Lightroom 6.1 Doesn’t Get New Features
Lightroom CC 2015.1 and Lightroom 6.1 are now available on Adobe.com. The goal of this release is to provide additional camera raw support, lens profile support and address bugs that were introduced in previous releases of Lightroom.
Via Agen G. N. Schmitz:
Lightroom CC 2015.1 receives the new Dehaze feature for removing haze and fog from pictures (or, conversely, adding more haze to a photo). Additionally, Lightroom CC 2015.1 brings local white and black adjustment sliders to the Gradient Filter, Radial Filter, and Local adjustment brush tools, improving the capability to fine-tune tonality near the brightest and darkest parts of the picture. While it doesn’t gain the added features, Lightroom 6.1 does receive the same bug fixes as Lightroom CC 2015.1, including a resolution to a slow start that would devolve into an unending blue spinning wheel with any attempt to click within the app.
The direct link to download the new version is here. It does seem to fix a flicker bug that I saw when the graphics processor was enabled. However, I’m disappointed that the standalone version doesn’t get the same new features as the Creative Cloud version. I paid $149 just last month and am not getting the features, whereas with the $10/month plan I would.
Lightroom 6.x will continue to receive the same level of updates as did its predecessors, (Lightroom Versions 1-5) which included new camera support, new lens support, and bug fixes. Nothing has changed with regard to how Lightroom, in the Perpetual license, receives its updates. Subscribers of Lightroom CC will receive the same level of updates as the Lightroom Perpetual license holders however, in addition Lightroom CC will receive new features as they are released.
[…]
There is no plan to add any new features to the Lightroom 6.x cycle.
This was not clear to me when purchasing the standalone version. Indeed, Adobe’s own FAQ says:
You can purchase a perpetual download version of Lightroom 6 on Adobe.com here. Note, the perpetual license doesn’t provide access to Lightroom mobile or Lightroom web.
This implies that the only difference is the mobile and cloud features, which I don’t care about. So the standalone version seemed like a good deal given that over the lifetime of the product the Creative Cloud version is about 2–3x the price if you only want Lightroom, not Photoshop.
Update (2015-06-24): There are lots of comments on the Photography Reddit.
3 Comments RSS · Twitter
I guess I didn't--and do not still--interpret the phrase "latest photography innovations" as "new features," rather it sounds like some kind of social media interaction with new photographic techniques.
In at least version 5, we did get new features with dot subreleases. It's really frustrating to have this yanked away and explained by ambiguous language. I'm also puzzled by the 'get over it' attitude I've seen from people with enough money to fork out for the subscription model.
[…] has already committed not to provide new features for those of us who don’t subscribe to Creative Cloud. But it never said they wouldn’t […]
"This was not clear to me when purchasing the standalone version."
Well on the comparison page (http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/photoshop-lightroom/versions.html) the fith point down does say:
"Always stay up to date with the latest photography innovations from Adobe"
You'll note Lr 6 doesn't have this ticked. Also before CC, this slider would have been added as a new feature in version 7 anyway. Which is still what will happen eventually.