Topic: Slightly OT? Adobe Creative Cloud...

[original_ann]

Most often after I've scanned my negatives, I rely on Photoshop at the very least to de-dust. 

The photographers' deal (PShop and Lightrm for $9.99US) ends tomorrow December 2nd.  I've procrastinated looking into it; too busy lamenting the 'rental' model.  But now I'm concerned what will happen if I don't jump in before end of day tomorrow.  Will I kick myself?  I'd like to hear people's thoughts if they considered or not considered jumping in. 

[Verian]

I have the full cloud thing and it works realky well. Although I got the student rate so it is a lot cheaper. I worked out the costs of initial purchases snd then upgrades and it works out a lot cheaper. $9.99 seems a steal.

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[nepumug]

To me, the rental model seems very much overpriced.
The mentioned student rental price does not attract me, because the software is borrowed only, and gone after I've studied.
CS 6 still can be purchased on disk right now. I will try to get the money and buy it with the students sales discount this month.
I think with CS 6 one might be safe for at least 5 - 10 years (right now I'm still using CS3).

[Verian]

I guess it works out differently for different people. I need Photoshop, Lightroom and InDesign, which have a total retail cost of £1512.98. Creative cloud is £15.88 a month, which is about 8 years before hitting the £1512.98 spend. I have a 14 year old who is likely to be a student for the whole of that time. Using the same calculations, £8.78 a month for Photoshop and Lightroom is 6.5 years before hitting initial spend, with always the latest versions of course, and you can stop at any time.

To me that seems good value for money and I like the flexibility, but not everybody will see it the same and not everybody is in the same situation. 

[nepumug]

I can see your point of course.

But I find CS6 student edition for around 525€ on amazon. Isn't that cheaper?
It misses lightroom, but LR is like only 60€ with the student sales discount.

[Late Developer]

For me, it depends on the functionality you need.

I bought Elements 11 (as a disc) and downloaded Lightroom 4 from Adobe website. It cost me around £200 and does everything I need - aside from Elements 11 doesn't process 16-bit files.

Nevertheless, unless you're doing more than the basics, going in feet-first for CS6 and LR5 on a monthly payment plan seems expensive.

[This-is-damion]

Ive been using CS3 for just over a year and the only reason  I upgraded to that was becuase i lost my prev verison of PS.

I only use it to adjust basic levels, spotting, add a border etc and I cant see why I would need anything more than that.

I cant imagine myself every paying for software like that. 

[Moiz]

I think it depends on what you want to do with your images.

I only use Lightroom 4 currently because I try and simulate what is achievable in a dark room. That means, like Damion, I'm only adjusting brightness & contrast (by whatever method), dodging and burning, spotting, vignetting, outputting to Flickr with a border, etc. I also find Lightroom so much easier as I am not dealing with a multitude of files, only the one file from the scanner.

The only reason I'd say you need to start getting into photoshop is if you are masking, combining images or anything more complicated than that.

Edit: Currently Lightroom 5 is on offer in the UK at 25% off, not sure if that offer applies in the US too.

[mcduff]

For software I like to control my software replacement schedule. I work in an academic environment where I did not upgrade the labs with every new version of CS and so this model is going to cost us more when we finally cave in (CS6 will be around for a while). At home I bought cs6 to avoid this model and will hope to use it for years. I am a long time photoshop user (2.5.1 FTW) and I find a lot of the new features (camera shake reduction filter? Ya right) merely bloatware.

[Francois]

Personally, I don't think the CC version is worth all the trouble and would gladly stick to CS6.

Right now, I'm running CS3 which is just perfect for my old computer. It's fast enough and doesn't give me a hassle.

And with Adobe's CC server recently being hacked forcing everyone to change their passcodes, I doubt that this is worth the trouble.
CS6 has got many years ahead of it. It's still available at various places and works flawlessly. If you don't need the rest of the Creative Suite, I'd settle on it.

Granted it's a bigger upfront investment than CC (well, that depends where you get yours) at least the software is yours forever.

[SLVR]

I use CS6 at work and have CS5 at home. I'll likely upgrade to CC when I end up buying a new machine. Which likely won't be for a while as mac pro's will be commanding high dollar figures.

[Alan]

I use CS2 - perfect for what I do.
I have used CS4 and 6 and for what I do they are not beneficial.

If you want something very basic for dust/spot removal etc.
you could always use > http://pixlr.com/editor/

there is a nice set of tools available for FREE

I use this on the laptop for bits and bobs.

The ADOBE Cloud thing is a good idea for Adobe as it
eliminates to an extent pirating.

[Francois]

Besides all that, the old 32 bit versions should still run just fine even on a 64 bit OS... Windows Vista-7-8-8.1 has a compatibility layer for such cases.

[original_ann]

OK, I will boldly stick with CS5 and hope for no regrets.  Thanks for the discussion everyone!

[mcduff]

I hope our retro-grouchiness (including from me) did not steer you wrong! If nothing else you will be able to shoot a couple extra rolls a month with the $10 saved 

[Ed Wenn]

Yep, I think you'll be fine, Ann. I'm still on CS4 and I think that if you just use PS for an emulation of sorts of trad darkroom processes then you'll be fine for as long as your computer is able to use it.

[Adam Doe]

FWIW I'll be sticking with CS5 for as long as I can.

[Rafael Morales]

Also using cs5. The recent security breach at Adobe would keep me from their cloud and further purchases.

[Francois]

Definitely. Even if I just have an Adobe Exchange account, I had to reset my password.