LR 5 seems worth the upgrade. How's it's performance vs. LR4?

wt21

Hall of Famer
I am thinking I should buy LR5, as I am not sure when Adobe will switch to on-line rental ONLY.

So, in reviewing the updates, it looks quite useful What's New in Lightroom 5.0 Beta? | The Lightroom Queen

Has anyone gone from LR4 to LR5 on the same machine? How has performance been? Slower, faster, the same? This is assuming you've used both on the same machine. Specifically, I'm running Mac OS Mavericks, but I'd appreciate input from any OS user.
 
This is my personal report, and may not reflect every Lightroom iOS user experience.

I have used lightroom 3, 4 and now 5 on my 2009 macbook i5, now running mavericks.

Lightroom 5 performance is equal to 4 on my machine. I upgraded the day it was released and I can hardly remember what differentiates the two versions anymore. IF you like Lightroom 4 and it works well on your machine, you will also like Lightroom 5.

Import, conversion to DNG and exporting 20megapixel raw full frame photos is the only thing that takes time, but that';s no fault of Lightroom.

Rendering raw images 100 percent for noise reduction / sharpening fine tuning got a bit slower when moving from 12 (2009-2011) to 16 (e-M5) + 20(6d) megapixels images

Lightroom 5 is also not too resource hogging, so I'm free to run a few other programs without experiencing much system lag.
 
Now till Dec 2nd you can get LR and PS for $9.99/month. And that's not for a limited time once you've signed up for the two programs.

I'm sure this has been asked before, but if you get the subscription do you have to be online to do everything, or can you use the programs offline? If the latter, then I'm interested and will hop on it, but if you have to be connected to the internet to use your software --not.
 
I'm sure this has been asked before, but if you get the subscription do you have to be online to do everything, or can you use the programs offline? If the latter, then I'm interested and will hop on it, but if you have to be connected to the internet to use your software --not.

No. You do not.


From adobe's website: http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud/faq.html


Do I need ongoing Internet access to use my Adobe® Creative Cloud™ desktop applications?

No. Your Creative Cloud desktop applications (such as Adobe® Photoshop® and Illustrator®) are installed directly on your computer, so you won't need an ongoing Internet connection to use them on a daily basis.

An Internet connection is required the first time you install and license your desktop apps, but you can use the apps in offline mode with a valid software license. The desktop apps will attempt to validate your software licenses every 30 days.

For annual members, you can use the apps for up to 99 days in offline mode. Month-to-month members can use the software for up to 30 days in offline mode.​
 
I am thinking I should buy LR5, as I am not sure when Adobe will switch to on-line rental ONLY.

So, in reviewing the updates, it looks quite useful What's New in Lightroom 5.0 Beta? | The Lightroom Queen

Has anyone gone from LR4 to LR5 on the same machine? How has performance been? Slower, faster, the same? This is assuming you've used both on the same machine. Specifically, I'm running Mac OS Mavericks, but I'd appreciate input from any OS user.

Running it on my iMac 27 from 2011 with 12 gig RAM. Not sure what OS I'm using. I didn't see any noticeable changes in performance between LR4 and LR5.
 
This offer had been limited to owners of PS3 or above. If you are used to upgrading regularly under the "old model", it is a good deal, cheaper than upgrading PS and LR every release. Switching to Elements and continuing to upgrade every release doesn't make sense either, as they update almost annually, give little break to upgraders (IIRC, you upgrade for $89, vs. new price of $99).

The downside it that it is forever, and if you stop, you no longer have access to those programs. And while the price will probably be stable for a while, it can be increased at Adobe's pleasure.

I'm using PS less and less, so probably will stick with CS6 and LR, migrate PS-type chores to Pixelmator (Mac). But for many, it's not a bad deal.
 
This offer had been limited to owners of PS3 or above. If you are used to upgrading regularly under the "old model", it is a good deal, cheaper than upgrading PS and LR every release. Switching to Elements and continuing to upgrade every release doesn't make sense either, as they update almost annually, give little break to upgraders (IIRC, you upgrade for $89, vs. new price of $99).

The downside it that it is forever, and if you stop, you no longer have access to those programs. And while the price will probably be stable for a while, it can be increased at Adobe's pleasure.

I'm using PS less and less, so probably will stick with CS6 and LR, migrate PS-type chores to Pixelmator (Mac). But for many, it's not a bad deal.

The new offer allows anyone whether or not you're a previous owner of any version of Photoshop to get the $9.99 offer for both LR and PS.

I haven't upgraded my PS since CS2 as I never used Photoshop enough to justify the steep upgrade pricing. However, I'm willing to pay $120/year to have continuous updates to the two most valuable software apps for an aspiring photographer.
 
If one subscribes to the $10 per month deal, it means that one will continuously get updates for LR and PS even when the software goes through a major change such as going from LR4 to LR5 right?

Given that Adobe is charging $70-80 for folks to upgrade from LR4 to LR5, and that takes place once sometimes twice a year, $120 per year that also includes PS is starting to sound good. I just have no idea how to use PS though! Heck, I couldn't even figure out how to use PSE!
 
Or they could quit making the program in six months or ...... you can just use the JPGs right out of the camera and not do any post processing and be happy saving all that money.:rolleyes:
 
I'll be more specific. Their site just got hacked, millions of users information was stolen, their subscriptions have likely shriveled. This is a hook to get new subscribers. As someone in sales, I will put money that this price doesn't last. This is a special offer. Like "unlimited data forever" from Verizon and others. It has been pulled back.

Having said that, if you want PS, it's a good deal. You could update LR later if they do raise the prices.
 
I typed my email address into an Adobe hack checker, and it came back as positive. I was mortified. Fortunately, I had only made one individual (not ongoing sub) purchase through that email address, and the credit card had been previously cancelled due to other criminal imbeciles. Frankly, even though Adobe are no doubt stepping up their security, I'm still wary of giving them my credit card details.

I'm still on LR4. My gear has not outpaced Lightroom in the last year, so I'm safe until I buy another camera. Almost all of what I would do in Photoshop, I can do easily in Lightroom, anyway.
 
they wouldn't do a time-limited offer if they wouldn't want to pressure people into their subscription model.
Reminds me of my last car buying experience: "No time to think! Buy the car now or I won't be able to offer you this price tomorrow"

That's a road that I don't want to go down... I don't want to be locked into an Adobe subscription forever.
Yes, you can always cancel. But what about all the images that you will have accumulated in a few years time?
I don't want to be forced to convert all my layered PSD files to a format that won't support PSD features for example.
 
I recently (yesterday) upgraded. I'd say 5 works the same as 4. The one big thing for me I like is the Upright functionality in which in will correct perspective distortion in building shots. Not owning a view camera or tilt shift lens, I'm almost always needing to correct buildings. The new feature nails it most of the time.

My job gets me a discount so a full version of LR is basically the upgrade price, so $84 bucks later I'm done. I've thought about the LR/CS cloud for 10 bucks a month. I don't have the time to dive in and learn Photoshop and I don't upgrade the moment Adobe drops new product out, so this will be cheaper for me.

Long term if the LR/CS cloud solution stay at 10 bucks, I'll do that, but I will not pay more than that so I'm going to watch to see if it's a teaser rate, or if it sticks. On the other hand when I do have time to explore Photoshop I may buy CS6 outright through my work discount and thumb my nose at the cloud for at least 5 years. If you look at the exif on photos. You'll see a lot of CS2, CS3 out there, so that tells me you don't have to keep up with the treadmill to get the job done.

I do own Elements 11 and have just scratched the surface of that. It's powerful in it's own right.
 
Yes, you can always cancel. But what about all the images that you will have accumulated in a few years time?
I don't want to be forced to convert all my layered PSD files to a format that won't support PSD features for example.

Photoshop is no longer the only software that opens multi layered PSD files. There's no issue here except scare mongering, so don't worry. Plus you had far more chance of Adobe going under with the old model.

Gordon
 
Back
Top