Why do we all end up using Lightroom?

Dan Marchant wrote in post #17090234
Actually for me it was not Adobe marketing but word of mouth from existing users. As mentioned above there are a huge number of satisfied customers, in this and other forums. They not only recommended LR but offered helpful advise. It was easy to download the trial, watch a few tutorials and ask questions from all the helpful forum members who already had LR.

That's marketing.

Kirk

HappySnapper90 wrote in post #17090279
I've been using LR 4 since v4.1 and it's always performed well. Maybe your computer / OS had conflict issues.

Son why is it ONLY Adobe software that has issues?
Funny I can run anything else without issues, from other paid for software to OpenSource codes without issues.
-> My computer is most definitely fine.

nathancarter wrote in post #17089136
That's really not that much, considering the retail price of a legitimate, non-pirated, non-student license of CS5.

I don't think so. My previous version was 8 years older OS9 4.01. My current - I certainly wouldn't have paid UK retail price for. Ridiculous. I bought in the US on special offer greatly reduced "official" CS5 from Adobe. The point is I decide when I want to change. I'm not forced to (effectively) by an ongoing rental. I presently consider it's worth keeping LR up to date but that's not a future commitment.

I bought and chose LR3 reluctantly in its day because of its ability to do 99% of what I need internally. I had actually been using SilkyPix Pro (ver. 4 I think) and to a lesser extant RawTerapee at the time. I didn't need LR's library (I have a separate DAM software for that), but the spot healing and lens corrections were items I used to have to leave the other software to do in Photoshop. At that time no other RAW software offered that.

Price was also a factor. I had access to a student pricing of LR and then the pricing went down with the newer versions.

Finally, I got used to the workflow. Over time I've re-evaluated other RAW developers (I'm doing C1 right now even), but the workflow changes versus benefit haven't made the change appeal to me, yet. SilkyPix could win me over again if it was cheaper. C1 Pro may win me over, but it's workflow lacks the intuitiveness. I also find it is a bit lagging on my PC. I always keep RawTherapee because it is free, but it does lack features that have always kept it as a back up.

Anyway, I don't really go for brand. I want decent output and I want a relatively simple workflow. I do value my time, so at the moment the better output I see in my playing with C1 has to be significantly better for my time to justify the cost and time investment in learning to use it quickly and efficiently. Contrary to those that get hung up on favorites, I've found that I can get good results with almost any RAW software I try given the knowhow to use it. Most differences end up being marginal and time driven.

emalvick wrote in post #17094165
I bought and chose LR3 reluctantly in its day because of its ability to do 99% of what I need internally. I had actually been using SilkyPix Pro (ver. 4 I think) and to a lesser extant RawTerapee at the time. I didn't need LR's library (I have a separate DAM software for that), but the spot healing and lens corrections were items I used to have to leave the other software to do in Photoshop. At that time no other RAW software offered that.

Price was also a factor. I had access to a student pricing of LR and then the pricing went down with the newer versions.

Finally, I got used to the workflow. Over time I've re-evaluated other RAW developers (I'm doing C1 right now even), but the workflow changes versus benefit haven't made the change appeal to me, yet. SilkyPix could win me over again if it was cheaper. C1 Pro may win me over, but it's workflow lacks the intuitiveness. I also find it is a bit lagging on my PC. I always keep RawTherapee because it is free, but it does lack features that have always kept it as a back up.

Anyway, I don't really go for brand. I want decent output and I want a relatively simple workflow. I do value my time, so at the moment the better output I see in my playing with C1 has to be significantly better for my time to justify the cost and time investment in learning to use it quickly and efficiently. Contrary to those that get hung up on favorites, I've found that I can get good results with almost any RAW software I try given the knowhow to use it. Most differences end up being marginal and time driven.

I suspect Capture One really shines with a good GPU and OpenCL - my GTX 750 Ti technically has more quite a bit more computational power than my i7-3770 - and that is just a midrange GPU.
I've put some screenshots together between Lightroom and Capture One - still need to expand it though before I can call it a comparison - one area where Capture One is miles ahead is noise or rather lack of noise compared to Lightroom - it also doesn't introduce the reddish hue.
(This is very, very visible.)

DetlevCM wrote in post #17094201
I suspect Capture One really shines with a good GPU and OpenCL - my GTX 750 Ti technically has more quite a bit more computational power than my i7-3770 - and that is just a midrange GPU.
I've put some screenshots together between Lightroom and Capture One - still need to expand it though before I can call it a comparison - one area where Capture One is miles ahead is noise or rather lack of noise compared to Lightroom - it also doesn't introduce the reddish hue.
(This is very, very visible.)

Hey, I'd say "Show us", and I'm serious, except you'd have to both provide an uploaded Raw file and also an example of your "miles ahead" C1 processing!! We have to have both!!

Hi. I'm Moose, and I'm a Lightroom sheep.

I use Lightroom because it was free! Can't find a better reason!

DetlevCM wrote in post #17094201
I suspect Capture One really shines with a good GPU and OpenCL - my GTX 750 Ti technically has more quite a bit more computational power than my i7-3770 - and that is just a midrange GPU.
I've put some screenshots together between Lightroom and Capture One - still need to expand it though before I can call it a comparison - one area where Capture One is miles ahead is noise or rather lack of noise compared to Lightroom - it also doesn't introduce the reddish hue.
(This is very, very visible.)

I'm trying out C1 now from this thread. Thanks for bringing up some of the advantages in this thread. So far I like it.

CRCchemist wrote in post #17094394
I'm trying out C1 now from this thread. Thanks for bringing up some of the advantages in this thread. So far I like it.

I've also been trying out the demo for the last couple of days. So far I'm really unimpressed with the UI. It's like a program written in the 90's.

I'll give it a shot though, but since I'm not unhappy with the results I'm getting from LR, including NR I doubt I'll be switching. It's not terribly expensive though, so who knows.

DetlevCM wrote in post #17090519
Son why is it ONLY Adobe software that has issues?
Funny I can run anything else without issues, from other paid for software .

Don't call me son, dude. Other software has issues, often upon launch because of bring used on hardware & software configurations it want tested on. LR does a lot and is memory intensive.

Bob_A wrote in post #17094873
I've also been trying out the demo for the last couple of days. So far I'm really unimpressed with the UI. It's like a program written in the 90's.

I'll give it a shot though, but since I'm not unhappy with the results I'm getting from LR, including NR I doubt I'll be switching. It's not terribly expensive though, so who knows.

Yeah. I see what you're talking about now.

A thread like this is what turned me on to Photo Mechanic. That program was one of the best new additions to my software arsenal in the last 3 years. While I'm here saying something about it, I just go ahead and recommend everyone tries it too.

Photo Mechanic was my workaround for the really annoying image preview render load times for images that I was dealing with when I had to cull 1000 pictures down to 500. It's so integral to my workflow now, I didn't even think about playing with C1 to see if it has better image preview load times than Lightroom.

DetlevCM wrote in post #17090519
Son why is it ONLY Adobe software that has issues?
Funny I can run anything else without issues, from other paid for software to OpenSource codes without issues.
-> My computer is most definitely fine.

But you see, most of us don't have issues. You keep harping on that, but it just isn't true. We have yet to have you show us the proof of your belief - side by side photos edited to the best possible level in both applications. Even if you post something, we won't know that you gave your best effort to LR because your attitude toward it is so bad.

You can talk until you are hoarse and it means absolutely nothing when I know that I get great results with no issues whatsoever using LR. I have both a laptop and a desktop running LR5.6 and both perform without a hitch. My brother uses LR on a different brand laptop and he doesn't buy what you are talking about either.

Preeb wrote in post #17094986
But you see, most of us don't have issues. You keep harping on that, but it just isn't true. We have yet to have you show us the proof of your belief - side by side photos edited to the best possible level in both applications. Even if you post something, we won't know that you gave your best effort to LR because your attitude toward it is so bad.

You can talk until you are hoarse and it means absolutely nothing when I know that I get great results with no issues whatsoever using LR. I have both a laptop and a desktop running LR5.6 and both perform without a hitch. My brother uses LR on a different brand laptop and he doesn't buy what you are talking about either.

I don't think that was the point of this thread. The point was like what I said a minute ago about a similar thread like this showing me the benefits of Photo Mechanic. I think it's educational to have some threads like this so we know about the other software that's out.

You might be a "not broke so I don't fix it" kind of guy, but I'm a "what else is out there that is better" kind of guy, so that's why I don't need software to be causing headache for me to be inspired to give it a try.

That's why I like people who start threads like this, because it shows me what else other people are using that is giving them better results.

CRCchemist wrote in post #17094990
You might be a "not broke so I don't fix it" kind of guy, but I'm a "what else is out there that is better" kind of guy,

More and better pictures.