Page 4: Adobe Elements: an end to "perpetual licenses"

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Speaking of subscriptions: Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements were available as "perpetual licenses" until 2024 – The software could be used indefinitely. This is now coming to an end. From 2025, Adobe will only supply the entry-level versions of the photo and video editing programs as a three-year license. Although this is still cheaper than the "full-blown versions" of Lightroom and Premiere Pro, which have only been available as subscriptions since 2013, it is in fact a subscription model. After all, Adobe is adding some AI functions to the 2025 versions – It's quite possible that users will soon no longer want to do without these options and will then be prepared to reach into their wallets every three years.

There are many ways to make things difficult for your customers. Adobe's competitor Capture One (C1) not only discontinued its free image processing Express in mid-February 2024, but deactivated it completely. The user community would presumably have understood that development and support were being discontinued, given the fact that it was a free program. However, users were particularly angry that C1 simply switched off all Express licenses from one day to the next, meaning that the program could no longer be used at all and users could no longer access their images and edits via their catalog. I wonder if this approach has brought C1 many paying subscribers for the Pro versions? Trust is also sometimes a hard currency ...

The industry is making life difficult for itself

Furthermore, It is fitting that modern mirrorless digital cameras are complex devices that are now apparently being thrown onto the market as standard even before they are fully developed. Last year, Leica was not the only company to struggle with this (see above). The autofocus stumbled on some examples of Canon's newly delivered R5 II, and the multi-controller was not working properly. Sony annoyed a whole range of its users with firmware issues with several Alpha models – Photographers reported poorer AF performance after an update, shorter battery life, compatibility problems with lenses or cameras that wouldn't even start.

Before you get the wrong idea: sometimes the industry can still deliver good news. In April, lens manufacturers Sigma and Tamron announced their first RF lenses with autofocus. This was so significant because Canon had until then actively and successfully prevented having to share the market for AF lenses for the mirrorless RF bayonet with third parties. However, the level of enthusiasm diminished somewhat when it became clear that the new announcements from Sigma and Tamron were all RF-S lenses, i.e. for the APS-C sensor format. Canon obviously wants to continue to earn exclusively from the full-frame format.