Lightroom 2 vs. CS4 & Lightroom Conspiracy Theories
Sep. 26
10:37 am
I’ve been seeing a lot of comments on the blog this week that I wanted to address, but when I was talking about it to my buddy Matt Kloskowski (who’s getting similar comments on his blog), he suggested that we do a short video, rather than writing the 5,000 words it would take to address both the “Lightroom 2 vs. CS4″ and my and Matt’s carefully orchestrated coverup of the problems some people have been having with Lightroom 2, so to round out this week, here’s a video clip, created exclusively for you guys, on both of these topics. View the video
Scott and Matt,
Well, those that have worked in marketing for successful software companies were summed up by Matt when he stated that Adobe wants to be working on LR 3, not fixing LR 2. Frankly, the foot went in the mouth at that point for Matt because he just sunk Adobe’s goal when they wanted to release LR 2. A gentleman above made the salient point that the timing of Adobe releasing LR 2 to ensure it wouldn’t be undermined by a release of CS4 with the same controls within bridge is classic marketing and a BRAVO for Adobe.
Matt, you should have known better and now you are on tape that it is, not necessarily a conspiracy, but it is a collaboration within Adobe and their paragon of a sale department to work with the key groups available out there, such as NAPP, to test run and test the waters with blogs, etc…. to see what possibly will sell and when.
Adobe would not be successful if it could not release software in a timely fashion at the optimum to maximize sales (and Adobe isn’t in the charity business, but to make money – I wouldn’t expect anything less since I respect business, not denegrate it).
For those cheering Scott and Matt, please realize that you may need to see past all the smiles and giggles and the generalizations so as to parse, so every carefully, the statements made and the actual events occurring.
Either way, I will stay a NAPP member, primarily for the discounts since if I want great PS or LR training, I either do it myself, or seek the more advanced users such as Deke or Margulis on Kelbytraining, or lynda.com or (and does anyone buy books anymore) buy a book and read.
Pat in Houston
P.S. Yes, I am still having adjustment brush problems which was addressed in LR 2.1 as a continuing issue and I can bet you a dime to a donut hole that a fix will be coming before CS 4 is released in Oct since Adobe’s goal for releasing LR 2 early was to see what the public’s kinks were with the major changes (i.e. adjustment brush) so that CS4 will be an ideal release and all the tools work. BRAVO again to Adobe for the ingenious marketing and timing to use the customer base to fix what they should have fixed way before they required payment for their LR 2 product.
An interesting video. One minute it is “a few” people having problems, the next it’s “everyone” is complaining. The reality is that there is no absolute way to tell how many people are having issues with Lightroom. You’d have to take into account how many people know about the forums, how many would bother to post, how many have already seen their problems posted about and feel no need to add the same topic.
I don’t believe in any conspiracy theories, but some of the ’support” on the Adobe forum has been a bit condescending (to say the least). I don’t know where it comes from every time (official Adobe people or just supporters), but it is somewhat of an insult. Hardly confidence-inspiring.
As far as software, every developer has to write programs for a number of platforms and configurations. The system requirements are specified – if a state-of-the-art rig is needed, then say so. Blaming video cards or “cheap” memory seems like a cop-out to me. Marketing the software to the largest number of people possible then changing the rules after the fact is the worst sort of passive-aggressive strategy, imo. And let’s be perfectly clear here – this is not inexpensive software. No one wants to feel like they are a beta tester who has paid hundreds of dollars for the privilege.
I think the best way to approach the issue, as with most things, is complete honesty and as much clarity as possible. One minute stating that you have “no issues” and the next having a colleague say that “there is some brush lag” really confuses the viewer. Saying that Adobe has addressed the “issues” when even Adobe stated in the release notes that the brush adjustment issue HASN’T been addressed muddles the whole discussion.
Just my two cents.
Scott and Matt,
Informative as ever and thanks for the rational explanation, but Scott, those shorts – seriously
I am having trouble finding someone who can educate me or direct me to resources on the viability of using LR2 and Elements7.0 only, VERSUS THE NEED TO HAVE ANY CS3 IR CS4 UPGRAdes
Just caught up with this video (and LR2.1 which seems to be a lot faster than 2.0 on my homebrewed PC).
The only point I’d raise about Matt’s comment that Adobe would far rather be working on LR3 than LR2 point releases? Well, it’s unfortunate that we’ve seen a sudden wave of just the sort of cameras that will be bought by Lightroom’s target audience (serious amateurs and up) – D90, D700, 50D, 5D Mark II, Sony A900. So they’d need to be patching at the very least to support these – is it just me or is this a glut of new “serious” cameras all at once? Normally they seem a bit more spread out…
Gentlemen,
it’s patently clear there is one big problem here and it’s called communication. As a former technical marketer I know how product problems are jealously guarded by those responsible. If people don’t want to talk to Scott Kelby on the phone what chance does the man in the street have? Saying that you “know about it” to one insider is not enough. I’m sure that all the complainants would have been satisfied with an early public acknowledgment and updates on the issues.
Lightroom is a great product and where would we be without Photoshop?
Adobe, don’t forget to service the people that buy them.
Why are people mad about LR2 vs CS4 but were not mad about LR1 vs CS3? Simple, LR1 came out after CS3 so they saw LR as the new toy; but because LR2 came out shortly before CS4 was announced they see CS4 as the new toy they have to have. If CS4 had been announced before LR2 people would have been all about LR2.
have you gotten many msgs about LR 2.1 not being able to install it? Sure wish adobe would fix this problem…or do you have a work around..
Yeah I feel a little burned about the whole LR2-ACR5 thing. But you know what, in a way Adobe screwed themselves on this one as far as I am concerned. Here’s how, I love CS3, it was doing everything that I needed, except for the hole that LR2 just filled. Sorry guys, but I just don’t feel the huge need to upgrade to CS4 now, LR2 and CS3 are fine until CS5 comes out. Thanks Adobe! The $99.00 UPGrade for LR2 is saving me the money so I don’t need to run out and get CS4.
LR2’s print module alone justifies the modest expense relative to the time spent printing multiple files from PS. Stop all the moaning and be thrilled with the great workflow!
I have to say that I can understand performance issues on crazy platforms like an old XP with gunk running in the background and a heavy registry that for some inexplicable reason manages to slow the whole machine down, but some things Adobe still needs to take care of – the horrible memory consumption of LR has not been fixed in LR2 (have’t tried 2.1 yet). Also I heard that once people hit the 70K-100K DB items, the system screeches to a halt and you have to start thinking about splitting the database or other horrible ideas.
100K files? that’s NOTHING even for a semi-pro! I know hobiists that shoot 80K RAW files a year! I manage larger databases on my webserver! why should this be soooo hard?
Olwen,
Please explain your workflow using lightroom with regard to softproofing. As Lightroom has no softproofing I’m still forced to print files through CS3 if I want to have anything other that hit and miss in color reproduction. If color is not a big deal to you then I can see how “thrilled” you might be with the LR2 print module because it does have positives over CS3 when it comes to printing multiple images but in my case all I get are multiple images that are not up to standard in color which leaves me less than thrilled.
If you have any ideas on how to streamline this process I’d love to learn from you.
Thanks and have a great day.
Then I must be in the minority of users that had horrible problems with LR 2. I consider the new 64-bit version a downgrade in performance on my 64-bit OS. Granted, 2.1 is much better than 2.0, but only about the same as the 32-bit 1.4.1. in terms of performance on my system.
I sincerely hope the 64-bit version of CS4 doesn’t have these issues. For me CS3 was very stable. Bridge was the exception….but nothing trumps the LR2 disaster.
I also think Adobe are bordering on negligent with their response, or lack thereof. Have Adobe surveyed registered users of LR2 to ask if they are satisfied/have concerns etc?
I liked your video. Understood what you were getting at. I have not had any problems with Light Room 1 or 2. I like the program and use it for much of the work I do with my photos. I have had some problems with scanned film, but LightRoom ususally works well to get the color cast out of the picture.
I cannot afford Photoshop, its price is beyond my purchasing power.
Thanks for the tips you guys put on your blog and the books one the programs.
The real scandal here is Scott Kelby’s bare knees.Unless you’re doing the show from a beach in Maui, Scott, please do not wear shorts in a video ever again.
Thanks
THAT is the real problem.
)