James Baker
After years of editing photos in Adobe Lightroom, I finally cancelled my subscription. Now I’ve completely changed what happens after I press the shutter.
Since I was a teenager I’ve used digital cameras, shot in RAW and edited in Lightroom.
Then, at the start of 2022 I got my first analogue film camera: a Leica M6. (I know… I dived straight in the deep end.) This was my first introduction to how editing could be easier. When I got the scans of my negatives back from the lab, they'd already done some editing for me. They were in easy to manage batches of thirty-six photos, and I was only making minor tweaks. Often just increasing the tint to make it less green.
I was still taking digital photos every now and then, but I’d put off editing the photos until I had a decent chunk of time. I’d spend ages dragging sliders left and right until I was happy.
Eventually I got sick of giving Adobe £20 a month (or, more accurately, £240 a year – it’s an annual subscription) and cancelled.
This year I’ve gotten a Camp Snap Pro and a Fujifilm X100VI. Two digital cameras that are designed to give you more control of the JPGs straight out the camera. I’ve already done a post about my Camp Snap Pro filter. I’ll share my Fujifilm X100VI setup at some point.
I’m having fun making images with my camera – not my laptop.
Edit: Discussion on Hacker News.
As of writing this...
I'm sat in a pub watching football. Hoping Newcastle United or Liverpool make it to the Champions League quarter-finals. Spurs have no chance.