Adobe Tests Doubling the Price of Photography Plan With Photoshop and Lightroom

[CalMin]

My guess is that they have done their homework and they have done the math. By doubling the price, they know that some folks will cancel, but let's say 25% of users cancel their subs, Adobe has still increased revenues substantially.

And that's the thing --> the total cancelations will be far less than 25% of users. There are professionals that have businesses built around these tools and workflows where switching to different software will be way more expensive than just ponying up the extra monthly fees.

As has been the case since subscriptions became the norm, it's the casual users that get screwed. I would like Photoshop on my machine so that I can use it a few times a year, but I'm not paying a monthly fee for anything that I don't use daily. At least there are decent and affordable, quality alternatives now.

 

[ikir]

Using Pixelmator for my needs since like 10 years

 

[mac_in_tosh]

Photographer: Doesn't blink at spending $1500-5000 on a new lens, or $3000-5000 on a new camera body, or $300-800 on a new tripod, or $400-900 on a new flash, or $150 a pop on new UHS-II SD cards, or $800-3000 on a Thunderbolt RAID setup and SSDs, or $3000-7000 on a new Mac, or $800-2000 on a second and third display, or thousands of dollars on lighting equipment and backdrops and travel and paying models and grips.

Also photographer: Freaks out at having to pay Adobe a couple hundred bucks a year to edit, organize, share, and store all of their photos.

If you're talking about a pro photographer, then yes, the items in the first paragraph might be realistic and I doubt many of those people that are invested in Photoshop and Lightroom will cancel if the price goes up. But there are many hobbyists for whom a doubling of the price would be objectionable.

 

[jagolden]

Adobe and their rent-to-use model has been nothing but pure greed, and people complain about Apple.
When I was managing our corporate graphic design department, I would throw up a little in my mouth every time I had to spec us using their products. Simply disgusting.
Even though I occasionally still use Photoshop and Illustrator, I’m proud I am still usin CS3.
However, for most use, I’ve’d moved on to Serif’s Affinity Photo and Designer. Great software you actually get to own when you buy it. And extremely fair pricing.
Can’t wait for Serif’s Affinity page layout application later this year. Beta’s have been great.
Screw Adobe!

 

[applepuree]

I use Luminar 3. Does way more than I need. Adobe are just money grabbers.

 

[Saturnine]

The comments are going to be filled with a lot of upset users.

Photographer: Doesn't blink at spending $1500-5000 on a new lens, or $3000-5000 on a new camera body, or $300-800 on a new tripod, or $400-900 on a new flash, or $150 a pop on new UHS-II SD cards, or $800-3000 on a Thunderbolt RAID setup and SSDs, or $3000-7000 on a new Mac, or $800-2000 on a second and third display, or thousands of dollars on lighting equipment and backdrops and travel and paying models and grips.

Also photographer: Freaks out at having to pay Adobe a couple hundred bucks a year to edit, organize, share, and store all of their photos.

Y'all suck.

Ridiculous comment but trolls with troll. There are very few photographers in the world that “don’t blink” over a $5,000 lens or camera body. In fact, many of us battle with ourselves for months and months over whether to pull the trigger or not. We agonise then work hard and save hard to pay for them. We sit and work out how long it will take to pay for itself. Eventually, we may or may not purchase.

A good lens may last 20 years or more, or at least have a significant resale value somewhere down the line. Camera bodies, less so, but they are tools of the trade. Necessities to do the job.

Now, at $240 a year, the Adobe CC Photography Plan is no longer cheap. Over the lifetime of a good lens - say 20 years, it’s very close to the same price! And that’s assuming the price stays fixed for that long which, of course, it won’t.

Will photographers pay the increased price? Of course we will. But we will also look at competing products and the potential return on investment. The second another product does more for less money, many photographers will switch.

What I fail to understand is how something that was worth $9.99 a month yesterday is worth $19.99 today.

“Doesn’t blink” indeed.

 

[lunarworks]

Just in time for Aperture to finally kick the bucket, I see.

 

[jagolden]

I was gonna pay them their usual $120/year. Now they can have 0, glad they figured out how to lose $10 when trying to find $20. I’ll find near-equivalent options without significant effort. Funny, had they tried $12 I wouldn’t have noticed.

Move on to Serif’s Affinity applications (desktop and iPad).
There’s a learning curve but you won’t look back.
Generally their photo and drawing apps are $50 each (to own), but they’re frequently on sale for $35.00 each.

 

[hipnetic]

It's funny. I've been a hobbyist creative type my entire life, with my first exposure to graphic design being with my Amiga 1000 around 1985. I could never justify paying for Adobe products as a hobbyist, so I made due with other apps. I went down the path of becoming a software developer (working on mostly boring stuff), but I still dabble in creative stuff on the side.

My daughter is in college now (Art Studio) and I'm paying for the Adobe monthly package at the student price. I played around with some of the apps myself and enjoyed them, and was thinking recently how Adobe is losing out on money by not pricing their software more affordably, as they might convince some of us hobbyists to jump in. Now, instead, it looks like they're hoping to raise prices.

Thinking about this some more, I think a good way to work this might be for them to offer two pricing plans: one for hobbyists, and one for people who use their software for their job. Rather than go the traditional route of disabling certain features for the dumbed-down version (which is a difficult task to "get right" in terms of figuring out which features are "pro" features and which aren't), a simple/easy solution could be to make the non-pro version have a time-limit of 2 hours/day.

 

[639051]

I run a large photographic society and so many of my members are moving to Affinity or other alternatives, this will just drive even more away.

Went to C1 and Affinity. No looking back, Adobe is dead to me.

 

[techfreak23]

How do you “test” pricing? Are they going to lower those rates or issue refunds for those that signed up during this “test” period if they decide not to do the price hike (which they likely will keep)?

 

[Brandhouse]

Adobe today quietly debuted new pricing for its Photography bundle, which has long been available for $9.99 per month. Starting today, Adobe's website is listing a price tag of $19.99 per month, which is double the previous price.

Looks like more people will be going to cracks or Affinity, getting too cocky Adobe.

 

[CE3]

If they double my price I think I’ll purchase Capture One or DxO to replace Camera Raw, and use that with Luminar, which I already own.

The competition is a lot thicker and better than it used to be. LR & PS aren’t the only big guns on the block anymore. Adobe, you are replaceable.

 

[Icewarm]

Shaka, when the subscription fell.

 

[jdoyle]

My kid gets Adobe CC as part of his school fees and I am still on CS6. I honestly cant see any killer features in it that justify $9.99 US a month, never mind $19.99. I will use CS6 for as long as I can. Does everything I need and more.

 

[0989382]

Affinity Photo and Affinity Designers are going to eat them for breakfast in the photo field soon enough.

£50 each as a one off, for life.

Developers that listen and respond and constantly add features.

“Oh but Photoshop can do X and Y and affinity can’t” .... yeah well it will be able to soon.

99% of affinity haters are just so good at and used to Adobe it’s a real stump in their productivity to re adapt. But if you can overcome this you’re saving £20 a month!

 

[nwcs]

Has anyone found a good alternative to Lightroom Classic? (not CC!) All we want is a photo library management system that is not tied to any cloud. Our family library is getting close to 1TB and we have a home Synology NAS for storage, with offsite backup.

PhotoMechanic will be your best DAM alternative.

 

[0989382]

Still on Photoshop CS6 and Sierra. I don't know what I will do because I know I will eventually need to upgrade.

Check out Affinity Photo. Much better deal. Optimised for Mac software.

 

[nwcs]

this news comes 2 days after the announcement that aperture won't run on future os. coincidence? i don't think so!

I sincerely doubt there are enough active Aperture users left to make a difference. Adobe did a huge push for Aperture users when Apple first ended development. Probably very very few users left to make it worthwhile.

 

[mossback]

The subscription model has been horrible for end users. Absolutely horrible.

 

[jtrauscht]

Adobe today quietly debuted new pricing for its Photography bundle, which has long been available for $9.99 per month. Starting today, Adobe's website is listing a price tag of $19.99 per month, which is double the previous price.

The bundle includes access to Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, and Lightroom Classic, and is aimed at photographers. In a statement provided to PetaPixel, Adobe said that it is testing new pricing tiers.

Most users appear to be seeing the updated pricing on the Adobe website, but there is a hidden section of the site where one can still purchase the Photography plan for $9.99 per month.

The new plan does offer 1TB of storage instead of 20GB of storage, but for those who do not use Adobe storage, the new pricing doubles the cost with no added benefit.

It is not clear if Adobe is planning permanent pricing changes for its Photography plan or if prices are going to change for existing subscribers in the future. If you previously signed up for the Photography option, you're likely paying $9.99 per month at the current time.

Adobe offers other plans, pricing a single app at $20.99 and access to all apps at $52.99 per month, but it has offered the lower-cost $9.99 per month Photography plan option since 2013.

Article Link: Adobe Tests Doubling the Price of Photography Plan With Photoshop and Lightroom

 

[td2243]

Affinity just gained another million customers! I switched to Affinity Photo and never looked back.

 

[lcseds]

Jeez, I was hoping for a Lightroom only deal for $7.99 a month for hobbyists such as myself that need no more than that. So much for that idea.

Don't pick a fight folks, this is my opinion with my usage case only.

 

[Greenmeenie]

This is why i switched to Affinity photo.

 

[DocMultimedia]

Shaka, when the subscription fell.

Wow. That really gave me a flashback with humor thrown in. Thanks! I really hadn't thought about that episode in many years.

And...not wild about doubling the price overnight. I'm still using all their stuff since work pays for it. We'll see what I decide if I have to pay myself.