scene as I saw it, when Idiot Cat no. 3 wandered into shot as I was shooting some cloudscapes for my image bank.
This particular shot does not demonstrate how well PV2012 handles highlights compared to previous versions, but it's also very impressive.

 

[imajez]

this picture is confusing to me. First of all, even bak in the day, most prosumers had external storage racks and a memory card reader. A DVD drive is no longer really necessary even for prosumers, most people I know just give clients USB drives. Can't really make out the rest.

Well I was talking about professionals not 'prosumers' which is an utterly pretentious marketing term. I have 6 hard drives in my MP, I could have 8 now I will need a minimum of 2 expensive external storage devices with the cables, power supplies and all the clutter that entails which kind of defeats the point of a smaller computer if you end up with more [messy] space being used.
Not to mention I won't be able to use it as a foot rest like I do with my current MP.
A colleague has just installed some at his work place and was complaining that they couldn't be placed on the floor like previous models because the cleaners would likely think they were trash can and either not take care or move them carelessly yanking all the cables.

 

[Balin64]

Thanks...

For the responses guys, and that's a good comparison, imagez.

For myself, LR has always been the oddball program. I have used the CS 5 MC for a while and it's still working well for me. But my LR 3 seems a bit outdated, so I have been thinking of upgrading but I'm not sure. I'm not entirely comfortable about CC and the pricing; I'm a freelancer so for myself, it's a business decision. I know people who have licenses through employers and they're not overly impressed.

Anyroad, over all, it is not good that Adobe is losing competition from Aperture. Then again, before LR or Aperture, we all found ways of organizing images. I have thousands of film scans and still have a few thousands to scan. Before LR, I had my own system. LR just makes it easier.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Then sell your machine and leave.

Logic and FCPX aren't going anywhere - you guys are acting like spoiled children. I have over 120,000 photos in Aperture - BUT I'm not belly aching on some silly message board.

I look forward to trying Lightroom... and probably the Photos app... get over yourselves, people. You are getting quite embarrassing.

Well, some people speak their mind when something changes they don't like. Some people protest. Some people just roll over and just take it. And some others actually stand there and encourage Apple to do it harder for reasons unfathomable to other people.

I don't know about Logic in the future, but Final Cut Pro X *IS* the new version that caused people to leave. Ever since Apple dumped their rack mount server, it's been looking more and more like the home market is Apple's target buyer now, not professionals or business. I don't think they ever expected the iPhone to be used in Enterprise early on or for games to take off on it for that matter. That was an unintended side-effect. Apple's new core market is kids, college kids and more kids (surprising they don't seem to think gaming is important to the kid market, though).

One of the reasons why Apple got into the creative pro software business is because they were disappointed that other developers, like Adobe, where not making pro software that took advance of everything OS X had to offer. In that sense Aperture accomplished its mission by forcing companies like Adobe to come out with products like Lightroom for Mac OS X.

I don't buy that explanation. Apple is about MONEY. They're obviously not selling enough copies of Aperture to bother putting resources behind it, not when they can make a lot more money making kiddie iOS Apps that span across iPhone/iPad and Mac. And that is their new goal. It's obvious with the new changes to Yosemite. They've clearly been planning this for some time clear back to Final Cut Pro. Even if they're not quite ready to go Surface Pro on us, they're trying to smooth the transition along. The problem is that while they raise up iOS, they (in some respects) degrade OSX by removing features (e.g. Pages and Final Cut X) so that the lesser system can handle it, at least until CPUs start to catch up. The problem is that they're alienating what's left of their Pro Market (which IS selling their stuff and packing it up and leaving) and that doesn't bode well for the platform as a whole. Apple doesn't want to have a kiddified image do they? Maybe they do. Buying Beats tells me that popularity among youth is more important than QUALITY or they would have bought Grado or Sennheiser instead.

 

[R2FX]

Regardless of what is said in that link, the author is ignoring the elephant in the room. Apple has announced it's dropping its pro photography app and not indicated that there will in fact be a replacement. Secrecy and surprises are good marketing for the consumer market, they however are dreadful for professionals and businesses who need to plan ahead and think long term. Photographers and other creatives simply will trust Apple even less with this announcement, particularly after the heel dragging over the desperately needed MacPro replacement. Which wasn't helped by the trashcan design which is more consumer than pro orientated.
Who cares that it's smaller when all the insides are now connected by a rat's nest of cables to a bunch of boxes that used to be neatly tucked away inside the tower case. I'm a MacPro user and may simply get the next MBP iteration instead as they are more than fast enough for high end video and photography work. If nothing much can be stored in my main machine it may as well be a laptop. So that'll halve my Apple computer purchases, as my current MBP will need replacing next year anyway.

it's your money and time mate, I agree that this move is poorly explained & communicated, but betting against Apple that they do not want to support Pro photographers is very shortsighted in my opinion

 

[imajez]

it's your money and time mate, I agree that this move is poorly explained & communicated, but betting against Apple that they do not want to support Pro photographers is very shortsighted in my opinion

This is just one of many occasions where Apple have not treated pro customers in a professional manner. So even if Apple are going to do things for the pro, they may find that won't have many they are interested as they've treated them so shabbily for so long.
Their stuff is now designed to sell to consumers not those with professional needs.