In fact, my performance actually decreased so badly after I upgraded that I ended up having to create a new library and start from scratch. I have a large catalogue with images spread across several hard drives, so mine is probably the worst case scenario for testing. Upon launching the software, there is still a wait of several minutes before it becomes usable for me. Startup time is improved, but it can still take a long time if you have a large catalogue spread across multiple drives. I guess a lot of it will depend on your system configuration, the size of your library and so on. Overall the software does feel faster, but the improvements, for the most part, don’t seem dramatic to me. I could lie about it and just report on some positives so as not to offend anyone, but I’m sorry, I just can’t do that. ![]() Even in these areas, I have to admit, I’m underwhelmed. After all, the improvements to importing and performance were widely requested. Moving on, and in an attempt for this not to be a total rant, I wanted to try and evaluate the new features, all two of them, and the improved performance. So in a way, it’s good that the standalone licence is gone, because anyone who bought that version, especially in the last 6 months or so, really got a raw deal (pardon the pun). It seemed like an arbitrary decision to create a distinction between the standalone version and the subscription version. The reason I say that is because there’s no way it was developed, programmed and implemented in the time between when version 6 came out and dehire was added. The biggest of which was the Dehaze functionality, which was released shortly after version 6 was announced, and being cynical again, seemed to be timed just to create a difference to the standalone version. Throughout the 2015 CC release, there were only a few new features too, despite this being the reason for subscriptions. The performance improvements are nice, but they’re not significant enough, again, in my opinion, and many of the long-running bugs in Lightroom are still there, plus a few new ones for good measure. The only real new feature is the masking tools. People have been asking for the import improvements for forever, and even at that, in my opinion, they’re not properly implemented. Lightroom Classic isn’t significantly different to the previous version. Yet, despite that being the official line, there’s little evidence that that is the case in reality. If you give the company the benefit of the doubt and decide to accept that they have the best of intentions with the move, then you have to go with the premise behind it, which many hardcore Lightroom fans will happily point out to you: The reason is so that they can update the software more often. It’s a “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice…” or “boy who cried wolf” kind of thing. That statement lasted only one major release cycle. Now they’re asking us to trust their word again, that the new old classic” version isn’t going anywhere. Adobe has also not done itself any favours in the consumer trust department either with this move, having previously indicated, perhaps a little too vaguely, that a perpetual licence version would continue. On the one hand, as I need the full Adobe creative suite for my motion graphics work, I’m already paying for it, so the change is not a big deal to me, but on the other hand, I can see why people are pissed off. I have mixed feelings about the switch to a subscription-only model. The main reasons for that controversy are the switch to a subscription-only model, the split into two versions, and the somewhat odd choice of name, Lightroom Classic. This release of Lightroom has been somewhat controversial. I decided to use the software as much as possible before putting electrons to silicon, but every time I tried to make notes or write segments of this, I just found myself being cynical and disappointed. When writing this review I really wanted to be positive. Instead, we saw the software develop a split personality and divide into two versions, each a little different, but neither offering much new over the previous versions. ![]() Given that the last version of Lightroom ran as updates to the 2015 release, it is perhaps unfortunate that we did not see more new features or many of the requested updates that users have made over the years. The main areas are the new masking tools, improved importing and overall performance improvements. While a numbered upgrade like this is normally a major feature release, Lightroom Classic seems to offer relatively little in terms of new features since the previous version. If you look in the about box, you will see the version number is listed as a 7.0 release. ![]() Lightroom Classic is essentially Lightroom 7 in Adobe’s weird new naming scheme.
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