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I am a long time Adobe Lightroom user (using Lightroom since v1.x). I absolutely loooooove Lightroom and am using it basically blindfolded with keyboard shortcuts and using it’s DAM aspect extensively, rating, keyboarding and archiving mostly still photographs from a large number of digital cameras and film scans. Since Adobe has pushed users into their cloud based product I have been looking into replacing Lightroom (I have bought every license up to v6.7 which I am currently still using on MacOS). Over the years I have looked into Aperture (which got discontinued sadly), Capture One, ON One (is that what it’s called ?) and several pure standalone RAW developer apps. I have had a quick look into Photo Mechanic for the super fast ingestion and rating workflow a few years ago and basically liked it but then the all-around Lightroom only use for DAM and basic editing and printing was just always in every way superior as a package. Currently I need to manage my archive from about 15 years of photography, need to regularly ingest digital still photographs, film scans (which I prepare via VueScan and prepare the files to be treated by the DAM essential as digital image files) and I want to always archive video files I produce with digital cameras. I want the Lightroom replacement first and foremost to be a robust, secure and rock solid DAM software. I do not mind to have to do my editing in a standalone software if I absolutely have to. I do not want to do any video editing in my Lightroom replacement but do this solely in Final Cut Pro. I do want to archive, rate and keyword my video files with the Lightroom replacement though. I understand that Adobe CC is THE PERFECT product for me, given how fluent I am in Lightroom + I get the latest builds of Photoshop to use for what its worth and get to have more powerful tools across devices (iPhone 11 Pro, iPad Pro, MacBook Pro and Mac Pro, all of which would be nicely integrated which currently is a bit messy). I do have an incredible hard time to accept the cloud aspect and PARTICULARLY the subscription based payment aspect and more aggressive DRM aspect with necessary internet connectivity (I live in a place with censored internet and very often have a hard time to get a secure internet connection at all and would hate to be stranded in a “license check internet connectivity issue” which currently on perpetual license software is no issue at all). I have recently tested extensively On One which promises with big words to be a great, modern Lightroom replacement but sadly it doesn’t even come close, being EXTREMELY slow ans sluggish to use (on a fully maxed out BTO MacBook Pro none the less which FLIES in Lightroom). I see ON One not as a valid Lightroom replacement for that matter (I want at least the same speed I get from Lightroom 6.7. Is there any valid option in 2019/20 as a Lightroom replacement for those needs? Is moving to the Adobe CC jailhouse the only way to go from here (I am stuck with old Lightroom in terms of OS upgrade path and some of my newer cameras and file formats are not properly supported by Lightroom 6.7). Please discuss 😉 I am curious what you guys are doing who were / are in the same situation.

Just over two years ago I bought an M262 which came with a bundled Adobe Lightroom licence. This weekend I thought I would check for any updates and found myself downloading Adobe Lightroom CC Classic thinking it was an upgrade. However, it is a trial valid for 7 days. I noticed when I loaded it up some messages briefly came up stating it was converting indexes and then my catalog of images appeared. My "free" version of Lightroom still loads my catalog ok as well. What I want to know is - is it worth switching to the subscription model Lightroom Classic CC or should I uninstall it and go back to using the freebie version which came with the camera? If I do delete the trial version will any problems appear with my image catalog or not? Also if I decided to buy a Loupdeck which I have been considering would I need the Lightroom Classic CC or would it work with the original Lightroom? Anyone been down the same road? Thanks John L

Hi, When I bought my Leica Q, one card had a code that could be used to obtain a standalone version of Lightroom (version 6, I believe). It took a L O N G time , but I finally upgraded my computer system and now would like to download Lightroom (Standalone version) if possible ... However, looking at Adobe's website http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom.html it's not clear how I can do this. How have others done this ... or am I too late, and Adobe now only offers monthly 'Creative Cloud' subscriptions and services? It seems like some hoops have to be jumped through in order to redeem a standalone version of Lightroom ...? Many thanks in advance for your help!

Finally.... https://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/2017/07/on-lightroom-performance.html

I've done speed tests on the last few MacBook Pro models from 2013, 2015 vs. the new MacBook Pro (Late 2016) models in 13 and 15 inch. For us who are looking for the fastest possible workflow of processing pictures in Lightroom, the new top-of-the-line 15" with 2TB and maximum RAM, processor and graphics card is beaten by the previous model. The latest of the old MacBook Pro 15" is 14% faster than the current MacBook. I've posted the tests here of the different computers, as well as a writeup on USB-C vs. Thunderbolt 3 hard drives, and more. A complete workflow of import, building previews and exporting files is 16:54 minutes on the previous model and 19:36 mins on the new. http://www.overgaard.dk/the-story-behind-that-picture-0169-Advice-for-Photographers-Which-Computer-for-Editing-Photographs.html

Before my Q came along I had an annual Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. With the Q came a LR sub so I uninstalled Creative Cloud and loaded Leica LR. It worked fine and I was a happy LR user. Now it appears, according to Adobe, that 3 months later my LR subscription has lapsed and I am being forced to subscribe to the annual Adobe Creative subscription. Isn't Leica LR subscription indefinite, not just for a trial period? Is there a way to check that LR is using my Leica TAN? I searched but Adobe say there is no phone support for my product. Worryingly LR has locked up my photo library. Each folder now has a question mark? and I cannot open them. Any know precisely how is the Leica LR supposed to work? Does Adobe not respect the Lecia LR sub if I was already a subscriber?? Is there a way to contact Adobe or the people at Leica who handle the LR subscription? Any other suggestions?