Lightroom Is Now Completely Subscription Based But, Includes New Tools & Better Speed

Adobe has introduced a new version of its popular image cataloguing and editing programme and with it comes the end to one-off payments for the software.

Alongside Lightroom for Mobile and Lightroom CC, Lightroom for desktop computers will now come with a monthly subscription fee (gone are the days of perpetual licences).

Renamed as 'Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC', the new version of the software features a new colour and luminance range mask, general speed improvements and noise reduction has been improved when using an auto mask.

Lightroom CC has also had a few changes made to it so the editing panel is easier to use, preset usability has been improved and you can edit DNG files.One of the most interesting upgrades comes in the form of a built-in search functionality powered by Adobe Sensei so Lightroom CC can automatically apply searchable keywords to objects in photographs.

There are a few other iOS and Android specific updates which you can read about in our review.  

As well as updating Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop CC has had a few updates to include lessons for beginners and better overall performance but its changes aren't quite as big as the one Adobe has made to Lightroom. 

Availability & Pricing

The photography plan where you get Lightroom CC, Lightroom for mobile and web, Photoshop CC, Adobe Spark, Adobe Portfolio, and 1 TB of cloud storage is available for £16.64 a month. If you don't require 1TB of storage, the existing Creative Cloud Photography plan is still available which gives you access to 20GB of storage Lightroom CC, Lightroom for mobile and web, Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC, Adobe Spark and Adobe Portfolio for £8.32 a month. There's also a Lightroom CC plan where you get 1TB of storage and access to Lightroom CC, Lightroom for mobile and web, Adobe Spark and Adobe Portfolio which is also priced at £8.32 a month but you don't get Photoshop. 

If you don't need a desktop version of the software there is a mobile-only package that gives you 100GB of storage and access to the Lightroom Mobile plan for £4.49 a month (iOS) or £4.39 a month for Android users. 

For more information on the update, have a read of our Lightroom review.