Should I upgrade LR?

I'm currently working with LR 5.7.1 but wonder if it's worth upgrading to LR 6 or even the cloud for a monthly payment. I'm not professional, just a hobbyist with an occassional "job".

I recently downloaded a trial of the cloud LR and for some reason it will crash on me when I click on a new picture to work on in the develop mode. I get a (not responding) notice while the curser just spins and spins. So I'm wondering if this is something I'd experience if I purchased it. Are there any bugs or issues that come with LR6 or the cloud I should be aware of? Thoughts on upgrading? Thank you!

If you bought a new fresh camera model that LR does not support I would upgrade to LR6. Otherwise I'd save $$$

Aah...what OS are you using/do you have sufficient computer power. I use LR only in conjunction with PS and
before purchasing a membership had a new computer built for potential needs.

I'm also running 5.7 and see no reason to upgrade.

Thank you all for the responses. I currently own a Nikon 7100 and am running Windows 10 on an older but pretty beefy computer...so none of these seems to warrant an upgrade. But I didn't know if some of the newer features were worth the cost. It's not sounding like it from what you all say.

Regarding the crashes, who knows at this distance what the problem might be, but make sure there is enough room on the hard drive AND in the recycle bin so LR can do its stuff.

If you are satisfied with what you are able to cough out, why change?

daystar wrote in post #18087030
I'm currently working with LR 5.7.1 but wonder if it's worth upgrading to LR 6 or even the cloud for a monthly payment. I'm not professional, just a hobbyist with an occassional "job".

I recently downloaded a trial of the cloud LR and for some reason it will crash on me when I click on a new picture to work on in the develop mode. I get a (not responding) notice while the curser just spins and spins. So I'm wondering if this is something I'd experience if I purchased it. Are there any bugs or issues that come with LR6 or the cloud I should be aware of? Thoughts on upgrading? Thank you!

I have the same problem, for some odd reason I had to disable using the graphics card in Lightroom CC. I never had the problem until the latest update.

Definitely at this point I wouldnt consider going from LR5 to LR6, but rather wait for a possible LR7 (if they will ever make it).

I use v5.7 and see no great advantage to v5.7 over v4.x. I will never upgrade to a 'cloud' version of anything I have to rent on a monthly basis. LR 6 is/was available for purchase as a stand-alone program. I don't want/need it so I have no idea how to get it, or even if it is still available.

I've wondered the same thing. There seem to be two important additional features in LR6. It does HDR photos, and it allows you to create panoramas from raw files, which I can't do with Elements. That allows you to do more editing of the file than if you were doing a panorama from jpeg files They also have a dehaze feature that is only available in the subscription version, if that ever makes it to the stand alone version I might upgrade. I suppose those two features are probably what you should base your decision on.

Thanks everyone! I think I'm going to sit tight and wait to see if LR comes out with something mind-blowing before upgrading....cool, now I have more funds to put towards another lens....

daystar wrote in post #18089068
Thanks everyone! I think I'm going to sit tight and wait to see if LR comes out with something mind-blowing before upgrading....cool, now I have more funds to put towards another lens....

There are actually some very good upgrades in LR 6 (that caused me to jump ship from LR 4). There are two photo merge options, for HDR, and Panorama stitching. I particularly like the HDR feature, as - completely from LR - you can get a single image in your library that will take obscene exposure adjustments (and maintain quality in the shadows). Obviously that depends on you having a set of bracketed shots.

The Panorama feature is good, but that standalone version sadly lacks a useful feature from the CC build.

Finally, there are a number of performance improvements; whereby LR 6 can use your graphics card to speed up a number of operations.

daystar wrote in post #18087030
I'm currently working with LR 5.7.1 but wonder if it's worth upgrading to LR 6 or even the cloud for a monthly payment. I'm not professional, just a hobbyist with an occassional "job".

I recently downloaded a trial of the cloud LR and for some reason it will crash on me when I click on a new picture to work on in the develop mode. I get a (not responding) notice while the curser just spins and spins. So I'm wondering if this is something I'd experience if I purchased it. Are there any bugs or issues that come with LR6 or the cloud I should be aware of? Thoughts on upgrading? Thank you!

Offhand, I'd say that if you are comfortable doing the upgrade (including financially), then do it! The photo merging and dehaze options are, I admit, pretty attractive features, and the Lighroom team does work hard, not just to provide nice features, but to also address issues and bugs!

As to your issues with CC, well, I'm sure there are "fixes" -- one id the graphics card compatibility issue that has been mentioned (some people have to shut down the graphics card functionality). But, the thing is, you should be able to get things running, even if you have to jump through hoops to do so!

tonylong wrote in post #18089340
Offhand, I'd say that if you are comfortable doing the upgrade (including financially), then do it! The photo merging an dehaze options are, I admit, pretty attractive feature, and the Lighroom team does work hard, not just to provide nice features, but to also address issues and bugs!

As to your issues with CC, well, I'm sure there are "fixes" -- one id the graphics card compatibility issue that has been mentioned (some people have to shut down the graphics card functionality). But, the thing is, you should be able to get things running, even if you have to jump through hoops to do so!

Note that dehaze is only available on the CC version - though there is a plug-in for the standalone version that allows you to access that tool.