Hidden Costs of Adobe: Are You Too Reliant?

Adobe's subscription model isn't just a matter of price—it's a matter of dependence. For anyone seriously involved in photography, this is something you need to understand clearly.

Coming to you from Andrew Banner, this insightful video examines the hidden costs of subscribing to software like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Banner points out that while many discussions focus on subscription prices, the bigger risk is the reliance these programs build into your workflow over time. Once you've invested years editing and organizing thousands of images, your work becomes deeply entwined with Adobe's ecosystem. Banner highlights a real-world example: Adobe recently announced a steep price hike with minimal notice, leaving users vulnerable to sudden, unpredictable expenses. He also emphasizes the difficulty in breaking free, as canceling your subscription isn't as straightforward as dropping a gym membership or Netflix account.

Banner further shares his personal experience of transitioning away from Adobe's ecosystem, describing both the benefits and significant challenges he faced. The hardest part of leaving Lightroom and Photoshop, he notes, wasn't just losing familiar tools—it was sacrificing years of non-destructive editing data stored in Adobe's proprietary format. Exporting images as high-resolution TIFF or DNG files means you lose critical editing steps, while also eating up enormous amounts of storage space. Banner suggests that these challenges drive many photographers toward pirated software simply to preserve access to their existing work.

To illustrate how tricky software transitions can be, Banner compares his experience shifting from Premiere to DaVinci Resolve, which was challenging but manageable. Switching from Lightroom to DxO PhotoLab was slightly simpler because photo editing software is generally less complex than video editing applications. However, moving from Photoshop to Affinity Photo has been his toughest transition yet, partly due to decades spent mastering Photoshop. Despite the challenges, Banner underscores the significant cost savings he achieved by cutting Adobe subscriptions—nearly £60 per month—allowing him financial flexibility even though he occasionally misses features like Photoshop's generative fill.

Banner offers concrete advice if you're considering alternatives. He strongly recommends DaVinci Resolve for video editing since it's free and highly capable. For photographers looking to escape Lightroom, DxO PhotoLab is his preferred solution, capable of delivering comparable functionality and available as a one-time purchase. While Affinity Photo remains a tougher adjustment due to its different workflow, Banner continues using it, determined to avoid future vulnerabilities associated with subscription models. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Banner.