To buy or not to buy

[andreayoung]

I just started my LR 4 trial a few days ago. Now 5 beta has released, and I'm not sure if I should hold off buying until v5 comes out (my biggest concern would be a big price change) or buying v4 and being stuck with an "older" version because I don't want to pay to upgrade. How long do you think it will take for v5 to be out of beta? Would not upgrading to v5 put me at any disadvantage? General thoughts and opinions?

Thanks!

 

[mrgooch]

LR4 is a great product and in my mind a new product. LR5 only has 3out of 5 new and improved features that are useful to me and I would not pay for the upgrade.

 

[clee01l]

I just started my LR 4 trial a few days ago. Now 5 beta has released, and I'm not sure if I should hold off buying until v5 comes out (my biggest concern would be a big price change) or buying v4 and being stuck with an "older" version because I don't want to pay to upgrade. How long do you think it will take for v5 to be out of beta? Would not upgrading to v5 put me at any disadvantage? General thoughts and opinions?

Thanks!

Welcome to the forum. No one can say with any certainty how long the beta will last. If there are lots of bugs found then b1 will be followed by b2 and eventually a Release Candidate (RC) or two. There are warnings that the beta catalog may not transfer into the final release. So I would consider any work dine in the beta to be a throw away.
LR4 will cost you ~$149 Expect discounts off of this price as the knowledge of LR5b spreads. You might find it cheaper than $149 if you shop around. Upgrading from LR3 to Lr4 was $79. There is a good possibility that upgrading to LR5 final will be about the same. Historically at some point Adobe announces that anyone purchasing LR4 after a certain date will get a free upgrade to LR5. Until that happens, new LR4 users will be required to pay the upgrade price. My recommendation is to wait as long as you can before pulling the trigger. Until there is a catalog migration path from LR4 to LR5 or some certainty that the LR5b catalog is stable and will convert to LR5 final, you are better off learning LR using LR4. It is a dilemma for you and there are no clear cut answers.

 

[kiwicafe]

with my new computer I upgraded to 4.4 and am finding it pretty damned good. I stay away from Beta versions of anything after Apple's disastrous Final Cut Pro X launch

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Personally? I think I'd wait at this point, unless you need it for work. The program's matured, so it's less likely to have long beta's, as it did in the early days. The LR4 beta was really short (January 9-March 6)

 

[clee01l]

Personally? I think I'd wait at this point, unless you need it for work. The program's matured, so it's less likely to have long beta's, as it did in the early days. The LR4 beta was really short (January 9-March 6)

I think some would say too short. LR4.0 was quickly followed by a decimal release and not ready for general release until LR4.2. I would think Adobe might be a little more cautious with this release.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

I won't disagree with you there Clee. That said, LR4 had a vast number of new features, with a lot more potential for nightmares - at least LR5's a much more manageable upgrade.

 

[mrgooch]

Thanks for the great information here.

 

[Jimmsp]

My own 2 cents : Lightroom 4 has a whole brand new engine for development. This will take some time to get used to if you have a lot of experience with LR 3 and earlier.
As I understand it, LR5 uses the same engine.

I'd personally buy version 4, and spend the time learning the development side of the program. I'd then upgrade to version 5.1 after the initial bugs were fixed (and there will be some) and then focus on learning the new features in LR5 which will also take some time.

 

[DaveS]

Does anyone know (who's allowed to answer) if for Lightroom 5 there will be a compatible ACR version for CS6, or is this something we're going to have to wait for CS7 for?

 

[Victoria Bampton]

There's been no announcement either way on that one. It depends on whether LR5's released before or after CS7.

 

[BenjaminJ]

I imagine there has to be a release of acr for CS6. CS6 is too new for them to not do that. Would be a ton of upset people if they didnt.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

I couldn't guarantee that one Benjamin - PS has moved to a yearly upgrade schedule now.

 

[JimHess43]

In the Lightroom 5 beta, if you send an image to Photoshop you are warned that it requires Camera Raw 8 to be fully compatible. And if Adobe stays true to their past policy, Camera Raw 8 will only be compatible with Photoshop CS7. But that really won't matter. Lightroom will simply be able to render the copy and send it to Photoshop. I've used that extensively in the past without having any trouble.