The Best Lightroom Alternative? How ON1 Compares to Lightroom and Photoshop

[@ursmeyer5913]

Would love to see Affinity do a Lightroom-Alternative. ❤

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Cool idea!

[@billbowman8747]

YES! Maybe Bridge too.

[@AlloffroadAu]

yep only reason I haven't switched to Affinity and still rent LR and Photoshop

[@brunasevla]

Me too

[@pauldomsten8331]

Great comparison! I've been using CS4 and Lightroom 5 since I don't want to pay the subscription prices, but since they are so old I've been considering alternatives. This really helps.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad it was helpful! I honestly think ON1 may be a good choice for you.

[@libertyisparamount1443]

the ai tools are an absolute game changer

[@underweightHater]

Adobe's monthly fee is nuts for such a mature product. i would be perfectly happy with 5 year old photoshop and lightroom... even older. if i own software, i like that the incentive is on the developers to do something that makes me WANT to upgrade. go ahead and earn my money, no problem. but getting paid every month whether you do anything for me or not? must be nice.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

That’s the luxury they have by being such a large company with the most popular product!

[@minusinfinity6974]

Worse still, you can't just keep using old versions because they won't support new cameras or lenses even if you don't care about AI masking etc.

[@PB72UK]

They could have had some of my money, but because they don’t even have a month by month subscription , i give my money to somebody else.

[@drchtct]

The main issue with other perpetual licences is new camera/lens support. I don't care about new features but I want the program to still work when I buy a new camera. If I buy Capture 1 today, and decide I want to get the newer version of my camera in 3 months, C1 tells me I'm fucked. I think that's the difference to other editors, which are not dependent on RAW demosaicing. I can still use a 10 year old version of Gimp (let's assume I would have paid for that) with no issues today, but the same doesn't work for RAW editors.

[@treayed]

I dislike that subscriptions are becoming the default route to cash, BUT the thinking that developers are doing NOTHING for your money is misguided. Operating systems are nowhere near as static as they were back in the “good old days”. At minimum ensuring compatibility with OS upgrades is a constant task, not to mention ensuring that security is maintained… Adobe does not deserve the benefit of the doubt, but for “mature” software to be as reliable as what we have come to expect requires a level of developer support that has only become mandatory in our current environment. Also, people forget that in the past crucial bug fixes AND new features to attract new purchasers (aka not something current owners wanted or needed) use to be the norm. In that case we either gnashed our teeth and soldiered on with the bugs or bit the bullet and paid the upgrade price. Being a user who is also a developer I understand the pain but in all meanings of the words: times have changed.

[@DavidDLee]

As a Lightroom classic user, I learned very little here. I still own the last LR with a perpetual license and refuse to lease the software. Exposure tweaks? Highlights / shadow tweaks? Clarity? Fusing 2 or 3 exposure bracketed photos into a single HDR image? Removing unwanted objects from the image? Bringing details from dark shadows or nearly over exposed sky? Showing smart selection?

[@AustinJamesJackson]

To cover every single feature would span a video that is hours long. Unfortunately there just isn’t time for it. Have to parse down into the information that most people are looking for.

[@drchtct]

@@AustinJamesJackson Nah, most people that are about to switch from one expensive software to another want to hear about the features. Mentioning that ON1's denoise is terrible compared to Lightroom costs you 10 seconds. I'm not trying to dunk on you but you should take this kind of constructive criticism seriously, looking at the like/dislike ratio of this video. We all know ON1 does most of what Lightroom does from the website, but HOW does it perform? Show it side by side, analyse the quality, save your viewers some time. I haven't learned a lot here and seeing the affiliate link with your own discount code in the description explains why the video didn't go into detail.

[@northislandnow8858]

After Adobe's new Terms of Service agreement sly F up. We canceled all Adobe products since we would be breaking the law with some of our NDA's for client work. Thank you for posting this. We don't have to worry about being sued do do the latest Adobe scam on there terms of service agreements.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Adobe’s terms of service changes was blown out of proportion by the various media sources, so that is pretty unnecessary to cancel in my opinion due to that. Check out my latest video if you want to learn the facts about the whole ordeal: A.I. Scraping from Instagram and Adobe - What You NEED To Know kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4LUqnyIaLejjrM

[@photographiezautrement]

France is very advanced in terms of laws concerning the protection of intellectual property. Adobe tried to steal the intellectual property of its customers and, faced with the outcry that this caused, had to change its strategy which clearly proves that on the one hand they were aware of their violations and that on the other hand, they are entirely possible to force them to change their user license They want to transfer the training of their AI to their stock photos. Always illegally, without informing the authors or asking them for permission. This is illegal, arrogant, snotty behavior from a large corporation. But Adobe is not above the law and particularly in France where the legal texts such as those of the Intellectual Property Code are very firm and clear about copyright (and incidentally the right to the image of people represented) The right technique is not to leave Adobe, but to force them to enforce the law. This is what scares them: being considered as thieves and people who violate the laws concerning the Right of Authorship and the Right to the Image of the people represented. Adobe does not impress French law. Adobe will comply with French law or be prohibited from selling illegal licenses, at least in France. Which can set a precedent for other countries. And if their lawyers are not yet aware of this, this will change quickly (their multiple changes of strategy recently demonstrate that their lawyers are very active in not putting the company in legal problems)

[@treayed]

@GlennsArt2021I would recommend having a lawyer review at least your most common NDAs against Adobe’s ToS. Our internal counsel reviewed it and from a legal perspective Adobe may only sublicense the rights they are granted to a third-party. These rights are limited in scope to only a) take action on your behalf as directed by you or b) to operate and maintain their service. The second point could raise a red flag had they not specifically excluded promoting, marketing and training AI models. I can tell you from having conducted due diligence on multiple SaaS/Cloud service providers, what Adobe covers in 4.2 is standard as far licensing/permission granting UNLESS you start talking about FERPA and HIPAA data… I always advise trust but verify (twice) and when it comes to contracts pay lawyers to do what lawyers do best, so you can focus on doing what you do best.

[@glyndavies6592]

Thanks Austin, I have been using On1 for a while and presently trying out LRc. The one feature that I really like in LRc is the masks, add, delete and intersect options are missing in On1. If this was added, i would stay with On1 What are your thoughts on this, BTW, i mainly photo wildlife, no landscape

[@AustinJamesJackson]

ON1 has some great masking tools too, and I don’t think I prefer one over the other when it comes to masking.

[@Rafi713]

I've been using ON1 for many years and recently started using PS and LRC. The ON1 no noise is quicker than LRC Denoise. But the masks in LRC are really superb. You can easily add and subtract from a mask. The remove tool in PS is superior to ON1 and is even better than LRC. And of course removal using Generative fill in PS makes the combination of PS and LRC a few degrees better than ON1. The filing systems, export and saving files in ON1 is much better than PS/LRC, which I find to be very confusing after using ON1 for years. Usually, ON1 catches up to PS/LRC with about a year lag. So if they catch up and there are no major improvements to PS/LRC, I'd stick with ON1. But for now, the masking and gererative fill is so strong, that I'm going to continue to use this combination for now.

[@babajaiy8246]

@@Rafi713 LR masking is ok for per shot use - but try applying the same mask to multiple images that have no change in subject matter, except the moverment of stars for example, and you get a big mess for a high enough portion of those batched files, that it's not worth using.

[@ericrinehardt9373]

I was a long time Adobe user who switched to On1 a couple years ago. ON1 is the bees knees. Very powerful, very intuitive (at least when compared to the clumsy LR/PS workflow), and affordable. It really should be the industry standard.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

I love ON1 too!

[@idxzel]

I am moving away from adobe because of their recent terms and agreement changes and have exported my documents (jpegs, raws, psd's and tiffs). If I want to access my tiff' layers (if possible at all), would I need the upgraded versions of ON1?

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Adobe’s new terms are nothing to worry about. See my video that is coming out this morning.

[@MikePageKaltenberg]

I consider myself relatively competent with ON1 and have used it as my standard processor for 6 years now. The only features that I find myself missing when I watch editing tutorials are content aware filling and some of the masking plug-ins available in Photoshop.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Yeah, it’s certainly a very well-rounded program.

[@minusinfinity6974]

On1 Photo RAW 24.5 looks to be a big update as regards AI masking, so that might be a turning point.

[@marleenvandam6931]

ON1 raw 2024 is fast, easy to use and performant! No regrets from my side!

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Awesome!

[@NoahBayl]

I love On1 but the prossesing of the raw files is really bad. I compared it to the lightroom picture profiles. In both there is a profile that should match the cameras JPG On1 is not even close… Its not a big problem in Landscape but restoring the natural skintones from such a flat image is a challenge. Do you have a tip or workaround for this?

[@AustinJamesJackson]

I haven’t really noticed that, but I’ll look into it!

[@NepaliNed]

Hi Austin, I've really enjoyed your videos on the best lightroom alternative from a year ago comparing DXO, Capture 1, Luminar Neo and On1 and this one in more depth about On1. I'm a user of Lightroom 5 and it took me a lot of effort to learn how to use it and get comfortable editing my photos. I used to do film photography, so it gave me an appreciation for what the labs did for sure. It seems to me that Capture 1 has a big price tag, has a steep learning curve and it might have a lot of features I would likely never use. Luminar Neo, while the price is great, it might not have as much features that I'd be looking for. So I'm down to DXO, which is a little bit pricey, but has a lot of functions that I might use. On1 seems to have a great blend of just enough features, cost is great too. I understand your sticking to Adobe Lightroom and photoshop for business reasons, but if as you said you didn't have them, you'd go with On1. Would you go to DXO? I'm trying to find a new editing program that is similar to Lightroom 5 in terms of functions, layout and ease of structure in terms of processing and editing my photos. Would you say that either DXO or On1 would be something that might suit me? I took landscape photos in the past, trip photos and I'm looking to getting into street photography now that I'm retired. Any comments or suggestions, I'd very much appreciate it.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Thanks for watching! I would go with ON1 over DXO. DXO is very similar to C1 in that it has a bit of a steep learning curve and a layout that isn’t quite as clean and straightforward to me, compared to ON1. If you search for ON1 on my channel, I usually post a yearly video reviewing the software especially with the newest features. Hope that helps!

[@NepaliNed]

@@AustinJamesJackson Thank you Austin for your recommendation of ON1 over DXO as that's very helpful. I like straight forward editing, processing and a good clean layout too. I'm now subscribed to your channel and will definitely do a search on your channel for all ON1 software content and also with regards to ON1 new features. Thanks again, Take care.

[@autokrohne]

I used to update Photoshop and Lightroom regularly before their subscription model appeared. I did a cost comparison when they did the switch. The subscription, with regular updates instead of yearly updates, made more economic sense. With the subscription, I also have access to PS beta, which gives me a chance to try out new features early and provide feedback. This was not available with yearly updates. But if you really hate that monthly charge, switch to ON1 or Affinity, knowing that not all of the features in PS and LR are available. Maybe you don’t need them.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Thanks for this!

[@kenw2904]

Excellent overview of the various softwares. I hope you continue to provide this kind of content, especially for ON1. Keep up the great work.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Thanks, will do!

[@erichnk]

What about the DNG digital negative format I've used for about 100k of images and edited copies of images over the last 20 years? How can one switch over and retain all the edits?

[@AustinJamesJackson]

I believe there is a way to do it, but I’m not totally sure how it works.

[@wwciii]

ON1 opens DNGs with no problems. As soon as I finish a shoot I convert everything to DNGs because they take less space and don't change like ORFs and I have never had a problem.

[@Bezowinz]

I like the option to buy outright, but only a 20% discount for new versions is not far off from Adobe's business model. Being new to photo editing, I like the sound of it being easier to learn though and will look into On1 further.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Good luck!

[@Reason-fg4ik]

First, thank you for your video. When Adobe went to a subscription model several years ago, I bought the last commercial box Lr 6, I think, and I've been using it for cataloging, cropping, and initial exposure control. I have ON1 Photo Raw 2021 as my latest version, and it serves me well for all of my other editing needs. I'm going to upgrade to ON1 2024 this week, which will likely be my last upgrade.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Awesome! That sounds like a great plan!

[@shaunkelly1015]

I have Lightroom 6 perpetual and am very happy with the software. It is getting a bit old and can't import my raw images from my R6 mk2 natively. I have also purchased ON1 and although it seems to be great software, I'm loathe to really spend time on getting used to it due to the one drawback it has that is limiting, to me anyway. The editing history disappears once you go out of edit mode. If you decide to return to an image, you are unable to see what you did before or go back a little bit. This may not be an issue for some, but it annoys me tremendously. I've gotten used to it in Lightroom and can't adjust to ON1 without this being available. I've even tried Open Source Darktable software which keeps history like Lightroom. I've just taken out the trial for Adobe Lightroom Photography package to see how it performs on my ancient PC.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Hope it works out for you! Definitely lots of great new features.

[@shaunkelly1015]

@@AustinJamesJackson Definitely lots of great features, but the lack of history across sessions just doesn't work for me. Sometimes i want to go back to a previous image to see what I did that I liked, but there is no way to see what you did previously to that image.

[@Malco47]

Thanks Austin, for the awesome comparison. I appreciate you taking the time, and I will use your link when I buy On1, which I plan to do.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Malco47]

@@AustinJamesJackson I signed up with your link! Thanks again, I am subscribing.

[@jimmyfarfalla8124]

Do you have Lens correction in On1?

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Yes!

[@jimmyfarfalla8124]

@@AustinJamesJackson thank you :)

[@tristramstout8988]

I love ON1 Photo Raw 2024. I believe it’s much easier than Lightroom.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

It is definitely easy to use!

[@charbar85]

My only gripe is that on 1 Raw mobile is behind lightroom when it comes down to mobile or tablet work. I'm only starting to get into tablet editing now, and I can def see how it needs improvements

[@AustinJamesJackson]

I’ve heard that before. I personally haven’t tried it but I’ll have to give it a shot.

[@LittleFearTV]

Hey Austin, what is your opinion on adobe sublicensing your work created with their products? Will you make a move to alternatives now that adobe has the option to reuse your contract work created with any adobe products?

[@AustinJamesJackson]

I think people are reading into it way too much and it isn't a big deal. I won't switch. It's important for me to use the industry standard as an educator so I'm stuck using Adobe, which is fine with me. I use many of the other apps in the CC.

[@BenSollis]

looks great, but their site is bewlildering. I just want a lightroom catalog alternative.. I 'think' On1 Photo RTaw is what I need to buy.. but it certainly is not clerar to me.. Any advice?

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Yeah, ON1 is great! If you follow the link in the description it should take you right there.

[@BenSollis]

@@AustinJamesJackson Thank you Sir !

[@vincentnavea6999]

does on1 have lens blur?

[@AustinJamesJackson]

What do you mean by lens blur?

[@minusinfinity6974]

Can I use DxO PureRAW or Topaz Gigapixel as a plugin to On1 Photo RAW? That is something I would require, it's non-negotiable.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

I’m not sure if either one has functionality to launch right as a plugin, but you could easily save and reopen a photo in the software.

[@Keyboardwarrior42]

Why not just export the image in a dng from topaz/photoraw and load it into on1? A dng is the same as a raw, just without some of the metadata

[@odd02]

Im torn between using On1 or luminair Neo. Not sure which is abit better than the other. Plus i haven't seen much videos on KZbin from creators that do tutorials

[@AustinJamesJackson]

I personally think ON1 is far superior to Luminar Neo. Much more complete editor. Luminar is great for AI features and more gimmicky edits, in my opinion.

[@odd02]

@@AustinJamesJackson okay I'll go with On1 then.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

👌

[@charbar85]

for batch photos stick to ON1 Raw Luminar is more of a glorified photoshop for people who prefer presets

[@TT-rl4su]

@@AustinJamesJackson What about Capture One Pro?

[@chaindrums]

I wonder if ON1 will work on new arm processors as in surface pro 11?

[@AustinJamesJackson]

I’m not sure, but I don’t know why it wouldn’t.

[@chaindrums]

@@AustinJamesJackson Some adobe products don´t work, I am sure they will patch them in time

[@JoshHumble]

I've had it with Adobe, and making the switch. Looking at a combo of Affinity (already love) and ON1.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Good luck!

[@amaitra]

Yup - I miss the warping tool! The keystone tool can do it a bit - but not much control over it.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Agreed!

[@cescvalcarcel361]

I use both, in case of a problem I'm able tu continue with the other, my first preference is Lightroom Clasic, but as alternatives there are On1 and Rawtherapee, that it's free, I use all of them cause I think that using just one there could be a big problem if it doesn't work for a time, and alternative meke sure I'll continue working on my images. Good camparision!!!

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Thanks so much!

[@TheFirstRealChewy]

I'm going to try Darktable for a bit.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Good luck!

[@MoodPsych]

Wow great video, appreciate it!!

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Glad you liked it!

[@treayed]

People are asking about sub-licensing a lot. Adobe is only granting what they are granted and the scope is limited to what they need to operate the service. No marketing, no promotion, no AI training. Hopefully, one of the youtube lawyers does a video explaining it in detail. Trust but verify (twice).

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Thanks for posting this!

[@autokrohne]

Affinity Photo is a better replacement for Photoshop. I’ve used both ON1 and Affinity.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

I’ll have to try it!

[@yingnanwang9304]

I hate they are an annual comtract instead of monthly

[@AustinJamesJackson]

You can pay monthly if you want too!

[@bambanx]

Take a look to photomator and camerabag pro ty for the video

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Will do!

[@pal54321]

Right now , an adobe subscription for the updates etc has no alternative and it has more featuires, so accept it, we're stuck with it for the time being.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

👍

[@gavriel_adi]

This software for some reason opens on my computer saying that it checked for firmware updates and does not allow me to close the window on it and remains stuck on it, just trash can software

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Sounds like you should contact support.

[@JayJay360x]

that you so much for making a video like this

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Hope it helps!

[@johngillingham2856]

I have ON1 Photo Raw Max 2024. It just keeps crashing I do a reset it lasts a day or two then starts crashing again. I have a computer that has the correct specs so not impressed.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

I’d definitely reach out to ON1!

[@johngillingham2856]

@@AustinJamesJackson I have but despite following their instructions it still crashes. I am awaiting a response to m,y latest comments to them

[@bambanx]

Thanks you very much

[@AustinJamesJackson]

You are welcome!

[@GodsGraceProduction]

I pay only 9.99 Euros per month. I have access to LR or Camera Raw & PS across all my system (Desktop, Tablet and Phones). Onone is okay for beginners.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Awesome! What do you think ON1 doesn’t have that makes it not as good for experienced photographers?

[@allancruickshanks6597]

LR and Photoshop are available for $9.99 per month. You don't have to pay $19.99

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Only for the first year.

[@allancruickshanks6597]

@@AustinJamesJackson I have been paying that for several years, so unless things have changed, I don't think you are correct. The $9.99 plan includes Lightroom and Photoshop, with only 20GB of online storage. More than enough for most people who don't want or need to store their photos in the cloud. The 1TB storage plan costs $19.99 per month.

[@iancvisuals707]

There isn’t very much useful information given here regarding the workflow and catalog management that Lightroom offers at its core. Most of what is discussed here is image editing and it would be useful to more clearly indicate in the title.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Sorry you felt that way!

[@iancvisuals707]

@@AustinJamesJackson A major part of LRs utility is organizing and managing photo catalogs and you only barely touched on that aspect of ON1. You did a good job of covering its editing capabilities but it would have been more comprehensive to cover the cataloging workflows which matter as much for former LR users.

[@Michael-fw5ef]

Only recently has Adobe offered a one-button background replacement command. I had been asking them to add that for a while and they finally did it. Imho, although Adobe has great features, the difficulty to learn the program, the high computing power needed, and the monthly membership fee makes Adobe unattractive. For less than the price of Adobe, I can buy multiple other apps. When combined, those other apps give me better results than Adobe, with less of a learning curve. Also, don't forget, Adobe now owns your work and is using it to train their AI software to put you out of business. It makes no sense to use Adobe when you realize they are trying to destroy you and forcing you to give them access to your work in order to accomplish that destruction.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Adobe doesn't own any of your work or train their AI software using your work. I will agree with your other comments, but it can be harder to find learning videos for the other software.

[@Michael-fw5ef]

@@AustinJamesJackson They do train their AI software using your work. They just updated their TOS and it actually says that they will do that and they ask you to agree to it.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

I'm not pro-Adobe or anything, but that information is purely false and was misinterpreted to generate a headline and news. Adobe clarified in a blog post earlier this week, which all of a sudden isn't being reported on anymore. You can see it here: blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2024/06/10/updating-adobes-terms-of-use

[@elmafudd9703]

Thanks for your time fella. I'm not touching Adobe as they are rotten and greedy to the board office. leaving the bandits after 20 years.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Good luck!

[@alessandrociampi1811]

on1 has 2 update for years and cost as much as Lightroom. plus photoshop if you want to be update

[@AustinJamesJackson]

👍

[@SebastianLeePhotography]

I really miss Apple Aperture

[@AustinJamesJackson]

I haven’t tried it!

[@jatsajatsa]

I'm enjoying your extreme, neo-facist hairstyle. It's pretty terrifying ...but I'm enjoying it ,nonetheless.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

Thanks!

[@DebbyHerold]

I used to love ON1 until it became subscription based.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

There is still the option to buy it outright?

[@panhradu]

Just tried and no thank you. I am not gonna click twice and search in list just to use such a basic tool as curves. I am not an Adobe fan boy by any means, but Lightroom is still superior. What irritates me is the fact that Lightroom is superior mostly in things as smoothness of process, interface, and speed. Things which seems to me as easy to implement, but competition want to be different for any cost and they end up with messy and slow software nowadays stuffed with "AI" half-working junk. What is sad about it is that 10 years ago Lightroom already had 99% of anything you need to edit photo as a pro and competition is still not able to do it. And if you need "AI" to make a good photo you should maybe reconsider your photography skills first. Only two apps comes close to Lightroom. Capture One Pro, but its way to overcomplicated. Another one is Darkroom+ which is not perfect, but its clean, logical and developers are on good way.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

I’ll have to check out your recommended options!

[@photographiezautrement]

I think there is a big urban legend here: software has never belonged, does not belong and will never belong to anyone other than its author and/or publisher. And no, when you purchase a one-time payment license, YOU ARE NOT PURCHASING THE SOFTWARE. The software therefore does not belong to you. The only thing you buy is a USE LICENSE, that is to say a contract between you and the software publisher. This contract states in particular that you have the right to use the software "as is", that is to say with its bugs in particular. And if one of the two members of this agreement withdraws, the license is no longer valid. If, for example, the software is resold by the publisher to another publisher, you lose your license. If the publisher goes bankrupt, you lose your license. If the publisher no longer updates the software and its bugs you have no recourse because your license stipulates that you agree to use the software "as is ». This is why Adobe is a safe bet, which explains the price in particular. Don't be so naive as to believe that software can "belong to you"

[@AustinJamesJackson]

True, but usually older versions of software stop being updated, so it would be odd for a new bug to be introduced on software that isn't getting updated.

[@photographiezautrement]

@@AustinJamesJackson The only thing I say is that the software never belongs to the person who actually buys a "user license" (and not "the software") Having worked for years as a software developer I can assure you that yes, a bug can very well appear years later on an old version. The bug is "dormant" simply because the usage or temporal situation has never arisen. Believing that software is bug-free is extremely naive and gullible. And then there is the most famous "bug" that occurs sooner or later: backward compatibility. You update your OS and now your version no longer works on your computer, and will never work on it again. The license you paid for was granted to you "as is". And if this state of the software is no longer compatible with your computer, its OS or both, your version becomes inoperative and obsolete. Licenses sold without updates (if you want an update, you have to pay for it, this is also accompanied by a license update) have a limit that you should be aware of. Believing that you will “not be held hostage by the publisher” or that you will “keep your freedom” is a simplistic short-term view. From the moment you use software, you become dependent. If you leave one software for another, you become dependent on the new one. To finish, I would like to point out that just like you, I am a professional photographer and trainer and that just like you, I am comfortable with the industrial standard: Lightroom. Adobe's subscription payment licensing policy certainly has disadvantages, but it also has many advantages, notably that of having software that is always up to date, and which continues to offer advances (which we may or may not need). - But that's another debate). The functions of software are obviously important. but the user license policy is just as important. This is why it is very important to understand that not only does the software not belong to us, but you will ALWAYS be dependent on the publisher of the software you use, even if you have purchased a license. without updating (or with updates limited in time)

[@nerdkink]

Lightroom is garbage. Crashes every 2 mins on a high powered PC.

[@AustinJamesJackson]

You must have it set up correctly. I’ve used it on some pretty old machines and never had an issue.

[@indianajb1953]

That's my experience too. After getting a 4K monitor, now I need at least an 8 gb GPU for Lightroom to run properly.