Adobe: the pros and cons of subscribing

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 7 years ago

Adobe: the pros and cons of subscribing

Adobe's buy-by-subscription plan for Photoshop, Lightroom and Bridge has its good and bad points.

By Terry Lane

Adobe's buy-by-subscription plan for Photoshop, Lightroom and Bridge has its good and bad points.

The bad point, obviously, is that you pay your subscription but you never actually own anything. Which means: stop paying and everything you've paid for vaporises.

Adobe provides a hugely powerful RAW converter.

Adobe provides a hugely powerful RAW converter.

The good points, which certainly outweigh the bad, are that you can get into the core photo editing programs for $12 a month. At this rate it would take 10 years to pay the equivalent of the price of the stand-alone applications. Then the killer argument in favour of the Creative Cloud subscription is the constant updates with new features which, in the old days, would only be available to buyers of an entire new version of the program.

Take, for instance, the indispensable Adobe Camera RAW. Adobe stopped making ACR upgrades available for stand-alone Photoshop after CS6 and now reserves it for subscribers. In the meantime, ACR has evolved to the point where it is much more than a simple RAW converter.

With the latest version it is possible to load a set of high dynamic range exposures and merge them to a new HDR image and make the tonal adjustments without leaving the ACR interface. The process is to highlight the image file set, right-click and select Open With ... Photoshop. When they appear in ACR, click on the four-bar icon alongside Filmstrip in the left panel. Choose Select All from the drop-down and then click on the four-bar icon again and select Merge to HDR (or Panorama if that is the intention, which automates Adobe's new Boundary Warp panorama function).

Moving to the right along the ACR toolbar, there are a number of functions previously only available by going into Photoshop itself. The Crop and Level tools have been there for some time but the Targeted Adjustment Tool and the Adjustment Brush may be something you haven't tried.

Click on the Targeted Adjustment Tool icon and then place the target in an area of the image that needs tonal adjustment. Hold the mouse button down and drag the "target" up or down and see the targeted tone grow lighter or darker. It is like having instant Curves at your fingertips.

The Adjustment Brush will be familiar to Lightroom users as an easy way to change tone, sharpness, white balance and even remove haze from a landscape.

There is much more, and enough in the latest version of Adobe Camera RAW, to make any serious photographer with a new camera think seriously about a subscription.

Advertisement
The X70: a must for Fujifilm fans.

The X70: a must for Fujifilm fans.

Review: Fujifilm X70

Price: $950

THE LOW-DOWN

This 16mp APS sensor camera has a fixed 18.5mm (28mm film equivalent) f2.8 lens. It has the usual Fujifilm control layout of aperture ring around the lens and shutter speed dial on the body top. Put both into A position and it equates to P on any other camera. There is a digital zoom function that simulates 35mm and 50mm angles of view, with small loss of image quality. As far as we could tell this only works in Auto mode, so no RAW capture. The tilting high definition screen is the only viewfinder. The camera is beautifully made and once the eccentric controls are mastered is a pleasure to use. The 148-page printed manual covers the functions and features.

LIKE

The image quality is gorgeous. Focus, exposure and colour are consistently spot on. But the truly wonderful thing about this camera is its high ISO performance. At ISO6400 photos are not just useable, they are miraculous, with the barest hint of noise that looks for all the world like fine film grain.

DISLIKE

There is an optional viewfinder, but a camera costing $950 should have one in the kit.

VERDICT

The Fujifilm X70 has some brilliant qualities that will appeal to photographers with a special application in mind. Think of it as a Leica Q with $5000 change! The fixed lens and the absence of a viewfinder rule it out for general purpose photography. But if Fujifilm is your heart's desire then the company's X-T10, for a few dollars more, comes with a 16-50mm interchangeable lens, gives you the fabulous picture quality, a viewfinder and entry to the company's range of superb lenses.

Most Viewed in Technology

Loading