Adobe’s Lightroom is unquestionably the leading professional photo workflow software. But which Lightroom should you use? It’s available in two flavors: the enthusiast-oriented Lightroom and the pro-level Lightroom Classic (the focus of this review). The latter offers working photographers unmatched tools for importing, organizing, and correcting every photo they take, as well as handles tethered shooting and local printing with aplomb. Lightroom Classic thus earns a rare five-star rating and our Editors’ Choice award. If cloud syncing is a major part of your workflow or you prefer a more modern interface, the other Lightroom is also an Editors’ Choice winner.
A Tale of Two Lightrooms
The original version of Lightroom (now called Lightroom Classic) is the program that photo pros have come to know and love. The reimagined Lightroom (without the “Classic” in the name) offers a completely different and simpler interface. But it lacks some tools that pros expect, including local printing, plug-in support, and tethered shooting. Pros should stick with Lightroom Classic, the true heir to the Lightroom throne that offers every bit of the software’s historical functionality.
The newer Lightroom is not without its audience, however. It’s more suitable for consumers and enthusiasts who want top-notch editing tools in a cloud-first app, as well as for pros who don’t need printing or tethering. It now even lets you work with photos from local storage rather than requiring you to upload everything to Adobe’s cloud.
Another difference between the two is the newer Lightroom’s focus on community via its Discover tab. This section lets you share not only your (PG-rated) photos but also your edits. You can even re-edit (or Remix, as Adobe calls it) other people’s photos, see animated playthroughs of other photographers’ editing processes, and download sets of edits as presets. Like Photoshop, both Lightroom apps now have limited color adjustment, lighting, and trimming capabilities for videos.
