Lightroom Classic vs CC – Quick Guide, Which One, Why and When
Confused in the differences between Lightroom Classic vs CC? Want to know when and why you would use Lightroom Classic over Lightroom CC? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Adobe for all their strengths still haven’t realised how confusing this is to people!
In this tutorial I’ll be showing you the differences, pros & cons, and the facts about Lightroom Classic vs CC. Plus, I’ll be putting them head-to-head with some editing of images. Which one is best to use, Classic or CC? Let’s get to the bottom of this question once and for all!
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What is Lightroom?
Lightroom is designed to assist you in organising and managing large quantities of digital images. You can import, organise, process & export a batch of files all at once. It’s designed to work hand in hand with Photoshop. It’s a really good programme, especially when you start working with RAW files.
It is not a photo manipulation tool like Photoshop because it doesn't contain all the features needed for heavy editing of single images. But it does have enough editing tools to make distinctive edits that make a significant difference to the look of your photography.
Edits in Lightroom are non-destructive which means you never save over the original image. A separate Lightroom edit file called an XMP file (Extensible Metadata Platform) is attached to the original image with the edits you’ve made. It’s called a side-cart file and sits alongside the original image.
Lightroom Classic
Lightroom CC
Different versions of Lightroom and Why
Adobe has two different versions of Lightroom, Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic.
Lightroom classic
Lightroom Classic is the desktop-focused version. We think that Lightroom Classic is the best option for photographers that need to use majority of the tools.
Pros
Original raw files held on your PC meaning you’re not reliant on the speed of the cloud.
More advanced tools than Lightroom CC.
More options for building slideshows, making prints and web galleries.
More export options, including using custom watermarks.
Cons
Lightroom Classic is harder to learn for beginner photographers, however if you learn Classic, using CC is a cinch! Being educators, we wouldn’t recommend learning Lightroom the other way round.
Lightroom CC – Mobile Version
Lightroom is a cloud-based photo service that although works on a desktop, is mainly designed for mobile devices. Lightroom CC is for photographers that want to edit anywhere on any device.
Pros
Easier to learn for beginners, with simpler organization and built-in learning tools.
Automatically save original files and edits to the cloud.
Can use it on multiple devices on a mobile device, phone, tablet, laptops.
Cons
A scaled-down version of Lightroom Classic, Lightroom CC doesn’t have all the features that Lightroom Classic has.
Fewer export/import options.
Automatically saving to the cloud as your working will slow down your computer.
Eventually you may move onto using Lightroom Classic. More time is taken learning CC first then Classic.
Buying Lightroom
It can be confusing when buying Lightroom so here’s my advice. You cannot buy Lightroom Classic as a standalone program. Instead, Adobe provides various types of plans which include it. In my opinion, the best one to buy is the ‘Photography Plan (20GB)’ which includes Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC and Lightroom CC for a monthly fee. For more details on this plan click here.
NB – These are affiliate links and TSOP will receive a small percentage of any sale made.
Conclusion
Lightroom Classic and Lightroom CC have very different focuses, which means the best program for one photographer might not be the right choice for the next.
Lightroom CC is ideal for photographers that want to edit anywhere and has up to 1TB of storage to back up original files, as well as the edits. It also has a simplified user interface.
Lightroom Classic, however, is still the best when it comes to features. Lightroom Classic also offers more customization for import and export settings.
In my option and for our courses we use Lightroom Classic as we want our students to learn properly from the start and give them complete control over Lightroom.
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