Adobe announced today at Photoshop World a new more attractive photographer Creative Cloud offering, consisting of Photoshop CC, Lightroom 5, 20 GB cloud storage, Behance ProSite membership, and access to online CC training content.
This offer will be available the week of September 16 to owners of Photoshop CS3 and newer, for signup through December 31, 2013. Adobe has not indicated whether a similar offer will be available for photographers who are new to Photoshop.
The monthly subscription price will be $9.99/month, paid annually. Adobe states that it has no plans to change the price for subscribers of this plan.
At Photoshop World today, Adobe Product Manager Tom Hogarty also demonstrated what is in development for Lightroom (later this year? next year?). We will be to easily sync our Lightroom catalog to our mobile devices, work with and share the photos from there using a Lightroom app, and have our work seamlessly sync back to our main catalog and computer. The 20 GB of online storage that the CC offers is important for this, as for it to work, all or part of our Lightroom catalog (or a copy of it) as well as smart previews of our photos must reside in the catalog.
Adobe’s May announcement that new (post-CS6) versions of Photoshop will only be available through the CC subscription model and not through a stand-alone (perpetual license) product raised quite an uproar — first, because a subscription model means that when you stop paying, you lose access to the software (but not your files), and second, because of the huge price increase for those of us who use only Photoshop and Lightroom, and who may not even upgrade Photoshop with every release. This announcement does much to address the latter concern.
The price/ value equation is a very personal one. I personally am open to the subscription model, as long as I receive enough additional value to compensate for the loss of perpetual ownership of the software. With upcoming cloud capabilities, as well as the lowered price for Photoshop + Lightroom CC, that value (again, for me personally) now exceeds the price. I already was paying $80/year to upgrade Lightroom — paying an additional $40/year for Photoshop upgrades as well as cloud access seems like quite a deal to me.
For reference, below are Creative Cloud prices outside of the special Photography offering. Note that Photoshop + Lightroom otherwise requires Complete CC.
Original CC Pricing
Right now new users can subscribe to Photoshop CC for $19.99/month, and purchase Lightroom as a stand-alone product.
Below you will find questions and answers about the Creative Cloud offering and policies and its implications for photographers, as I understand them.
Will Lightroom and Photoshop Elements be available as stand-alone (perpetually-licensed) products?
Yes, Lightroom and Elements (and Premiere Elements) will be available as stand-alone products as well as through the Creative Cloud.
Will the Lightroom offered through the Creative Cloud be different and better than the stand-alone Lightroom product?
No, Adobe’s Tom Hogarty has indicated that it will be the same.
Will Lightroom become a subscription only offering after Lightroom 5?
Per Tom Hogarty of Adobe, “future versions of Lightroom will be made available via traditional perpetual licenses indefinitely.”
Do I have to be connected to the internet to use Photoshop CC?
You will have to connect to the internet to download updates and then once every 90 (soon to be 180) days for verification. The software will live on and run from your computer, as it has before.
What If I Want a Stand-Alone Photoshop Product Instead?
Adobe will continue to sell Photoshop CS6 as a stand-alone product, and promises that it will be compatible with the next versions of Windows and Mac operating systems, and it will receive new bug fixes and new camera support (ACR). CS6 however will not have the new features introduced in Photoshop CC or in Lightroom 5. No promises have been made past the next operating system versions simply because Adobe doesn’t know what Apple and Microsoft have in store for them.
Other than the new product features to be released next month, what are the benefits to photographers of Creative Cloud membership ?
- The ability to sync your Photoshop (and other CC software) preferences, styles, actions, etc.., to multiple computers, and access your work from multiple computers.
- Cloud storage
- Behance ProSite membership, to share your work with and get feedback from the creative community
- Always up-t0-date software — new features as they become available
- Cross-platform license (Mac and PC)
You can pay monthly and cancel at any time, but prices will be higher.
[sc:signup]
About four months ago, I signed up for the $19.99/month Creative Cloud deal for owners of CS6. Thinking I’d want to sample all of Adobe’s products, I thought this would be pretty good deal. But now that I’m pretty sure that it’s going to be just PS and LR for me, I wonder how I can break that $19.99/month deal with Adobe and start again with the $9.99/month deal. Any advice?
Thanks,
— Sam
I have the same question.
I unfortunately don’t know at this point, Sam and Katie. I would imagine that details and FAQs will follow. Let us know if you hear first about this!
I also don’t yet see the product offering on Adobe’s site.
This has been addressed by Mike Chambers (an Adobe employee) on Michael Reichmann’s LuLa site http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=80687.102
See his post #106 where he answers the same query from a Peter S –
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Quote from: Peter S on September 06, 2013, 01:51:18 PM
I owned a copy of Photoshop CS6 (as well as LR5) and I thought it was a reasonable deal to get access to all the Creative Cloud tools for £17.58 a month for oner year. So I signed up just before the 31st August deadline. This gives me a chance to play with some Adobe Products, for a year. Maybe expensive trials but 30 days is never enough. I would like to continue this for the year.
Now there is another offer, which as an enthusiastic amateur, really meets all my needs but ….. I have to sign up to that before the end of this year. If I don’t I have no idea what I may have to pay for Photoshop and Lightroom when my first year CC deal ends. On the other hand I don’t want duplicated tools and costs.
If you have any guidance Mike I would be very pleased to hear it.
You will be able to switch to the new photography plan once it is available. Once it is available, you will just need to contact Adobe customer support, and they can help switch you to the new program.
Right now, we don’t have a solution if you want to switch to the new program in a year, when your current subscription expires (since the current photography offer expires at the end of this year).
Hope that helps…
mike chambers
mesh@adobe.com
This forum has Mike Chambers answering many questions (its over 150 posts and the interesting stuff starts on page 5 around post 61 where Adobe made the announcement during the Photoshop World Keynote address. So hunt down your questions (and answers from Post 62 to 155!!!
Hank
I would really hope it would be as I’m a loyal customer of your services. I’d like to be taken care of for once as an OLD customer instead of always seeing the “NEW” customers get benefits not available to me even though I’ve already spent to much with you.
I’m not sure I understand your comment, Michelle. Adobe’s new offer is for old customers only — those that already own Photoshop (CS3 or later). And to clarify, I do not work for Adobe, so this has nothing to do with my own products and services, which are Lightroom training videos and instruction.
I am at present paying the 9.99 dollars per month for CC as I am an existing owner of CS5 and have since bought the latest Lightroom so dont need to take advantage of the latest deal at present but maybe after the year I have signed up for I will take advantage of this latest deal. Sounds good to me .
I just got off chat with Adobe. According to my customer service person, when the new plan is available we can contact them and switch over with no cancelation fee. You might want to go online and get your own confirmation for that, I saved my chat window. I’m still barely within my first month at $19.99 so asked if I needed to cancel now and just sign up when the new offer is available and he said no, just get back to them when it’s available and it would be fine.
Thanks for the info, Katie.
I saw on another page that someone had phoned Adobe Customer Services and they had allowed them to cancel their contract and take out the new PS & LR package….but that another person had been denied the option. Maybe worth trying to get a ‘kind’ customer services rep.
As I understand it, the package will be available at the same time as the release of LR5.2 in a couple of weeks.
I don’t quite understand how much the new package will cost if you only have used PSE & LR previously…anyone tell me please?
I don’t think any information is out on that at this point, Julie … but if anyone knows differently, please do chime in.
I am a Creative Cloud. Member and have Photoshop and lightroom5 on my PC.
If I bought a MAC can I then download Photoshop CC and Lr5 free of charge as from yesterday .
CC allows for cross-platform usage.
I love the idea of this, but I have no prior versions of the CS, so I can’t take advantage. Was there any indication what the price would be for someone who has never owned CS but wants just those two programs in the CC?
I own PS CS 5 Student & Teacher Edition. I was not allowed to buy into a recent $9.99 per month CC program deal that I was notified of in an email. However, in this new offer, beginning Sep 16, I did not see a disclaimer disallowing Student & Teacher owners. I would sign up in a minute for $9.99 per month.
Hi Laura
Thanks for keeping us informed… :)
I have a student version of CS6 and LR5, do you know if I’m eligible for the $9.95/month deal? I finished my studies this summer.
Thanks for your comments on LR. I have my own concerns with respect to my future use of LR beyond version 4, as I’ve not yet upgraded to 5.
While Adobe would like us to believe that LR will remain a perpetual product, there is no guarantee of this. In fact they carefully couch their words about the future of Lightroom with open ended statements such as “no plans” … of course their plans could change and quickly. Or how about “indefinitely”? All of this coupled with the sudden change to CC leave me doubting.
I’m not sure I want to commit to a system that could potentially leave me wondering how to load my catalog because I can’t afford or no longer want LR. I’ve already moved from Photoshop and will continue my quest for a favorable LR replacement. When that happens I’ll abandon Adobe completely.
In the meantime – Happy shooting!
Laura,
Thanks so much for you timely and informative emails. If it wasn’t for your insight, I’d never figure out what Adobe was up to next! Sure appreciate you.
Like some others, I didn’t want to miss out on the 31st August deadline and felt that the CC deal for existing customers was reasonable. I only ‘need’ Photoshop and LR. Like others, I felt that I could justify the extra marginal cost by trying out some of the other Adobe CC products.
But this is good news and thanks to those who have been in touch with Adobe customer service already to see if we can change the package. It would be great to be able to change products without penalty. Incidentally, I make the PS + LR package £7.00 PCM including taxes in the US but here in the UK a single product is £17.59 including taxes pcm. I am really looking forward to our move to Canada next year and being to take advantage of the much lower price for so many things (even after tax), especially software and electronics.
Thanks for your email this morning Laura. I phone Adobe here in the UK this morning as soon as I received your email. I have been using Adobe CC since just before the offer expiry date in the UK of 31st August. I felt it was my only way forward really to retain both PS and LR, the extra cost over purchasing the LR upgrade and the single app subscription for PS was marginal. But this deal is so much better. Adobe have cancelled my CC membership without penalty and opened their Photoshop package including LR for me and all the details have been emailed through to me. I have found the process to be straightforward and the Adobe staff here in the UK easy to deal with.
My only moan, as with all us Brits, is that I am paying £8.78 pcm whereas the US figure of $9.99 equates to £6.27 at current exchange rates though taxes have to be added to that, but still cheaper than we are having to pay.
Thanks again for keeping us all posted.
Roy.
You’re welcome, Roy!
Just completed chat with Adobe rep. Be aware that this offer does NOT extend to those who own CS3 Design Suite or any other “suite” product; only Photoshop CS3 and above as a stand alone product. Even though the suites were more expensive and contain Photoshop CS3. I find that a bit strange. Such is life in the corporate world.
I’ve just got off talking to an adobe rep and am no too sure ( as English was obviously her native language) of the advice I received and thought to check with you Laura please. I already upgraded to Lightroom5 before this offer came out but think as it costs no more than the 9.99 I am already paying that I should change to this new plan. This is automatically offered from today from Adobe (great) but I wondered how to install it on my computer as I already have my own version on now. The advice was just to uninstall mine before I download the one from Adobe. My fear was , “what happens to my libraries when I uninstall my Lightroom?” The rep told me “no problem” as the libraries would not be deleted. Is this correct ?
I don’t see Photoshop or Premiere Elements in CC yet…have they said when it will become a part of it?
I may be wrong, Craig, but I don’t expect that Elements will be part of CC, as CC seems to targetted towards a different market. Lightroom spans the consumer – prosumer – professional market, which is why it is offered both as a stand-alone product and as part of CC.
Following the lead of several other commenters here, I successfully changed my Adobe subscription from the higher priced, full Creative Live product to the Photographers Package. Thanks everyone for leading the way!
Has anyone got an answer for owners of student editions of CS6 who are no longer students (have graduated) – can they sign up for the photographers’ deal?
I contacted Adobe site about this offer since I have Adobe PS CS 5 (Student Edition) and was refused ts products.access to this offer. I think it is unfair. Why would a corporation like Adobe alienate purchasers and users of its products?