Leica is now offering Adobe® Lightroom 6 with the purchase of their cameras. If this is the stand alone application, it is a $149 value. For anyone who does not already own Lightroom or Photoshop, this is a welcome bonus. However, if you bought your new Leica before 5/11/15, the offer does not apply.
Bravo Leica for including LR 6 with their new cameras. The problem is that Adobe has a virtual monopoly when it comes to high powered image editing/processing software. The fact that all future Leica users will be Adobe users raises a serious question. Will the mega-corps like Google, Apple and Adobe dominate our future?
Why is this a potentially troubling scenario? When Google purchased Nik Software, the staff began to shrink. Many excellent people worked for Nik, including my friend Dan Hughes. Dan worked to educate Nik users on how to use the Nik product. He ran webinars, and appeared at trade shows, and photo events. Dan was the last real photo person at Nik, he now teaches at RIT. Who works at Google/Nik now? Who knows? I donÔÇÖt even think Nik has any kind of representation outside of the web.
Companies with no connection to the people involved in the art/business of photography create no customer loyalty. Adobe still has a strong presence in the photo community, and I hope they keep it that way.
By the way if you are looking for an excellent b&w image editing app for a Mac, I recommend Macphun Tonality Pro. A great product backed by photo people. Available through Digital Silver Imaging.
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