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New rant against Adobe

JohnBrew

Active member
Once again had to update PS before I was allowed to use it. What a pain. But wait, there's more...this time, before I can use the updated PS I MUST update my computer to Windows 10 Anniversary!!! This just gets sillier and sillier.
Also I bought Luminar, for a few features and as a backup photo processor. Luminar tells me I need to upgrade to Luminar 2018 so I do it. Windows 10 fails to recognize Luminar 2018. I go to the Luminar website where I'm supposedly a registered owner of the software and it wants me to BUY Luminar 2018. I feel like a rat in a maze and they keep moving the damn cheese.
 

stngoldberg

Well-known member
I just lost the use of NIK because I submitted to the Apple upgrade.
I also bought Luminar; has some similar features, but I have to spend hours learning how to use those features
Stanley
 

docmoore

Subscriber and Workshop Member
Luminar 2018 is much faster than the older version.

Not sure that the curves, profiles and implementation are close to NIK Silver Efex.

But since Google killed the goose ... not a lot of choices.

Bob
 

JohnBrew

Active member
I just lost the use of NIK because I submitted to the Apple upgrade.
I also bought Luminar; has some similar features, but I have to spend hours learning how to use those features
Stanley
Stanley, you should be able to re-load NIK, I was able to do this after that last horrible upgrade.
BTW, I have now downloaded three different versions of Windows 10 and Adobe still will not work. Every time I go to the Windows uploader it states I do not have the most recent version. I've just about had it. I think I might be able to make the transition to Capture One, but unfortunately it won't process my Hasselblad files.
 

stngoldberg

Well-known member
Stanley, you should be able to re-load NIK, I was able to do this after that last horrible upgrade.
BTW, I have now downloaded three different versions of Windows 10 and Adobe still will not work. Every time I go to the Windows uploader it states I do not have the most recent version. I've just about had it. I think I might be able to make the transition to Capture One, but unfortunately it won't process my Hasselblad files.
John,
Thanks for your response; I did reupload NIK. However DXO, the new owner of NIK, announced the new fix for the Sierra version of the software will not be available until mid 2018.
Bummer
Stanley
 

JohnBrew

Active member
After using the Windows updater three times in an effort to download the Windows 10 version Adobe said I needed and failing to achieve anything but my mind doing a slow burn I called Adobe. After an hour on the phone Adobe determined this was a problem of which seemed unique and they took copies of my screen showing the notice from them! They then put my CC back to version PS CC2017(yay, now I can finally work on my files) and said they would get back to me.
As to Luminar 2018, I had to uninstall and then re-download and now it does work as it is supposed to. Their customer support was very helpful in sorting out my issue.
 

Jan

Member
With every upgrade of Adobe CC I loose the Nik plug-in software. Reinstalling does the job until now. What irks more is that with upgrades it forces you to upgrade the OS as well which rendered my iMac to a pre-war computer.
 

JohnBrew

Active member
With every upgrade of Adobe CC I loose the Nik plug-in software. Reinstalling does the job until now. What irks more is that with upgrades it forces you to upgrade the OS as well which rendered my iMac to a pre-war computer.
Jan, I feel your pain. I'm taking a very hard look at Capture One for my Nikon files. There is a webinar from Hasselblad on Phocus on January 31. I'm hoping it will take me to the next level of trusting it with the files from my CFV-50c.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Still on Lightroom 6.12. No need to change it for anything else yet. Works perfectly with macOS 10.12.6 Sierra. No problems at all. Haven't touched Photoshop in two years... and my version is a lot older than that. No real need for it anymore...

I did buy Luminar 2018, however, and it looks good. Maybe I'll play with it sometime soon. Just for the fun of it! :)

Similarly, I have Affinity Photo on my iPad Pro that I haven't learned how to use yet. It seems on a similar level as Luminar from the glance through its help I've made. Sometime soon, again ... I've been using Snapseed on the iPad and getting excellent results out of it.

Life is too short to fuss over software. :D :angel:

G
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
- My CC price went up 50% at the last automatic renewal a few months ago. I have the complete package, since I use AI, ID and Premiere as well. I think it's around $60 per month now.
- My PS Actions disappeared when I upgraded from CC 2015 to 2017.
- When I upgraded to 2018, 2017 was automatically removed. I still have 2015 and CS6 though.

Etc.

To be on the safe side and not be left behind, I upgraded to High Sierra, which made my computer considerably slower. Ironically, the Mac Pro 4,1 (late 2009 I think) I bought a few months ago doesn't seem to slow down from the High Sierra upgrade at all, even though that machine isn't even supposed to run High Sierra (needs a third part patch to do that).

It's tempting to throw out CC altogether and use C1 for stills and Final Cut for video. I can always use CS6 when I need AI or ID. I'll probably by another Mac Pro 4,1 or even a 5,1 when I can afford it. There are third party replacements available for more or less every part except the box itself, and I can install as many TB of HDD inside it as I'll ever need. It can even play the CDs and DVDs that people still send me. Yup, it weighs a ton or two, but normally, I don't carry my home computer around the house or to exotic places.

When it comes to user satisfaction, Adobe and Apple reached their peaks some time around 2012-2014 (CS6, Mac Pro 5,1, MacBook Retina etc.). Stuff I buy at Toys 'R Us and Ikea is designed to last longer than what they sell nowadays, and I can furnish a house for the price of the new iMac Pro :loco:
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
Hmm. I just remembered I have a brand new 2016 MacBook Air 13", maxed out processor, RAM, and storage, that I bought as my last Apple Employee Personal Purchase just before I retired in 2016. Haven't done much with it other than boot it up to update it and charge it since. That'll be a perfect thing to test High Sierra on before I install the macOS update on my 2012 Mac mini.

I'll run benchmarks on Sierra and the same benchmarks on High Sierra after I do it. Fun fun fun! :D

(I do video editing on my iPad Pro using Reel Director II ... simple, effective, easy.)

G
 

Jan

Member
Hmm. I just remembered I have a brand new 2016 MacBook Air 13",
G

I have one slightly older which all of a sudden started to have a faint odd circle on my screen. Ya, just a month out of warranty. I have to admit my iMac is 2009 and still lasts today although as I mentioned below it starts to crawl due to all the forced updates. I was thinking to use it as a monitor but since it is early 09, it does not have the target monitor option. Anyone who has a work-around for that can just make my day.

Oh, and as Jorgen rightfully says here below; prices went up indeed. Before 29,99 and now 44. That's a steep increase. You feel like a heroin junkie. You get 'addicted' first so that if any withdraw is considered cold turkey is waiting for you.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
I simply won't pay for any subscription for LR or PS. At all. I don't use PS at all, LR 6.12 works fine for me, and I'm not buying any new cameras so I don't care if it doesn't cover the latest new cameras. Luminar 2018 and Affinity Photo will do me fine if LR stops working and I can't get a perpetual license on an updated version.

I've drawn my line in the sand. :D

---
"A faint odd circle on my screen" ... Hmm. I've been using MacBook Airs for years and I've never seen any failure like that.

---
A 2009 (nine year old) Mac is way too old to be putting new OS versions on, IMO. There are limits to the hardware...

My mid-2012 Mac mini is getting a little long in the tooth, but its 2.9Ghz i7 Quad Core is capable of handling full 64bit, I've stuffed it full of RAM (16G) and replaced the spinning media drive with a 1T SSD, which has kept its performance up to a reasonable level with the latest macOS releases. But I know the time is coming within another year or so when it will need to be changed out. (I expect my MacBook Air 13" will be reasonably current, if not as capable as the latest machines, for another four years.)

A 2009 iMac ... no, not really good anymore. You lose too much with hardware that old. Better to update to newer hardware before the migration process becomes too painful.

Computer hardware is another transient. Of course, if my Mac mini configured as it is presently just keeps working and doing what I want, I'll have no reason to change it for anything else unless it breaks. :D

G
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
...
And that's your choice. I respect that. But subscription software and cloud services are rapidly becoming the standards for software companies that are publicly traded and need a predictable and growing revenue stream. It's definitely been a boon to Adobe. Here's what has happened to their stock price since October 2011 when Creative Cloud was announced:...

Microsoft Office 365 is another example. More will follow. For me, Adobe LR and PS have been adequate for my work and have become more magical (content aware fill, content aware move, AI-powered subject selection, etc.) with each update. And my recent subscription renewal cost $89.99 for one year. For me, that's a bargain.

I understand that some users the subscription model for any software rubs the wrong way. Not me. I'm lovin' it. And I bought ADBE shares in 2011 when I realized what the CC model would do for their (and my) financial future.

Remember that lines in the sand get washed away with the tide.
(bolded) That's why we draw them in the sand... :)

The key thing is: I remain in control of my computer, and my wallet. Period. What I choose to spend my money on is my decision. I could hardly give a toss what Microsoft, Adobe, or even Apple corporate fortunes do; that's up to them to manage and be successful with. (I say this albeit I wish Apple and Adobe good success since I own stock in both...) With respect to what their products are, I'll pick and choose what suits me. There are many months I don't get enough value out of Lightroom to be worth the $20. And I'm not really going to waste any of my precious energy and time worrying about it. There are alternative options for my photography such that I really do have choices that are fine to work with.

Right now, the value proposition of a subscription to LR & PS is so poor for me, personally, it's hardly worth even thinking about. What I have works fine and requires no monthly tithe. I've never bought into NIK and other add-ons because I never wanted to be dependent upon their magical stuff ... Any magic going into my photographs is my own, done with the basic tools that Lightroom supplies. If I can't get what I want that way, well, I don't do it.

I reserve the right to change my mind any time that it seems to my advantage. :D

G
 

pegelli

Well-known member
I'm sick of hearing that. Instead, preach to Phase One about making Capture One capable of processing RAW files from competitors' medium format cameras (like my X1D). Just sayin'.
Agree, and a bug free usable DAM and a history function would be needed as well to be a full LR competitor. Just being a good raw processor alone isn't cutting it for me.

I understand that some users the subscription model for any software rubs the wrong way. Not me. I'm lovin' it.
It's not so much the subscription model that rubs me the wrong way, it's the fact that when you stop you can't access (and change) the majority of the develop settings of the files in your catalogue since the develop module will be disabled. I think a much fairer limitation at the end of the subscription would be to disallow new imports but keep the develop module available for images imported during the time of the subscription licence. If Adobe would do that I will seriously consider signing up to the subscription model, if it remains at the current state I will be happy with my LR 6.14 perpetual licence.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
...
It's not so much the subscription model that rubs me the wrong way, it's the fact that when you stop you can't access (and change) the majority of the develop settings of the files in your catalogue since the develop module will be disabled. I think a much fairer limitation at the end of the subscription would be to disallow new imports but keep the develop module available for images imported during the time of the subscription licence. If Adobe would do that I will seriously consider signing up to the subscription model, if it remains at the current state I will be happy with my LR 6.14 perpetual licence.
I future-proof myself against this particular issue by policy and workflow: When I finish a rendering, it's done. I export a full resolution, 16-bit-per-component TIFF file of all finished renderings and archive them into a separate directory tree of "completed work". That way, if LR decides to go belly up for whatever reason, I have my precious time and work in rendering all encapsulated into the bits of finished files, which I do with whatever I please with any other editor I have in mind. I also save back into all my raw files (either into sidecar or into DNGs) all my IPTC annotations

And of course, I still have all the original files (raw, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, whatever) should I want to start from scratch in another editor. I've only rarely gone back to a photo that I've finished rendering and then changed it, or reprocessed it, so this is not really much of an issue. Exposures of whatever age that I haven't already put the rendering time and effort into ... well, whatever I'm using at the time I want to work on them is all that matters.

G
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
I future-proof myself against this particular issue by policy and workflow: When I finish a rendering, it's done. I export a full resolution, 16-bit-per-component TIFF file of all finished renderings and archive them into a separate directory tree of "completed work". That way, if LR decides to go belly up for whatever reason, I have my precious time and work in rendering all encapsulated into the bits of finished files, which I do with whatever I please with any other editor I have in mind. I also save back into all my raw files (either into sidecar or into DNGs) all my IPTC annotations

And of course, I still have all the original files (raw, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, whatever) should I want to start from scratch in another editor. I've only rarely gone back to a photo that I've finished rendering and then changed it, or reprocessed it, so this is not really much of an issue. Exposures of whatever age that I haven't already put the rendering time and effort into ... well, whatever I'm using at the time I want to work on them is all that matters.

G
This is very important and similar to my own routines. Keeping all processed and unprocessed versions of all images that has any value, commercial or emmotional, is a must, as is having an archiving system that doesn't rely on any particular software. A friend of mine edited and archived his images using Aperture. When he changed computers, not knowing that Aperture had been discontinued (No, he's not a computer litterate), his files soon became a mess nobody could untangle.

The archiving question, which is related to the software situation, is becoming an increasing problem too, and many aren't even thinking about it until they realise that years worth of images are on the disk that was dumped, sold, given away or simply crashed. Try asking somebody who do not have photography and/or computers as a profession or a hobby where they have stored their digital photos from the last 10 years and how many backup copies they have. Surprisingly often it's easier to find their childhood photos taken with an Instamatic way back in the sixties.
 

Jan

Member
---
"A faint odd circle on my screen" ... Hmm. I've been using MacBook Airs for years and I've never seen any failure like that.
And yet so many suffer with that issue. In fact certain models had received extended warranty from Apple.

A 2009 (nine year old) Mac is way too old to be putting new OS versions on, IMO. There are limits to the hardware...

My mid-2012 Mac mini is getting a little long in the tooth, but its 2.9Ghz i7 Quad Core is capable of handling full 64bit, I've stuffed it full of RAM (16G) and replaced the spinning media drive with a 1T SSD, which has kept its performance up to a reasonable level with the latest macOS releases. But I know the time is coming within another year or so when it will need to be changed out. (I expect my MacBook Air 13" will be reasonably current, if not as capable as the latest machines, for another four years.)

A 2009 iMac ... no, not really good anymore. You lose too much with hardware that old. Better to update to newer hardware before the migration process becomes too painful.

Computer hardware is another transient. Of course, if my Mac mini configured as it is presently just keeps working and doing what I want, I'll have no reason to change it for anything else unless it breaks. :D

G
Still runs according to Apple itself. In fact I prepped both for trade-in today upgrading to Sierra and cleaning out the entire hard drive, a great improvement to begin with. But it is time to upgrade indeed.
 

Satrycon

Well-known member
which apple upgrade ? i have 10.13.3 and silver fx runs fine via lightroom and standalone



I just lost the use of NIK because I submitted to the Apple upgrade.
I also bought Luminar; has some similar features, but I have to spend hours learning how to use those features
Stanley
 
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