Does anyone here use Adobe Lightroom CC?

[csziggy]

I've just subscribed to it. The theory is that I can use it on my trip to the UK to put my photos on the Creative Cloud, edit them, and the post photos either here or on my blog.

Problem is, I tested it the other day - and night - and uploading 320 photos to the CC took hours and hours. And that is with my semi-fast broadband connection. Chance are, the internet available to me while on the trip will be slower - and not at all while on shipboard.

I've been looking at external drives and understand that it is possible to store photos "locally" then sync to the cloud when possible.

Any advice on how to handle this?


NOTE - we will be onboard ship for two weeks, in Scotland, England, and Wales for 2.5 months, then onboard ship for another 2 weeks for our return. I hope to post photos and updates to my blog - but if I am tying up bandwidth uploading photos, that will not be easy. That's why the fallback of an external drive seems advisable.

[Major Nikon]

1. You can still buy Lightroom as a standalone version

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1132136-REG/adobe_65237578_photoshop_lightroom_6_download.html

Adobe has stopped releasing the standalone, so when the existing copies sell out, there will be no more. The advantage is no monthly payments to Adobe. The disadvantage is Adobe won't continue to support camera raw, so if you buy a camera created after 2017, you won't be able to get a camera raw update that will work with it.

I have a device called a NAS (Network Attached Storage). The one I have has mirrored drives so a hard drive failure won't result in data loss. It's possible to access them remotely, so you effectively have your own "cloud".

[csziggy]

2. One of the options is Lightroom Classic for those who do not want to be on the cloud

I believe my license for Lightroom would allow me to download and install it (which I could do on my Windows 7 machine) - but since Lightroom CC can be set for local storage, I don't see any reason to duplicate an installation. Plus, I guess if there is no internet connection available it will have to let me store pictures locally.

My original plan was to use the 1 terrabyte of cloud storage to save my pictures while on the trip. I just didn't realize how slow the upload would be! There will be periods during the trip I can leave my laptop uploading overnight or during the day while we are out sightseeing. But there will also periods as on shipboard where uploads will not be possible. So I want to be able to download the pictures off my memory cards to free them up.

Today I checked and Office Depot had a 4 Tb external drive on sale for $100. I already have a 2 Tb version of the same drive as a backup of the photos on my hard drive - but it is nearly full. Same for the 1 Tb external for my husband's family photos. So my husband stopped by and bought one for me. I'm tempted to pick up a second one for insurance, plus that is a great price. I remember when we paid $500 for a 40 Mb drive!

When we return from our trip I will be building a new computer - my old one is having problems, partly because the CPU cooler was clogged with dust - but it is a six year old computer on a nine year old motherboard design. I may put in a NAS unit for it. Putting together one in the three weeks we have before we leave is not practical - plus I have no intention of leaving my old computer and attachments even plugged in while we're gone. After all, it will be hurricane season here and the record for North Florida over the last several years is not good.

[Major Nikon]

3. The reason depends on whether you want to keep paying Adobe every month

Even at $10 per month, that’s $120 per year. So in 16 months the standalone version will have paid for itself. If you plan on upgrading your camera with a new design in the near future it may not be worth it because Adobe will no longer support updates to camera raw for the standalone.

Personally I think Adobe is starting to suck hard by forcing everyone onto their subscriptions and cloud services.

[csziggy]

4. Yeah, I have resisted upgrading since Adobe went to subscriptions

I have PhotoShop CS6 on my Windows 7 machine. I would have just migrated that over to a new computer but for this trip. The cloud storage seems attractive - IF I can get the uploads done. NEF images are HUGE!

Thinking back, I have probably averaged at least $120 a year with the various upgrades to PS over the years, so having the cloud storage is sort of an extra. If I hate the subscription plan after I build my new computer, I may try out some of the other photo editing software out there. There was one recommended here in the last couple of weeks that looked good.

If I had been a Lightroom Classic user I would not have worried about no upgrades for RAW until I bought a Nikon D750 for this trip. Now I will need to be up to at least that capability - and I am not sure if my old PS CS6 can handle the RAW images from this camera - actually I think it does because I have downloaded and edited some of them.

Storage is always a problem - on the first trip with a Nikon digital camera I took 1500 photos in a week. Each night I'd stop by the Walmart in Titusville and burn the pictures to CDRs so I could empty my memory card and start over the next day. I don't want to have to carry a loaf of DVDRs on this trip - and optical media is so old school now, LOL!

My husband got home and he did buy two of the 4 Tb drives, so we will probably use those and see how reliable uploads are in various parts of backwoods Scotland, England, and Wales. We're not spending much time in cities and I don't want to spend all of the week we're in London uploading pics. Maybe I should make a big sign to put on my laptop for the maids - "DO NOT TOUCH!" so I can leave it working while we're checking out the city?

The other part is I need to be able to do basic editing to post pics online and Lightroom should let me do that, no problem.

[Act_of_Reparation]

5. Lightroom CC does not currently support selective syncing.

It's been on Adobe's "To Do" list since 2015, but it would seem making CC superior to Classic is not high on their list of priorities.

[ManiacJoe]

6. If you need some good tips, tricks, and advice...

Lightroom Web: https://forums.adobe.com/community/lightroom/lightroom/content
Lightroom Classic: https://forums.adobe.com/community/lightroom/lightroom-classic/content