INFORMAL POLL: Who out there is using Adobe Creative Cloud? What do you think in retrospect?

I am still using CS5 myself.
I was just wondering how those who have made the switch to CC feel about that decision.
--Lannie

 

I was wondering the same thing. I'm much happier buying the program just once instead of every month.

 

I use CC and am happy with it. Believe it or not, I was still on CS2 when I made the switch, so it made a big difference to me. Not sure there's as much difference from CS5. I pay about $10.00 a month (a year at a time), and it keeps me constantly upgraded. That includes Photoshop and Lightroom. The whole suite would be more expensive. I still use my old InDesign and Illustrator CS2 on an older computer I have that still supports those old programs, which I use rarely.

 

I use it. I wince sometimes at the monthly tab, but then I realize that I'm using half a dozen of Adobe's top-flight software that would cost a great deal under traditional purchases and upgrades. No regrets at all.

 

I subscribe to the Creative Cloud after years of buying and upgrading individual products, then collections. The Creative Cloud gives me access to the entire collection, not just the half dozen I purchased, with timely updates, at less cost than I incurred in previous years for periodic updates. While I have a certain sense of loss (of control) in the process, it makes good business sense to manage my cash flow, as it does, I'm sure, for Adobe as well.

 

For 10 dollars a month, I get the latest, most current updates of photoshop (I don't use lightroom, but its available at no extra cost). I spend way more than that just feeding the birds in the back yard! The new versions of ACR are amazing. I am going back and re-processing shots I did ten years ago and getting much more shadow and highlight detail than I could even five years ago. No comparison to having to purchase expensive upgrades and then install them every year or so.

 

Not going to succumb to the "pay for life" subscription model until adobe makes the change that after a reasonable subscription time, one can use the program without an active subscription (without further updates, of course). The $10 per month is not the issue - the fact that one has to pay in perpetuity is.

 

I use Photoshop CS 6 and it is more than I really need for what I do. That could change of course. Life is full of surprises. Lannie even at my years.

 

I use CS 5 and do not intend to upgrade further. It fulfills my present needs keeping a prudent distance to mobile applications and Adobe cloud services.

 

For $10 per month. to me the photography cc is a bargain for me. I do most things in Lightroom, but being able to bring it into Photoshop for final touches is great.

 

I used PS6 and LR5, which do what I need done at this point in time.

 

The problem I kept running into with the pre-subscription model was that my version of ACR would become outdated for each new camera, thus necessitating a PS upgrade at fairly substantial cost. When I was using CS4 I waited too long and to upgrade to CS6 I would have had to pay full price, like $600 or something like that. Ten dollars a month to stay current with modern cameras is cheap. That's tip money going out to dinner, a few cups of coffee at work, etc.

 

Well said Mr. Schaefer,
“Not going to succumb to the "pay for life" subscription model… The $10 per month is not the issue - the fact that one has to pay in perpetuity is.”
I will not do it on principle. A whole generation had grown up with captured forever contracts, starting with cell phones. They have been tricked into economic slavery. Many accept this as normal.
I’ll do without rather than be just another sucker.
A. T. Burke

 

The problem is that cameras are always being upgraded as well as their software demands. As I said above, then you have to upgrade your image handling software if you shoot RAW format, which ends up being much more costly than the simple subscription cost. BTW, MS Office is now subscription based too!

 

For me, the problem has more to do with the vulnerability of anything based on the cloud. It's the main reason I chose to upgrade to CS6 from CS5, a process that is a little more confusing now that you can no longer download the software from the Adobe site.
The problem of older Photoshop software not supporting newer cameras is easily solved. I ran into this with my then-new Canon EOS Mk. II and CS3, several years ago. The solution is to download the Adobe DNG software, which converts incompatible RAW files to DNG format. ACR can then process those files just like compatible RAW files. (But, I'd keep a copy of the original RAW files stored somewhere, just in case.)

 

William, I always worked with the DNG format until I could get the updated ACR. Too many steps for me in my work flow. To each his own!

 

CC has allowed me access to software for which could never justify to pay the expensive single version license, for each software that I might occasionally need. The software I normally use is Photoshop and Lightroom, but I occasionally need Acrobat, Illustrator, and Premiere, and I appreciate the option of testing Adobe's web prototyping software etc. The subscription makes it less expensive to access occasionally needed software, and means the software is kept up to date without additional costs apart from the subscription. The model works for me. I would wish however that Adobe would do more testing before release and start making raw converters that allow access to all the EXIF data and utilize it effectively.
William, the software and image files are not actually in the cloud, the software is installed on your computer as before, and the data is on your computer. I am not sure what the vulnerability is. The "Cloud" part does exist but I am not aware of anyone who is using it.

 

I stopped using "full" photoshop at a point, as I found the cost for my modest needs a bit too much, and I wasn't using ACR at the time anyway. So as my scanner came with Photoshop Elements 9, I stuck with that and it still works perfectly fine for the little bits I do with it, most of the time.
It's actually the €12,50 monthly option that had me considering to move to Photoshop CC and get the real deal; for some (minor) things I do miss that Elements cannot work in 16-bits and has a rather clumsy curves implementation. But I found another editor for the cost of 2 months of Adobe subscription...(I'd love Affinity that Phil mentioned, but it's Mac-only). And I already use a Lightroom competitor that I vastly prefer, so for me it's not very cost effective.
Overall, I think the photography bundle is really quite good value; if you already use either Lightroom or Photoshop, it is a decent price to stay up to date. That said, if you mainly use Photoshop but not ACR, the incentive to upgrade will be a whole lot less indeed. If I owned CS5 or CS6, I'd wait for that killer feature, which so far I do not see.

 

I'm on the $10 a month subscription. It's cheaper for me than staying up to date with the old way. So no complaints here. I still own the old versions, so if I decide to I can always revert back, though I'm sure with some pain for LR like rebuilding the catalog from the sidecar files.
The fact that I end up buying a new camera every few years pretty much necessitates keeping the software updated one way or another. Being in the software industry myself also means I don't have an issue paying for the programs. So I don't really find much to object to.

 

I've subscribed since they began the subscription program with Adobe Muse. As others have said, you get access to the whole suite of applications, one of which is Dreamweaver I've used for 10 years. I also still have some pre-CC (CS5, 5.5 and 6) versions of applications which still work on OS-X 10.11, including GoLive 9 of all things.
My only issue with Adobe is two-fold. One, the CC manager app doesn't always work right and won't log into Adobe when you start up. The solution is delete the desktop and restart everytrhing. And two, you have to be careful installing new complete versions as the install package deletes all old CC version, but Time Machine is great to bring them back and they don't interfer with the latest versions to run similtaneously, one feature Adobe has always had with their apps.

 

I like it.
I don't use any of the "cloud" features, just the licensing.
So far, no problems even when I've been off the Internet for extended periods.

 

Still on CS6 Design Standard (PS/Illustrator/InDesign/Acrobat Pro). We used to install the current version of CS routinely on new PCs at work, but the only way we can now get this selection of packages is a full CC subscription (including lots of stuff we don't need). The annual pricing Adobe offers our institution is about the same as the old CS Design Standard perpetual licence pricing, so for us CC would be a terrible deal in comparison. This is not core sofware for us, so the subscription isn't really justifiable, at least not on all machines. If the Serif Affinity packages were available for PC (as they may be in the future) we'd probably just use those.

 

I still use CS5 with Nik and Topaz plug-ins, as well as Aperture and Lightroom 5, on an old Mac Pro 1,1, which runs on OS 10.7.5, the most up to date OS possible on the Mac Pro. So far, this is all that I have needed for editing. However, buying a new camera will necessitate buying a new computer to support new software to support the new camera. Sooner or later I will be forced to make the plunge, but not this year, or probably, next.
I looked into Affinity, which does run on OS 10.7.5, but, does not seem to support using plug-ins (please correct me if you know differently).

 

A thread from earlier this years suggests PS plugin support is still in development (i.e., some work, but not all):
http://affinity.serif.com/forum/index.php?/topic/9768-using-photoshop-plugins/
Things may or may not have improved since then.
Edit: Since when did photo.net start doing sleazy link skimming? Clicking my own link from here (above) takes me to the site via redirectingat.com (I have Web of trust installed, which warns me about the dubious intermediary).

 

I still have CS6. I don't use it as much as I used to. If it stopped working on new OSX versions or something I'd probably just stop using Adobe completely and rely on C1, Affinity and the PDF stuff built into OSX.

 

I still use CS5. I saw no reason to upgrade to CS6 when it came out, and I see no reason to perpetually pay Adobe rent for CC.
I do have the inconvenience of converting the raw files from my Canon SL1 to DNG before CS5 can process them, but it's not a big inconvenience. Even though Adobe are greedy monopolists, they still care enough about the customers they wrote off in the transition to a rental model to offer a no-cost DNG converter as an alternative. Of course, that's really more about helping Adobe realize their vision of DNG as the universal raw format than any concern for users who reject the rental model, but it's still a very usable alternative. DNG also offers the possibility (not yet realized) of "future-proofing" the converted raw files.

If I do decide to buy an Adobe upgrade, it will be Lightroom rather than renting CC. At least for now, Lightroom is still available as a perpetual license (i.e., buy once instead of every month). The main reason I haven't done that is Lightroom is primarily a digital asset management system that incidentally hosts the latest version of Adobe Camera Raw. I don't need a digital asset management system, and I'm not particularly interested in ascending the learning curve that goes with it.

 

I do not upload images to the 'cloud.' The actual PS and LR programs are installed on my workstation. I always have the latest updates. Costs $120 a year, including tax--much cheaper than buying upgrades every several years. Frankly, I would not like to go back to the old model.

 

As a working professional photographer I am extremely happy with Abobe's Creative Cloud Photography bundle.

 

I wasn't happy with the change to the rental model, but for me it works out being cheaper than the upgrades that I used to do.

 

Use it like it. Happy with the subscription model.

 

I'm with Steve and Fred and some others. $10 a month gives me Photoshop and Lightroom, and I can use my brain cells keeping track of other things. I never could afford Photoshop, and was spending $75 or so a year keeping LR updated, so $120 a year is fine by me.
The ability to process raw files using the latest technology and techniques is extremely important to me.

 

Phil. Thanks for letting me know that you are able to use Nik plugins with Affinity. I also use both Aperture and Photoshop and am able to use one set of Nik plugins for both programs. Hopefully, this implies that I can use the plugins in Affinity. Which leaves my Topaz plugins to investigate. When I look at Affinity forums, people seem to have mixed results being able to install and use plugins. Since Affinity is a work in progress, I will wait awhile before purchasing it.

 

For me, the problem has more to do with the vulnerability of anything based on the cloud. It's the main reason I chose to upgrade to CS6 from CS5, a process that is a little more confusing now that you can no longer download the software from the Adobe site.​

Neither the programs nor your images necessarily reside in the Adobe Cloud, although cloud storage is an option for portability. The programs are downloaded to and installed on up to two computers, the same as programs distributed by disc.

It is important to stay up to date on professional software. Updates are needed to handle new cameras and formats, without resorting to ACR, which is free, and converting to DNG. Secondly, there are backward compatibility issues if you work in collaboration with someone using a newer version. Finally, each edition of Photoshop (and other CC programs) adds features which you may find useful in your work.

Like most of us, I barely scratch the surface of Photoshop. I'm more likely to need and use features added to Premiere Pro and video editing, and ancillary programs such as After Effects and Speedgrade. Many of my InDesign projects involve collaboration, and Creative Cloud makes it much easier for professionals to stay compatible. The low monthly cost of Creative Cloud makes it easier for individuals to update, rather than plunk down $300 or so on a sesquiannual basis for a single program.

 

I was hesitant about using it myself since I thought it might slow things down, but I haven't heard many complaints.

 

It is important to stay up to date on professional software. Updates are needed to handle new cameras and formats, without resorting to ACR, which is free, and converting to DNG. Secondly, there are backward compatibility issues if you work in collaboration with someone using a newer version. Finally, each edition of Photoshop (and other CC programs) adds features which you may find useful in your work.​

That depends on your profession. People with a job that required them to update one of the multi-package CS collections to every new version may well be enthusiastic about the full CC subscription. Many photographers who just need PS/LR seem to like the 'Photography' subscription. But those of us who (e.g.) use a multi-package CS collection sporadically for pre-press and don't need any of the new features tend to be less enthusiastic about the rental model, especially since Adobe has effectively cut off the supply of CS6 licenses. I hope Serif will soon fill the perpetual licence niche that Adobe has now vacated, but it looks like it will be some time before they get around to porting Affinity to the PC - I think their unreleased DTP package for the Mac, Affinity Publisher, is their priority at the moment.

 

I use CS6 and have no plans for CC.



Happy camper

 

I have been pretty happy to stay with CS6 & LR5 but now the latest Mac OS is making it to where you have no choice but to go CC, otherwise it makes upgrading to future hardware a tricky proposition.

Then add new tools like Palette Gear's new tactile interface and the equation start to move in the direction of CC. I'm still sitting tight for the moment though...

 

I'm an amateur who has been using Photoshop since version 3.0 in 1994. I'm a sucker for the latest HDR and Photomerge tools and find the CC option an economical way to stay up to date.

 

Me, a pro using Photoshop since 2.0 in 1991, I don't use HDR but Photomerge is pretty handy.

 

One cup of coffee a week in a cafe = 10$ per month. For this you get a 10 minute fix.
So, if I make the coffee myself at home I can have Photoshop CC.
I use Lightroom - a lot. I have it 24/7 and as I understand it, I can also have it on two maybe three computers.
Just being able to erase selected parts of a gradient and the dehaze tool in Lightroom CC was enough for me to justify signing up for CC.

 

Adobe has to communicate with your computer once every 90 days or so, and if not, your CC is deactivated, or at least that's my understanding. So in addition to the CC subscription fee, you have to factor in the cost of your internet connection (true, you'd probably have that connection anyway).
Hypothetical: What if the Internet went down for an extended period of time? Would the CC components residing on your computer become deactivated if they didn't complete their scheduled check-in with Adobe?

 

I use it, love it. Great deal. I'm sure anyone can spin 'what ifs".

 

Still using CS5 and LR4 on Mac OS 10.6.8. Re-editing quite a few Raws that now look like crap when edited in CS3. Not getting paid for that time energy and labor lost.
What's not being mentioned in the true cost of CC is the time involved with downloading on low bandwidth internet connections. The newer hardware (Mac/PC) required to stay up to date for compatibility reasons for both OS and hardware. All that involves more spending to do basically the same thing I did in CS3.
What puzzles me in this thread are those that need a newer camera that doesn't seem to be improved enough to take decent images that still require the use of bloated editing software.
I'm not seeing a big gain here, except for the competition (Affinity/Serif) which is the first I've heard. When is the technology going to advance enough so we don't have to keep updating hardware and software in order to just make pictures?
Think about it! I mean REALLY!