Lightroom again -- AARGH!!!
I am running LR Classic 15.1 on a Mac, with an up-to-date OS.
For no apparent reason, LR has again ost track of about 10,000 of my 63,000 photos. This first happened a couple of years ago. After a few weeks of struggle, I contacted a Lightroom expert that my wife somehow smoked out. Neither of us can find her contact information, though.
Does anyone know of such a person? She lived on Long Island.
Which non-Adobe photo editors should I look at?
Rick
Am 28.12.25 um 22:25 schrieb Rick Womer:
Which non-Adobe photo editors should I look at?
You might try ON1 Photo RAW. The 30 day test version has no restrictions
whatsoever.
I've changed from LR to ON1, years ago when LR went ransomware. Looking
back, I'm quite happy with it but the savings are rather small. One
keeps buying the yearly new versions because of the new features, so
lastly the cost is only marginally lower.
Ralf
--
Ralf R. Radermacher - Köln/Cologne, Germany
Blog :http://the-real-fotoralf.blogspot.com
Audio :http://aporee.org/maps/projects/fotoralf
Fotos :https://www.fotocommunity.de/user_photos/770012
I don't know where she is, but perhaps you mean Victoria Bampton?
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/
I've been low key wanting to ditch lightroom for about 10 years now. I tried ON1 a while back, primarily because it claimed that it could transfer lightroom catalogs. Unfortunately, that didn't work so well, and there were too many features I used that worked so much better in LR.
Ever since I started using LR, I have been storing my photos in a directory tree that didn't rely on the LR data base to find things, so that when I do change, I'll be able to find things. I know that when I do change, it's going to be a hellish process.
On Dec 28, 2025, at 1:25 PM, Rick Womer rickpics14@gmail.com wrote:
I am running LR Classic 15.1 on a Mac, with an up-to-date OS.
For no apparent reason, LR has again ost track of about 10,000 of my 63,000 photos. This first happened a couple of years ago. After a few weeks of struggle, I contacted a Lightroom expert that my wife somehow smoked out. Neither of us can find her contact information, though.
Does anyone know of such a person? She lived on Long Island.
Which non-Adobe photo editors should I look at?
Rick
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Larry Colen from Lothlorien
lrc@red4est.com
I agree with Ralph. I've been using ON1 PhotoRAW since its inception.
Even if you upgrade to the newest version every year the cost isn't
exhorbitent. If you take some time to smoke out the coupons available
it's even better. Give it a try...
-p
On 12/28/2025 3:49 PM, Ralf R Radermacher wrote:
Am 28.12.25 um 22:25 schrieb Rick Womer:
Which non-Adobe photo editors should I look at?
You might try ON1 Photo RAW. The 30 day test version has no
restrictions whatsoever.
I've changed from LR to ON1, years ago when LR went ransomware.
Looking back, I'm quite happy with it but the savings are rather
small. One keeps buying the yearly new versions because of the new
features, so lastly the cost is only marginally lower.
Ralf
--
If you are being chased by a pack of taxidermists, do not play dead.
I went through a period of looking for alternatives to Lightroom, as I used to do periodically just to keep abreast of what's out there, about two years ago. I tried ON1 PhotoRAW, Affinity Photo, and probably half a dozen other image processing/management apps. All of them failed my testing for one reason or another.
I continue to use Lightroom Classic (since 2004, and since LR Classic was introduced as separate from Lightroom) and have had few to no issues with it. I've moved my catalogs and image file repositories through at least seven Apple macOS systems and from one drive to another as I scaled up for more space; it's now running on a 2024 Mac mini with latest macOS. And I've had no problems at all. The annual cost for Lightroom Classic plus upgrades is pretty much the same as what I'd be paying for any other app and its updates, so I see no big win there.
As much as I nearly hate to admit it, LR Classic simply does what I want as well or better than anything else I've tried. And I'd rather just do my photography than fuss around with trying out, learning, and adapting all my workflows to other applications. My current LR Classic setup (two main catalogs, several more specialized use catalogs) has over 350,000 image files in it. 63,000 files is practically nothing for this software ... Two of the clients I had in my working days when I offered services for photography had upwards of 800,000 files in their catalogs.
The larger question, to me, is why Rick is having these problems with LR periodically. That suggests some instability or configuration issue, either hardware or software, with whatever system he's using. I'd investigate that if I lived on the east coast and went to help him relocate his image files.
Godfrey
—
"A bigger hammer has a limit." - Walt Brown, NASA/JPL manager
On Dec 28, 2025, at 2:35 PM, Paul Sorenson pentax1941@studio1941.com wrote:
I agree with Ralph. I've been using ON1 PhotoRAW since its inception. Even if you upgrade to the newest version every year the cost isn't exhorbitent. If you take some time to smoke out the coupons available it's even better. Give it a try...
On Dec 28, 2025, at 1:49 PM, Ralf R Radermacher pdml@uebra.de wrote:
Am 28.12.25 um 22:25 schrieb Rick Womer:
Which non-Adobe photo editors should I look at?
You might try ON1 Photo RAW. The 30 day test version has no restrictions whatsoever.
I've changed from LR to ON1, years ago when LR went ransomware. Looking back, I'm quite happy with it but the savings are rather small. One keeps buying the yearly new versions because of the new features, so lastly the cost is only marginally lower.
On Dec 28, 2025, at 2:31 PM, Larry Colen lrc@red4est.com wrote:
I don't know where she is, but perhaps you mean Victoria Bampton?
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/
I've been low key wanting to ditch lightroom for about 10 years now. I tried ON1 a while back, primarily because it claimed that it could transfer lightroom catalogs. Unfortunately, that didn't work so well, and there were too many features I used that worked so much better in LR.
Ever since I started using LR, I have been storing my photos in a directory tree that didn't rely on the LR data base to find things, so that when I do change, I'll be able to find things. I know that when I do change, it's going to be a hellish process.
On Dec 28, 2025, at 1:25 PM, Rick Womer rickpics14@gmail.com wrote:
I am running LR Classic 15.1 on a Mac, with an up-to-date OS.
For no apparent reason, LR has again ost track of about 10,000 of my 63,000 photos. This first happened a couple of years ago. After a few weeks of struggle, I contacted a Lightroom expert that my wife somehow smoked out. Neither of us can find her contact information, though.
Does anyone know of such a person? She lived on Long Island.
Which non-Adobe photo editors should I look at?
Rick
OK everyone, mark your calendar. I basically agree with Godfrey.
BTW Rick, what happens when you revert to an older backup version of your lightroom catalog? In addition to the weekly backups in the catalog, I periodically just copy my whole catalog. At the beginning of the year, I'll copy my working and "everything" catalogs to ones with a date of basically 1 Jan 2026 in the name, and switch over to those.
But if I were to have your problem, I'd simply open older and older backup catalogs until the missing files showed up in the catalog. Then I'd go to my current catalog, export to an external catalog every file that had been edited since then, and basically do a merge.
On Dec 28, 2025, at 3:00 PM, Godfrey DiGiorgi godfreydigiorgi@me.com wrote:
I went through a period of looking for alternatives to Lightroom, as I used to do periodically just to keep abreast of what's out there, about two years ago. I tried ON1 PhotoRAW, Affinity Photo, and probably half a dozen other image processing/management apps. All of them failed my testing for one reason or another.
I continue to use Lightroom Classic (since 2004, and since LR Classic was introduced as separate from Lightroom) and have had few to no issues with it. I've moved my catalogs and image file repositories through at least seven Apple macOS systems and from one drive to another as I scaled up for more space; it's now running on a 2024 Mac mini with latest macOS. And I've had no problems at all. The annual cost for Lightroom Classic plus upgrades is pretty much the same as what I'd be paying for any other app and its updates, so I see no big win there.
As much as I nearly hate to admit it, LR Classic simply does what I want as well or better than anything else I've tried. And I'd rather just do my photography than fuss around with trying out, learning, and adapting all my workflows to other applications. My current LR Classic setup (two main catalogs, several more specialized use catalogs) has over 350,000 image files in it. 63,000 files is practically nothing for this software ... Two of the clients I had in my working days when I offered services for photography had upwards of 800,000 files in their catalogs.
The larger question, to me, is why Rick is having these problems with LR periodically. That suggests some instability or configuration issue, either hardware or software, with whatever system he's using. I'd investigate that if I lived on the east coast and went to help him relocate his image files.
Godfrey
—
"A bigger hammer has a limit." - Walt Brown, NASA/JPL manager
On Dec 28, 2025, at 2:35 PM, Paul Sorenson pentax1941@studio1941.com wrote:
I agree with Ralph. I've been using ON1 PhotoRAW since its inception. Even if you upgrade to the newest version every year the cost isn't exhorbitent. If you take some time to smoke out the coupons available it's even better. Give it a try...
On Dec 28, 2025, at 1:49 PM, Ralf R Radermacher pdml@uebra.de wrote:
Am 28.12.25 um 22:25 schrieb Rick Womer:
Which non-Adobe photo editors should I look at?
You might try ON1 Photo RAW. The 30 day test version has no restrictions whatsoever.
I've changed from LR to ON1, years ago when LR went ransomware. Looking back, I'm quite happy with it but the savings are rather small. One keeps buying the yearly new versions because of the new features, so lastly the cost is only marginally lower.
On Dec 28, 2025, at 2:31 PM, Larry Colen lrc@red4est.com wrote:
I don't know where she is, but perhaps you mean Victoria Bampton?
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/
I've been low key wanting to ditch lightroom for about 10 years now. I tried ON1 a while back, primarily because it claimed that it could transfer lightroom catalogs. Unfortunately, that didn't work so well, and there were too many features I used that worked so much better in LR.
Ever since I started using LR, I have been storing my photos in a directory tree that didn't rely on the LR data base to find things, so that when I do change, I'll be able to find things. I know that when I do change, it's going to be a hellish process.
On Dec 28, 2025, at 1:25 PM, Rick Womer rickpics14@gmail.com wrote:
I am running LR Classic 15.1 on a Mac, with an up-to-date OS.
For no apparent reason, LR has again ost track of about 10,000 of my 63,000 photos. This first happened a couple of years ago. After a few weeks of struggle, I contacted a Lightroom expert that my wife somehow smoked out. Neither of us can find her contact information, though.
Does anyone know of such a person? She lived on Long Island.
Which non-Adobe photo editors should I look at?
Rick
--
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to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
__
Larry Colen from Lothlorien
lrc@red4est.com
Re alternatives - I continue using LR Classic because it works for me and I don’t want to learn new stuff. I did briefly play with an early ON1 but was not impressed.
Re the “lost” files - lost? When you say LR loses track of images, do they show up at all? E.g. are the thumbnails still there in Grid mode? If the Thumbnails are there, tracking back is fairly easy… if not, can you just re-import?
Stan
Sent from my iPad
On Dec 28, 2025, at 4:26 PM, Rick Womer rickpics14@gmail.com wrote:
I am running LR Classic 15.1 on a Mac, with an up-to-date OS.
For no apparent reason, LR has again ost track of about 10,000 of my 63,000 photos. This first happened a couple of years ago. After a few weeks of struggle, I contacted a Lightroom expert that my wife somehow smoked out. Neither of us can find her contact information, though.
Does anyone know of such a person? She lived on Long Island.
Which non-Adobe photo editors should I look at?
Rick
%(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List
To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-leave@pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
I never got comfortable with Lightroom. I’ve used Photoshop for rendering since I first started digitizing work. Somewhere along the line I adapted Adobe Bridge as my file system. I have Lightroom cloud and classic since I subscribe to the Adobe photo package but I never got comfortable with it. Photoshop has too many tools that i like to give it up. (The Raw filter is a godsend.) i suspect the equivalent may be available in Lightroom, but I’m not motivated to fin out!
Paul
On Dec 28, 2025, at 6:01 PM, Godfrey DiGiorgi godfreydigiorgi@me.com wrote:
I went through a period of looking for alternatives to Lightroom, as I used to do periodically just to keep abreast of what's out there, about two years ago. I tried ON1 PhotoRAW, Affinity Photo, and probably half a dozen other image processing/management apps. All of them failed my testing for one reason or another.
I continue to use Lightroom Classic (since 2004, and since LR Classic was introduced as separate from Lightroom) and have had few to no issues with it. I've moved my catalogs and image file repositories through at least seven Apple macOS systems and from one drive to another as I scaled up for more space; it's now running on a 2024 Mac mini with latest macOS. And I've had no problems at all. The annual cost for Lightroom Classic plus upgrades is pretty much the same as what I'd be paying for any other app and its updates, so I see no big win there.
As much as I nearly hate to admit it, LR Classic simply does what I want as well or better than anything else I've tried. And I'd rather just do my photography than fuss around with trying out, learning, and adapting all my workflows to other applications. My current LR Classic setup (two main catalogs, several more specialized use catalogs) has over 350,000 image files in it. 63,000 files is practically nothing for this software ... Two of the clients I had in my working days when I offered services for photography had upwards of 800,000 files in their catalogs.
The larger question, to me, is why Rick is having these problems with LR periodically. That suggests some instability or configuration issue, either hardware or software, with whatever system he's using. I'd investigate that if I lived on the east coast and went to help him relocate his image files.
Godfrey
—
"A bigger hammer has a limit." - Walt Brown, NASA/JPL manager
On Dec 28, 2025, at 2:35 PM, Paul Sorenson pentax1941@studio1941.com wrote:
I agree with Ralph. I've been using ON1 PhotoRAW since its inception. Even if you upgrade to the newest version every year the cost isn't exhorbitent. If you take some time to smoke out the coupons available it's even better. Give it a try...
On Dec 28, 2025, at 1:49 PM, Ralf R Radermacher pdml@uebra.de wrote:
Am 28.12.25 um 22:25 schrieb Rick Womer:
Which non-Adobe photo editors should I look at?
You might try ON1 Photo RAW. The 30 day test version has no restrictions whatsoever.
I've changed from LR to ON1, years ago when LR went ransomware. Looking back, I'm quite happy with it but the savings are rather small. One keeps buying the yearly new versions because of the new features, so lastly the cost is only marginally lower.
On Dec 28, 2025, at 2:31 PM, Larry Colen lrc@red4est.com wrote:
I don't know where she is, but perhaps you mean Victoria Bampton?
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/
I've been low key wanting to ditch lightroom for about 10 years now. I tried ON1 a while back, primarily because it claimed that it could transfer lightroom catalogs. Unfortunately, that didn't work so well, and there were too many features I used that worked so much better in LR.
Ever since I started using LR, I have been storing my photos in a directory tree that didn't rely on the LR data base to find things, so that when I do change, I'll be able to find things. I know that when I do change, it's going to be a hellish process.
On Dec 28, 2025, at 1:25 PM, Rick Womer rickpics14@gmail.com wrote:
I am running LR Classic 15.1 on a Mac, with an up-to-date OS.
For no apparent reason, LR has again ost track of about 10,000 of my 63,000 photos. This first happened a couple of years ago. After a few weeks of struggle, I contacted a Lightroom expert that my wife somehow smoked out. Neither of us can find her contact information, though.
Does anyone know of such a person? She lived on Long Island.
Which non-Adobe photo editors should I look at?
Rick
--
%(real_name)s Pentax-Discuss Mail List
To unsubscribe send an email to pdml-leave@pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
I prefer Lightroom Classic for organizing and editing and I have been
able a few times to transfer catalogs and folders to a new windows PC
and new external hard disk. There are now so many easy masks and other
new functions - like AI denoise and remove - that make Lightroom Classic
most useful.
The subscription fee of €12/month is acceptable to me considering how
much I use it (and I got no Netflix-like subscriptions).
However I do also use Affinity Photo 2 (last paid version) for special
editing (e.g. clone and healing brush), sharpening as well as focus
stacking. In Photoshop I don't find my way as easy as in Affinity Photo.
Henk
Op 29-12-2025 om 15:36 schreef Comcast:
I never got comfortable with Lightroom. I’ve used Photoshop for rendering since I first started digitizing work. Somewhere along the line I adapted Adobe Bridge as my file system. I have Lightroom cloud and classic since I subscribe to the Adobe photo package but I never got comfortable with it. Photoshop has too many tools that i like to give it up. (The Raw filter is a godsend.) i suspect the equivalent may be available in Lightroom, but I’m not motivated to fin out!
Paul
Am 29.12.25 um 22:37 schrieb Henk Terhell:
IIn Photoshop I don't find my way as easy as in Affinity Photo.
In my book Photoshop would be the only reason to take out a LR
subscription. Gimp royally sucks.
Ralf
--
Ralf R. Radermacher - Köln/Cologne, Germany
Blog : http://the-real-fotoralf.blogspot.com
Audio : http://aporee.org/maps/projects/fotoralf
Fotos : https://www.fotocommunity.de/user_photos/770012